“What?”
“I left my bag with Garrett in the library a couple of times. He must have copied them then.” I remembered the first time. It was raining and he’d lent me his umbrella and offered to guard my things when I went to an American Studies class. I’d thought he was being chivalrous, a gentleman, like he always claimed to be. The bastard. I’d gone along with it a couple of times, looking after his things in return when he went to a film screening. But I hadn’t gone through his stuff, had I?
“But he must have known he would get caught out? Uni has gone on and on about collusion and everything.”
“Maybe he wasn’t bothered about getting caught. Maybe that’s what he wanted.” I struggled to get my head around what Mickey was implying.
“You think he did this wanting to get caught?”
“I’m the last person to criticise your choice of friends, but he does seem a bit, well, mad. A bit prone to making very strange decisions to get what he wants. Just look at that whole Ritz thing. He’s not right in the head, Neve.”
“But he’s in trouble as well for it. She said we get the same punishment.” It just didn’t make sense.
“Yeah, but he can charm his way out of anything. If that doesn’t work, he gets Granny to pull a few strings. And if that doesn’t work, he moves to a university back home. He’s a rich kid with options. Remember, life’s not fair. Now, has he got anything else he can hold against you?”
I ransacked my brain, replaying every time I spent with Garrett, every conversation we had and found myself increasingly repulsed by the duplicity. But I couldn’t think of anything else. Maybe that was my only consolation: I was sure that there were no more things he could share, could do to mess up my life.
“How could I have got it so wrong? I thought he was a friend. I thought he was being nice.”
“He was being nice. It just changed when he realised you didn’t want what he did. And you were lonely. You’d just broken up with Jake. You hadn’t met yours truly yet,” he said with a grin. “And he was a sexy, charming American who paid you a bit of attention. There’s no point beating yourself up about it. Anyone would have fallen for it.” I wanted to do nothing more than believe he was right. But I knew better.
It’s taken some doing, but the weekend is clear. Mum is taking Grace and Josh to see relatives in London for a couple of days so I don’t need to worry about them. I was surprised at how easy it had been to persuade her to go, especially as it means leaving Dickhead here. Maybe she’ll use the break to see what life could be like in the future. Without him.
I told Bill my plans last week so we could get any jobs finished in time for me to leave promptly after work tomorrow. When he arrived to sign off my garden this afternoon, he gave me fifty quid and told me not to come to work tomorrow. As much as I want to drive down to Brighton right now, I’m sure Neve must have classes and I don’t want to mess things up for her more than I already have. Getting to know her schedule is just one of the things I need to catch up on. But I know someone who can help me out.
“You all right, Jake?” Flynn’s surprise at my call is clear. Our friendship survives on the occasional text and old-fashioned, face-to-face conversations.
“Yeah, thanks, mate. I’ve got a favour to ask. Can you find out from Cass what classes Neve has tomorrow? I’ve got the day off and I thought I’d surprise her. I’m not supposed to get there until tomorrow night.”
“Sure. Let me just text Cass.” There is a pause as he sends her the message. “Things going okay?”
“Yeah, great. It’ll be good to have a weekend with her. We’ve done so much texting and Skyping these last two weeks… well, you know how it is.”
“Forgetting that’s my sister you’re talking about, yeah, I know what you mean. You got any plans for the weekend?”
“I’m sure she’ll want to go dancing, so there will probably be a club involved. Other than that, romantic walks on a sunset beach, breakfast in bed. You know, the usual!”
“Dude! Sister, remember? Hang on, Cass has replied.” I waited as he got the details from his phone. “Right, she’s got a Lit lecture which finishes at twelve.”
“How do I find out where that is? I want to meet her there.” Just thinking about wandering around the campus, a fish out of water, makes me anxious. This is me, choosing to go somewhere which is all about everything I’m not.
“There will be an office, maybe called the academic office or student reception, something like that, and they should be able to tell you. They won’t give you her personal details but you know it’s a first-year English Literature lecture. That should be enough. Text me if you don’t get anywhere and I’ll see if Cass can find out.”