Читать книгу The Anxiety of Kalix the Werewolf - Martin Millar - Страница 22

CHAPTER 16

After the party, Moonglow slept late. She would have slept later had Vex not crashed into her room shortly after midday and jumped on her bed.

“Hi, Moonglow, are you awake?”

“No,” grunted Moonglow.

Vex bounced around a few times. “Are you awake now? Do you want some tea?”

“All right, I’ll have some tea.”

“I didn’t bring any tea,” admitted Vex. “But I’ve got big news! I have a boyfriend!”

“I have a hangover.”

“Not as bad as Daniel’s,” chortled Vex. “He threw a shoe at me!”

Moonglow sat up in bed. “You’re not going to go away, are you?”

Vex grinned. “I have a boyfriend!”

“OK,” said Moonglow, through dry lips. “Tell me about it.”

“It’s Pete. The guitarist from Yum Yum Sugary Snacks.”

Moonglow felt some stirrings of interest, despite her dry mouth and slight nausea. “How did this happen?”

“Well, we were talking and dancing and stuff and then we were drinking and then everyone else seemed to be falling asleep so we were drinking some more and then I asked him if he’d liked to see my collection of Hello Kitty T-shirts and then we just sort of ended up in my bed.” Vex grinned, very broadly. Her hair was a chaotic mess of jagged blonde spikes, pointing in all directions. “So now he’s my boyfriend!”

“You mean you slept together?”

Vex nodded and looked pleased. Moonglow did her best to look pleased too, though she was far from certain that a drunken encounter with a guitarist really counted as having a boyfriend.

“When he left this morning he said he’d call me.”

“That’s nice,” said Moonglow.

Vex rose from Moonglow’s bed, threw open the curtains and danced around the room.

“I really think it’s time I had a boyfriend. And he likes everything I like! He’s a big fan of Tokyo Top Pop Boom Boom Girl.” Vex paused and frowned. “Well, I think he is. My memory’s a bit hazy.”

To Moonglow’s distress, Vex sat on her bed again.

“He’s really nice looking. And he plays guitar in my favorite band! I can’t wait to see him play onstage again now that he’s my boyfriend.”

“When’s he going to call you?” asked Moonglow.

“He didn’t say. Soon, probably. Any minute, I expect. I wonder if Daniel’s feeling any better? I really want to tell him about my boyfriend!”

Vex hurried out of Moonglow’s bedroom. Moonglow shook her head, then struggled to rise. She wrapped herself in her black dressing gown and made her way carefully downstairs. Beauty and Delicious were sleeping on the living room floor, on a bed made from cushions and spare duvets that Moonglow had made up for them. The twins had crawled into it only a few hours ago, very unsteadily. Now, having changed back to human while they slept, as the dawn arrived, they looked peaceful, with their pink and blue hair splayed out over their cushions and onto the carpet. The cat had settled down with them but woke as Moonglow crept by and followed her to the kitchen.

“You love sleeping with werewolves, don’t you?” said Moonglow. She opened a tin of cat food and filled the cat’s bowl before putting the kettle on. As she waited for it to boil, Moonglow reflected on their party. It had gone well, as far as she could remember. Kalix had seemed to enjoy herself, apart from the brief hostility between her and Decembrius. That had passed quickly, though Decembrius had spent the rest of the night sulking. So had Daniel. But Beauty, Delicious and Vex had created enough of a party atmosphere for anyone. As a celebration for Kalix’s birthday, it had been a success.

There were some heavy, stumbling footsteps outside the kitchen. Daniel appeared, wearing an ancient T-shirt and a crumpled pair of dark khaki shorts. His hair, which he’d grown longer in recent months, was plastered to his forehead.

“I’m going to kill Vex,” he mumbled.

“Maybe you should have tea first?” said Moonglow.

“OK. But then I’m really going to kill her.” Daniel sat on the kitchen floor, resting his back against a cabinet. “I feel terrible. Vex woke me up and started babbling about her boyfriend. I hate him already and I don’t even know who he is.”

“It’s Pete.”

“The guitarist? Isn’t he meant to be in love with Dominil or something?”

Moonglow shrugged.

“I think I’m going to be sick,” said Daniel. “Is the tea ready?”

Moonglow poured boiling water from the kettle into the teapot, but by the time she’d hunted out two clean mugs, Daniel had left the kitchen in a hurry, looking unwell.

At least that wasn’t too uncomfortable, thought Moonglow. She hadn’t been looking forward to her first encounter with Daniel after rejecting his advances in the cinema. Perhaps it was fortunate that the encounter had occurred while Daniel was feeling so poorly.

But he won’t have a hangover forever, Moonglow realized. It’s still going to be awkward later.

Moonglow felt dissatisfied. Now she was going to feel uncomfortable in her own house. What had Daniel been thinking about, trying to kiss her unexpectedly like that? No wonder she’d pushed him off. It was lucky the film had been entertaining and occupied everyone’s attention. Otherwise Moonglow and Daniel might have found themselves with a large audience for their uncomfortable love scene.

“No doubt everyone’s heard about it by now.” Moonglow knew there was no chance of the incident being politely ignored. Vex would have inevitably learned all about it and told everyone.

“They’re probably discussing it in Malveria’s palace at this moment.” Moonglow sighed. She took her tea and headed swiftly upstairs to her room, hoping to avoid Vex. Moonglow didn’t feel like enduring another long description from the young Fire Elemental about how good it was to have a boyfriend.

I bet he never calls her anyway, she thought, and then felt a little ashamed for thinking mean thoughts.