Page 36 of Plot Twist

‘Great.’ Riley smiled, his shoulders relaxing. ‘We’re not meeting anyone. I just thought you could do with a proper night out in Rathcliffe, while you’re here. There are two pubs, so it’ll take all of twenty minutes. You’ve barely been out apart from walking to and from nursery.’

‘That’s not true; I also go to the coffee shop,’ I protested.

‘Come on then, get ready,’ he urged, grinning.

‘What, no hoodie and pyjama bottoms allowed?’ I joked, looking down at my comfy trousers.

‘Whatever you like.’ He shrugged, as though he couldn’t care less what I wore.

As good as Riley looked, this was obviously not hot date territory. I’d guilted him into taking me out because he felt sorry for me always hanging around with nothing to do. It wasn’t like the date night he had lined up for the lovely Eimear, I could bet.

‘OK,’ I called, as he left the room to let me get changed. ‘I’ll be ready in a minute!’

And even though it was another one of Riley’s pity invites, I was looking forward to going out.

I didn’t want him to think I was one of those girls who took forever and a day to get ready. I wanted to emerge after five minutes looking utterly fabulous in an I-woke-up-like-this kind of way. Obviously (and unfortunately) he knew what I looked like first thing in the morning. But this was a chance to show him what I was made of. Or could be. In ten minutes or less.

It was a bloody tall order.

He was wearing his ‘out out’ shirt, so I had to find something fancy enough to pass for a night out but not too over the top– I was in a small town, after all, and didn’t want to be the talk of it. I flicked on my hair straighteners to heat up and flung my suitcase open, riffling through it. Had I even brought something suitable for a night out? I remembered packing my shortest skirt and heels when I’d been pissed and promptly removing them as the hangover kicked in. Aha! But I had replaced them with black skinny jeans, a long-sleeved cream blouse with jazzy gold buttons up the front and on the cuffs and a pair of sparkly heels. I pulled my hoodie over my head and started my transformation. Tugging at my hair, I willed it to straighten quickly, and then patted and prodded my face with make-up, finishing with a healthy dose of mascara and red lipstick, hoping I looked vampy rather than trampy.

Glancing out of the window at the early evening sky in Rathcliffe, I saw that the clouds were heavy and threatening rain, so once I was ready, I grabbed my jacket and sprayed on some perfume, throwing a dazzling smile to the mirror to see how my lippy looked.

I checked my phone. My look had been achieved in around twelve minutes, but as I surveyed myself, I was fairly content. It looked more of a fifteen-minute makeover, so that was something.

I stepped out into the hallway, where Riley was scrolling through his phone. He looked up at me. I’d hoped for his eyes to enlarge and pop out of his head, like a cartoon, but instead he just grinned.

‘I’ll be fighting the lads off with a stick when they see you tonight.’

Translation: I’m not interested, but other folk might be, I suppose.

‘I can fight them off myself,’ I quipped, breezing past him.

It was time to show Riley my confident side. I wasfunny. Or I had been fucking funny, at some point, I just couldn’t quite remember how. Those conversations Riley and I used to have on messages had been funny. I’d made him laugh, I was sure of it. Tonight, I was determined to show Riley I could still be the me that had made him invite me here in the first place. I was more than just the zombie lady wandering around his house in various colours of hoodies.

I was going to sparkle again. I could do this.

‘So a night out on the tiles in the bright lights of Rathcliffe,’ I teased as we wandered up the road.

It wasn’t my best line, but it was a start.

It was drizzling with rain as we left Bellinder Cottage. Riley whistled as we wandered along, waving every so often to cars that passed us. Everyone seemed to know Riley. I wondered how much he’d told them about me, his crazy house guest.

‘Think you can handle it?’ he asked. ‘You big city girls probably have your pick of bars but this one is the best, I promise you. Not sure you’ll be able to hack the country drinking though.’

‘Is that a challenge?’ I asked, raising an eyebrow.

He glanced at me. ‘Would you accept it if it was?’

‘Pretty sure I could drink you under the table, Riley O’Connell.’ I nodded confidently. ‘I’m always the last girl standing on any night out.’

‘Is that so?’ he asked. ‘You should really put your money where your mouth is then.’

‘Bring it on,’ I replied. ‘I bet you’ll be on your back before I am.’

Riley cocked his head to the side and grinned. ‘Promises, promises.’

‘Oh!’ My hands flew to my face. ‘I didn’t meanthat.’