Before I Saw You(53)

‘OK, I will say no more.’

‘Thank you.’ She hoped he could hear the apology in her voice.

‘So, fancy another round?’

‘NO!’

‘OK … your call.’ His voice was still thick with glee.

Alice, Alice, Alice. What the hell is going on with you?

Thankfully he had the grace to let her cool down a bit and regain some composure before he moved on to the next item on the list. Much to Alice’s dismay it was, in fact, reading out loud.

‘Now, you’re lucky that my mum brought in the entire series for me just last week. Otherwise we’d be stuck with Mr Peterson’s Daily Mail to read from.’

‘Really?’ They were only thirty seconds into chapter one, page one, before she cut him off.

‘Sorry, is there something the matter?’

‘Firstly, you’re expecting us to actually read out loud to each other?’

‘Correct. And secondly?’

‘You’re going to read me Harry Potter?’

‘Correct. Have you read it before?’

‘No, because I’m not seven years old.’ She smiled; she felt rather smug about that comeback.

‘Well, you’re about to experience one of the greatest works of fiction ever written then. And you can thank me later. Imagination doesn’t have to stop at seven, you know. Grown-ups can be fun too.’

Touché.

‘Fine.’ She sighed. ‘Go on.’

And so he did, with intense enthusiasm. Every character was given their own individual voice, there were dramatic pauses left, right and centre, plus he even adopted a very good Stephen Fry-like narrator’s voice. She soon realized there was no stopping him and so she lay back, closed her eyes, and brought his words to life in her mind. How lucky those kids were to have someone like him as their teacher, she thought. How lucky she was to know him.

‘So, what do you think, Miss A? Did your old-woman brain manage to enjoy it?’

‘The jury’s out, I’m afraid. I’ll have to hear more.’

Loath as she was to say it, three chapters in and she was hooked.

‘What a lame excuse to get me to read to you again. Don’t you worry, I see right through you.’

She had to laugh.

‘Shall I continue?’

‘If you have to …’

‘Ah look, lunch is coming now. What a shame, you’ll just have to wait until tomorrow.’

She could picture the Cheshire cat grin across his face. ‘You’re a tease, Alfie Mack. You know that, don’t you?’

‘But you wouldn’t have me any other way.’

‘Gosh, aren’t you two so cute!’

‘Sarah!’ Alice must have been on a different planet because she didn’t even hear her friend approach. She nearly jumped out of her skin when she saw Sarah’s head pop round the curtain. ‘Where the hell did you come from?’

‘Well, I walked through the entrance, turned left and then followed the corridor, and BAM: here I am.’

‘You’re so ANNOYING!’ She threw a pillow at her friend but missed, which only made her more frustrated.

‘Sorry, my love. Maybe Alfie’s childish behaviour is contagious.’

‘Hey, why the hell am I being brought into this? I’m just an innocent bystander,’ he called out from beside her.

They looked at each other, rolled their eyes and laughed. Sarah took up her usual position lying next to Alice in the bed.

‘You can’t stay mad at me for long, especially when I’ve brought you … pain au chocolat!’ Sarah held out a warm paper bag of sweet-smelling pastries. One sure-fire way to melt any of Alice’s negative emotion was to hand her something buttery and full of sugar.

‘God, you know me too well. I love you. Hand them over.’

Sarah leant in and kissed her on the head. ‘I love you too.’

Alice took the bag, and in less than one second had already stuffed half the pastry in her mouth.

‘You’re actually quite lucky you can’t see this, Alfie. Let’s just say Alice is a bit of an animal when it comes to eating.’

Alice, too distracted by the heavenly sensation of warm flaky pastry and oozing chocolate inside her mouth to care, half-heartedly nudged her friend in the ribs.

‘She must be enjoying it to be so silent,’ Alfie remarked.

‘So, what have you kids been up to today?’ Sarah asked.

‘Well, I’m so glad you asked, actually …’

He wouldn’t dare tell her.

‘Alice and I have been testing out my new schedule!’

‘Ooh, is that what this thing is?’ Sarah reached over to the curtain and pulled down the piece of paper. ‘Very good work, Chief Entertainment Officer – this looks like an incredibly detailed and full-on schedule! How was it? Did you learn anything new about each other?’

Alice realized she’d stopped chewing her pastry.

‘I certainly learnt a lot about Alice …’

NO.

Please, Alfie, don’t be a dickhead.

‘… mainly that she has an extremely limited knowledge of food and isn’t too seasoned in how to have fun.’

She didn’t even care that he’d insulted her; she was simply grateful that he hadn’t revealed her ridiculous answer to that ridiculous question.