These were her work friends? I inhaled sharply and looked back up at them; the two of them did share Sarah's grade of good looks, dress sense and the I-kind-of-know-I'm-hot self-confidence, but I didn't recognise either girl. Maybe they were other friends of hers?
At Sarah's and my panicked expression, they both laughed openly. “Busted!” the shorter one declared and then held her hand out to me to shake as she spoke to Sarah. “Are you going to introduce us to your toyboy? He's cute.”
'Toyboy'? ‘He’?
Instead of taking the girl’s hand, I looked back at Sarah.
“I’m really sorry, but seriously, it’s okay,” she promised me. “They won't care.”
“Won't care about what?” the taller one asked Sarah as I looked back at the hand in front of me. “What's going on?”
There wasn't anything else I could do, really, so I shook the hand being held at me for a second. “Min,” I somehow managed. I hoped she couldn’t feel how sweaty my palm was.
The girl attached to the hand looked stunned for a second and then squinted at me. “Min? As in, 'Sarah's Boss Min'? 'Min Lee' Min? No way!” Wait, she was from Frost? I looked harder at her again, but in the low light I couldn’t tell if I recognised her or not.
“That's her...” Sarah confirmed, sounding pained. At 'her', both heads turned back towards me with surprise. That was very telling. They had thought I was a guy, after all, and wow, it was actually a relief. They were probably just being flirty before rather than trying to insult me.
Sarah presented me with a gesture. “Everyone, this is Min. Min, this is Liz,” she pointed at the tall blonde, “and Gemma,” she said, pointing at the shorter brunette.
The girl who had gone to shake my hand had been Gemma. “You're a chick?” Her eyes kept flicking between my flat chest and my face. She sounded genuinely surprised. “Are you sure? Because, like, wow.”
That is a very good question, I thought, but I just forced a smile. I still wasn’t sure about them.
Liz shoved her. “Don't be fucking rude, Gem,” she said. “And can you sit down? These heels are killing me.”
I shuffled along the seat to the back of the small circular booth so that they could both fit next to me.
Liz was already talking as they sat down. “Sorry we’re late, by the way,” she said to Sarah. “My husband did his knee in last weekend’s game and the way he’s carrying on about it you’d think that he’d lost the whole leg. Gemma was over at eleven and he was all like, ‘But who’s going to change the heat pack?’ and ‘what happens when the boys come around and I can’t get to the door?’, and I’m like, ‘Geez, Chris, I’m not your slave, tell them to come around the back or something…’. We were seriously waiting for him to stop crying like a toddler and we didn’t get out the door until half-past 12…”
Sarah was starting to relax, even if I wasn't. “That’s okay, Min’s been keeping me company,” she said. “And I guess Chris isn’t coming then?”
Liz shook her head. “Not tonight. None of the boys are, they’re all going back to my place.” She gave us all a very pointed look. “And by the way, if anyone asks, we actually just went and had a quiet late night dinner somewhere for someone’s birthday. Chris would kill me if he knew I was just going out on the town without him. He’s such a sook.”
Sarah laughed. “Got it,” she said. “And by the way, if anyone at work asks, you never met Min, either.”
Both the other girls looked at me, and a very loud ‘why’ hung in the air. No one answered it, though.
Gemma shrugged, and Liz said, “Uh, okay?”
“It’s a pleasure not meeting you,” I said with a slight grin, before I’d given it any thought. Internally, I winced. Really, Min? I asked myself, you want to be an idiot around Sarah’s work friends?
The two girls didn’t seem to think I was an idiot, though. They laughed a little and the hesitant, polite smiles they’d been giving me relaxed into regular ones. Apparently that stupid comment was enough to make me fair game to talk to, as well.
Gemma flipped her hair over her shoulder–a little self-consciously, I thought– which made me self-conscious again, too. “So how long have you been working at Frost?” she asked.
“About five years,” I said. “Which is coincidentally also how long I’ve been addicted to energy drinks and takeaway food.”
