‘Okay, yeah. I will. Are you not going to come?’
‘Nope.’
Rose decided it wasn’t worth pressing her and walked the seven-minute journey through Pippa’s vast mansion back to her room, where Lizzie was passed out in the bed, leaving the futon on the floor for her. Rose buried her body into the sleeping bag without taking off her make-up and closed her eyes.
TWO
The journey back to London took four hours when it should have taken two. Traffic was dreadful, and Fran had to keep stopping to use the toilet. Lizzie was sleeping in the front, her legs stretched out to the dashboard. Rose was in the back, her head leaning against the cool glass of the window. For the first hour, no one really spoke. Rose had only managed a couple of hours of sleep before Jessie rang a literal bell down the hallway to wake everyone up for breakfast. Fran said she slept for an hour.
Over breakfast, Rose learned that a stripper had arrived at around 2 a.m. and that he waved his flaccid penis around in front of Pippa’s face like a helicopter propeller. At some point in the night, Nikki was walking around topless trying to get someone to teach her a dance routine from YouTube. And a lot of people overheard Jamie having a threesome with Emma and Nina, both of whom Rose had forgotten were even there. Apparently this was a major scandal because Nina had a long-term girlfriend and Emma was engaged.
Rose hadn’t told anyone what Johnny had done. She was just relieved not to see him again in the morning.
They were about thirty minutes outside London when Lizzie rose from the dead.
‘How long have I been asleep?’ she said turning to Fran.
‘Just the entire sodding journey.’
‘Oh, sorry. I’m exhausted. Probably from all that shagging,’ she said, winking at Fran, who did not wink back.
‘You slept with someone?’ asked Rose.
Lizzie laughed.
‘I could hear them shagging from my room – that’s why I went to sleep in the bath,’ said Fran. ‘You were absurdly loud. I felt like I was in there with you.’
‘Oh, you should have been. It was fantastic.’
‘Are you going to see him again?’
‘Doubt it. He left straight after. But he was so complimentary. I have never been with someone like that. Made me feel really hot, you know. I realise how much shit I put up with from men who make me feel like an oompa loompa.’
‘What did he say?’
‘Just that he’d been staring at me all night. That he knew he wanted me the second he saw me. That he wanted to put his tongue all over my body.’ She made an mmm sound.
Fran let out a weak laugh.
‘This was Johnny?’ asked Rose.
Lizzie and Fran were both laughing now.
‘Yes, Johnny,’ replied Lizzie, rolling her eyes as she turned to face Rose. ‘Obviously.’
Fran dropped Rose off outside Archway station. ‘You good from here?’ she said so flatly it was more of a statement than a question.
‘Yep, thanks, Fran. Really. Bye, guys.’
‘Bye, Rose, lovely to see you!’ chirped Lizzie.
Fran stayed silent as Rose lugged herself and her bag out of the car, shutting the door as lightly as she could.
Once on the Tube, Rose slumped into her seat, the heaviness of her body overtaking her. Snippets from the previous evening came to her piece by piece. At every sight of Johnny’s face, she felt his fingers stabbing inside her. She shuffled on her seat until the feeling went away. She wanted to listen to music but couldn’t quite manage to get herself to reach for her headphones. She wanted to read the copy of the Evening Standard that was tucked neatly into the side next to her seat but couldn’t send a signal from her brain to her hands to get it. And when the Tube got to Clapham Common, Rose couldn’t lift her limbs. It was like all the strength in her body that such a motion would require had evaporated. So she stayed seated. Even when the Tube reached Morden, she stayed until it started moving again towards High Barnet.
Rose rode the entire Northern Line that afternoon. Twice.
*
By the time Monday morning rolled around, Rose was grateful. Even when her alarm went off at 6.30 a.m. Even when she dabbed concealer on various parts of her face and it somehow only highlighted the bags under her eyes. Even when her body ached all over as she padded to the bathroom because she’d spent all of yesterday evening lying on the sofa, watching ‘what I eat in a day’ videos on YouTube. It was important to have somewhere she was supposed to be, a place where people were depending on her to show up. Because if it wasn’t for the fact that there was a final planning meeting for the StandFirst launch party today, she probably would have called in sick.
Rose was pouring hot water into the cafètiere when a key sounded in the lock. For a split second, she completely forgot someone else lived in the flat and reached for a kitchen knife.
‘Hello?’ called Luce, surrounded by several Daunt Books totes and M&S bags.
‘Hey!’ Rose called from the kitchen, quickly putting the knife away.
‘How are you then?’ Luce asked robotically, walking to the kitchen.
‘I’m okay, missed you at the hen.’ Rose wrapped her arms around her oldest friend, noticing how much slimmer she felt. ‘How have you been?’
‘Oh yeah, great,’ Luce scoffed.
‘Sorry, I’m in a bit of a rush. Big meeting at work today.’
‘Classic.’
‘What does that mean?’
