Part 6 (2/2)

Lee pulls this s.h.i.+t on me all the time, winding me up to watch me snap just for the kick of it.

But Owen's more patient than I am.

”I'm sorry, Lee, I always thought you liked my stuff.”

”I love your stuff!” Lee redirects his finger from Owen's chest to Owen's crotch, prompting a round of chuckles from the group.

If I could reach, I'd snap that f.u.c.king finger. Lee is not playing nice.

”Nice to know you only want me for my body.” Owen's smile is forced.

I know before he opens his mouth what my brother will say.

”Well, someone's got to.” Lee would never have resisted a quip like that in front of an audience as big as this one.

Only no one laughs. Not even Parvati, who might be as sharp as my brother, but loves Owen more, nor the Tequila Girls and Stella, who all draw closer together, united by their discomfort.

In the silence that follows, Owen takes the guitar from his lap and hands it to Kaz. Then he stands, stepping over the glowing fire to walk past Lee. When my brother reaches out to catch his wrist, Owen flinches away, and Lee's fingers comb the empty air.

”O...” he says quietly, then louder as Owen rounds his shoulders and carries on walking through the gap between their tent and Dongle's.

We all have the same thought at the same time Anna, Parvati, me we all move as if we're going to follow him, but our paths are blocked by Lee who's standing too, but not to pursue Owen.

”I need a drink,” he murmurs and bends over the cool box as Anna kicks it shut.

KAZ.

There's a moment of stunned silence before it explodes into noise.

”I like Hydro's songs...” Dongle says to Stella, who doesn't even know who Hydro are.

”... my gaydar so needs retuning...” from one of the new girls, who'd been giving Lee more than a few surrept.i.tious glances.

”... didn't expect this kind of drama,” Tom says across the gap that Owen's left between us. I glance at him, not sure what to say.

”... such a d.i.c.k. What's wrong with you?” Anna's shouting at Lee, who's surrounded: Anna, Parvati and Ruby, each as angry as the other.

Lee ignores them, grabbing a plastic cup and pouring some of the girls' tequila into it rather than trying to move Anna's foot from where she's planted it on the cool box. ”Nothing's wrong with me. Lighten up, Anna. It was a joke, for f.u.c.k's sake.”

I've never heard Lee swear before.

”Really? You think that was funny? p.i.s.sing all over someone you're supposed to care about.”

”What's that 'supposed' to mean?” Lee's face is drawn and angry as he downs his drink.

”It means that if this is the way you show you love someone, Lee, then it's a good job you're leaving. Owen's better off without you.”

There's a horrified hush as Lee crushes his cup in his fist and throws it so hard at the fire that it hits the logs and bounces out on the other side. He turns and walks off in the opposite direction to Owen. Like a greyhound from a trap, Ruby bounds after him into the dark, leaving the rest of us staring round in confusion, Anna calling someone presumably Owen on her phone whilst Parvati tells her to leave him be, Dongle trying to rea.s.sure the new girls that things are usually a little less stressful and offering to top up drinks.

When Tom stands up and suggests getting some chips, I'm right there with him, noting everyone's order on my phone and collecting the money. I want out of here as much as he does. It won't hurt for us to do it together.

RUBY.

Little food plus much beer equals bad sprinting skills and I nearly faceplant when my foot hits a pothole. By the time a particularly kind couple wearing matching sloth T-s.h.i.+rts have hefted me off the floor, I've lost Lee completely.

My brother is such a d.i.c.khead.

I reach into my pocket for my phone to text that insightful comment to him, but my phone's not there. Nor is it in my other pocket, which is stuffed full of Owen's keys and Kaz's condoms. I check the ground where I fell, but I can't see anything. Guess the stupid thing fell out when I was at camp. Again. Tomorrow I'm wearing better shorts. Or possibly fixing the hole in these ones since I'm pretty sure they're the only ones I brought.

Sans mobile communication, there seems little point in looking for Lee, but whilst I'm here, I may as well head down to the toilets. It's a destination that seems inconceivably distant to all the boys p.i.s.sing through the fence rather than walking the thirty seconds it takes to reach the facilities at the bottom of the hill. Guess if I could pee standing up, I wouldn't bother either.

It's only as I'm heading out of the loos, eyeing up a particularly pretty/pierced boy who's walking along the path into the woods that I spot a familiar face.

Owen's standing with his back to a tree, head down, staring at his shoes. He glances up, scanning the path, eyes pa.s.sing over me because I'm not the person he wishes was looking for him. He does a double take, and I walk over and hug him. It's a bit Harry-hugging-Hagrid, but that doesn't matter. I might be tiny, but my love is large.

”I'm sorry,” I say, wis.h.i.+ng it was Lee saying this and not me.

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