She called to Aidan from the bottom of the stairs, ‘Aidan, can you let me in when I’m back later? I’ll give you a ring. I haven’t got space for my keys.’ Aidan and Aleisha both knew that the real reason she was leaving her keys behind was her drunken tendency to leave them in random places. Aidan had already had to pay for the locks to be changed twice.
‘Yeah, sure,’ he called back down. ‘Now go have fun!’
The air was cooler this evening, refreshing, and the sky had turned to candyfloss. She picked up a six-pack of beer using the ID she’d doctored with the Tipp-Ex and pen skills that Rahul had taught her. When she reached the park, she heard them before she saw them. She knew it well: an illegal barbecue, laughter fuelled by booze and fags; what friendships are made of. The park was almost deserted, though there were a few dog walkers and a couple of groups of teenagers. （Aleisha’s friends never considered themselves actual teenagers. They looked down on teenagers.）
She heard Rahul laughing, bellowing as though he really wanted to prove how much fun he was having, what a laugh he was. ‘You came!’ Mia jumped up as soon as she saw Aleisha. ‘I didn’t think you’d come. You know, flaky.’ Aleisha laughed uncomfortably, Mia winked back.
‘Kacey and people not here?’
‘Nah, they were going to see some gig or something. Last-minute tickets. Bailed. They’ll be gutted to miss you though – but you know, they didn’t think you’d come.’ That stung, but Aleisha felt the truth in it. ‘Anyway, what have you been up to recently? No one has seen you.’
Aleisha held her breath for a moment. She hadn’t been up to anything. Her only news was meeting Mr P, reading the books, reading to her mum. It was all rubbish to them. ‘Not much really,’ she said.
‘Guys!’ Mia called out to everyone, ‘Aleisha’s working in the Harrow Road Library!’
Aleisha felt her face blanch. Some people cackled; mostly, no one looked up.
‘I thought they were shutting it down?’ Rahul said, winking at her, trying to draw himself into her conversation.
Aleisha didn’t say anything. She wanted this to end – she had nothing else to say anyway.
She spent the evening trying to act like there wasn’t a massive gulf between her and Mia, friends who were now nothing but strangers who moved in the same circles, lived in the same place, yet knew nothing of the detail of each other’s lives. Rahul kept looking over at her, looking for any opportunity to start chatting, so right now Mia was her only protection. She kept her eyes fixed on Mia as she swigged back the bottle of summer fruit cider, pretending to care about her family summer holiday and the weed she smoked with her dad and brother. Wild.
By 11 p.m., people had already started dropping off. They all wanted to go home early – this was the third night out they’d had this week. It was just a chilled one. Aleisha hadn’t left Mia’s side all night. Out of nowhere, Mia threw her head back and laughed, nearly toppling over and taking Aleisha with her. Aleisha anchored them to the floor. She had clocked some of the guys looking at Mia, watching her get drunker by the second, louder, happier.
‘Mee, shall we go home now?’
Mia shook her head, put her wobbly drunk arm up in the air, singing along to the tinny music playing out of someone’s phone. The barbecue was now forgotten, and the group had marked out their territory with a ring of discarded bottles and tin cans.
Aleisha tried to pull Mia to her feet, but she was determined to lie back down on the floor, looking up at the sky, singing into the breeze.
Suddenly, Rahul was by Aleisha’s side.
‘Let me help you,’ he said.
‘No, I’m fine,’ Mia spoke for Aleisha, from the ground.
‘Okay,’ Aleisha nodded to him. She couldn’t do it alone.
Rahul didn’t say any more. He bent down to Mia, sitting on his heels. ‘Mee,’ he said, softly, ‘I think we should go now. It’s late, everyone’s going home.’
Mia shook her head dramatically. ‘No one’s going home,’ she said, her words suddenly crisp and clear. ‘Aleisha’s here, we have to make the most of it. We might never see her again.’
Between the two of them, they had enough strength and determination to lift Mia off the ground, carrying her with an arm on each of their shoulders. Even when Mia picked her feet up, floating between her two friends, they carried on. Mia said her goodbyes, complaining about her shepherd and chaperone, and wandered out of the park.