7. Se dépêcher

"I can't believe you didn't know who -"

"Yes, alright, Jathro!" Lexi aims a weak punch in the vague direction of his arm as she shrugs her coat on over her shirt now that her shift is finally finally over for the day. "I get the point."

"I don't think that you do," Jathro replies, poking his head around the door of the small cupboard-like space that Lyzera has allowed them to use as a coat room. "You didn't know who Tom Clarke was, Lex'. That's pretty bad."

"How so?"

"We're supposed to be in the prime age group for knowing everybody else's business. Once we get out of here, others will frown on our tendency to gossip about everybody. For example, there's a rumour going round that Meena and I were secretly engaged last year, and I'm sure as heck not going to correct them, but you wouldn't get this in the workplace - well, any workplace that's not ours, anyway. The only rumours going around there will be about who stole the stapler from the stationary cupboard."

"And I guarantee that will be you."

"Eh, probably. You can never have too many staplers, after all."

"I'm glad to know that you appreciate the important things in life." Lexi rolls her eyes, dropping her phone into her rucksack as Jathro disappears from the doorway, only to reappear a few seconds later.

"Okay, Princess?"

Lexi raises an eyebrow. "Yeeeeees?"

"Don't panic or anything, but you might have got a visitor?"

"Why would I panic about that?" She pulls a face. People have dropped in to see her whilst she's working before. That's no big deal.

Well, okay, one person, and that might have only been Varg who wasn't really there for her, but that still counts. Right? Right.

"Oh, I don't know." Jathro throws a wink in her direction. "Because it might be a certain Tom Clarke?"

Okay. Jathro had been right about the panic after all.

"He's - Why is he here?" Her hand goes to her messy hair, madly running her fingers through the strands, trying to neaten it, make it look at least somewhat presentable, which doesn't exactly go very well.

"Hang on, I'll ask!" Jathro vanishes from sight again, and Lexi can hear his voice echoing from outside as he calls across the shop. "Oi, Clarkey! She says, Why are you here?" There's the sound of Tom replying, something she can't quite pick up, before Jathro is back. "Apparently, he's under the impression that you told him to be here."

"Did I?"

"Well, if you don't know, I'm sure I don't." Jathro raises an eyebrow. "Can you just ask him yourself so that I actually go home now? Not that I don't love being your little angel messenger and all that, but my mother promised that she'd cook me my favourite meal tonight - I think it's a bribe to keep me from going out with you anywhere - and I'm willing to utilise this."

"So your favourite meal of fish fingers and spaghetti is more important than spending time with me? Nice to know where I stand, Jath'."

"Lexi, never come between a man and his stomach. It's the most valuable life lesson you can learn for when you and Clarkey tie the knot."

"Oh, ha ha," Lexi says snarkily, although she can feel her face starting to burn a little. "You're hilarious, Jathro. I can always rely on you for a comedic input."

"I wouldn't expect you to keep me around for any other reason." Jathro rests a hand on her shoulder and uses it to steer her out of the makeshift coat room and into the shop.

Tom's face lights up when he sees her. "Hey there."

"Hi," she replies, curling a loose strand of hair behind her ear in order to stop herself from wringing her hands together like a crazy person.

Jathro clears his throat from behind them. "Well, I hate to be the one interrupting this little lover embrace, however little embracing is actually going on, but my mother's cooking spaghetti for me tonight, so if we could move this on, that would be great."

Despite the embarrassment at Jathro calling this a "little lover embrace", Lexi still manages to fire a pretty hefty sarcastic expression in her best friend's direction. "Oh, everything's always about you, isn't it, Jathro?"

"I consider my selfishness to be my greatest quality, Princess," Jathro quips. "Now, can I go home and get my spaghetti, please? Mummy's actually showing me love for once, and I need to soak it up whilst I still can." He flaps his hands towards the door in a shoo-ing motion. "Come on! Let's go, people! Se dépêcher!"

"Is he always like this?" Tom mutters conspiringly in Lexi's ear as they get hustled from the building by an impatient Jathro.

"Nothing keeps Jathro from food." Lexi shrugs as she replies, nodding towards her best friend, who's striding down the street in the direction of the nearest bus station, not bothering to call a goodbye over his shoulder. Lexi's pretty sure that she'll get a Skype call from him later, however, so it doesn't bother her.

She coughs suddenly in order to clear the awkward silence. "So, um, why did you want to see me?"

"I thought we could...y'know, hang out or something." Tom shrugs too, scuffing his trainers against the pavement. "That is, if you want to -"

"Yes," Lexi says, far too eagerly, and then clears her throat again. If Jathro was there, he'd be laughing at her right now. "I mean, yeah. Sure. That could be fun."

His face brightens almost immediately. "Really? Cool." His hand moves towards hers, almost as if he's attempting to grab her hand, then thinks better and recoils, choosing to push strands of hair away from his face instead. "So, uh, how about chips?"

"Yeah." Lexi feels her mouth curl into a smile. "Chips sound good."