They laughed. “I hear you,” Gemma said. “There’s a 24 hour Subway two doors from my house and I think they actually stay open after midnight because of me.” She considered me for a moment, “Marketing, yeah?” I nodded, and then she forehead-slapped and laughed a bit nervously. “Sorry, that’s a stupid question, fuck, I’m drunk. Of course Marketing if you’re Sarah’s boss… anyway, I don’t think I’ve seen you around?”
Sarah and I glanced at each other. “She looks a bit different at work,” Sarah said carefully.
Liz laughed and leant out from behind Gemma to say to me, “We all do. As if I could wear this into a Risk meeting with Diane Frost.” She held her arms out so I could see how tiny her dress was. Actually, Gemma’s was pretty small as well, and all three of them had their hair back off their faces. Sarah looked really different with hers back, maybe that’s why I didn’t recognise them?
Gemma adjusted her dress a little. I noticed how nicely it fell across her hips. “Now, on the other hand, if the meeting was with Sean Frost…”
“—Then you’d probably need to be dressed more like me to get his attention,” I said before I thought it through, adding for extra embarrassment, “I realise I need to work a lot on my guns, though.”
They all stared at me for a second and then burst out laughing. “Oh my God, though,” Liz said, leaning forward on the table again. “You’re so right. What’s going on with him and that manager from Marketing? They’re always together. Do you think they’re…”
Sarah looked smug. “I was telling Min the other day that I’d put big money on that.”
Liz took the wine bottle from the table beside Sarah and drank from it. “Well, I’m sure Chris would go in on that. Since he stopped being allowed to bet on games he’ll bet on just about anything else.”
I must have looked a bit confused, because Gemma leant towards me and explained, “Liz’s husband plays for the Waratahs, and you’re not allowed to bet on the league if you’re playing in it.”
Sarah managed to get the bottle back off Liz and poured herself another wine. “Also, he’s really hot,” she said, “and Liz totally doesn’t appreciate him.”
Liz made a face. “Because he's a jealous fuck, that's why. He's lucky he's so cute.”
Gemma gave them both a dirty look. “Shut up, both of you. You know who I share my bed with?” she asked, waiting for a second, and then answered pointedly, “My cat.”
I shrugged and said ‘quietly’ to Gemma, “To be fair your cat is probably less hairy than Rob.” I made sure it was loud enough for Sarah to hear.
Sarah did hear it and threw a scrunched up serviette at me. “Quiet, you!” she told me, but looked all rosy-cheeked at the mention of Rob.
I ducked behind Gemma to avoid the serviette, laughing. When I sat up again, Gemma was giving me this measured look. There was curiosity in it. “Are you married?” she asked, and it seemed just a little bit out of place. “Kids?”
“Neither,” I said, because Henry and I weren’t married and I didn’t really want to bring him into any of this. Across from me, Sarah raised her eyebrows when I didn’t elaborate. Gemma looked like she wanted to say something else, but talked herself out of it.
Because I felt like the two girls were okay with me, and because I was fucking drunk and Gemma called me ‘cute’ before she’d realised I was female, I looked down at her and said with a low voice and a charming grin, “Was that the answer you were hoping for?”
No sooner had the words left my lips, I could have buried my head in my hands. Min, I scolded myself, what are you doing? I was about to actually apologise for being fucking inappropria
te, but before I’d done that, Gemma had put her own hands to her cheeks. Even in this low light, I could see she was blushing fiercely.
Sarah looked between us, a smile growing on her face. “I think this calls for more alcohol,” she said, and tried to wave over the owner. He was busy watching the game, though, and didn’t see us.
Liz put her hand on Gemma’s back. “Not for Gem, though, I think she’s had enough,” she said, looking very, very amused by what had just happened.
‘Gem’ managed to compose herself. “No, actually, alcohol sounds pretty good right now,” she said, a little too embarrassed to make eye-contact with me again. “Lots of alcohol.”
Sarah wasn’t having any luck with the owner and I couldn't decide if I was horrified by what I'd done or not, so I half-stood, hampered by the table. “I’ll go over and get it,” I said, and then looked at Gemma and Liz who were blocking my way out of the booth. They shuffled along the seat, getting out so I could as well.
