Page 28 of In the Same Boat

They start moving towards the door. Nico follows, then pauses very briefly beside me.

‘Enjoy your bath,’ he tells me.

‘Seems impossible now, but thank you,’ I reply.

He smiles. It’s that cheeky, confident grin of his. It would be handsome, were he not so infuriating.

I’m not ready to talk to my mum about it – in fact, I’m going to avoid it at all costs – so I excuse myself.

‘I’ll go get cleaned up. So, er… bye.’

The boys say goodbye to me but I don’t hang around to hear it. I head upstairs.

I retreat to the bathroom, locking the door behind me, and run my bath. There’s so much to wash away today. I probably overdo it with the bubble bath – not because I think it will help, but because my mind wanders while I’m pouring it.

How have I managed to make things so much worse?

‘Sweetheart?’ Mum calls through the door. ‘You don’t mind that I had a friend over, do you?’

‘Of course not,’ I call back, before my brain can disagree with my mouth.

‘You sure?’ she checks.

‘Mmmhmm.’

‘He’s really nice, you know,’ she says.

‘Great.’

‘Nico too,’ she adds.

‘I’m sure.’

‘Was work okay? You look a little worse for wear.’

‘Ahh, I’m fine, I just slipped in the dirt,’ I assure her. ‘The others think I need to take some time off.’

‘It wouldn’t hurt,’ she replies.

I stop the tap. For a moment the house falls silent.

‘Well, I’ll leave you to relax,’ she tells me. ‘See you in a bit.’

‘K…’

Something about Nico and Hank being in my house feels invasive in a way that I can’t explain. It is not just that Nico was here. It is that he was comfortable here. That my mum was comfortable with him being comfortable here. And Hank – oh boy, he really did make himself at home. There’s nowhere more comfortable than upstairs, right?

I climb into the bath with a splash. And now it’s time to relax. Or try to, at least.

Because I don’t know how possible that’s going to be with so, so much more to overthink.

6

NICO

There’s a real spring in his step as my dad hops into my car.

‘Good evening?’ I ask.