Beautiful Broken Things(Beautiful Broken Things #1)(9)
‘What do you feel like?’
‘Jeans.’ Rosie said, as I’d known she would. She took a pair from the wardrobe shelf and shook them out. ‘Turn around, Suze. And just don’t look, Cads.’
Suzanne turned away obediently, met my gaze and made a ridiculous face. Despite myself, I laughed.
‘You better not be laughing at me,’ Rosie said over her shoulder. ‘OK. What do you think?’ She spread out her arms and leaned slightly so I could see the full outfit. Suzanne turned back around.
‘Perfect,’ she said, smiling.
Rosie looked at me hopefully. I gave her a thumbs up. ‘Great!’ She looked relieved. ‘I’m going to get shoes. Be right back.’
When she was gone, Suzanne sat carefully down on the bed next to me and took a slice of pizza. ‘What are you going to do tonight?’
Nothing. ‘I’m not sure,’ I hedged, trying to think of an answer that wasn’t pathetic. Oh God, maybe I should just go. Maybe it would be better this time, now I was sixteen. Maybe . . . an image came into my head of me trailing awkwardly after Rosie, except this time she was giggling and talking to Suzanne, who was not trailing after anyone and was definitely not awkward. God, no. It wouldn’t be better. It would be even worse.
‘You should come next time. When you don’t have your Service thing the next day.’ Her face was open and friendly, but I felt a surge of annoyance. Why did she get to be the one inviting me places? Shouldn’t it be the other way around?
‘I definitely will,’ I lied.
She smiled at me, but a jolt of paranoia stopped me smiling back. Had Rosie told her I didn’t like parties? Was she pitying me? Or worse, secretly laughing at me? Before I could say anything else, Rosie came back into the room, carrying a pair of glittery silver flats. ‘Do you think I should straighten my hair?’
‘No,’ I said. Rosie’s small, bird-like face needed all the volume it could get. When she straightened her curls it made her head look even smaller.
‘It looks nice wavy,’ Suzanne said. ‘Do you have any mousse?’
‘Mum might,’ Rosie said thoughtfully, fluffing up her hair in the mirror.
The two of them began an animated conversation about hairstyles and I zoned out, watching my best friend talk. Rosie was twirling a few dark strands around in her fingers speculatively and it occurred to me that the two of us rarely had conversations like this. Maybe she’d been missing it.
By the time they were ready to leave, Suzanne had put Rosie’s hair up into an elaborate plaited bun and done her make-up, transforming her into a completely different person. If she could work that kind of magic on me, maybe she was worth having around.
Later Rosie’s mother drove the three of us first to my house to drop me off. She kept catching my eye in the rear-view mirror and smiling as Rosie and Suzanne giggled beside me, as if she could see right into my head.
‘I’ll talk to you tomorrow?’ Rosie said to me as we pulled up at my house.
‘Sure,’ I said. ‘Have fun!’
‘You have fun too,’ she grinned at me, her voice teasing.
‘Ha ha,’ I said, shutting the door.
Before they’d even driven away, Rosie had already turned back to Suzanne and they were both laughing. I looked at my house, sighed and headed in for a fun night alone.
22.47: CADNAM OH MY GOD
22.49: What?
22.52: WHAT????
22.57: I LOVE YOU!!
22.59: OK. I love you too.
23.01: xxxxxxxxxxx
23.29: Suze thinnks you dont like herr
23.31: Of course I like her
23.32: Thats what i said!!!
00.19: Ommmggghh im a bit drunk
00.22: Yes you are.
00.36: shit mums comin and i cant find suze.
00.38: do u kno where she iss?
00.39: No
00.48: in the car goin home. found suze. SLEEPY.
00.50: Night night, talk to you tomorrow x
00.53: NIGHT x
When I woke up in the morning, I had five missed calls and three voicemails. Snuggling deeper into my pillow, I put my phone to my ear to listen.
‘Caddddyyyy! Oh my God, why is your phone on silent, you LOSER? We want to talk to youuu! WAKE UP.’
‘HI, it’s Suze. Rosie says wake up, wake up. HEY – maybe she’s waking up right now and she can’t call us back ’cause we’re on the phone. Maybe we should—’
‘It’s us again!’ Rosie’s voice. ‘We are just saying, “HELLO, SLEEPY,” and “GOOD MORNING” for when you wake up! LOVE YOU, night night night!’
I looked at my screen again after I’d finished listening. Just gone 9 a.m. I was pretty sure they’d both still be sleeping, but I rang Rosie anyway.
When it clicked through to voicemail, I put on my loudest, brightest voice. ‘Good MORNING. How is your HEAD? Hope you had fun! Call me later. And I love you too, even when you’re a drunken moron.’
At half past ten I arrived at Pathways, the assisted-living facility I’d never even heard of before I got it as my Service assignment for the term. I spent most of my morning making tea for the real members of staff and watching the news. I left at lunchtime, my Service timetable dutifully signed by the manager, who didn’t even know my name, and headed home, pulling out my phone and calling Rosie, who picked up on the second ring.