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11 DAVID

David could not believe he had never thought to ask Meg about her work. He knew she was available at odd times of the day, so he assumed she must have flexible work or was perhaps freelance in some capacity, but he was surprised it hadn’t come up in all the time they spent together.

People’s jobs, he thought, told you so much about a person. The flower shop, for example, showed David’s creativity, and his appreciation for small gestures. He loved what gifting flowers meant, and how memorable the gesture could be in tough times. Mark’s role as a counsellor for young people showed how much he wanted to help people, and how much he cared about the next generation. Meg’s job, he supposed, displayed creativity and a flair for storytelling; the competitiveness of the field showed that despite her current lack of self-esteem, she actually must be incredibly robust.

In the car back to Woburn, Meg gave him a whistle-stop tour through her career in illustration. The years after studying, when she would take any work and eventually got hired on a CBBC show to do storyboards; the years in London, her transitioning from that long-running hit to trying to get her own projects off the ground, completing the drawings for picture books from random authors and any other projects she could get her hands on. Then there was the recent past, mainly getting hired for national and international work on adverts and other short-form online work, which she said paid well, though it wasn’t the most creative thing in the world. Meg seemed effusive about how she’d managed her career and said she loved being on her own hours, never having to answer to anyone, or having to sit in an office for hours on end, which David related to.

He listened attentively, distracting himself from the impending telling-off from Mark. He took a roundabout a little haphazardly and heard a driver beep their horn at him; in the rear-view mirror, a man was shaking his fist and shouting something. He imagined Mark in the passenger seat next to him doing his regular joke. I think he’s saying something nice!

‘Oopsie,’ David said.

‘It’ll be okay,’ Meg said, looking behind her. ‘There genuinely is traffic.’

‘Yes.’

‘And, I do these talks quite a lot, at schools and universities,’ Meg said. ‘The kids will love it, I promise. I’ve got a presentation I can stick on, if there’s a projector I can use?’

‘There is!’

‘Okay,’ she said, fiddling with her phone. ‘I’ll just edit so it looks like I made it for today. A white lie.’

When they did finally arrive, they were about twenty minutes after the arranged starting time of the event. David tried to pull perfectly into the space in front of Savage Lilies before giving up and leaving the van halfway up the kerb. Inside, he could see about fifteen or twenty kids on chairs dotted around the shop, in casual clothes, attentive to what Mark was saying at the front but occasionally leaning in to whisper to the person closest to them. Meg patted David on the back in an act of solidarity as they entered.

‘And here they are, our special guests!’ Mark said.

‘Fabulously late,’ David said.

‘Mark’s been waiting!’ Benji shouted, and a few kids laughed. ‘He’s mad at you!’

Mark was standing at the front of the shop, wearing a shirt with a sweatshirt over the top of it. The kids were smiling, sensing a playful irritation at David’s tardiness.

‘Right, hi, everyone,’ David said. ‘ Thank you, Benji. Terrible traffic, I’m very sorry.’

He looked at Mark who was trying not to look at him.

‘We’ve all been talking about who the group prefer, me or you,’ Mark said.

‘What were the results?’

‘They weren’t good for you,’ he replied, not looking at him. ‘I can tell you that much.’

The group seemed to be enjoying their bickering, and he knew despite the fact Mark was genuinely annoyed that they were both playing up to it, talking out to an audience rather than facing each other.

‘We’ll run the vote again at the end of the night,’ David said. ‘And I’ll slip you all a fiver. Anyway, I think we’re supposed to be talking about futures and careers and so I have prepared a little something.’

‘What have you prepared, David?’ Mark asked, patiently.

‘My new friend, Meg, is an illustrator,’ he stated proudly, gesturing over to Meg who was standing somewhat nervously at the back of the shop avoiding Mark’s stare. ‘So she’s going to talk a little bit about her job, and how she got into it, what she studied … Can everybody give her a little round of applause?’

Mark pointed her towards a stain on the floor. ‘ Plant yourself there so everyone can see you.’

He winked at the crowd and Fred, one of the boys sitting with Benji, shouted, ‘No more puns! Please!’

Meg took a deep breath in, and David and Mark moved to sit down at the back of the room, next to Jacob. David could see Mark looking at him out of the sides of his eyes.

‘What?’ he whispered to him.

‘You genuinely planned for Meg to speak?’ Mark muttered. ‘You didn’t just forget?’

‘No!’ David whispered back, hoping Meg’s existing talk she had done before seemed pre-planned. He stared straight ahead and clenched his jaw so Mark couldn’t see him flailing. ‘I am sorry we’re late though.’

‘Hi, everyone,’ Meg said, after the applause had died down. ‘Now, first thing, can everybody tell me their favourite animated character?’

‘That was so cool!’

David could hear Benji talking to his friends as Meg wound down her speech and talked about a couple of the websites she would send round via Jacob. He was now sitting with Fred and a girl called Salma, who always seemed to find each other. Together they formed a trio of the most influential, or perhaps just the loudest, members of the club. Maybe it was also because they were the oldest, but David felt relieved. A sign of positivity from them was always a good indication the rest of the group would have enjoyed something; whether the three of them were reflective of the group or whether people just followed what they said, he was never sure.

