Page 5 of When Sparks Fly

My eyes widen for a second before I quickly withdraw my reaction. Tim was my boyfriend, briefly, when I was in Year 11. It’s really not a big deal, is it? The fact that she’s pointing it out makes it seem like it is.

‘It’s fine, Mel. Everyone moves on,’ I insist, hoping I sound convincing.

Mel smiles, clearly relieved.

‘Good, because Angie is here,’ she blurts. ‘I thought it’d be good for the three of us to hang out. Imagine, being part of a fun little trio – sort of like the Sex and the City girls, just without the boring one.’

I’ve seen that TV show and I would really love to know which one she considers the boring one.

As Mel waves at the window, I turn around and see Angie standing outside. She’s wearing a camel-coloured trench coat and a comically large hat that looks like it might take off in the breeze. Mel gives her a wave, gesturing for her to join us, so Angie comes running in.

You know how at school you have different types of girls – the cool one, the pretty one, the smart one, the one that’s good at sports. Yeah, well, Angie was every single one of them at our school. I used to be jealous of her, to secretly wish that I looked more like her – and it’s strange, because obviously she is still attractive, but she just looks like any other woman on the street. In fact, she looks exactly like I remember her mum looking, back when we were kids.

Angie envelops me in a hug, something I wasn’t expecting, although that very much seems to be the theme of the day.

‘Lia, it’s been ages!’ she says as she holds me close.

‘Yeah, it really has,’ I say, managing a smile. So long, in fact, that Angie seems to have had a personality transplant.

‘I invited Lia out with us tonight,’ Mel tells her. ‘We’re thinking of going to the Ghost for a drink or five.’

Angie’s face lights up.

‘That’s perfect!’ Angie says. ‘Tim is working tonight – Lia, you remember Tim. He works at the Ghost with Eric – and my mum has the kids tonight so I’m free as a bird.’

Does everyone have kids and then dump them on their own parents, I wonder?

I open my mouth to make an excuse, but nothing comes quickly enough.

‘Come on, Lia, we’re all adults now, it’s about time we made friends,’ Angie says, her tone leaving no room for argument.

I would have been her friend, back at school, if she hadn’t been such a cow.

‘Okay,’ I agree reluctantly – well, what else can I say?

Mel stands up.

‘Fab. I’ll grab you a maple latte and a slice of toffee apple loaf cake, Angie. Be right back.’

Now it is just me and Angie. I smile at her, trying to think of something to say, but Angie beats me to it.

‘Lia, just a friendly reminder – Tim is mine now. Hands off,’ she says, laughing it off as a joke, but there is a glint in her eye that clearly suggests otherwise.

Okay, I take it back, perhaps we’re not all grown-ups now. This is going to be fun.

4

‘I think we need to talk about… contraception,’ Mum says in a strange semi-whisper.

‘Hilarious,’ Rory says as he just happens to be passing my open bedroom door at the exact right moment – or the wrong moment, if you ask me.

‘Don’t you have your own home to go to?’ I snap.

‘Yeah, don’t you?’ he claps back, laughing to himself.

It’s weird, with Rory being so much older than me, because when we were younger I think he just saw me as this annoying little kid that was always cramping his style. It’s only now that we’re adults, and our age gap doesn’t seem so vast, that he’s taken on the more traditional sibling role of winding me up at every opportunity. Being so much younger, and my parents being older when they had me, it’s wild but people don’t hesitate to semi-jokily ask my parents – or me – if I was an accident. My dad never hesitates in saying yes and, whether he’s joking or not, Rory uses this fun fact when he’s teasing me sometimes.

‘Contraception is important, Lia,’ he says in a faux-serious tone. ‘I’m here to collect my kid – who was planned – but one little slip-up and you end up with a… well, a you.’