Chapter 6

Chapter Six

Maddy

" D id you get the booze from your dad?" Emma asked as she opened the door to me, excitement shining in her eyes. "You said he'd give them to you from the bar."

I shook my head. "No, you know that I didn't. I told you that he said he wouldn't. That I had to get them some other way, like every other teenager."

Emma groaned quietly, and the look of excitement was replaced with one of irritation as she looked over my shoulder to my dad's rear lights disappearing down her street.

"He won't get us any even if I begged him." I shrugged. "We'll have to go to the shop."

"Oh, like Mr Monroe will let us buy booze. He knows us, Maddy. He knows that we're seventeen. Like he's going to say, ‘Oh hey girls get whatever booze you like. It's on the house.'"

"Now, you're being ridiculous." I put my hand against her chest and pushed her back into the hallway. "We can work something out."

"Like what?" she demanded, putting her hands to her hips. "My mum locked all her booze away. Not that she has that much; she's so boring."

"Not so boring," I offered with a raised brow. "She's letting you have boys to a sleepover."

Emma looked away and scratched the back of her neck while shuffling from one foot to another.

"Emma! Shit, your mum doesn't even know that Zak and Liam are coming over, does she?"

"She'd have said no."

"Yet you still invited them?"

"I did it for you."

"Hah, really? Is that so? The fact that you've got the hots for Liam isn't why you suggested it, then?"

Emma's mouth dropped open, and she blinked slowly. "I do not."

"You liar." I laughed and punched her playfully in the shoulder. "It's about time that you admitted that you're so hot for him I could fry bacon on your stomach."

"As a vegetarian, I find that offensive." She gave a little shudder. "It doesn't matter anyway why I invited them. The point is, they'll be here in thirty minutes, and, like real lame dicks, we have no booze."

"What about Ana and Liv?" I asked. "Aren't they bringing any?"

"No, you and I were booze, and they are pizza and popcorn." She dropped her face to her hands and made a noise like she were in pain. "I may as well have asked my mum to make sandwiches, cake and ice cream."

"Christ," I muttered. "Drama queen much." I dropped my overnight bag to the floor and contemplated our options. "Do you have cash?"

Emma nodded. "About fifteen quid. Why?"

"I have twenty-five, so when Liam and Zak get here, we give Zak the cash and get him to go to the shop. Mr Monroe doesn't know him, and he looks old enough."

"Mr Monroe will still ask him for ID; you know he will," she snapped.

"Well, we obviously can't get it ourselves, so what do you want me to do?" I threw my hands in the air, beyond frustrated with one of my best friends.

"Your dad owns a bar, Madeline."

I gasped and stared at her open mouthed for a few seconds. "You Madeline'd me."

Emma looked suitably apologetic. "I'm sorry, okay, I didn't mean it. I really didn't. I'm so, so sorry."

"Oh, for God's sake, Emma, stop acting like you just killed my pet puppy. Now," I said. "how do you feel about that plan? About asking Zak to go and try and buy us some booze."

She thought about it for a second and then nodded. "Okay. We'll ask Zak."

"No," Zak said a little later as he stood in the doorway, arms folded over his chest. "It isn't happening, love."

"W-what?" I asked, totally distracted by the way his hair, sticking up in all directions after he'd pulled off his blue beanie, looked. It was a mess, but he looked amazing. He smelled amazing.

"I said," he leaned forward, arms still folded and his noses inches from mine, "I won't go and get your booze, love ."

"But why not?" Emma asked, her voice a high-pitched screech of despair. "We don't have any if you don't go and get some." She shoved her hand into the front pocket of her jeans and pulled out some notes, holding them in the air. "I have cash. Maddy has cash, so why not?"

"We can't have a party without booze," Ana said, pushing past Zak into the living room to throw herself down on Emma's mum's pink leather sofa. "I mean, Liv and I kept to our side of the bargain. We brought the food."

"And we brought this." Liam grinned and gave a little bow as he presented himself to us. "And this." He then pointed at Zak, who smiled and showed his straight white teeth. I guess that was the benefit of having a dentist as your mum.

"We did bring something else." Zak unfolded his arms and held out his hand to Liam, who hooked a black rucksack over it. Zak brought it to the front of him and with his eyes on me the whole time, unzipped it and reached inside before producing a couple of bottles of vodka from it. It was like he'd lifted a rabbit out of a hat as we all gasped. "Keep your money, love."

"Yes," Emma screamed. "I think I fucking love you."

The bottles were snatched from Zak's hands, and Emma darted off into the kitchen, with Liv following close behind. Ana sighed, as if bored, and got up from the sofa. When she reached Liam, she placed a hand on his back and pushed him.

