Ella sat on Nick’s front step. Lou had already left the salon and Ella didn’t want to go home in case he was on his way back from wherever he’d gone after he’d left her place. But she really couldn’t just sit on his step all evening. She reached behind herself and knocked on the door again – in case one of his housemates had been on the loo or in the shower or otherwise ignoring the door, but … nothing.
‘Shit,’ she muttered. She looked straight down the road ahead, as headlights shone off the shop windows and cars turned into the car park opposite the Premier Inn.
She tried to think where he might go if he left her house and he was upset. He’d turn up Seal Street onto the main road, and then would he have gone to the pub? Paige’s pub, maybe? It was worth a try. Ella stood up, leaning back against the door for a second, and looked both ways. She was sure he’d be home any minute. She could almost see him, walking towards her in his long black coat, his ridiculous hair standing straight up in the wind. It made her heart hurt. She wanted to slide her hands inside his coat, under his shirt, across his warm skin. She wanted to press her face against his chest, the V of dark hairs brushing her cheek. She wanted to kiss his neck and smell behind his ear. She wanted to curl up with him in his bed until they were breathing in sync. She wanted to fall asleep with him and wake up with him and eat breakfast with him and lick melted butter off his fingers and his lips.
She pushed open the door of Paige’s pub and walked round to the far end of the bar before returning to the front door and checking the snug. Which was empty. She should take Nick there. He’d love the snug. If he ever spoke to her again.
She walked back to Nick’s house and knocked again, before heading home.
‘No luck?’ Dylan asked when she got back. He was still in her bedroom, but he had her laptop propped up on a pillow on his lap.
‘Nope. No sign of him. You’d better not be watching porn.’
‘Oh my god!’ Dylan said, turning the laptop round to show her. ‘Netflix.’
‘Gilmore Girls,’ Ella said, sitting next to him. ‘Typical. Why are you still hiding in here?’
‘Remember when we used to watch it with Mum?’ Dylan said. ‘And I’m not hiding.’
Ella tapped the space bar to start the show playing again. ‘Yeah. She so wanted me to be Rory.’
‘Remember when you used to write Jess fanfic?’
‘Shut up,’ Ella said. ‘Or I’ll show you some of the Bang! fanfic Issey told me I should read.’
‘No,’ Dylan said.
‘Yep. She’s a big fan.’
‘Of me and –’
‘Of you and everyone. You’re a bit of a fanfic slut.’
‘I can’t believe I’m getting so much imaginary action. That doesn’t seem fair.’
‘You should read it. Might be the next best thing to actual doing it.’
‘Yeah. No. You haven’t –’
‘Oh my god! God, no. Of course not. Ew.’
They watched a few minutes of Lorelei and Luke bantering in the diner and then Ella said, ‘How come you’re still in here?’
‘I did go out. Talked to Paige a bit? She’s nice.’
‘She is. She’s great.’
‘It just felt weird being in the house without you.’
‘Scared of Issey?’
‘Little bit.’
Ella laughed. ‘She’s lovely, really. She’ll be fine once she’s calmed down.’
‘I don’t know if I’m staying that long.’
Ella rested her head on his shoulder. ‘I kind of don’t want you to go.’
‘I can stay ’til tomorrow, I think.’
‘Yeah? We could get a takeaway and watch a film.’
‘Is that the Real College Experience?’
‘Well, there’s the Fuck It List, but if you’re not up for that …’
‘What the fuck is the Fuck It List?’
Dylan paused Gilmore Girls while Ella told him.
‘Someone with a tattoo,’ Dylan said, tapping the page with his finger.
‘Who?’ Ella asked.
‘Remember that German girl in Majorca?’
‘She had a tattoo?’
‘Butterfly. On her ankle. Don’t think I’ve ever slept with a waiter/waitress …’
‘I used to work in a diner,’ Liane said. ‘Just saying.’
Issey elbowed her and Dylan grinned at them both. They were sitting on the other sofa and so far hadn’t done much other than stare at him. Issey’s cheeks were still flushed, her eyes wide. Plus she’d put on make-up and changed into tight jeans and a loose, low-cut top.
‘Someone off a reality show,’ Dylan read and his cheeks flushed.
‘Ooh!’ Issey leaned forward. ‘Who?’
Dylan glanced sideways at Ella. ‘I can’t really say. Sorry. But they were in a band as well, so I can tick that one off too.’
‘Was it Perrie Edwards?’ Issey said.
Dylan nibbled his bottom lip, looking at Ella again.
‘No point looking at me, mate. I don’t know who you’ve shagged.’ She grinned.
‘I really can’t say,’ Dylan said. ‘I’m in enough trouble as it is.’
‘When you’re already in trouble,’ Paige said, ‘you might as well get into more, that’s what I always say.’
Dylan laughed. ‘You sound like Noah. You know, from the band? Yeah. No. I think it’s more, sort of, baby steps for me.’
‘Goody two-shoes,’ Paige said. ‘Like your sister.’
‘Well brought up!’ Ella argued. ‘Standards! Morals!’
‘You know it says “friend’s brother or sister”?’ Dylan said. ‘What if it was your sister’s friend?’
‘Who?’ Ella shrieked.
‘Standards! Morals!’ Paige mocked, laughing.
‘Jessica Wilkins gave me a hand job at your eighteenth,’ Dylan said.
‘Holy shit,’ Ella said, punching him on the thigh. ‘I knew you weren’t charging her fucking phone.’
‘I mean, I did charge her phone too,’ Dylan said.
‘Ugh,’ Ella said. ‘At my own party. Dirty little bastards.’
‘Someone who doesn’t speak English,’ Dylan said. ‘There was a fan in Amsterdam.’
‘Just one?’ Paige asked. ‘Come on.’
‘No, really!’ Dylan said, sitting up straighter. ‘I don’t like … It’s not the kind of thing …’
‘You don’t sleep with fans?’ Issey asked.
Dylan dipped his head and rubbed the back of his neck. ‘I mean … I have. But usually I’m drunk or … something. And I don’t really remember.’
‘Morals,’ Ella said, sarcastically. ‘Standards.’
‘But I said a while ago I wasn’t going to do that any more. It’s too risky. And it’s just kind of … sad. The other guys in the band …’ He shook his head. ‘I mean, we’re young. And there are opportunities. But it’s not for me.’
‘Any more,’ Paige said.
Dylan glanced at her and smiled. ‘Yeah. No. Not any more.’
‘I always kind of thought you’d be having orgies,’ Issey said.
‘You’ve mixed up fanfic and reality again there, Iz,’ Ella said, rolling her eyes.
‘Definitely no orgies,’ Dylan said.
‘Unless they just don’t invite you,’ Paige suggested.
‘Fuck,’ Dylan said, his eyebrows pulling together in a frown. ‘Maybe they don’t invite me to the orgies. Shit.’