Page 40 of Ask Another Day

*

Holly sat at the bar in The Dolphin, alone, as the clock behind the bar ticked up to 7:43pm. Thirteen minutes past the time she’d asked him to be here. Thirteen agonising minutes.

Her head shifted to the door as it opened - as it had each time that had happened since she’d been waiting. But each time, it was someone else, anyone but the one person she wanted to see. This time it was Sloane’s face that greeted her from the doorway.

‘He’s not coming, is he?’ Holly asked, already knowing the answer.

Sloane shook her head. ‘No. I’m sorry, Holly.’

‘What did he say?’

Sloane chewed her bottom lip, as if she didn’t want to answer her.

‘Sloane?’

Sloane approached slowly, and pulled up a stool next to Holly, looking down at the bar instead of at her friend. ‘He said he’s never thought of you like that. His exact words were;’ Sloane lowered her voice to imitate Seb, ‘Eugh, she’s like a sister to me.’

‘Eugh? He said eugh? He was disgusted at the idea?’

Holly’s world bottomed out. She wanted to flee, to escape to the cliffs and let the wind take away this onslaught of pain. But in fifteen minutes her friends and family would be stepping through the doors to wish her a happy birthday.

Sloane shrugged. ‘Yeah. It really bothered him you saw him as anything other than a friend.’

Holly could actually feel her heart fracturing. She scrunched her eyes to hold back the tears that threatened. She could feel them, sharp, in the bridge of her nose. But she wouldn’t cry any more on her birthday. She wouldn’t.

‘His loss - yeah?’ Sloane offered.

‘Yeah,’ but Holly couldn’t help but feel she was the one losing out.

‘Vodka?’

If she couldn’t run away, she could drown her sorrows. ‘Definitely.’

One vodka and orange juice later, Holly was feeling a little numb to Seb’s disgust at her feelings for him. When Hannah and Luke had arrived with her parents, she’d brushed off their questions about what had happened, and about where Seb was. Hannah had pulled her aside, and she’d told her it wasn’t a big deal, that he just wasn’t interested. But Hannah knew. She knew him not being interested, let alone not coming to her birthday, was a big deal.

*

As the evening progressed, Holly did her best to push thoughts of Seb away. Sloane had stayed by her side the whole night, and for the first time in such a long time, it felt like she had her friend back. A little after half nine, Sloane slipped away outside. Holly watched her leave.

‘Where’s Sloane?’ her mum said as she sidled up beside her.

‘She popped outside, why?’

‘I thought we could do the cake - I figured you’d want her here for that?’

‘I’ll go and tell her,’ Holly said as she moved towards the door.

She found her outside.

What she saw splintered her fractured heart into tiny jagged shards.

Sloane had Seb up against the wall of the pub. Her arms locked around his neck, her mouth on his. Holly staggered backwards, her voice stolen by the shock of what she was witnessing. Stumbling back into the pub, she found herself in the arms of her brother, and she buried her head into his chest.

‘Holly, what’s wrong?’ Luke said as he tightened his arms around her.

‘I–’ but she couldn’t form words. All she could manage was, ‘Seb,’ before she broke down in tears, dampening his t-shirt as he pulled her in even tighter.

‘He’s an idiot if he doesn’t want you, Holly.’