Page 59 of Hexed Up

“And this really cute girl, dressed like she was either coming from a funeral or going to a rock concert, comes crashing through the doors in a tornado of chaos, talking at me while her dog starts sexually harassing me.”

“It’s a thing he does to strangers to assert his dominance,” I explain, “he humps their legs.”

“That is,” Tiggie says, “really disturbing. So did you hit it off straight away?” She narrows her eyes. “Have you been secretly dating for nearly two years?”

I laugh. “No, he couldn’t stand me at first. I think I irritated the hell out of him – I probably still do.”

“That’s not true,” Horatio says, “I’ve always liked you. But at first I thought maybe I was a little old for you.”

“How old are you?” Prim says, narrowing her eyes in Horatio’s direction.

“Thirty-two,” I pipe up before Prim gets worried.

“Thirty-three on Wednesday,” Horatio adds. “Anyway, then I found out you weren’t actually twenty-one–”

“–she does dress kinda young,” Prim says, nodding.

“I do not!”

“And after that it just took me a while to find a way to ask you out,” Horatio says.

Which is not the cover story we agreed on or practised but I guess it’s late and we have both had a few drinks.

“So you were secretly in love with her all that time?” my older sister gushes, Tiggie swooning again beside her.

Horatio scratches the back of his neck. “I guess, yes, I was.”

“And were you secretly in love with him too?” Prim asks, leaning her elbow on the bar and resting her chin in her hand.

“I thought he was extremely good looking but just as grumpy. It’s only recently I’ve discovered how nice he really is,” I say, leaning forward to take another sip of my cocktail, unable to meet Horatio’s gaze.

“Awww,” Tiggie says, then jolts and starts scrabbling around in her handbag when something starts buzzing. She pulls it out, peeks at the screen and her whole face lights up. “It’s the vampire,” she says. “I’m going to take this up in my room.” She hops down from her stool and sprints away.

Prim downs her drink and peers with lacklustre towards the door. “I’d better get to bed too.”

“Really?” I say, suddenly a little nervous to be left alone with Mr Hottie. “Why don’t you have another one with us?”

“No, Norman wants us to get up early and go on a run.”

“You could give it a miss?”

She shakes her head. “Got to keep up the routine. No slacking.” She slumps off the stool and onto her feet, swaying dramatically and then swerving off towards the door. She’s clearly had more to drink than I realised.

“Do you want me to walk you to your room?” I offer.

“Noooo,” she says, before vanishing into thin air.

“Oh jeez,” I say, “I hope she ends up in her room and not someone else’s.”

I turn back to Horatio. He’s staring at me with that look – the one that has the butterflies prancing about.

“You think I’m nice?”

“It’s hardly the best compliment,” I point out.

“And extremely good looking.”

“I also said you were grumpy. And you said I was like a chaotic tornado dressed for a funeral.”