Then She Vanishes(26)

There was something different about Dylan tonight, thought Flora, as he approached. He was attempting a smile, despite a tension around his mouth. ‘This is my gypsy girl, Flora,’ he said, putting an arm around her shoulders. ‘And this,’ he indicated Mr Piercings, ‘is Speedy. My mum’s boyfriend.’

‘Hi,’ said Flora, wondering why he had that nickname.

He held out a hand. She noticed his fingernails were yellow and bitten down. Flora took it dutifully, not wanting to appear impolite. Manners. Manners. Manners. Her mother had drilled it into them since they were little. But really Flora wanted to recoil. He was even odder-looking up close, although younger than she’d initially thought. He had a distinctive tattoo on his neck of a green parrot. How could Dylan’s mum fancy this guy? She’d not met her, of course, considering she’d only known Dylan a week and he was living on-site with the other workers at the fair. But he’d shown her a photo of a delicate pretty blonde, with the same dazzling blue eyes as his own. His mum had had him young, he said. She’d only been seventeen, and he’d never known his dad.

‘Nice to meet ya,’ said Speedy. He had a similar accent to Dylan – London, with a hint of West Country. His eyes lingered a little too long on the open neck of her blouse.

Dylan, as if noticing, pulled her closer to him. ‘Anyway, Speedy just popped in to say hi. He’s off home now. Say hi to Mum for me.’

Speedy grinned in response. ‘Yep, that’s right. I’m going. But I’ll bring your mum next week. It’s been a while since she’s seen you. Think about what I said, though, yeah?’

‘Yeah,’ said Dylan, his jaw set.

‘Great.’ Speedy smirked at Flora, then at Dylan, before turning around and walking off.

Dylan didn’t say anything for a few moments, watching Speedy weave his way through the crowds. It wasn’t until he’d disappeared that Dylan turned to her. ‘Sorry about that. He’s a bit of a prat.’

‘He’s your stepdad?’ Flora said, unable to believe it.

‘Not stepdad. My mum’s boyfriend. It won’t last five minutes. He’s all right, really.’

‘You just said he was a prat.’

Dylan grinned. ‘He’s all right … for a prat. But he’s harmless. And he’s good to Mum.’

Something didn’t feel right but Flora couldn’t put her finger on it. She wasn’t used to boys, but she felt he was hiding something from her.

‘Is he local? I thought you said your mum lived in Swindon.’

He shrugged. ‘She does. And he lives with her. For now. He came to give me this.’ His eyes lit up as he disentangled himself from her and retrieved something from his jeans pocket. Then he held it flat against his palm as though it was diamonds. It looked like a bag of herbs to her.

‘What is it?’

‘Pot.’

She frowned. ‘Pot? As in …’

‘As in weed. Grass. Skunk. Whatever you want to call it.’ He folded his fingers around it and slipped it back into his pocket.

Flora gasped. ‘Shit, Dylan. Drugs.’

‘Sssh,’ he hissed, looking wildly around him as though expecting the police to be lurking at the coconut stall. ‘I was hoping you’d smoke some with me.’

Flora stared at her feet. Drugs. She didn’t even smoke cigarettes. She realized how provincial and out of her depth she really was. Despite the heat, she suddenly felt cold. ‘I don’t know …’

‘I thought you were cool.’ He sounded disappointed. ‘But maybe you’re too young for me, after all.’

Her head shot up. She couldn’t let him think that. She’d let him touch her in places she’d never been touched. She hadn’t known her body could respond to someone like that, hadn’t known she could desire someone so much. She wanted him to be her first. If he dumped her now she wouldn’t be able to live, to breathe, without him. He occupied her every thought. It was like she was possessed.

She jutted out her chin defiantly. ‘I’m not too young.’

His eyes lit up. ‘So you’ll smoke it with me.’

She nodded. Of course she would.

Heather waited by the candyfloss stall, as they’d agreed. Jess said she’d stay with her until Flora arrived. Jess didn’t have a curfew and thought nothing of walking back through the fields to her cottage alone in the dark. Heather admired her friend’s guts, but couldn’t understand why she was allowed so much freedom – she herself would hate it. Sometimes she wondered if, deep down, Jess hated it, too. She seemed lonely at home, and was spending more and more time with them.

They’d had a fun evening and, before long, Jess had made Heather forget about Flora and Dylan. She brought Heather out of herself, made her remember she was just a fourteen-year-old girl and that she wasn’t responsible for everyone and everything.

That’s what Heather had first liked about Jess when they’d met in the art class. She’d been honoured that this popular, funny girl had wanted to be friends with her. She knew everyone else in their year thought her weird, with her Goth tendencies, but Jess didn’t. Jess made her feel normal. Jess made the darkness in her mind disappear, at least for a while. And they’d had fun tonight, gossiping and singing along to ‘Baby, I Love Your Way’ by Big Mountain while attempting to win a teddy at the shooting stall. Heather had won a prize, of course. She was an expert with a gun. It was a big fluffy chick and she’d given it to a delighted Jess. Her friend held it under her arm now and Heather felt a stab of fondness for her and her love of anything cuddly.