He went over to congratulate Meg as the kids continued to chat, and he heard one of the new girls who loved performing arts telling a new member of the club which one was David and which was Mark: ‘Mark’s the smarter-dressed one. No, on the left; no, stage left.’

‘You did amazingly,’ David said to Meg. ‘The kids loved it. Well done.’

‘Oh thank you,’ she said. ‘I’m a bit rusty. It’s been ages.’

‘You were so good with them, the questions, the interactive elements. I loved it.’ David smiled and pointed at the kids, who were now looking at each other’s drawings they had been scribbling as she spoke. ‘They did too. You might only get a couple of thank yous, but don’t take it personally.’

‘Thanks, Meg,’ said Mark, who came to stand with them. ‘That was great.’

‘Did you think so?’

‘Yeah, it was brilliant,’ he said. ‘Thanks for getting involved. If you ever want to—’

‘David and Mark and Meg,’ came a voice from behind them. They parted their group slightly to see Salma standing behind them. She was wearing black leggings and an oversized T-shirt that had rips in it.

‘Hi, Salma,’ he said. ‘You’ve torn your shirt!’

‘It’s supposed to be like that,’ she said, rolling her eyes. ‘Have you heard the new Dua Lipa song?’

‘No, I haven’t,’ David said.

‘Me neither,’ added Mark.

‘It’s very good.’ She nodded her head, like there was no more to say on the matter. ‘You need to put on Radio 1 instead of that stuff you play in here.’

‘Hey,’ David said. ‘That’s a very bespoke playlist.’

‘Maybe she’s just pollen your leg,’ Mark said, and Salma walked away without saying anything.

‘You’ll soon be introduced to all of Mark’s dad jokes,’ David warned Meg. ‘Buckle up. Sometimes they enjoy them, sometimes, well, they walk off.’

‘Make sure you laugh,’ Mark said. ‘Please.’

‘I’ll make sure I … Rise to the occasion.’

‘What?’ David said.

‘ Rose to the occasion,’ Meg said, before pausing. ‘Did that work?’

‘Nearly,’ Mark said.

‘Hmm,’ David said.

A few people were peering into the shop from the street outside and suddenly, David felt like he shouldn’t be closing the shop for events like this. What if they were losing out on valuable custom? They needed to make sure they got any money they could, any time of day. He knew Mark wanted him to be more business-minded, as did his accountant, but he also knew the youth club was a priority for both of them, so what was the solution? He couldn’t renege on an existing commitment.

‘Do you know all the kids here?’ Meg asked, looking out at the shop.

‘Mostly,’ Mark said. ‘I can see a few new faces. Jacob there runs it, and he takes them to different things. He works at the council. We like doing the careers evening because they meet other people in the community and see all sorts of different jobs, but we sometimes help with days out and some of the sports sessions. Keeps us fit, running around. I don’t envy the days David is the referee at the football games.’

‘I’m not sure I really understand the offside rule,’ David said. ‘And they don’t really like that. But they’re good kids. It keeps us young. We always know what Dua Lipa’s up to, thanks to Salma, and Fred always gives us language lessons. We always know what’s ace, you know. Everything’s ace ; anything rubbish gives them the ick .’

‘I had heard that one,’ Meg said.

‘Well you’re actually young. You don’t need the help,’ David said. ‘But we do sometimes. We now know all about Stormzy and Maya Jama, and Rio was telling us the other day about something called rizz. ’

‘Does the evening usually run late?’ Meg said.

‘No, no,’ Mark said. ‘We leave them to chat; maybe if they have any questions, they’ll come and find you. I’ve laid out some fizzy drinks. We usually just give them some time to socialize and catch up, and we’ll clear them out by seven, quarter past. What are you doing this evening?’

‘Hannah’s back,’ she said. ‘So I think we might go for a drink, or get a takeaway. Nothing too wild, but I’m just so excited to see her.’ She glanced at the tired old grandfather clock in the corner. ‘She’ll be wondering where I am actually.’

‘Oh well, head home if you want,’ David said. ‘You don’t have to stay.’

‘Okay, great,’ Meg said. ‘I’ll slip out. What are you both doing tonight?’

‘We were going to watch a film the kids are all talking about, something action-packed,’ David said. ‘I can’t remember the name.’

‘David’s cooking dinner for us,’ Mark added.

‘Since when?’ David said.

‘It’s just that you said Meg had been primed to do this all week?’

‘She had,’ David said, suddenly panicked.

‘Yes,’ Meg added convincingly.

‘But then you were late,’ Mark said. ‘Meg just said she actually had plans this evening, and I noticed page six of your presentation said in the corner it was last year, and for a school in London.’

‘Oh,’ he said.

‘Oh,’ Meg said.

‘You missed a page,’ David whispered to Meg.

‘Well it’s hard using PowerPoint on your phone,’ she whispered back.

‘I can hear you,’ Mark said, but he was smiling. He could never stay mad for long. He turned to David. ‘I’d love you to make me a nice drink as well.’

David knew he and Meg looked sheepish, and he tried to get Mark to smile.

‘Okay, deal,’ he said, gathering his things up as the party started to leave in groups. ‘But it all worked out okay in the end!’