Page 66 of Take the Plunge

I don’t have a defence. She’s right. I’ve bugged out of Saturday nights out on the town because Jett has invited me to his. I didn’t go to last week’s pub quiz either for the same reason. Not that I go to the pub quiz every week, just most weeks.

“What have you been doing?” Nathan asks.

“I’ve been busy, that’s all.” I can’t say anything else. They might not know Jett, but our fling is supposed to be a secret.

“Busy screwing someone?” Olly takes a crisp out of the packet in front of him and offers it to his girlfriend, Elouise. “Leave him alone.”

Klara comes to my rescue. “It’s no one’s business what Kian’s been up to.”

“Just as long as you don’t forget who your friends are.” Aria gives me a pointed look.

“I won’t. I’m sorry. I’ll be around more. I promise.” I have been a bit too wrapped up in Jett. Which is probably stupid, but I can’t help wanting to spend time with him.

“We’re going to win this week.” Aria gestures to a table full of attractive guys in their twenties. “Hell’s Dancers have won the last three Sundays in a row, so we need to kick their arses this week.”

My friends and I are a mixed bunch with different interests and aspirations. In theory, it should give us an advantage in the pub quiz, but Hell’s Dancers keep beating us.

I crack my knuckles. “I’m up for the challenge. What are we calling our team this week?”

Unlike Hell’s Dancers, who have the same name every week, we come up with a new name every time.

“The birds and the bees?” Olly suggests.

“Are you hinting that you need a lesson in the birds and the bees?” Klara asks.

“Why? Are you offering?”

Klara blushes. “Maybe.”

“Just sleep together already,” Nathan says.

Klara play-smacks him across the arm.

“What? I can’t cope with any more of the sappy looks between the two of you. You have the hots for each other. Act on it.”

“The birds and the bees.” Aria writes the name down on top of the answer sheet. She checks her watch. “Right, we have five minutes before the quiz starts. What’s been the highlight of your week? Nathan, you’re first.”

“We saw the latest superhero movie at the cinema last night. It was epic.”

“It wasn’t that good,” Elouise says with a bored eye roll. “The highlight of my week was getting a tip for doing a complex nail design.” She hands her phone around the group so we can all see a picture of the design. Each nail is a different playing card. “My client is a pro poker player. I had to hand-paint every card.”

“Wow, that’s amazing,” Klara says. “We got a new tarantula at work, and I got to settle him in.”

“That’s a highlight?” Olly asks.

“Yes. I love spiders.”

Olly shudders. “Rather you than me. I’ll stick with cute things like kittens and puppies.”

“Spiders are cute.”

“Yeah, I’m with Olly on this one,” I say. “Spiders are not cute.”

“You don’t want one for your birthday?” Klara looks at us both, so I’m not sure if she’s talking to me or Olly.

“No,” we say together, then crack up laughing.

“You’re missing out.” She inspects her nails. “I don’t think I could date a guy who didn’t like Barnaby.”