Lucy in the Sky

you!’
    ‘Yeah, alright, alright, don’t be a bad winner.’
    He leans across me and flicks the kettle switch back on, chest so close to mine that we’re almost touching. I breathe in, then take a step back.
    ‘Right, I give up, I’m going to sit down.’ I try to keep an even tone to my voice.
    He joins me at the table with a brand-new cup of tea. I offer him a TimTam and we do the routine where we dip our biscuits in and suck out the insides. Mine breaks off and plops into my drink.
    ‘Oh, I hate it when that happens,’ I moan. He starts laughing and passes me another one.
    After a while the front door opens and Molly appears.
    ‘Hello!’ she cries. ‘What’s so funny? Ah, TimTams,’ she says, clocking the packet.
    ‘Want one?’
    ‘Yes, please. I’ll be back in a second.’
    ‘I should probably be getting off.’ Nathan stands up.
    ‘Okay,’ I respond sorrowfully.
    ‘So when do you want to go to Oceanworld?’ he asks.
    ‘Seriously?’
    ‘Yeah. What are you up to tomorrow?’
    ‘I can’t tomorrow–we’ve got to go and buy shoes.’ Damn.
    ‘For the wedding?’
    ‘Yeah. With Andie.’
    ‘May the force be with you,’ he says, grinning.
    ‘Why, is she a nightmare?’ I whisper.
    ‘Who’s a nightmare?’ Molly asks, coming back into the room.
    ‘Er, Lucy’s…tea!’
    I smack him on the stomach.
    ‘Oof!’ He clutches himself.
    ‘I’m off, Molly.’ He turns to me. ‘How about Wednesday?’
    ‘What’s happening on Wednesday?’ Molly asks nosily.
    ‘Nathan and I were thinking about going to Oceanworld. Are we doing anything then?’
    ‘No, no, I don’t think so.’
    ‘Cool. Wednesday it is.’
    ‘You two get on well,’ Molly says, when he leaves.
    ‘You think?’
    ‘Oh, yes. You can tell how much he likes you.’
    ‘Really?’ I ask hopefully.
    ‘Don’t worry, I mean platonically.’ She laughs.
    ‘Oh, of course.’ I join her in the ridiculousness of it all.
     
    The next day we’ve got the dreaded shoe-shopping trip, and even though I’ve been warned, I can’t wait to meet Andie.
    My excitement is short-lived.
    ‘No, I don’t like those ones!’ Andie is squealing at Molly and throwing down the twelfth pair of children’s shoes she’s tried on that afternoon. The sales assistant shakes her head in mild disgust.
    ‘I told you, I want to go to the zoo !’
    ‘Well, you’re not going to the zoo until we’ve found you some shoes!’ Molly replies in utter frustration. She turns to me. ‘I am never having kids.’
    I grin. ‘You say that now…Look, these ones are pretty.’ I pick up a sparkly pink pair.
    ‘No, they’ve got to be white or silver, Lucy.’
    ‘I want these ones!’ Andie screams.
    I look at Molly and mouth ‘Sorry.’
    ‘Well, you can’t have those ones!’ Molly snaps.
    ‘But I want these ones!’ she cries.
    ‘Oh, for fu— pity’s sake.’
    Fifteen minutes later a jubilant Andie skips out of the shoe shop wearing bright pink sparkly shoes. She has refused to put her old ones on again.
    ‘Zoo!’ she screams happily.
    ‘No, we’ve got to get Lucy’s shoes first.’
    ‘Zoo!’ she shouts. ‘Zoo, zoo, ZOO!’
    People on the street are starting to stare. Molly gets out her mobile phone and speed-dials a number.
    ‘Mum, can you come and take her? She’s driving me nuts.’
    A pause.
    ‘No, we haven’t even got Lucy’s shoes yet.’
    Pause.
    ‘No, I’m not doing this, Mum! She’s being a brat!’
    Pause.
    ‘She wants to go to the frickin’ zoo!’
    Pause.
    ‘Frickin’ isn’t a swear word, Mum. You’re getting confused with fuck.’
    Ten minutes later Molly’s mum turns up and bundles Andie into the back of the car.
    ‘Are you taking me to the zoo, Mummy?’ we hear her say through the open window as the car drives off. I start to laugh.
    ‘It’s not bloody funny. My mum lets her get away with everything.’
    ‘Come on,’ I tell her. ‘You need a drink. Hell, I need a drink. We’ll get my shoes after that.’

Chapter 8
    ‘Did you know that the Giant Cuttlefish has green blood, three hearts, tentacles and the ability to change colour and shape?’ I ask Molly and Sam the following evening at dinner. I keep remembering these titbits of information from my day with Nathan at Oceanworld.
    ‘I had no idea,’ Sam says, amused. We’re eating fresh prawns out on the porch.
    The aquarium was phenomenal. A massive circular tank surrounds you as though you’re in a bubble, with enormous stingrays hovering above