Read Online Another Country by Anjali Joseph - Free Book Online Page B

almost seemed to be shouting.
    â€˜About what?’
    â€˜Oh, come on.’
    â€˜He’s nice, he’s nice looking,’ Leela said. She felt thrilled, but put-upon.
    â€˜Did you talk to him?’ Amy was singing out her words in aggressive exuberance. She dabbed powder on her face, stretched her mouth, reapplied lipstick. Leela looked at herself in the mirror, recoiled, wondered if the skin under her eyes could really be so dark.
    â€˜Pub mirrors are horrible, aren’t they?’
    â€˜Ugh.’
    They began to leave the lavatory.
    â€˜So are you going to pull him?’
    â€˜What?’
    â€˜Rob. Are you going to pull him?’
    Leela felt rattled and became aggressive in turn. ‘What are you on about? Leave me alone.’
    â€˜I’m just trying to help. Jesus.’ Amy marched away, and a marooned Leela watched her. Without her friend, she was helpless.
    Leela and Rob had a conversation. He was tall, dark-haired, fair-skinned, a bit awkward.
    â€˜So what do you do?’ Leela asked abruptly. She had Simon after all, or whatever, she didn’t need this. Nevertheless, Rob’s attention, what she saw as his slightly rat-like smile, unnerved her. He continued to meet her eyes.
    â€˜I’m in gardening.’
    â€˜Right. Do you like that?’
    He shrugged. ‘It’s all right. Pretty boring.’ He grinned at her.
    They were upstairs in the pub. Crowded: Christmas Eve. She and Amy had come up to Stratford the day before. That was when Leela had met Rob, the elder brother of Amy’s chirpier, but less good-looking friend Jason, and a few of Amy’s other numerous friends from home. Like Leela, perhaps like everyone, Amy had a different persona for college and for the town where she’d grown up. At home, many of her friends were the easy-going, down-to-earth young men she’d worked or drunk with: Jason and she had waited tables at the Grillhouse, a steak place in a retail park. Jason still worked there, and was now the junior manager. Amy hadn’t met Rob, but had told Jason to bring his fit brother along. Rob was reputed to be serious. He and Leela sounded ideal for each other, in the short term.
    They were standing up now, wedged against a small table with a stool near it. The stool was covered in coats. The pub was smoky. Leela shrank into the passage. Rob put an arm around her, just brushing her shoulder, as three men walked by. They skirted Leela and Rob as a couple.
    â€˜What about Simon?’ Leela had checked with Amy when they were getting ready.
    â€˜Well, has he asked you to be his girlfriend?’
    â€˜No, but, I mean, we see each other almost every week. Sometimes more than once a week.’
    â€˜Has he had a conversation with you about seeing other people?’
    â€˜No.’ Leela had felt sick.
    Rob looked at her now and, as though straining a group of muscles, made a conversational foray. ‘Have you been to Stratford before?’
    Leela’s heart sank. ‘Yeah, a few times, yeah. To … visit Amy and stuff.’
    â€˜Oh, right.’ He nodded. She examined his hair, which was impeccable with gel. Jason must have told him Amy had a friend who was single. Last night they’d smiled at each other; today Amy had reported that Jason said Rob thought Leela was fit. It was on, then.
    â€˜He’s a nice-looking boy, love,’ Amy’s mother had remarked.
    There they were. She smiled at Rob. He smiled uneasily back.

    â€˜I think I feel sick.’
    â€˜I feel really unwell. Here, do you want some cheese? Mm, so fattening and good.’ Amy cut herself a piece of stilton and ate it. Leela removed orange peel from her sweater and lay prone on the sofa.
    â€˜We can do the Mr Motivator video tomorrow,’ Amy said.
    â€˜That bloke in Lycra?’
    â€˜He’s brilliant. It really tones you up.’
    â€˜Okay.’
    They lay near the fire, and outside the lawn and garden darkened;