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push him on it.’
    I frowned. The list of things which made Flynn really angry was getting longer every time I met him. Money. Drugs. Booze. People turning up late to protect his sister from some mysterious
danger.
    I spotted Grace – minus Emmi, but carrying both our jackets in her arms – appearing at the doorway.
    ‘Okay,’ I whispered, remembering what hadn’t made sense to me before. ‘I see why he wants you to make sure I get home all right, but why did he say I should go soon?
Wouldn’t it make more sense for me to sit here quietly for a bit until I felt properly better?’
    I stared at James, wondering what new revelation I was going to get about Flynn’s personality now.
    James’s blush deepened. ‘Er . . .’ he said, watching Grace wander over to us. ‘I imagine that’s just because he doesn’t want you getting with anyone
else.’
    The next day was Sunday. Stone and I went to see Dad at his commune. I hardly spoke all the way there. My head was full of Flynn and the night before.
    Part of me was mortified that he’d seen me drunk and puking. But part of me kept remembering the way he’d looked at me – and how he’d said he liked me too . . .
    This last point was reinforced by James. He’d spent most of the journey wrapped around Grace and, at some point, had mentioned to her that he thought Flynn was interested in me. Grace had
pestered me all night for details. I kept insisting nothing had happened between me and Flynn. Which was true. We hadn’t even kissed.
    I just said he’d been nice about me being sick and I couldn’t really remember the rest of it.
    Emmi had refused to come home with us. Grace and I agreed to tell my mum she’d decided to go back to hers instead. She turned up the next morning to pick up her stuff – explaining in
graphic detail how she’d spent the whole night with Alex.
    I could tell she wasn’t pleased when Grace told her about me and Flynn.
    ‘He’s a bit weird, Riv,’ she said. ‘Don’t you think? Dead intense. I mean, look at last night. He wasn’t even there and he got the three of you to do what he
wanted and go straight home.’
    I shrugged. ‘He was just trying to be nice,’ I said. But some part of me knew Emmi was right. It was a bit weird how protective he’d suddenly got. As if we’d been going
out for ages or something. As if I was really important to him.
    But then, I sighed, that was what made Flynn so amazing – how intense he was. How deeply I felt it all.
    The day at the commune passed very slowly. Stone had a great time, helping Dad and Gemma dig potatoes. He still loves all that nature stuff, so long as he’s sure his
friends can’t see him. I poked around, pretending to be working, but my heart wasn’t in it.
    Dad must’ve seen I wasn’t enjoying myself. Not that I ever do, that much, at the commune. It’s basically just a bunch of fields and huts – with a big old farmhouse in the
middle. It’s not that far out of London, but far enough to feel like the countryside.
    Today I was so distracted I spent half my time outside just leaning on my fork, staring across the vegetable field towards the trees that marked a boundary with the row of houses next to the
commune.
    ‘What’s the matter?’ Dad said, coming up to me. I blushed. I’d just been remembering how Flynn had dragged his fingers slowly down my cheek. Dad grinned. ‘Worried
you broke a nail?’
    I shook my head. I wasn’t in the mood to be teased. Dad tilted his head to one side and smiled gently at me. ‘Trouble shared, trouble halved,’ he said.
    Dad’s full of cheesy old sayings like that. He’s so laid-back nowadays he’s practically asleep. He’d grown a bit of a beard since I’d last seen him two weeks ago,
and there were lines round his eyes from all the squinting against the sun he does with his outdoor work.
    ‘I guess commune-living seems pretty boring to you,’ Dad said, still smiling that slow smile.
    I shrugged.
    He leaned