Chapter 10: Chapter 10

“This,” the other girl said emphatically, “this whole deal, this business with the girl, yourgirl, you know.”

Madeline’s cheeks flushed red.

“She’s not mygirl,” she muttered, taking a bite of the vegeburger and thinking she liked it much more before they changed the recipe.

“But you likeher, right?” Rosie pushed.

She squirmed in her chair, burger in one hand, a handful of chips in the other, realising how unflattering this looked, understanding how absurd she appeared and yet being too drunk to really address it properly.

An hour and a half into the new year, and here they were, here everyone was, tired of the same old pop songs from before they were born, tired of the streamers and the confetti and the balloons and the unromantic fumbles in the dark, the chimes of an old clock she didn’t even know the significance of still ringing in her ears.