Lucy in the Sky by Paige Toon Read Free Book Online Page A

strapped to the top. ‘Nathan’s here!’ Molly exclaims.
    The last time I saw Nathan, he was a skinny fourteen-year-old who would lock himself up in his bedroom and play his guitar. Back then he would do anything to get away from his older brother and his annoying female friends, but I’m guessing from Molly’s enthusiasm that’s no longer the case.
    Molly opens the door and leads the way into the kitchen where, there at the table with Sam, is someone who most definitely does not look like his skinny little twerp of a brother.
    A jolt goes through me as a tall, dark, messy-haired surfer in faded jeans and a T-shirt stands up and smiles at me. He’s even taller than Sam. ‘Lucy, hi. Wow–it’s been a while?’
    ‘About nine years,’ I reply, and I’m thinking what a difference almost a decade makes.
    ‘I can’t believe how much you’ve changed,’ he says, as he stands there and surveys me.
    I suddenly feel shy. ‘You too.’ I calculate his age quickly in myhead. He’s two years younger than Sam, Molly and me, which makes him twenty-three.
    ‘Lucy, what are you drinking?’ Sam asks, and I’m glad of the interruption. ‘We’ve got rosé, white or beer. Oh, and red too.’
    Molly and I opt for the rosé and we go out onto the back porch.
    Nathan’s presence right behind me is distracting.
    We pull up black-painted wrought-iron chairs and sit around the matching table, Nathan to my left and Sam to my right with Molly seated opposite. Stone steps lead down to the neatly mown lawn, which slopes away from the house. The faithful sunloungers that I’ve spent the last couple of days getting to know intimately pepper the garden.
    Sam starts to tell a story about his day at work but it’s barely registering with me. Nathan’s leg is jigging up and down at the edge of my vision, and the muscles on his bare arms tighten every time he reaches for his beer. It’s the strangest sensation. I know people talk about chemistry and all that, but I’ve honestly never felt it before. When I met James at that party it was a gradual attraction, liking him more and more over the course of an evening and, at the end of the night, agreeing to go on a date with him. With Nathan I feel like I’m tuned into every movement he makes. I’ve got to get a handle on this. I take a large gulp of rosé and will myself to relax. I wish I’d put more make-up on.
    Stop it! I have a boyfriend, for crying out loud. Who might be cheating on me. Oh, who gives a shit right now?
    ‘Lucy, what are you smiling about?’ At Sam’s voice I realise that everyone around the table is looking at me. Nathan seems amused.
    ‘Nothing!’ I answer gaily and top up my glass with rosé.
    We sit there, in the warm night air, and after a while Sam lights some coils and a couple of citronella candles to keep away mosquitoes. ‘Do you mind if I smoke?’ Nathan directs his question at me. I’m not really that keen but I’m hardly going to tell him that, so he lights up. I glance at him furtively out of the corner of my eye as he puts the cigarette to his lips. I wish I was that cigarette. Lucy! This is crazy.
    Nathan shifts in his seat and turns to face me, being careful not to blow the smoke in anyone’s direction. ‘So what do you do now, Lucy?’ he asks. Dark stubble grazes his jaw and I notice his eyes are bluey grey.
    I tell him about my job at Mandy Nim.
    ‘So that means you get shed-loads of free stuff?’
    ‘Yep.’
    ‘CDs?’
    ‘Yep.’
    ‘DVDs?’
    ‘Yep.’
    ‘Make-up?’ That was Molly asking.
    ‘Yep.’
    ‘You lucky cow.’ She shakes her head in amazement.
    ‘And sometimes I have to go on trips abroad.’ I tell them about how a few months ago I went to Amsterdam where we were taking on the PR for a plush hotel chain. ‘It’s pretty jammy, isn’t it?’ I don’t deny it–it is brilliant.
    ‘So what was the last free thing you got?’ Nathan asks.
    ‘These sunnies, actually.’
    ‘I was just admiring them,’ Molly