I Was Born for This(83)

If she’d come here for Jimmy, she would have dressed up more. Wouldn’t she? I don’t know.

Do I even know Juliet that well?

‘Hi,’ I say.

‘Hi,’ she says, approaching the door, and there’s a slightly awkward moment where I wonder whether we’re going to hug, but she doesn’t offer, and neither do I, so I just step back and let her step inside. She shakes her umbrella before shutting the door behind her. ‘You’re safe, then?’

‘Yep, I’m still alive. Not been murdered.’ I laugh, trying to keep things light. She smiles at me, but doesn’t laugh.

Piero appears out of the kitchen, where he’s assigned himself tea duty. I informed him that my friend was coming just after I asked Jimmy for the address. Piero didn’t seem to mind at all. In fact, he seemed glad of the extra company.

‘You must be Juliet!’ he says. ‘I’m Piero Ricci. Jimmy’s grandad. Cup of tea, my love?’

‘Yes, please,’ says Juliet. She’s very good at remaining composed, but I can see the slight awe in her eyes.

Piero disappears again, and then Jimmy comes out of the living room. He looks ten times more nervous than Juliet.

‘Hi, you must be Juliet?’ he says, the same words as his grandad but a completely different tone.

‘Yes, hi,’ she says in the most composed, eloquent, adult tone I’ve ever heard out of the mouth of someone my age. ‘Thanks so much for letting me come here to make sure Angel’s okay.’

Jimmy seems just as surprised as I am by Juliet’s complete and total composure. ‘No problem.’

‘And … I hope you’re feeling okay?’ she says, asking it as a question.

‘Thank you,’ he says, not really answering. He nods, and then after a pause, he disappears back into the lounge.

Juliet stays very still for a moment, one hand still gripped firmly on to her umbrella.

Then she says, ‘He’s just a normal guy, isn’t he?’

Bliss then appears out of the kitchen. She’s tied her long hair up into a messy bun and I think she might be wearing one of Piero’s cardigans.

Juliet does a comical double take. ‘Y-you’re here too?’

Bliss grins widely. ‘Why, yes, hello, I am here, and I’ve just split up with my boyfriend. I’m single and ready to mingle.’

Rowan shouts ‘Too soon!’ from the kitchen.

I guess they must be all right after all.

The three of us – me, Juliet and Bliss – decide we want to get out of the house for a bit. When Rowan and Lister make an appearance before we go, Juliet greets them like she’s making a connection at a business event. They react similarly to Jimmy. I guess when you have girls screaming at you every single day, meeting someone able to behave normally and politely must come as a surprise.

We decide to walk down to the pub at the end of the road to talk. I was starting to feel like I should at least give Jimmy and the boys some space, even if he didn’t want me to leave for good.

On the walk down, we don’t say anything, even though we’re all sharing Juliet’s umbrella. We crowd in a row of three on the pavement, avoiding the stream that’s running down the middle of the road.

The pub is a quaint, cottage-like building with very few people inside and it feels dim and empty. We order soft drinks from the bartender – a glass of milk for Bliss, a lemonade for Juliet and a J2O for me – and then go and sit in a corner booth. The rain outside drowns out the voices of anyone else in the building. Juliet keeps tucking and untucking her hair from behind her ear.

There’s a lot we need to talk about.

Juliet’s voice from Thursday night still rings in my ears.

How are you going to go through your life loving nothing as much as you love a boy band?

She was right about that of course.

I don’t love anything as much as I love them. Even myself.

And I guess Juliet doesn’t feel the same. I guess she always had larger things going on in her life. Maybe The Ark was an escape for her, like it was for me. But maybe, ultimately, she’s strong enough not to make them her everything.

‘Well then,’ says Bliss. ‘Man. Yikes. Jeepers. Am I right?’

This does actually make me snort out a laugh. Even Juliet smiles.

‘What’s been going on with you two?’ asks Bliss. She points between us. ‘I’m sensing some tension.’

When neither of us answers, she points at Juliet. ‘Posh girl. Did you dump the fuckboy?’

Juliet chuckles. ‘Erm, yes.’ She glances at me. ‘He went home pretty soon after he got back from the station. We might still talk, but … nothing more than that, I don’t think.’

‘Good, good. Excellent.’ Bliss points at me. ‘Cool girl. How did you meet Jimmy?’

It’s a long story but Juliet doesn’t know it either, so I tell it to both of them. The mob at the meet-up, being trapped with Jimmy in the bathroom, looking after his knife for him, giving it back to him at St Pancras, and him begging me to help him get home.

It feels like it all happened to somebody else. Not boring old me.

‘Bloody hell,’ says Bliss when I’ve finished. Juliet sits silently, a little open-mouthed. ‘I’m gonna need another glass of milk.’

She gets up and wanders over to the bar, leaving Juliet and me alone.