I Was Born for This(24)

‘Who was that you were hanging out with, then?’ says Mac, after I’ve sat down opposite him with a fresh glass of J2O. He appears to be on at least his third beer.

He looks a little bit lonely, sitting in a booth by himself, and I kind of feel sorry for him.

‘I dunno. Some girl I just met.’

‘You just met her? Looked like you were BFFs.’

I shrugged. ‘We got along, I guess.’

There’s an awkward pause.

‘Well, I didn’t realise you were some sort of fandom celebrity,’ he says with the fakest smile I’ve ever seen.

I laugh at him. ‘That’s a massive overstatement.’

He raises an eyebrow. ‘You joking? Literally everyone here knows who you are. People keep coming up to you to take selfies.’

I shrug. ‘It’s just the internet.’

‘Just the internet.’ Mac laughs. ‘Sometimes I think the internet is more real than the real world.’

I realise suddenly that Mac is not in a good mood.

What a shame.

‘Where’s Juliet got to?’ I ask. ‘You not hanging with her?’

The mention of Juliet seems to marginally cheer him up. ‘Yeah! Yeah, she’s just gone to the loo.’

‘Ah.’

There’s a pause.

I stare at him across the booth, trying to suss him out.

‘I haven’t met many people like you who like The Ark,’ I say, taking a sip of J2O.

He looks back at me. ‘No?’

‘Nah.’ I narrow my eyes. ‘How’d you get into them?’

‘Oh wow, I don’t know. Found them on YouTube?’ He taps his near-empty glass with one finger. ‘Can’t remember now.’

‘I’m surprised,’ I say. ‘The Ark don’t really seem like your style.’

‘Well, I like all kinds of music.’

‘True,’ I say. ‘You’re not really super involved in the fandom, though, are you?’

‘Well … no, I guess not. I really like their music, though.’ He takes a swig of beer and looks away from me.

There’s a pause.

‘Looking forward to seeing them this week?’ I ask.

He nods. It’s not nearly as enthusiastic as it should be. ‘Yeah, definitely.’

I put my elbow on the table and lean on one hand. ‘What songs are you looking forward to?’

He laughs. ‘What is this, a questionnaire?’

I smile. ‘Just being friendly, my guy. We haven’t talked much today.’

‘All right. Well, “Joan of Arc”, obviously. “Magic 18” and “A Place Like This” are two of my favourites.’

‘Hm.’ ‘Magic 18’ and ‘A Place Like This’ are also two of The Ark’s biggest hits. Most people know those songs off the radio. ‘I’m kind of hoping they play “The 2nd Person”, you know, off the Kill It EP? Or anything from the Kill It EP. I know it came out, like, three years ago, but, you know. There’s always hope.’

Mac stares at me and nods. ‘Yeah, definitely.’ He looks dead behind the eyes. He has no idea what the Kill It EP is.

And that’s the moment that I realise.

That’s the moment I realise he doesn’t actually like The Ark.

He’s been faking it this whole time just to get Juliet to like him.

I smile at him. ‘You really like Juliet, don’t you?’

He sits up in his seat like a zombie rising from the grave. ‘What?!’

‘Dude,’ I say, then narrow my eyes. ‘Come on, my man. Come on.’

‘What?’

‘Juliet.’

‘What?’

‘You shouldn’t pretend to have interests just to impress a girl. She’ll find out the truth eventually. Not worth it.’

‘What?’

‘You don’t have to lie to me!’ I lean forward. ‘I’m Angel. I’m cool. You can trust me. You don’t have to force yourself to like The Ark if you don’t. I’m not gonna judge you. I’d rather you were just honest with me.’

He stares at me for a long moment.

And then he says, ‘Please don’t tell her.’

By eleven o’clock, everyone apart from me is drunk.

Can’t say I didn’t expect it. We’re a group of young people, aged from fifteen to twenty-nine according to the people I’ve spoken to tonight, and we’re at a pub. Cue drinking.

Time to get out of here.

I escape the group of people I’ve found myself in with a hearty, ‘Gotta pee, be right back,’ and start hunting around for Mac and Juliet. They’ll probably want to go home by now. Since I forced him to admit he’s not an Ark fan, Mac seems to be having the worst time in the world. I keep spotting him in the crowd. He looks grumpy as fuck. And I’ve barely seen Juliet – just a few quick glints of ginger hair here and there.

I wander around Spoon’s, pushing through the crowds of what has now become groups of girls and lads getting ready for a night out, or old drunk men drowning their sorrows in beer and football. I circle the whole of the first floor, then have a look upstairs as well, but can’t see Mac or Juliet anywhere.

I stand in the entranceway and call Juliet while the Spoon’s bouncer stares at me like I’m doing something highly suspicious. But Juliet doesn’t pick up.