Rooney still blamed herself for the whole thing, it seemed. Even though Pip had many more reasons to be angry with me.
I went with her part of the way, but stopped round a corner a few metres away so I could listen to the conversation. It was evening, and dinner had finished, so hopefully Pip would be there.
Rooney knocked on Pip’s door. I wondered what she was going to say.
Was this a terrible idea?
Too late.
The door opened.
‘Hi,’ said Rooney. And then there was a noticeable silence.
‘What are you doing here?’ asked Pip. Her voice was low. It was strange hearing Pip so genuinely sad. I hadn’t heard her like that very much before … all of this.
‘I …’
I expected Rooney to launch into a big speech of some sort. To deliver a heartfelt and forceful apology.
Instead, she said, ‘Um – your … jacket.’
There was another silence.
‘OK,’ said Pip. ‘Thanks.’
The door creaked, and I peeked round the corner just as Rooney swung out her arm to keep the door open.
‘Wait!’ she cried.
‘What? What do you want?’ I couldn’t see Pip – she was too far inside her room – but I could tell she was getting annoyed.
Rooney was panicking. ‘I … Why is your room so messy?’
This was definitely the wrong thing to say.
‘You literally cannot stop yourself from making snidey comments about me, can you?’ Pip snapped.
‘Wait, sorry, that’s not what I –’
‘Can’t you just leave me alone? I feel like you’re haunting me, or something.’
Rooney swallowed. ‘I just wanted to say sorry. Like … properly. To your face.’
‘Oh.’
‘Georgia’s here too.’
I felt my stomach drop as Rooney pointed towards where I was hiding round the corner. This hadn’t been the plan.
For someone who supposedly knew a lot about romance, Rooney sure as hell didn’t know how to pull off a grand gesture Pip stepped a little way out of her room to look, her expression dark.
‘I don’t want to talk to either of you,’ she said, her voice cracking, and she turned to go back inside.
‘Hang on!’ I was surprised by my own voice leaving my mouth, and by the way I scrambled towards Pip’s room.
And there she was. Her hair was fluffy and unstyled, and she was wearing a hoodie and jersey shorts. Her bedroom was extremely messy, even for her. She was clearly upset.
But she wasn’t as angry as the other week outside the pub.
Was that progress?
‘We thought it might be better if just one of us spoke to you,’ I blurted. ‘But – um, yeah. We’re both here. And we’re both really sorry for … you know. Everything that happened.’
Pip said nothing. She waited for us to continue, but I didn’t know what else to say.
‘That’s it, then?’ she said, eventually. ‘I’m supposed to just … forgive you?’
‘We just want you to come back to the Shakespeare Soc,’ said Rooney, but this was, again, definitely the wrong thing to say.
Pip laughed. ‘Oh my God! I should have guessed. This isn’t even about me – you just need your fifth member for the fucking Shakespeare Society. Oh my God.’
‘No, that’s not what –’
‘I have no idea why you care so much about your stupid play but why the fuck would I put myself through that with someone who made me think there was the tiniest chance she liked me back, and then decided to get off with my best friend?’ Pip shook her head. ‘I was right all along. You just hate me.’
I waited for Rooney’s inevitable comeback, but it didn’t arrive.
She blinked several times. I turned to look at her properly, and realised she was about to cry.
‘I did like –’ she began to say, but stopped, and her face just crumpled. Tears started falling from her eyes, and before she could say anything else, she turned abruptly and walked away.
Pip and I watched her disappear round the corner.
‘Shit, I … I didn’t mean to make her cry,’ Pip mumbled.
I had no idea what to say now. I almost felt like crying too.
‘We really are sorry,’ I said. ‘We – I’m sorry. I meant everything I said in my message. It was just a weird, drunk mistake. Neither of us like each other like that. And I’ve apologised to Jason too.’
‘You talked to Jason?’
‘Yeah, we … we talked about everything. I think we’re OK now.’