The Last Party (DC Morgan #1)(103)

Great party!


That should do it. Casual. Not needy.

Seren frowns at the screen. The message hasn’t been delivered. That’s never happened before. Next to her, Clemmie bangs Seren’s elbow, shouting, ‘Sorry!’ as she whirls about, doing some kind of Irish dancing.

‘Amazing party, right?’ Mia says, leaning into her to be heard.

Automatically, Seren conceals her champagne glass behind her back. ‘It’s okay.’

‘Is your mam here?’ Mia asks.

‘Mam, at The Shore?’

Yasmin appears, her perfume sickeningly sweet. ‘Seren! Have you seen Tabby and Felicia? I’ve been looking everywhere for them.’

‘I think they’re watching Netflix at Caleb’s.’ That’s where the twins are, Seren knows – they messaged her to tell her to come over.

‘Tell them I need them to make their father eat something.’

‘Um. Okay.’ Seren doesn’t want to go to number four. She wants to stay here, where Rhys can find her. Her face is aching from the effort of smiling and laughing, so that when he notices her, she looks like she’s having a good time, that she isn’t waiting for him.

‘I put a sandwich under clingfilm in the fridge,’ Yasmin is saying. ‘They can give him that. He’s completely off his face, it’s mortifying.’

Seren sighs in resigned acceptance. She walks towards the door, then peels off and fetches herself another drink, then another. Only when Yasmin glares at her across the room does she reluctantly do her bidding.

Tabby and Felicia are sprawled on the sofa in Clemmie’s lodge; Caleb is on the floor, leaning against the coffee table. The TV is on mute and the music is up loud, and all three are on their phones. Empty pizza boxes litter the floor, grease pockmarking the cardboard.

‘Alright?’ Seren says. Tabby and Felicia exchange glances, before fake-smiling hello. They’ve been talking about her. Fuck them, then. Caleb is frowning at his phone, as if he’s in the middle of something important and can’t be interrupted, but Seren knows it’s because of what he said earlier. The stupid thing is, she really likes Caleb. It’s just that he’s still a boy. Girls mature faster than boys, everyone knows that, so it’s not weird to fancy someone older. Not really.

Seren delivers Yasmin’s message.

‘Fuck that.’ Felicia doesn’t hesitate.

‘He has to eat.’ Tabby looks torn. ‘Mum says he’s wrecked, it’s going to be really embarrassing if he, like, voms everywhere, or something.’

‘Not after what he did,’ Felicia says.

Seren’s confused. ‘What did he do?’

The girls look at each other. Felicia shrugs an if you want.

‘He drugged Felicia,’ Tabby says, eventually. Seren blinks. She looks at Caleb, to see if he’s as shocked as she is, but it’s clear this isn’t news to him. ‘She didn’t sleep when she was a baby, so Dad drugged her every night and didn’t tell Mum, and now she’s found out and she’s gone batshit crazy.’

Seren shakes her head. ‘That’s insane.’

‘Right?’ Tabby says.

‘I don’t believe it.’

Felicia stares at her. ‘Are you saying we’re lying?’

‘No, but—’

‘Wait.’ Tabby pretends to gag. ‘This is because you’ve got the hots for him, isn’t it?’

‘What?’ Seren tries to force a laugh, but it sounds fake, even to her. ‘God, no. Look, I only came to give you Yasmin’s message. I don’t give a shit about any of this. I’ll give him the sandwich myself if you—’

‘Er, I don’t think so.’ Tabby stands up and extends a hand to pull a reluctant Felicia up, too. ‘We’ll do it.’

The girls leave, and Seren wants to die. Everyone knows she’s dressed up for Rhys, and he hasn’t even noticed her and God, why did she even come? She’s standing awkwardly in Clemmie’s house, and Caleb isn’t even looking at her, just pretending to watch something on his phone.

‘So . . .’ she says, hoping he’ll say something. He doesn’t. ‘Um. What you said earlier. When you . . .’ Her face is on fire and she finishes quickly. ‘Asking me out, I mean. Like, we could. You know, if you want to. Some time.’ It’s pathetic, she knows. Like a dog begging to be stroked.

Caleb stares at her. There’s the briefest flash of something soft, before his face hardens. ‘What are you on about? I didn’t ask you out.’ He gives a short laugh, then goes back to his phone.

Seren can’t get out of there fast enough. She’s breathing fast, close to tears and suddenly aware of how drunk she already is. She stands in the dark, listening to the sounds of the party coming from the Charltons’ lodge. She could walk home now. She could have one of Mam’s hot chocolates and watch shit on TV till midnight.

She chews her lip miserably. There’s shouting coming from further up the drive – Fuck off, you piece of shit – and a burst of laughter and noise as a door opens then closes. Seren pulls herself together and walks back to the party. She jumps as she passes Steffan Edwards, off his face and muttering to himself in the shadows. Everyone’s drunk, now, the party full of sweaty, swaying bodies, pressed tight and shouting above the music. Seren watches from the sidelines, steeling herself.