Baby Be Mine

help.
    ‘Just as well he can’t talk yet,’ she murmurs.
    ‘It’s only a matter of time before “duck” becomes part of his vocabulary,’ I reply. She grins at me. ‘It’s good to have you here,’ I say quietly, grinning back at her.
    The others join us and we tuck in to Eddie’s truly incredible pizzas. After a while, my phone starts vibrating in my pocket. I pull it out and look at the screen: Joseph.
    ‘Hi!’ I say warmly.
    ‘Hey,’ he replies. ‘How’s it going?’
    ‘Good. Great, in fact. My best friend from the UK arrived this morning.’
    ‘Really? I didn’t know you had a pal coming to stay.’
    ‘Neither did I until Saturday. Bit of a last-minute plan. Have you just come from your audition?’ I notice Johnny’s conversation halts briefly as his eyes flick towards mine.
    ‘You remembered,’ he replies, and once again I’m sure he’s smiling.
    ‘Of course. How did it go?’
    ‘Aah, you know, it’s hard to tell with these things. So I was going to see if you wanted to catch up for dinner, but I guess you’re busy with your friend . . .’
    ‘Kind of,’ I say, ‘but we’re going to a gig tomorrow night. Saldo Sorvie. Maybe we could get an extra ticket?’ I glance at Bess to check she doesn’t mind him gate-crashing, but she nods happily.
    ‘That’d be great,’ Joseph replies.
    Johnny puts his fork down noisily and pointedly, and glares at me across the table.
    ‘What?’ I mouth with annoyance.
    ‘You’re using my name to get him a ticket?’
    I cover the receiver with my forefinger. ‘You wouldn’t normally care.’
    He doesn’t reply. Everyone else around the table eats their food and tries to act invisible. Everyone except for Dana, who’s watching this exchange intently.
    I remove my finger. ‘Sorry, Joseph,’ I say. ‘Just having a discussion with my . . . housemate.’
    Johnny angrily gets to his feet and storms off.
    Dana stares after him, slightly taken aback. Lena gives me a look, but I’m not sure what it means, while Dana puts down her cutlery and gets up from the table. ‘That was spectacular, dude,’ she says to Eddie, although it sounds far from genuine to me, and probably to the rest of us around the table – with the exception of Barney, who hasn’t learned about false sincerity yet. She follows Johnny inside.
    ‘Hello?’ I hear Joseph say in a tinny voice. I realise I’ve dropped the receiver from my ear.
    ‘Sorry!’ I say again.
    ‘Is this a bad time?’ he asks.
    ‘We’re just in the middle of lunch. Can I call you back?’
    ‘Sure.’
    We end the call. Eddie is already tidying away after Johnny and Lena.
    ‘Well, that was short and sweet,’ I say of our getting-to-know-each-other meal. ‘That was Joseph,’ I say, indicating my phone.
    ‘I gathered,’ Lena replies knowingly.
    ‘Who’s Joseph?’ Eddie chips in. ‘If you don’t mind me asking,’ he adds.
    ‘No, no, of course not,’ I brush him off. There’s no point in keeping secrets from a staff of this size. ‘A guy I met last week.’
    ‘Doesn’t Johnny like him?’
    Lena laughs sharply and I furrow my brow at her as I reply, ‘He hasn’t met him.’
    ‘He doesn’t want to,’ Bess replies, ‘from the way he acted there.’
    ‘Why’s that?’ Eddie pries.
    ‘Jealous,’ Lena interjects.
    ‘Jealous of what?’ I feel slightly put out. Why does she keep coming out with comments like that? Because he’s not still interested in me. I can tell her that, right now. He wouldn’t rub his feelings for Dana in my face if he were.
    She shrugs, but doesn’t expand.
    ‘I think we can safely assume Johnny doesn’t want to get Joseph another ticket to the gig tomorrow night.’
    ‘He might be able to get one through his agent,’ Lena suggests.
    ‘Maybe,’ I reply, but I’m thinking it’s better to leave it on this occasion.

 
  Chapter 37  
    ‘Is he going with you?’ Johnny asks me the next day, with a fair amount of attitude.
    ‘Might be,’ I reply. ‘You know he’s perfectly capable of getting his own ticket, don’t you?’ I don’t know why I’m doing this, but I want to wind him up for some reason. As it turns out, I told Joseph the gig thing might be a bit too complicated and that I’d call him tomorrow – Wednesday – so that we could make a plan then.
    ‘Who’s looking after Barney?’ Johnny demands to know.
    ‘A lovely girl called Esther from an agency.’
    ‘You’re getting an agency in?’ he spits.
    ‘On your