I don’t think either of them had realised how tall I was until I stood up beside them. Gemma looked up at my body with the same surprise that Bree had had when I’d first met her. Unlike Bree, though, she didn’t say anything. She actually didn’t need to, because I could tell from her reaction that ‘tall’ was something that worked for her. Before I could talk myself out of it, I winked at her and sent her into another deep blush.
Liz laughed at Gemma’s red cheeks, clapping her on the shoulders and steering her to sit back in the booth again.
I watched them for a second as Gemma pulled herself back together and Liz and Sarah started chatting again. I did that to her, I thought as I watched Gemma, remembering her playfully describing me as ‘cute’. It was really difficult for me to accept it when I thought about it. Not only were the two girls completely okay with how I looked and dressed, they were so okay about it that they were letting me tease them based on their reaction to it.
Sarah had said they would be fine, but I still couldn’t believe it. I’d been so sure no one would ever talk to me again if they found out, but there were three people here who didn’t even care. It was surreal, and I felt… wow, really drunk. And I was just standing there staring at the three of them with my jaw open like a total idiot. Hadn’t I been about to do something?
Trying not to look as drunk as I felt, I went to go and grab that other bottle I'd been after from the owner.
“Are you over 18?” he asked me a little suspiciously, but he was smiling. He’d seen me with Sarah, so I didn’t think he’d really cause me any trouble. “How old are you?”
“12,” I said flatly, looking down towards him because I was taller. “And a half.”
He chuckled. “Yeah, okay, I get it,” he said, easing the cork out of another bottle of sparkling and passing it over the counter.
I accepted the bottle from him, glad he hadn’t made me show my ID because then I’d have a lot of explaining to do. I pointed at the glasses hanging in the racks above his head. “Can I take two of these?”
He’d already turned back towards his rugby game, and waved his hand dismissively at me. “Yeah, yeah.”
I grabbed a couple and then headed back to the table, pretty impressed with the beautifully straight line I was walking in. I felt drunk, but at least I didn’t look it.
Back at the table, I practically got a hero’s welcome. “Yes!” Liz announced, letting me pour her a glass. Gemma, I teased a little. She asked me to stop when I got to what was probably one standard drink, but I pretended not to hear her and kept pouring.
She nearly snatched her glass out from underneath the bottle. “That’s enough! That’s enough!” she begged me, giggling.
I pretended to be very innocent. “I thought you said you needed lots of alcohol?” I asked her, and then flashed her a grin. “I’m just getting you drunk like you wanted.”
She stared at me for a second, and then looked away while the other two girls laughed.
Sarah stood up so I could get in behind her, giving me a secret little smirk as I slipped past. I didn’t really think about why I hadn’t just sat in front of her instead, until I realised that she'd done it on purpose to make sure that I sat next to Gemma. I mock-glared at her while I gave her wine a top-up. She took the glass and drank from it, looking pretty pleased with herself.
Liz filled me in on what I'd missed. “Gemma has a conspiracy theory about Sean Frost,” she told me, with exaggerated seriousness.
Gemma smacked her good-naturedly. “It's not a conspiracy theory,” she said, turning back towards me. “It's just a theory, and, actually, I think it has merit.”
Since we were all apparently humouring her theory, I nodded with the same sense of exaggerated seriousness and pretended to give her my rapt attention. I didn't have to pretend, really, but she still smacked my arm, too. “I mean it!” she said, laughing. “You know his wife is Belinda O'Dougherty, right?” I nodded. “Okay, think about it. She's a supermodel, but—”
Sarah, who had checked her phone in the middle of Gemma’s explanation, said abruptly, “Oh my god what?” She was looking at her phone.
Gemma and Liz both turned back at her, surprised, Sean Frost and his wife were quickly forgotten. Sarah held her phone at them and they stood a bit off the seat so they could lean towards the screen. I could see it from where I was, and it was a blurry photo of two people I didn't know pashing.
“Oh my fucking god,” Liz said as they both sat down again. “I knew he was into her. I knew it. I told you they'd end up together.”