"Come on, Wilfred, let's go help with the food and drink."

Liam shook his head and said over his shoulder, "I told you my middle name in secret, Ana," he growled, narrowing his eyes. "Don't ever call me that again. And I haven't forgiven you for telling everyone."

"Whatever."

Once they'd all disappeared, Zak laughed. "She's quite bossy, isn't she?"

"Ana?"

He nodded. "You've all got your place in the gang though."

"We do?" I frowned not sure what he was talking about.

"Ana is the bossy one, Emma is the organiser and Liv is the dramatic one." His denim blue eyes perused me. "I'm trying to make my mind up about you, though, love."

The way he said ‘love' made my heart thud double-time and my stomach flip.

"You are?" I asked, almost in a whisper.

"Oh yeah, I am." He grinned and then turned to follow everyone else into the kitchen.

I was rooted to the spot wondering what the new hot boy at school meant, and once he made his mind up, would he like it?

We were playing Never Have I Ever, and it was a toss-up between who was most drunk, Liv, Ana or Liam. It appeared my friends were a lot wilder than I realised. I had no idea that Liam had even had sex, never mind in a field. I'd barely seen him with a girl. I knew that Ana and Liv weren't virgins, but Liam shocked me. As for Zak, he sat there staring around at the rest of us with a huge shit eating grin, like he was a kid memorising every moment, taking pictures with his mind to flick through later. He listened to everything we said, watched everything we did, and joined in with every note of our laughter.

I'd learned that he'd skinny dipped in the sea, skipped school—or ‘bunked off' as he called it—kissed an older girl, kissed a boy for a dare, and stolen from a shop. The most interesting part, though, was that he sipped his vodka with a stony expression during questions about sex. He was gorgeous, funny, clever, and got me all hot and bothered when he looked at me, so I should have known he wouldn't be a virgin. I was just surprised that I didn't like the idea.

"I'm bored of this game," Emma slurred. "Let's watch a film."

She was also drunk, not because she'd done a load of things, but because she had continued to down vodka like it was going out of fashion.

"Which film?" Liam asked, smiling lazily as he lolled drunkenly.

"No chick lit shit," Ana said, pointing a wavering finger. "I want to watch a horror movie."

"No," Emma protested. "I get scared."

Liam leaned into her. "I'll take care of you. Keep you safe."

Emma blushed and fluttered her eyelashes.

"Horror movie it is then," Ana said with a smirk.

"I need to pee," Liv said and got to unsteady feet.

We all watched as she swayed out of the room.

"She won't come back down," I said as we heard a hiccup from the hallway. "She'll be asleep within five minutes."

"True story." Emma stood up and held herself steady with her palms on the table. "Okay, let's go into the living room and get this film started. And I've decided it's romance we're watching. My house, so my choice."

Decision made, I went over to the sink, deciding that I wasn't a big fan of vodka and wanted a glass of water instead. I assumed Zak had gone into the living room, so almost jumped out of my skin when he came up beside me as I ran the tap for cold water.

"Can you get me one of those, too, please?" he asked, emptying his vodka into the sink and then holding out his glass.

"You not a vodka lover?" I asked, filling his glass first.

"It's okay. I prefer a lager." He looked at my frown. "What? It's refreshing."

"It's awful, that's what it is."

"What about you? What do you prefer?"

"Cider or beer." I filled my glass with cold water and flipped off the tap. "Or water."

"Wow, your dad must be so proud. He owns a bar, but his daughter prefers the soft stuff."

I tilted my head and shrugged. "I do drink, just not vodka. It makes me sick, to be honest. As for Dad, he makes it a rule not to drink before eight at night if he's working, but even then, he limits it to one or two drinks a night."

"Sounds sensible." He leaned back against the cabinet, his long, strong fingers gripping his glass as he took a sip. "My dad says that most of the liver transplants that he does are because of booze."

"He's not just a doctor, then? He's a surgeon?"

"Yeah, he is. A transplant surgeon."

"And your mum's a dentist?"

"Wow, you have been researching me, haven't you?'

I huffed. "My dad told me because Liam's dad told him. My dad and Liam's dad are best friends, which makes me and Liam kind of like cousins I guess."

"Cousins," he repeated, nodding slowly. "Good to know."

I wasn't sure what that meant, but the heat in my blood made me think it might be something important. Something that maybe one day would lead me to taking a shot of vodka in a game of Never Have I Ever.

"You smoke?" he asked, reaching into the back pocket of his jeans and pulling out a packet of cigarettes.

