by Dyan Sheldon
The bleak midwinter is a good time to think. Sitting inside with your cat and your records and your guitar, while outside the freezing winds blow and the snow falls and the part of the world that doesn’t depend on electricity lies low. Josh has done a lot of thinking, and a great deal of it has been about Ramona. How she’s always been there for him. How many times they’ve laughed so much over something that he nearly stopped breathing. How she reacted when he asked her if she’d ever been interested in anyone. He got over Jena. He sees her in school and they’re friendly, but he doesn’t hang out with her any more. Doesn’t want to. She called him a couple of times – when Simon was away for the weekend, when Tilda was visiting her aunt – but he said he was busy. He doesn’t miss her. But he’d miss Mo if she suddenly disappeared from his life. He’d miss her a lot. Sometimes you don’t see what’s right in front of you because you’re looking at something else. That’s when he finally started thinking about Ramona not as a sister but as a girl; when he understood the reason why it annoyed him that she was seeing so much of Sal was because he was jealous. Oblivious and jealous. What a combination.
Josh woke up on this Sunday morning to sunshine and Ramona on his mind. And here she is, sitting across from him with her after-yoga tea, talking about the play.
“So it was totally awesome. You should have heard the applause.” Bye Bye Birdie had its out-of-town preview at the local nursing centre, and was an unqualified success. “Everybody was great, and lots of people commented on the costumes, and Mr Boxhill said he couldn’t’ve done it without Sal, but, of course, Tilda thinks that most of the credit should go to her.” She picks up her cup. “If it goes that well on the night, there’ll be no living with her.”
Josh carefully lifts the bag from his tea. “There’s no living with her now.”
“And can you imagine what she’s going to be like at the cast party?” laughs Ramona. “She’s going to think it’s for her!”
“I forgot about the party,” lies Josh. “So, who are you going with?” Every member of the drama club is allowed one guest. Sal’s invited Carver. Murray’s invited Zara. But Mo has yet to invite him. “Dara?”
She stares at him over her cup. Blankly. “Who?”
“Maybe it’s not Dara. Maybe it’s Darius.” She continues to look like a new sheet of paper. “You know. Your friend with the black hair and the earring.”
“You mean Dillon Sanduski?”
“Is that his name?”
She does the sigh, accompanied by the rolling eyes. “Yes, that’s his name. For God’s sake, Josh, you’ve met him, like, a hundred times.”
“I think it was only ninety-nine.”
She sets her cup very gently in its saucer. “I hadn’t thought about it.” Which is both true and not true. It’s true that it never occurred to her to ask Dillon. But that’s not because she hasn’t thought about the party, it’s because she thought it was obvious she’d go with Josh. She’s noticed a change in him over the last month or so. Now he looks at her as though he really sees her. She was hoping he’d say something first. Give her a sign; make a move. “Maybe I will ask him.” Or grow old waiting.
“Thing is,” says Josh. “I mean, why I asked.” He seems to be studying his spoon for signs of life. “I don’t really think that would be a great idea.”
“You don’t?” She sweeps a few crumbs of sugar to the floor. “Why not?”
“Well…” Maybe he’s thinking of writing a song about the endless fascination of a teaspoon. “I don’t think he’d enjoy a party like that. He’s such an art-school type.”
Maybe she won’t have to grow old waiting. “Do you have someone else in mind? Someone who would enjoy a party like that?”
“Well…”
She leans forward so she’s almost half across the table. “Josh? Do you have someone else in mind?”
He puts down the spoon. “There’s always me.”
“You?” As if he’s the last person she would consider.
“Yeah.” And, with all the courage he never found before, he says, “You know. It could be our first real date.”
“What makes you think I’d want to go out with you?” asks Ramona.
“I don’t.” Josh smiles. “I just hope you will.”
She smiles back.
Other books by Dyan Sheldon
And Baby Makes Two
Away for the Weekend
Bursting Bubbles
Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen
Confessions of a Teenage Hollywood Star
The Crazy Things Girls Do for Love
I Conquer Britain
My Perfect Life
My Worst Best Friend
One or Two Things I Learned About Love
Planet Janet
Planet Janet in Orbit
Sophie Pitt-Turnbull Discovers America
Tall, Thin and Blonde
The Truth About My Success
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or, if real, are used fictitiously. All statements, activities, stunts, descriptions, information and material of any other kind contained herein are included for entertainment purposes only and should not be relied on for accuracy or replicated as they may result in injury.
First published 2015 by Walker Books Ltd
87 Vauxhall Walk, London SE11 5HJ
Text © 2015 Dyan Sheldon
Cover photograph © Photolibrary. All rights reserved.
The right of Dyan Sheldon to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, transmitted or stored in an information retrieval system in any form or by any means, graphic, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, taping and recording, without prior written permission from the publisher.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data: a catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN 978-1-4063-6409-5 (e-Pub)
www.walker.co.uk
