Page 55 of The Spark
Lara was dating someone. Sam. She’d met him over the summer, while she was interning. He was a few years older, worked in prosthetics for film and TV. Maybe she’d been hoping to make a good contact, or maybe she liked him because they had stuff in common. Perhaps a little of both. They’d been out a few times. Nothing serious yet, as far as I knew – although it was the most dates she’d ever had with one guy. So maybe there was something there.
Every time she came back from his place – a house share up on Pottergate – she and I would climb into her bed together with mugs of tea, and she would tell me everything.
That morning, we were listening to Coldplay. Jamie was already on the phone to his mum, reassuring her about God knows what.
‘He doesn’t laugh much,’ Lara said about Sam, wrinkling her nose. ‘Takes himself quite seriously. And he wears T-shirts in bed.’
‘So?’
‘My dad wears T-shirts in bed.’
‘But he’s hot. Sam, I mean,’ I clarified, quickly.
‘I know. It’s quite annoying.’
Next to me, her tumble of blonde hair was splayed like a mermaid’s on the pillow. She is so beautiful, I thought. I hoped Sam thought the same, when he looked at her.
‘Neve, do you ever worry... that you’ve settled down too soon?’
I stared at her, surprised. Lara was almost as close to Jamie as I was. ‘No. What? Why would I?’
She shrugged. ‘I don’t know. Because everyone has flaws? Even Saint Jamie.’
I rolled my eyes. ‘I never said he’s perfect.’
‘But that’s what you think.’
‘No, I don’t.’
‘Okay. Name one . . . imperfect thing about him.’
I had to think really hard before deciding that maybe, sometimes, Jamie could be a tiny bit stubborn. Like when he knew he wouldn’t enjoy a certain TV show before he’d even seen it. Or refused to ever get Indian takeaway because of one bad experience with a too-hot jalfrezi.
‘I’m waiting,’ Lara said.
‘Okay. Maybe sometimes he... can be a bit stubborn.’
She rolled her eyes. ‘That’s not an imperfection. That’s a superpower. Take it from me.’
‘Being stubborn is your fatal flaw, and you know it.’
‘Anyway. That’s it? That’s seriously the worst thing you can think of?’
‘You asked me to name an imperfection, not the worst thing about him.’
Morning was seeping through a crack in the curtains, a slow buttermilk trickle of daylight.
She sipped her tea. ‘Okay then. What’s the worst thing about him?’
‘Probably his dad.’ I felt bad, even as I said it. ‘I really can’t stand his dad.’
‘Wow, you two really are off-the-charts scandalous, aren’t you?’
I stick out my tongue. ‘I can’t help it if he’s the best person ever.’
‘Okay, get out of the way. I think I’m going to puke.’
I wondered about that, later. Why I’d let Lara talk me into bad-mouthing Jamie, even though it was really only his dad I’d criticised. Still, when I curled up in bed with him that night, I felt guilt for not being as loyal as I could have been. I could have just said, I can’t think of anything. He’s perfect.