Life and Soul of the Party Read Online Free Page A

Spotless Mind for the millionth time.’
    At this particular moment we were the closest we had been in all the time I’d known her and so I decided that six months of unrequited love was more than enough for anyone and attempted to convert a good-night embrace into something more. Honestly, I couldn’t have misjudged the situation more if I’d tried. The second my lips touched hers Freya pulled away and was all ‘I’m really flattered, Billy, but I don’t really see you like “that”,’ and although I wished I had some kind of comeback, I didn’t say a thing because I was too busy willing the earth to open up and swallow me whole.

    With five hours to go before midnight I still had no idea what I was going to do with my New Year’s Eve. I called Seb and Brian to see if there were any tickets left for the club night they were going to but apparently the whole thing had sold out months ago and tickets were now changing hands for ten times their face value. I didn’t really fancy the idea of bankrupting myself just so that I didn’t have to see the New Year in watching Jools Holland so I told them to have a good time and decided to put on yet more melancholy music, turn off the lights, climb back into bed and allow myself the indulgence of feeling totally and utterly depressed. After a few minutes realising that I wasn’t exactly being a man about all this I got out of bed, picked up my mobile and called my older sister Nadine.
    Chatting to her about life in general for a bit to give her the illusion that I wasn’t after anything (covering topics as diverse as our parents, the love life of my middle sister Amy, and Nadine’s impending thirty-fifth birthday) I finally jumped in with two feet and asked her the big question.
    ‘So, sis, what are you up to tonight?’
    ‘I’m off to a party.’
    ‘You’re thirty-five!’ I exclaimed. ‘Do people your age still have parties?’
    Nadine laughed. ‘You’re such a cheeky little sod sometimes.’
    ‘Ah,’ I replied. ‘But you love me for it, don’t you? So this party, is it local?’
    ‘It’s in Chorlton. My friends Ed and Sharon. Why?’
    ‘Well, I’m sort of at a loose end and I was wondering if I could come with you.’
    ‘You’d hate it,’ she said quickly. ‘I’m not saying it’ll be a bunch of people standing around talking house prices and swapping notes from the Habitat catalogue but that’s not far off, Billy. There won’t be any drugs, raids by the police or young girls throwing up in the bathroom.’
    Looking around my sad bedroom, I allowed my eyes to come to rest on the portable TV on top of the chest of drawers in the corner. Jools Holland could wait. A boring party full of boring people my sister’s age it may be, but at least it was somewhere to go.
    ‘It sounds perfect,’ I replied. ‘Give me ten minutes to sort myself out and I’ll be ready.’
    Melissa
    It was just after eight when I arrived at the Old Grey. The pub – a favourite with the older crowd in Chorlton – was packed out as it would be just before last orders on a Saturday night. Vicky and Laura were at a table near the jukebox, hemmed in on all sides by large groups of what Laura liked to call ‘people like us’ but who could equally be labelled ‘slightly worn at the edges, Big Issue -buying, left-leaning, thirty-something graduates who still feel like students even if they aren’t’. Searching around the bar for an empty stool, I eventually located one and made my way over to my friends.
    ‘So where are the boys?’
    ‘At the bar,’ replied Laura. ‘Although they seem to be taking forever about it.’
    I looked at Vicky. ‘And still no word of Paul and Hannah?’
    Vicky shook her head. ‘Not yet but I’m sure they’ll be here soon.’
    I think it must have been obvious that I couldn’t work out whether I was relieved or not because Laura reached across the table and touched my hand. ‘What do you want to drink, babe?’
    ‘I’m fine for the