Cathy Hopkins - [Mates, Dates 06] by Dates Mates, Mad Mistakes (Html) Page B

was. Spider. He
must have taken it last night.
    ‘No, I haven’t got it,
Ben,’ I said. ‘Haven’t you got another copy?’
    ‘No. I was going to do
some today. Never mind. It’s got to be here somewhere. I’ll carry on looking.’
    I felt rotten when I
put the phone down, but I just couldn’t bring myself to tell him that I’d taken
two boys back to the garage. Even though we’re not an item any more, I didn’t
want to hurt his feelings. I’ll kill Spider, I thought. I have to get the CD
back, but then I’m not going to see Josh again, am I? So how am I going to see
Spider? Luckily the phone went again and this time it was Josh. He asked if I’d
meet him in Highgate. My first reaction was to say no, as I still felt bad
after being abandoned last night, but I wanted to get the CD back from Spider in
time for the gig, plus I wanted to get something for Mum’s birthday tomorrow,
so in the end, I agreed.
    I set off for
Highgate, thinking that I’d be really cool with Josh this time. I’d ask how I
could get the CD back and I’d let him know that he couldn’t just see me when he
chose, then abandon me when he had a better offer.
    He was waiting for me
in Costa on the High Street at a table at the back. I sat opposite him and
resolved that I wasn’t going to gabble away and do all the talking. If he was
going to be mysterious, then so was I.
    ‘Hi,’ he said.
    ‘Hi.’
    He looked up at me,
then down at the floor and shifted uncomfortably. He fumbled in his jacket
pocket. ‘First of all, let me give you this back.’ He handed me Ben’s CD. ‘I
wanted to hear what your band sounded like. I know I should have told you, but
I know a few people in bands and it can be so embarrassing if they’re rotten
and you have to fake what you think. I wanted to listen to you in private. It’s
good. Genuinely. And you have a great voice, Izzie. Real talent.’
    Thanks. I…‘
    ‘And second,’ he
interrupted. ‘I was a real shit last night and I want to apologise. I shouldn’t
have left you on your own…’
    My jaw dropped. This
wasn’t what I expected.
    ‘So sorry,’ he
continued. ‘I don’t know why I did it. It’s weird sometimes with girls. It’s
like… I dunno, like when I really like someone, sometimes it does my head in
and I cut off. I know it’s mad…’ He shifted in his seat again. ‘Plus things
have been crap at home, you know, lot going on…’
    ‘Tell me about it,’ I
said. ‘I seem to have been in the doghouse all summer. So what’s happening at
home?’
    Josh hesitated. ‘Oh,
the usual - parents, school, exams, life,’ he said finally.
    ‘Yeah. Same ole, same
ole,’ I said. ‘Do you have brothers and sisters?’
    Josh shook his head. ‘Just
me.’
    ‘So what’s been the
problem?’
    Josh hesitated again.
‘It’s my dad, really…’ He seemed reluctant to carry on, so I reached over, took
his hand and squeezed it.
    ‘You don’t have to
tell me if you don’t want,’ I said.
    Josh shrugged. ‘No,
it’s not that I don’t want to tell you, just that a lot of people don’t want to
know when they find out what my dad does.’
    ‘Why? What does he
do?’
    Josh glanced around
him, then sighed. ‘Let’s just put it this way: he spends a lot of his time in
police stations.’
    Even though I tried to
look cool about it, I think my face must have registered surprise. Josh scanned
my face for a reaction, so I gave him a sympathetic smile as if to say, what
his dad did wasn’t going to put me off him.
    ‘Ever since I was a
kid,’ he continued, ‘I never really knew what my dad was up to. Out nights,
didn’t know where he’d been when he finally did come home. And the stress it
causes my mum — the atmosphere at home is rotten. She wants him to get a normal
job, live a normal life, but nah, what can you do?’
    ‘Oh, I’m so sorry,
Josh. It must be hard having a dad who’s been inside…“ I began.
    ‘Inside?’ Suddenly he
grinned as though he found it funny.