Bigger Boys & Stolen Sweethearts - Alex Turner

15. She Looks Like Fun

  "Alright, cut the shit, are you and Arabella dating or what?" greeted Matt as soon as I stepped into his car the following day.

  I hesitated. Almost too long that Matt noticed. "Or what," I said.

  Matt groaned, "aight, I'm not telling you how to go about yer love life but I feel like—"

  "I don't need to hear it Matt," I groaned.

  "—I dunno, you two have been havin' a thing for awhile," Matt said as we reversed out of me driveway, "and maybe it's time you ask her to be yer girlfriend?"

  "Tell me honestly Matt if you genuinely think Arabella is the 'girlfriend' type," I said. Until the night before, I never thought in a million years that she'd let me call her that.

  "If you break through her tough outer-walls, yeah, I reckon she is," Matt shrugged.

  I was surprised at his response. He knew the kind of girl Arabella was better than I did. She wouldn't mind if I told Matt what we'd discussed would she? Well either way my dumbass self can't keep a secret from Matt for shit so I gave in effective immediately.

"Y' can't tell anyone," I said. "We were talkin' last night and she said...we'll...we're together...now."

Matt chuffed a smile and punched my shoulder, "well look at you y' slag."

"But you can't tell anyone, it was just meant to be between us," I said.

  "I won't tell anyone but we'll see how long that lasts," Matt said. He wasn't wrong. Jamie and Nick, Jamie especially, were really good scouts at figuring out what was happening in my life. Only thing I'd managed to keep from em was how miserable my parents lack of acknowledgement to me made me. But that's a very different wavelength to having a girlfriend.

At recess I found myself sharing a smoke with Arabella behind the old 'smoke screen' — the brick wall that we had to hide behind to smoke without getting caught. She was resting against my left side and kicking the gravel with the toe of her boot.

"Wanna go out tonight?" she asked suddenly, looking up at me.

"It's Tuesday," I chuckled.

"So?" she shrugged. I should've known better that she wouldn't give a damn.

"What do you propose?" I said and took a deep inhale of the smoke.

"There's a gig on at The Grapes from like, seven to late," Arabella said. "Actually, I think it's more of an open mic night but...yeah, that."

"Sounds fun," I said. The smokes were her organics. Lit by my lighter.

"Do you want me to come get you?" she offered, sinking into the arm I had sneakily around her waist. We were the only ones there so no one could see us anyway. I had no idea how 'between us' Arabella wanted it all to be.

"I can see if me parents will let me take the car out?" I said.

"Okay. I'll be ready at seven," Arabella said.

"Didn't you say it started at seven?"

Arabella rolled her eyes at me like she was exhausted of my stupidity, "yeah but who wants to get there on time?"

I chuckled and gently pulled her to me, "so what? This a date?"

"Not if you get cocky," she said and pinched the smoke from me and crushed it out against the wall.

  Convincing me parents to let me out late on a Tuesday night was a wonderful little challenge because they most likely weren't going to get home until after seven. I tried phoning them but of course, they never picked up. So I faced a decision, tell Arabella I was going to be late and wait until my parents got home for their permission, or just leave and beg for forgiveness instead of permission.