Running with Scissors

Chapter 3

Nicky pushed a strand of wet hair out of her eyes as she walked through the door into the crowded coffee shop.  Her eyes swept quickly across the crowded tables before being drawn to Claire who was waving frantically from a table in the corner. Clearly everyone in town had decided to take refuge from the rain in this one small café.

She carefully pushed her way between customers waiting to be served and smiled as she bent and briefly embraced her blonde friend before taking the empty seat opposite her.  “I thought you’d bailed on me.  Got you hot chocolate, but it’s probably cold by now.”

Picking up the huge mug Nicky took a sip, “Still hot” she informed the other girl.  “So, what do you know?”

Claire sat forward, a smile lighting up her face. “Well, you know that house party on Friday?  The one I was trying to get you to come to?”  She paused for a split second, head tilted to one side.  “You know you should give in and come just occasionally.  You never know, you might actually have some fun.  And it’s not like the horses would actually die without you being there like for one night.  I mean...”

“Friday night?” Nicky reminded her.

“Oh, yeah.  Well, you know that guy?  Drew?  Remember, I was telling you about him last week?”  Nicky smiled.

“The one with the hair and the car?” 

“Yeah, that’s him.  You were listening!” Claire grinned. 

“So?  What about him?”

“Oh my god.  Him and that bunch of lads from college got so wasted.”  She started to giggle.  “We waited until they were pretty oiled and then persuaded them to let us make them over.”  She pulled her mobile phone out of her bag.  “I’ve got pictures.”  She announced proudly.

Shifting her seat around Nicky positioned herself so that they could both see the screen as her friend slowly went through the photographs on her phone.  They both began to laugh as they looked at the pictures of a group of teenage lads proudly posing whilst wearing various items of female clothing, make-up and hair accessories.

Nicky jumped as a hand touched her shoulder.  Looking around she was surprised to see Paul standing close behind her.  “Oh.  Hi.”

“I wasn’t expecting to bump into you in here.”  He smiled at her. 

Feeling a sharp kick to her foot Nicky glanced at Claire to see her gesture almost imperceptibly at Paul with her head, one eyebrow raised.

“Paul, do you know Claire?” she asked, interpreting the sign language. 

Ignoring the question, Paul squatted between the two chairs.

“I just ducked in here to get out of that rain.  It’s really coming down.”

“Yeah.  We thought we’d just have a coffee and chill for a while,” Claire told him. 

Paul turned slightly so that he was facing Nicky, his back to the other girl. “Looks like you got a real soaking.”  He looked at her hair.  “You should take that tie out.  It’ll dry more quickly if it’s loose.”  Nicky glanced at Claire feeling awkward. She saw a slightly confused look on her friends face; she wasn’t used to being dismissed.