When Gemma sat down again, she was a lot closer to me than she had been before, a lot closer. So close, in fact, that her leg was pressed against mine from knee to hip. In that short dress, her skin was warm against my jeans. I normally hated people sitting close to me. Henry frequently joked about the size of my ‘personal space bubble’; once, he’d even stood on the other side of the room and pretended to knock on it. I didn’t hate this touching right now, though. Not at all.
I half-listened to the three of them all gossip about this new couple while I was watching Gemma. Was she doing it on purpose, I wondered? Or was she just quite drunk and not coordinated enough to care what part of the seat she was on?
“Sorry, Min,” Sarah said, startling me a little. I looked up at her and away from Gemma. “Whether or not two people you've never met are going to hook up and get married is probably the last thing you care about.”
I made sure I kept a completely straight face. “Actually, I care very deeply about it.” They all gave me weird looks. I waited for a couple of seconds, and then explained, “Well, what do I actually market for a living?” I grinned as they all groaned and rolled their eyes at me. I pointed a finger at them. “Who's hooking up and getting married is critically important to me. Someone's got to buy stupidly expensive diamonds.”
Sarah locked her phone and put it back in her handbag. “Yeah, that's what we were doing,” she said, “we weren't gossiping, we were doing demographics research. I'm totally using that.”
Liz took a sip of her wine. “Research yourself,” she told Sarah, “You're next.”
I looked down at Gemma beside me. “What about you?” I asked her, and I think her cheeks went a little pink again.
“What about me?” she asked.
“How does your cat feel about diamonds?”
She laughed, giving me this somewhat embarrassed smile as she glanced up at me. We held eye-contact for a little too long, and then both panicked and looked away. I would have probably been a lot more freaked out if I hadn't been drunk, but even with all that wine in me I was still scared to look back at her. What was I doing?
While I was trying to figure that out and pretend I was focusing on what Sarah was saying to Liz, Gemma put her hand on the inside of my knee. It was an innocent enough gesture, but, wow, I felt it. So much so that I couldn't breathe for a second, and it was exactly at a time that I wanted to. A lot.
She left her hand there, too, and I was acutely aware of all the tiny
movements her thumb was making as it moved in slow circles on my jeans. With a sense of dread that would have been much more pronounced if I'd been sober, I realised what all of this meant, and it wasn’t just that I was having fun teasing her.
Fuck, I thought, fuck. I'm attracted to her. She’s a girl, and I’m attracted to her. As if that wasn't a dangerous enough thought on its own, the absolute worst part of it was that my next one was, 'so this is what it feels like'.
“Weren't you in the middle of telling us your thing about Sean?” Liz asked Gemma.
“Huh? Oh!” she said, sounding a bit distracted herself. She hardly looked at me as she spoke this time, but her hand was still on my thigh. “Okay, so.” She tried to compose herself—should I have been that delighted that she wasn't composed?—and then asked, “...wait, where was I?”
“Belinda O'Dougherty,” I prompted, a bit breathless.
“Oh, yeah,” she said. “Anyway, she's this huge supermodel and she wasn't famous before she and Sean hooked up, right? And now she's super famous and in everything with her baby and her big, pregnant belly...” Gemma paused. “I think it's a Katie Holmes-Tom Cruise-type of deal. I reckon Sean's not even in love with her at all, I think she's just this really respectable wife for a billionaire mining magnate and in return he helped her with her career.”
We all sat back to consider that, and I found it such an interesting theory that I totally forgot Gemma had her hand on my thigh.
It was possible she was actually right, I supposed, but Sean had looked genuinely enchanted when he'd brought up his 'beautiful' wife with me. I hadn't prompted him, either. And Henry had never mentioned thinking their marriage was a fraud. It seemed like the sort of thing Henry would pick up on, especially given how much he hated Sean.
“Think about it,” Gemma continued. “He's always with that beefcake marketing director and everyone knows they're totally giving it to each other, and he couldn't just go and be this big gay mining billionaire. That's bad for business, even now, so he made some arrangement with Belinda. I mean, have you ever even seen them together?”
Under My Skin Page 28
