Page 91 of The Next Chapter

Next Lola chapter to write

FaceTime Elton

Get on top of emails

Looking at the long lines of Noah’s back where he’s sprawled face down in my bed, I’m forced to accept that in so far as not developing feelings for him, I’ve been a total and utter failure.

It’s not even just the sex.

I like him. And that’s somehow even worse.

But where will all of this get us? We didn’t exactly hash out all of the details last night. You don’t stop someone kissing their way down your stomach and ask them to hash out anything.

But I don’t have time to dwell on it anymore this morning. We’ve overslept, and I’m due to meet Lola again.

‘Noah.’ I lean over him. ‘It’s eight thirty. I’m going to get ready to meet Lola. I’ll see you later.’

He hmms and shifts a little, causing the white bedding to pull down. I’m out of the bed in a flash, I’ve no time for distractions.

Noah still hasn’t emerged by the time I leave, thinking that I’ll have to clear up when I get back. Clothes and towels are scattered to every corner of the cottage.

I pick my way round the side of the hotel and towards the loch, where I can see Lola under the willow tree. It’s another hot day, but it’s early and there’s a faint breeze, so it’s possibly the least flustered I’ve ever been here.

‘Hi,’ I say to Lola, sitting down next to her on the pink and white striped blanket she’s laid out for us. She’s staring out at the loch, inscrutable to the max.

‘Morning, Lily. Sleep okay?’

Oh my god, does she know about Noah? I bet she knows.

‘Great, thanks. I don’t normally sleep well away from home. Not that I sleep well when I’m home most of the time. I think it’s a me thing rather than a sleep thing. Anyway, last night was good.’

I think… there’s no other word for it: Lola’s smirking at me. Not in a malicious way, more just that she thinks I’m mildly amusing. The edges of her mouth are turned up at the corners. How strange.

‘Shall we get started?’ I ask, uncrossing my legs and then realizing that there’s no more comfortable a position to be had, so I recross them. It’s all well and good having beautiful lakes and mountains up here, but there’s a woeful shortage of chairs. I’m literally always sat on the floor.

At least it’s too early for all the flies.

‘All right.’ Lola stills even more before she starts to talk. I didn’t think it was physically possible for her to be any stiller than she already was, but I’ve noticed now, she always does this before she starts. She’s like those crocodiles who slow their hearts so that they beat three times a minute or something. She’s poised.

I set my phone between us and hit record.

‘Ready when you are.’

* * *

I thought I was gonna die on the flight to LA.

I’d never even been out of Louisiana before. And here I was in what felt like a tin can right above the clouds. I didn’t like flying then. Still don’t like it that much, if I’m being honest. I was seriously glad when those wheels hit the ground.

I left right after I graduated. It hadn’t been a hard decision to go, even though Jimmy told me the label wanted to set up a pop punk band and I wasn’t all that sure what pop punk was. I pestered the record shop to play Gwen Stefani over and over, though I couldn’t imagine ever being anything like as glamorous as her. Jimmy said I’d pick it up and I trusted him.

I’d told my sisters where I was going and they must have told Ma, I suppose. But she never reached out to wish me luck. Probably she was annoyed that I’d managed to get something decent for myself, it ruined her idea that I was good for nothin’.

Jimmy was there to meet me off the plane. I remember thinking that he looked so happy to see me. I don’t think anyone had ever looked at me like that before, it was… nice. He looked rich too, or richer than he’d seemed on holiday in Baton Rouge. I only had one bag filled with my thrift store clothes and Pa’s guitar. I was half terrified. I kept thinking that someone was going to come and tell me that it was all some awful mistake, that they’d got the wrong person and I’d have to go straight home. My hand was shaking so bad I could hardly open my passport. But seeing Jimmy made me feel better.

The rest of the band were staying at this apartment in Silverlake and Jimmy took me right there to see them. They’d been put together by the record label, but they hadn’t been able to find a lead singer yet and that’s where I came in. It all felt more than a little surreal to be honest.

We took a car to the new neighbourhood, and it was like I was in a trance. Baton Rouge had been hot and dry and busy, but LA was a different beast. The air felt different. Like it fizzed and crackled with excitement. Already I thought LA was the place where things just happened.