One Perfect Summer

was in the eyes of the law, anyway, because I was a minor. I don’t want to talk about him anymore,’ she says suddenly. ‘And he wasn’t the only bastard on the block – there were plenty more. I seem to attract them.’
    ‘Jesus,’ I say with sympathy, and then I feel angry. Angry with Jessie. ‘Fucking Weasley!’ I blurt out.
    I’m still fuming the next day when he gets back. He sweeps in, all full of himself.
    ‘CHINA!’ he shouts with glee.
    ‘Hello,’ I say drily. I don’t get up from the kitchen table.
    ‘What’s up?’ He looks confused. ‘Where’s Emily?’
    ‘Upstairs. Probably hiding from you.’
    He drops his bags on the floor – they land with a thump. ‘What? Why?’
    ‘How could you?’ I say crossly. ‘Why didn’t you bloody well ring her?’
    ‘I texted you,’ he says shiftily, then in a slightly accusatory tone: ‘Did she tell you?’
    ‘No. I saw her coming out of your room.’
    ‘Oh.’
    ‘Why do you have to be such a bastard?’
    ‘Hang on,’ he says, coming into the room. ‘It’s not like she rang me, either.’
    ‘She thinks you’ve been shagging your way around Austria.’
    ‘I haven’t,’ he replies firmly. ‘But she only ever lets herself go when she’s had a few and then she’s always weird with me the next morning. I never know how to act or what to think.’
    ‘She’s shy!’ I exclaim. ‘And she doesn’t trust guys easily.’
    Jessie frowns. ‘Why not?’
    ‘You’ll have to ask her that.’
    He glances out through the door in the direction of the stairs.
    ‘Just be honest with her,’ I say gently. ‘If you don’t fancy her, don’t lead her on.’
    ‘Who said I don’t fancy her?’
    ‘Do you?’ My heart lifts. ‘Go and speak to her,’ I plead.
    He nods solemnly and walks out of the room.
    They’re upstairs for almost an hour.
    ‘Where’s Weasley?’ I ask when Emily comes downstairs alone.
    ‘He’s having a shower.’ She tries to keep a straight face.
    ‘Everything okay?’ I ask, grinning at her.
    ‘Yes.’ She nods determinedly. ‘Yeah. Everything’s fine.’

 
    It doesn’t take long for Emily and Jessie’s relationship to blossom, and I’m right there in the thick of it, a witness to the developments. At first they seemed shy and tentative around each other, without the freeing qualities of alcohol to get them by, but they’ve moved on from that stage, and now I can’t walk into the living room without seeing them there on the sofa, their arms and legs intertwined as they watch telly. I’m happy for them – so very happy – but I have taken to spending more of my time at Trinity with Lukas.
    Usually I go home at night because his bed is too small for both of us to sleep comfortably, but one Sunday morning I wake up to find myself in his room. We went to the college bar last night with Harry and Matthew, drank a bit too much and ended up stumbling back here. I open my eyes and realise he’s not beside me. I roll over to see him wide awake and sitting in one of his armchairs, watching me. He smiles a small smile.
    ‘Are you okay?’ I ask. He has a strange expression on his face that I haven’t seen before.
    He nods and comes over to the bed, kneeling down on the floor in front of me. He makes eye contact for a long moment. I’m about to ask him what’s wrong, but he speaks first.
    ‘I love you,’ he says quietly.
    It’s the first time that either of us has said it.
    Our lovemaking that morning is more intense than ever before.
    ‘I don’t want to go back home for Easter,’ he tells me afterwards in a pained voice. ‘I want to stay with you.’ He sounds a touch desperate. ‘Could we go away? Just the two of us?’
    I think for a moment. My parents would like me to go home, but I’m wary after what happened at Christmas, with the way my feelings for Joe intensified and spiralled out of control. My dad went back to work at the end of January and Mum says he’s been a lot better. They came to visit me last month and finally met Lukas – it went well, I think. He’s so polite and respectful that it would be hard for it to go wrong.
    ‘We could do,’ I say hesitantly. ‘But I should speak to my parents first.’
    He nods and pulls me back into his arms.
    In the end, we compromise. I go home for a few days without Lukas while he gets his head into his revision for his forthcoming exams. He does insist on driving me to London himself, and he promises to collect me again on Bank Holiday Monday