Lucy in the Sky

grins, but doesn’t say anything. A sharp pain shoots through me.
    I can’t catch Nathan’s eye, and it’s driving me slightly barmy. Why won’t he look at me? I have every intention of being a good girlfriend tonight, paying James lots of attention, but right now I’m distracted. James and Richard are having an animated conversation about rugby which is boring me to tears and Nathan doesn’t seem to be interested, either. Eventually he turns away from them and stares at the big screen where there’s a football match playing. I can’t take it anymore. I leave James’s side–he’s so caught up in his conversation about scrums and who knows what else that he doesn’t even notice.
    ‘I didn’t know you liked football,’ I ask Nathan, for want of something to say.
    ‘I don’t mind it. Better than rugby,’ he says, giving me a sidelong glance as the corner of his mouth curls up in a half smile. ‘You alright?’ he asks.
    ‘Yes, thanks.’ I move around to stand in front of him, forcing him to turn his attention away from the football and onto me. I manage to restrain myself from prodding him in the stomach. He looks down at me, amused, as if reading my thoughts.
    ‘Isn’t he the guy you did that bar launch for?’ he asks, nodding back up to the football. I turn round to the big screen to see Gian Luigi take a penalty. He misses.
    ‘Yeah, that’s him. Well done for remembering.’
    Nathan doesn’t reply, just carries on watching.
    I rack my brain for one of the many jokes I heard weeks ago but never called him about. One comes back to me.
    ‘Hey,’ I say. ‘Two biscuits in a tin. One of them says, “Wheredo you live, then?” And the other replies, “I’m not going to tell you, because you’ll come and steal my washing.’”
    ‘You are such an idiot.’ He chuckles and my heart lifts. I peek over his right shoulder at James. He’s still caught up in his conversation with Richard. I return my gaze to Nathan, whose bluey-grey eyes are watching me, steadily.
    ‘You don’t really fancy Ally, do you?’ I screw up my nose, as though fancying Ally is the last thing anyone on this green earth would ever want to do. He laughs in what seems remarkably like disbelief, and for a worrying moment I think he’s going to refuse to answer my question, but he just shakes his head.
    ‘No, Luce, I don’t fancy—Ah, where have you two been?’
    Eek! That was close. Ally and Billie return after a twenty-minute hiatus.
    ‘On the pull,’ Ally exclaims. ‘No fit men in here.’
    ‘On that note, I think I’ll leave you girls to it,’ Nathan dismisses himself and rejoins James and Richard. My heart sinks as I watch him leave. I shake myself and try to focus on my earlier intentions to be a good girlfriend.
    ‘Where’s Ned?’ I ask the girls, impressed that I remembered his name, at least.
    ‘Gone out with his girlfriend,’ Billie replies.
    ‘So James is your boyfriend, then?’ Ally asks.
    ‘Yes,’ I say, and she gives me a funny look. What does that mean? Does she fancy him? ‘We thought Nathan was,’ she says discreetly, and looks at me meaningfully. Oh…It clicks. They must’ve assumed that when I came downstairs from his bedroom last Saturday. I hope they don’t say as much to James.
    ‘No, we’re just friends from Sydney,’ I tell her, straight-faced, and ignore the mischievous look she gives me.
    ‘So what do you do?’ I turn to Billie.
    I don’t get another chance to speak to Nathan alone. All I want is to go away to a dark corner with him but it’s just not going to happen this evening.
    Though I do my best to be attentive to James, I can’t help but tense up when he wraps his arm around me and pulls me back into him on a few occasions. Each time my eyes dart towards Nathan to clock his reaction, but he seems to be steadfastly evading me.
    James gives me the nod just before eleven so we leave them to it. He shakes the boys’ hands again while I stand there awkwardly and smile my goodbyes. Nathan meets my eyes for a split second but then takes a swig of his beer and heads back to the bar. I try to mask my disappointment at the apparent demise of our familiarity. I should just be feeling enormous relief that James appears to be over his jealousy.
    ‘That was okay, wasn’t it?’ James says, looking across at me from inside the cab I persuaded him to get.
    ‘Do you like him?’ I ask casually.
    ‘Yeah, he’s alright.’ He grins.
    ‘What?’
    ‘You don’t really