I shook my head. "Never felt the desire."

Another smirk. "You know, Maddy, we should all have desires in life."

"You think?"

"I do. Now," he said, nodding toward the back door, "keep me company outside."

He placed his hand on the door handle and paused, looking back at me. "Do you need a coat? It's cold out there," he said.

"I'm good."

Outside, I felt a slight drizzle against my skin. Nothing too hard, but enough to make my naturally wavy hair frizzy, and I almost ran back inside at the sheer horror of the thought. Zak, though, was already sat on the garden bench, so I approached him as he lit up his cigarette. His cheeks hollowed as he drew on it, holding the smoke in. After a few seconds, he blew it out and patted the seat beside him.

"Come and talk to me," he said. "Tell me what your plans are."

"My plans?" I asked, surprised.

"Yeah. After A-Levels. What are you planning on doing?"

"Uni," I replied. "It's just which one."

"What are the choices?"

Did I have a choice? Was there any better than Lancaster for me that wasn't hours away? The only other one I'd considered was even further away—Edinburgh, not that I had any chance of getting in there.

"Lancaster or Open University."

"Bit different," he said with a laugh.

"I know. My dad is desperate for me to go to Lancaster, but I don't know." I pulled the sleeves of my jumper down over my hands. "It's all a little scary."

"What's scary about it?" Zak took another draw on his cigarette. It was long and hard and then he immediately threw it down and stamped on it. Pushing it into the ground.

"I like my life," I admitted. "And I don't know whether I'm ready to give it up." I shivered against the cold and almost yelped when an arm came around me. Zak pulled me into his side and rubbed my arm. "Erm, thanks."

"No problem. Now carry on telling me why you've got such a difficult decision to make." He stretched his legs out in front of him, crossing them at the ankles. "What is it you want to do for a career?"

"Social work or counselling," I replied without pause. I didn't have to think about it; it was what I'd wanted to do for years, ever since Dad told me his story—how he and my mum had met in a children's home. When he told me he'd have probably gone down the wrong path if it hadn't been for Grandma Powell, I knew that I wanted to help people like him somehow. When Grandma Powell died when I was eleven, there were almost a hundred of the kids she'd fostered at her funeral. It just proved to me that working with kids who needed help was what I wanted to do. "Both are dedicated professions." Zak gave me shoulder a squeeze. "I don't know you very well, but I'll bet you a tenner you'd be good at both."

I shrugged. "Well, I hope so."

"Yeah, I reckon so. I also know that Lancaster is one of the best degrees for Social Work, alongside Edinburgh."

"How on earth do you know that?" I asked, wondering if he could read my mind.

"I wanted to know all the courses available in case I change my mind about being a vet." He brought his legs up and nudged my knee with his. "Okay, why Open Uni then? Why's that in the mix rather than going away?"

"Because I can stay home, and it won't cost a fortune and because… I can stay home because I'm scared of leaving my dad." I turned to look at Zak, expecting him to be looking at me like I was an idiot. He wasn't, though. He was studying me and had a soft, understanding smile.

"Your dad will be fine without you, Maddy. As for the cost of uni there are such things as grants."

I cleared my throat. "I don't need a grant. My great-aunt left me enough money." I looked up at him and grimaced. "Even more stupid, hey? I just don't want to blow it all on my education."

"Worse things you could blow it on." Zak grinned. "As for the rest, well, life is good now, and you don't want it to change, and I get that."

"You do?"

"Hmm, I do. I didn't want my life to change and come here. I had a great life in London. Great friends, girlfriend, went to a great school—but then…" He shrugged and I felt a little pain in my stomach that he had a girlfriend. "Now I'm here, there are most definitely advantages."

He was grinning at me and had one eyebrow raised and I felt that squishy feeling in my stomach again.

"Why Norford, it's so small?"

Zak rolled his eyes. "Because my mum likes the idea of living in a place called Norford. Plus, she and Dad like peace and quiet when they're not working."

"Did you live in the centre of London?" I asked.

"Paddington, but my parents worked in the city. Like I said, this place has definite advantages. I mean, the girls here are prettier, for a start."

My face heated up and I cleared my throat. "We, erm, we should get back inside," I said tentatively. "I should probably check on Liv. Make sure she's sleeping on her side."

Zak nodded and removed his arm from around me, and instantly I regretted my suggestion to move from the bench. We both stood up, and as we got to the back door, he turned around to face me.

"Oh, and just in case you wanted to know, love, I don't have a girlfriend any longer. We ended things before I left London."

My heart began to beat in double time, and as I watched Zak disappear through the door, I couldn't help but wonder which uni he was going to.