Nine. Jez.
Having everyone at my house felt really, really great. Unlike the last time they'd all been here, I could actually feel proud of it. It didn't feel like I should be ashamed of having money. It felt special, like we were at my house and everyone had come here because I invited them and I'd made everyone see each other again and we were all really happy because of me. That sounded really snobby, didn't it? It wasn't supposed to sound like that, just… I don't know.
When BB finally came downstairs, after just waking up, the rest of us had all had lunch and were outside having a snowball fight like the kids we all really were, still. All of us, that was, with the exception of Jade, Danny's new girlfriend, who hadn't wanted to get cold.
It was unbelievably hard having to pretend to like her. I mean, usually, I think I'm pretty good at hiding my feelings and being diplomatic and everything, and I thought I was doing a pretty good job of it today, compared to Claudine anyway, who was shooting evil glances at her every two minutes. But she was just so incredibly annoying. And Danny was being a bit of a jerk, wasn't he, after admitting his love for Lauren and then Claudine less than months ago he'd just brought someone else along to meet them who, I found out, he hadn't even been seeing for two weeks yet anyway.
But yeah, BB came downstairs and then we all threw snow at each other for a while and then went inside. Everyone sat round the fireplace and warmed up, while discussing a possible cinema trip on Boxing Day, or the day after. Lola, of course, was hyperventilating because it was almost Christmas.
Actually, I was rather excited as well. It was a pretty long time since I'd been really excited about Christmas, the last seven years I'd spent it alone with Dad. But this year I was really excited, seriously. I'd spent ages in Harrods choosing Christmas presents for everyone, individually. This made me remember that I hadn't got Stefan anything. I mean, wasn't sure if he'd be expecting me to or anything. Would he be? I'd probably get something from him and Lola. Damn, easy advantage for getting Christmas presents for people you didn't know very well. It didn't matter about Jade, it was Danny's fault for not giving us any warning and I'd done enough to try and make her feel welcome, anyway.
It was four o clock, and we were all sat around in the lounge, just chatting. It was unbelievable how much time we'd spent catching up, but it was really fun to get to know each other again. As Lola launched into another real life fairytale about her sun-filled life in Australia, BB approached me.
"Jez… can we talk?" he asked.
I nodded. "Sure."
He led me out of the room, and through the maze of corridors I knew so well, up the stairs to his room.
Already, it was so much messier than it had been this time yesterday. Two t-shirts and a pair of jeans were strewn across the floor, along with a toothbrush and paste. His phone and a bottle of cologne sat proudly on the end table next to his bed.
BB sat down on the edge of his bed. It seemed like we were going to be a pretty long time, so I sat on the bed as well.
"You wanted to tell me something?" I prompted.
"Right, yeah. I think…" He stopped in his tracks and looked at the floor. I looked at him. Still, he didn't say anything.
"You think…?"
"I think," he suddenly looked up and right at me. "I think I'm having feelings for Claudine. And I think she feels the same way."
I almost had to bite my lip to keep myself from laughing. BB thought that Claudine was having feelings for him. That was just so not going to happen. I tried to think of something to say, something supportive without deluding him to much. And without making myself laugh.
Breathe deep, Jez. Breathe deep.
Great. Now I was talking to myself in my head with my explaining-something-to-Lola-voice.
"Are… are you sure?"
"I think so. I mean, she just seemed really, really different now and now that I'm looking, she seems to keep sending me these flirty looks. I mean, just try watching her tonight, yeah?"
"Right. But, let's get this straight. You're having feelings for Claudine," I said.
I shouldn't have said it out loud. It was getting harder and harder to not just start laughing.
"Yeah. I mean, when we started school and before I knew she was so evil and all that I'd thought she was sort of hot… but now? I don't know, it's weird, I know. She's changed loads though. I just can't decide if I'm gonna do anything about it, you know? What d'you think?"
I sighed. "I think…"
I think your sort of being ridiculous and it's all inside your head.
"… I don't know. Maybe you should wait for a while and, you know, make sure she feels the same way."
There, that was a nice way of telling him it was never going to happen. Well, it didn't do exactly that but it put him off for a while, didn't it? How was I going to tell him, ever, that Claudine did not want him?
Although, at dinner, she did seem to be giving him 'looks' every so often, unless I was just imagining it or something.
For dinner, we ordered a Chinese and ate it around the huge dining room table. Earlier, we'd decided to have a sort of party night type thing. Lola's idea, how could it not be?
