He shrugged. “You might one day, and even if not, when you look back at your life don’t you want to see yourself in it too?”
She pressed her lips together at that, and was distracted enough that he snapped a shot of her. “Hey!” He laughed, took another one even as she frowned. “Stop!” She stepped toward him and he darted away.
She heard Erin’s musical laugh from behind her, and turned to see her smiling, apparently unconcerned about Max playing around. Indeed she looked delighted by the whole ordeal. She wondered if that was just because she was so secure—you’d have to be secure, looking the way she did after all. Erin walked over to Josie, still managing to look graceful even as her heels sank into the earth. She put a slim arm around Josie’s shoulder, making Josie feel big and awkward next to her.
“Come on,” said Erin. “Let’s pose.” The first shots were weird and uncomfortable and Josie felt like she was smiling in that way children do for school photos. Then, somehow, through shouted encouragement from both Erin and Max, she and Erin were prancing around the field, striking ridiculous poses, both together and separately, with Max encouraging them with a fake photographer voice, saying things like, “Fabulous, darling,” and “Love it, work it,” until both she and Erin were laughing uncontrollably in a way that made Josie think that, perhaps, Erin wasn’t actually a bitch. Josie ended up by grinning directly at Max, and he took one last photo before lowering the camera and holding it out to her.
They walked back to the car as a three, and, whether or not it was intentional, Max had certainly succeeded in clearing the air and relaxing everyone. When they were safely on their way again—Josie once again in the middle, like they had assigned seats—Josie flicked through the photos. She deliberately skimmed past the ones of Erin and Max together and deleted a few of herself surreptitiously, but stopped at one in particular. She was smiling at Max and though there was nothing to indicate it, you could tell, somehow, that he was on the other side, smiling back. Like they were the only two people in the field. She looked pretty, happy, and carefree in that instant, and she knew then that she’d keep it, that years later, she’d want to remember the moment, and the lightness she’d felt in it. She glanced at Max, and saw he was smiling back at her. Then he took her hand, where Erin couldn’t see, and squeezed it. And even knowing that she shouldn’t, she squeezed back.
The taxi pulled up on a side street in Edinburgh. You could just about see Edinburgh Castle in the distance, almost seeming to blend with the grey sky above, and Josie thought how the city seemed like a world of its own, like it could easily be gated off, the people inside living completely separately from the rest of the world. She loved the combination of the city feel, the grandeur of it, combined with the sensation that it wouldn’t take long to get to know it, to be able to walk the whole city without needing a map. Like you’d be able to find comfort in the small familiarity of the place, yet also be able to find secret nooks and crannies if you wanted to.
Erin glanced at Josie as they got out of the car, then reached out to shake Max’s arm. “We should show Josie round Edinburgh later, Max.”
Josie twisted her lips. “Am I that obvious?”
Erin smiled, and linked an arm through Josie’s as they followed Max, taking Josie a little by surprise. “I remember the feeling. I might be Scottish, but I grew up in Glasgow, and I still remember the first time I saw this city.”
“So do you still live here now?” Josie asked and Erin nodded. Josie glanced at Max, who was walking a little ahead of them. “And you, Max?” she asked, raising her voice.
He glanced back at them, and his eyes seemed to flicker as he clocked Erin and Josie’s arms, linked together. “Huh?” he said with a frown.
“Do you live in Edinburgh now?” Josie pressed.
“Oh, no,” he said, looking back in front of him. “I’m in Bristol at the moment.” Josie nodded slowly. So, he and Erin weren’t living together then—she wondered what that meant.
Max led them to number seventy-two and rang the bell, Josie feeling a little uncomfortable with Erin’s arm through hers. Either it was some weird girl power play going on, along the lines of keep your enemies closer, or else Erin was genuinely making an effort to be friendly, which made it decidedly more difficult to hate her. On top of that, the fact that Max wouldn’t tell her what they were doing here, and that Erin seemed totally OK with the not knowing, was making her stomach curdle anxiously.