I got stuck at the word billionaire. I didn’t realize she was that rich.
“You know what I’m studying?” She asks suddenly, and I have to think to remember.
“International Law.”
“International Environmental Law. There’s a difference. It’s all about the attempts to control pollution and the depletion of natural resources. But not just to fight it, in small scale protests, but find actual solutions that can change the way actual firms operate. Firms like my father’s.
“I don’t have to study anything Billy. I could just go to parties and vacations and not do anything. We have more than enough money for that. But that’s not what I chose. Doesn’t that say something?”
Now I frown. I can feel it on my face. “So you don’t approve of this?” I tap the pile of papers, but my voice sounds uncertain.
She looks at it, she seems frustrated.
“No. Yes, I don’t know! I haven’t… I’d have to study… My point is that I’m not who you fear I am. I’m not just… I don’t know. I have to be a realist, not despite who I am, but because of who I am. But I’m on your side. I’m on your side Billy.” She squeezes my hand, then lets me go.
Suddenly she spins around and starts digging into her bag, which is on the chair next to her. I have the strangest feeling she’s about to give me money, to pay me off. She frowns again as she digs into it. But then she pulls out a card. It’s from Greenpeace.
“Look, I’m a member. I’ve been a member for years. I don’t know about these…” she hunts on the table for the picture of the sea-dragon.
“Seahorses.”
“Right, I don’t know about those, about that case in particular, but I do care about this stuff as well. I really do. In fact that’s why…” she stops, and her eyes meet mine for a second, before she looks away. “I guess it’s why I like you.”
I don’t know how to react to this, and there’s a weird silence.
“What do you mean?”
“What do you mean, what do I mean?” She gives me a crooked smile, then looks away again.
“What do you mean why you like me?”
It takes her a long time to answer, and when she does, she just says: “I don’t know.”
Then there’s another silence, which Lily breaks by asking me about my work, and the course, and lots of other questions that don’t really mean anything. And then she has another look at the documents I brought. And we finish our drinks, and I realize she’s going to go soon. And I really don’t want her to.
“What were you saying?” I ask suddenly, when I get the sense she’s getting ready to leave. “When you thought I was angry about James?”
Her face changes at once, and I can see her thinking what to say. But then she shakes her head. “Nothing. I just thought it might have upset you, that’s all. Everything that’s going on with me and James.”
I want to ask her what is going on with her and James. But something in her face stops me. And then she gets up, and tells me she has to go. And before I can say anything else she’s given me a hug and told me she’ll see me soon, and she’s gone.
And it’s only then that I realize it’s this – her and James, and where I might fit in – that worries and confuses me most about all this. More than the environmental angle. More than the Lornea Island sea-dragons.
Chapter Twenty-One
The next time Lily calls she asks if I want to come out to dinner. But before I can reply she goes on, telling me it’s Oscar’s birthday, so they all want to do something nice. But from the way she says it, so quickly, I can tell she was worried that maybe I would think she meant just her and me again, like on a proper date. And then maybe because of that I felt the need to show her I wasn’t thinking that, and also I do have other plans sometimes, other friends. Well – it all makes me do something a little bit silly.
“Actually I can’t on Thursday.” I say instead. “I’m seeing my friend. Amber.” Obviously this isn’t true, I haven’t seen Amber for weeks.
“Oh.” Lily replies, and then I sense she’s going to say that never mind, perhaps we can do it another time, or something like that, and I panic right away that maybe there won’t be another time – that I’ll never hear from her again – so I go on, without thinking.
“But maybe I could bring her along. She’s really fun.”
Then there’s a long pause, when I totally regret what I’ve just said, before Lily replies.
“Sure. Of course Billy. Of course you can bring your friend along.” She just gently stresses the word friend, so that it sounds kinda weird, and I don’t quite know what she means by it.
“I’ll let the restaurant know.”
So then I have a bit of a problem, since now I have to invite Amber to meet Lily and the others, and I haven’t even told her about them. But it’s not a massive problem. This is Amber we’re talking about, she’s my oldest friend, and we’ve been through a lot together, so going out to a restaurant isn’t exactly going to be that difficult. So I think for a bit, and then I ring her and ask what she’s doing on Thursday night. And while I do I get the idea that maybe she’ll be busy, and I’ll be able to say to Lily and the others that she wasn’t able to come after all,
