Page 20 of Oleander

"So tell us about the nephew?” Georgia said, blue eyes glittering with interest. “He’s our age, right?”

We were sitting at one of the benches outside. Josh was there, too, and less interested in my new address than the rest of them. I took a bite of my sandwich and washed it down with some water, delaying the inevitable – talking about Caspien Deverauxto my friends. The shrug wasn’t enough, as Georgia fluttered her hand impatiently.

“Well? Is he?”

I shrugged. “I think so, yeah. Maybe a year younger?”

“He good-looking?” she asked.

Josh and Alfie laughed, but I could see the slight unease on Alfie’s face. He’d been in love with Georgia since Year Nine. Had done nothing about it, of course, except whine to Josh and me whenever we’d listen about her perfect tits and hair and eyes.

“How the hell should I know?” I say.

“Ew, homophobic much?” Georgia scowled. “A man can appreciate another good-looking man without being gay, jeez, Jude. Thought you were a grown-up.”

“Yeah, Jude, I happen to think you’re really fucking hot,” Josh said before making a kissing face at me.

Beside me, Ellie laughed. Georgia applauded him, and I tried to decide if Caspien Deveraux was good-looking.

“I’m not homophobic, George. I just don’t look at guys like that.” I wasn’t sure why it felt like a lie. Maybe because I’d already admitted that Caspien was beautiful on some objective level, even if I hadn’t said it aloud.

She nodded, more understanding.

“What’s he like, though?” This was Ellie. The boys seemed less interested.

“He’s stuck up and a bit of a dick,” I said honestly.He did potentially stop you from having toxic plant poisoning, though.

“Oh, wonder if he’s on Instagram,” Georgia said, pulling out her phone.

“I wanna know about the uncle,” Josh said.

Alfie hit him playfully on the shoulder. “That’s exactly what I said! He gives major Saville vibes, man. Old dude with a big house and all that money. My dad says he’s a weirdo.”

“He isn’t fucking old,” I half snapped. I wasn’t sure why it annoyed me so much, them talking about Gideon like he was an old creeper. I didn’t understand why a single guy living alone with his nephew was such a big deal to everyone. Like Luke said, would it be weird for us to live together if Beth died?

“And he’s not a weirdo. He’s cool, okay? He’s been good to Luke and saved us from having to move to God knows where, so just...stop talking about him like that.”

There was a heavy silence for a few moments until George said, “Oh my god! I think I found him.”

She shoved her phone at Ellie first, then squealed and stamped her feet like an excited toddler. “Oh, no way! He’s gorgeous. He looks like a model; is he a model? Is this him, Jude?” She turned the phone around and held it under my nose. My mouth went bone dry at the sight of the picture. It was him.

He was topless in the snow, hair frozen wet and his nose and cheeks bright pink. His nipples were the same colour, but obviously, I wasn’t looking at those.

“Yeah, that’s him,” I confirmed.

Georgia squealed again. “Oh my god, okay, we need a plan. I need a plan. I want to marry this man.”

Josh and I glanced at Alfie, who had forgotten about my outburst and was focused on Georgia, who was scrolling through Caspien’s Instagram thirstily. When she said the words “Georgia Deveraux” in a dreamy tone, he stood up from the bench.

“Forgot I need to see Mr. Kinnell about the game on Saturday,” he announced and then stormed off in the direction of the sports complex.

Ellie and Georgia didn’t look up from the screen as he went.

We were walking to fourth when Ellie caught up to me. “Hey, you.”

It was the first time we’d been alone the entire day. I appreciated her waiting until we were to do this.

“Hey,” I said as I kept walking.