By eleven o’clock David’s fears had been realized. Most of the surrounding area’s teenage population had descended on the house. But he was concentrating so hard on impressing Emily that he didn’t have time to worry. So I started to worry for him. It’s not like I had anything better to do – I’d hardly seen Nick all night. I was starting to think that maybe he was avoiding me. He obviously wasn’t that interested after all. I convinced Chris that seeing if he could lift a plasma screen television with one hand wasn’t a good idea and I managed to direct a brown-haired girl to the bathroom before her beer came up to meet the carpet.
‘Jacki! Don’t worry about it,’ said Colin, as I tried to wrestle a crystal clock from Simon. I gave up and flopped down on the couch.
‘Here, put on something good,’ said a guy wearing a baseball cap in the corner.
‘What did you say?’ said Fitz.
‘I said put on something good!’ the guy shouted.
‘Do you know who this is?’ said Fitz, walking slowly towards him.
‘Eh… no.’ The guy looked kind of scared.
‘This is Rory Gallagher. An absolute legend. How dare you!’
‘Oh, right… sorry, man… It’s just this album has been on for ages.’ He was right – nobody had bothered to put on something different. I usually delighted in being the DJ, but I’d been too preoccupied with making sure David’s house didn’t get trashed.
‘Right, fine,’ said Fitz. ‘I’ll change it… any requests?’
‘Do they have any Thin Lizzy?’ asked Colin.
‘Think so,’ I said.
Colin gave me a wink as the intro to ‘Dancing in the Moonlight’ came on.
‘Ah, deadly!’ said David as he and Emily came into the sitting room.
‘Come on,’ shouted Colin, jumping up and holding out his hand.
‘No, it’s OK,’ I said. I wasn’t in the mood for dancing. I’d really thought something might happen between me and Nick, but that was looking unlikely now.
‘Jacki, don’t make me dance by myself!’
‘I don’t really feel like -’
‘Come on!’ Colin grabbed my hand and pulled me up. I gave in and danced with him. By the second verse almost everybody was up dancing and singing along, and for one tiny moment I didn’t care where Nick was.
When the song finished I sat down on the couch and Colin went to get us drinks. My eyes met those of Carla’s friend, Amanda, who was hovering awkwardly in the middle of the room.
‘Do you want to sit down?’ I asked her.
Turned out I was really going to regret that. She talked at me non-stop for ten minutes: ‘… we met at this random party and got on great and everything, and we made out for a while, but then the next week… he told me he loved me. I thought that was a bit weird. I mean, we’d been seeing each other for, like, a week. Don’t you find that weird? So obviously I said, “OK, thanks,” or whatever and then dumped him the next day by text. But anyway, yeah, that was him texting me there. He’s been practically stalking me ever since. Carla says to just ignore him and he’ll get bored with it, but it’s totally freaking me out. What if he gets obsessed with me or something?’ Amanda took a sip from her drink. I’d been listening to her love-life dilemmas for far too long. She’d gone into way too much detail and unfortunately I was trapped. Emily was nowhere to be seen, and some guy had nabbed Colin to fix the DVD player. And there was still no sign of Nick.
‘So… how do you know Carla?’ I said, eager to steer the conversation away from Amanda’s more personal activities.
‘I met her at Irish College last year and we stayed friends. She’s so nice. I haven’t seen much of her tonight though. She’s been with some guy most of the time. Do you have a boyfriend?’
‘No.’
‘Yeah, me neither. I’m enjoying it. It’s weird, ’cause I’m hardly ever single.’ Amanda tossed her hair over her shoulder. ‘So, think any of the guys here tonight are cute?’ she asked.
I looked around the room. Colin was kneeling on the floor in front of the television, with a guy whose name I couldn’t remember standing beside him. Chris was jumping on the table, chewing on a mouthful of nachos. Simon sat on the other couch, beside two pale-faced guys in the middle of an arm-wrestle.
‘Eh… no,’ I said.
‘That one’s kinda hot,’ she said, pointing over at Colin.
‘Oh, I wouldn’t say you’d have much luck with him,’ I said.
‘Tried, have you? I reckon I could get in there. No offence.’
‘Oh, none taken… I think you should definitely go for it then. His name is Colin. Excuse me, I just have to go and find my friend.’
I escaped to look for Emily and I found her pressed up against the wall, with David kissing her neck and running his hands through her hair. I was happy for them, but couldn’t help feeling down and a little envious at the same time. I just wished me and Nick were talking, let alone kissing. Life was just so unfair sometimes. I decided it was time to go home. I walked quickly past them, and up the stairs. Colin had put my jacket and bag in one of the bedrooms to keep them safe. I opened a few doors before I found the master bedroom with the coats all sprawled out on the bed. I spotted my leather jacket easily but couldn’t see my handbag anywhere. I’d begun to rummage through the coats when I heard somebody come in behind me. I turned round and to my complete surprise saw Nick slamming the door shut and locking it.
‘Hi,’ I said.
He jumped with fright. ‘Oh, Jacki, I didn’t see you there.’
‘What are you doing?’ I said.
‘Shhh,’ he whispered. ‘I’m hiding.’
I quickly checked my outfit to make sure I looked OK. I couldn’t believe we were alone. I love how unbelievably perfect moments can just pounce on you sometimes. Especially when you’ve almost given up hope.
‘Who from?’ I asked.
‘Nick!’ shouted a girl’s voice from the hall.
‘Is that Amanda?’ I said quietly.
‘You know her?’
‘Just met her. She’s a bit annoying.’ I was so glad Nick had locked the door. I couldn’t bear it if Amanda barged in and ruined our moment alone. I wondered if my make-up had worn off. It was pretty dark though, only the bedside lamps were on, so he probably wouldn’t notice.
‘She’s insane. The lads thought it would be funny to tell her that I fancied her. I’m going to kill them.’
‘She is very pretty.’
‘But she’s actually crazy. That cancels it out.’
Nick stepped away from the door. ‘What are you doing in here anyway? You’re not going, are you?’
‘Oh no… I was just, just getting something from my bag. I left it up here with my jacket.’
He sat down on the bed beside me. My eyes rested on the curls at the back of his neck. I breathed in his aftershave and felt a little shock when his leg touched mine.
‘I may never be able to leave this room,’ he whispered.
‘I’ve hardly got to talk to you at all tonight,’ he said. ‘I’ve been trying to avoid that girl and she always seemed to be in the same room as you.’ So he hadn’t been ignoring me after all. It was such a relief to know that. Why did I always think the worst when it came to boys?
‘Did you want to talk to me about something?’ I asked.
‘Well, no, not really anything in particular, just, you know, chat.’ Nick pulled at a thread hanging from his torn denims.
‘OK,’ I said.
‘Sorry, I’m terrible at this.’
‘At what?’
‘Talking to girls who I like.’ He looked up at me.
That was it. I was officially in love.
Neither of us said anything for a moment. Then I moved a little closer. And he leaned forward and kissed me.
