The Boy I Loved Before Read Free

I’m the luckiest girl in the whole wide world.’
    â€˜Oh, shut up. You know what I mean, though. You must be a bit nervous, or something.’
    â€˜I am. I really am. It’s just, what’s as exciting as it’s cracked up to be? Nothing.’
    â€˜Getting into our first nightclub?’
    â€˜Yeah, we were twelve.’
    â€˜It was very exciting.’
    She grinned. ‘Still. It is quite cool.’
    â€˜You’re actually doing it!’
    â€˜I know!’
    â€˜That’s better.’
    I rolled over onto my stomach. ‘So is it not going to be what we always thought it was going to be?’
    Tashy stuck her lip out a little as we remembered the many hours we’d spent sprawled over her bed (I always liked going to hers; her slightly sluttish mother let us eat in front of the TV) in pretty much the same positions, discussing how it would be.
    â€˜Well, I suppose I’ve had sex already …’
    â€˜You haven’t! You filthy bitch!’
    â€˜So that’s out of the way. And, also, he’s not royal and there aren’t six million people lining The Mall with flags to cheer us on our way.’
    We were quiet for a moment, and I jumped off the bed and ceremoniously declared the minibar open. It even had Baileys in it. Ooh, we used to love that. Sugary milk!

    â€˜Hey – remember these?’
    Tashy eyed one up balefully. ‘A feature of my first night of unmarried intercourse … and, possibly, my last.’
    I tore them open and we toasted each other.
    â€˜To true love,’ I said.
    â€˜Aha-ha-ha.’
    Actually, I’d meant it. I took a swig.
    â€˜Just think – you’ll never have to make love to a man who slaps you on the rump and calls you a filly ever again!’
    â€˜Neiighhhh!!!!’
    â€˜Or date ANYBODY SHORT.’
    Olly and Max were both very tall. These were our minimum requirements. We’d always reckoned that short men for girls were the equivalent of that horrible joke blokes tell – ‘What have fat girls and scooters got in common? They’re both fun to ride, but you wouldn’t want your mates seeing you with one.’
    â€˜Or snog anyone for a dare.’
    â€˜Or sympathy.’
    â€˜Christ, yeah. Remember Norm?’
    â€˜It was charity work,’ I replied indignantly. ‘Helping the less blessed in the world.’
    Norm had been something of a mistake, something of a long time ago.
    Norm had been a snuffling pig, outright winner in an ugly pig competition.
    â€˜Anyway, why are you starting, Bridezilla? What about Pinocchio?’
    Pinocchio told a lot of lies and had a very long narrow woody.
    â€˜Pour me some more Baileys immediately,’ demanded Tashy.

    â€˜I don’t want to give you a headache.’
    â€˜Are you joking? We’ve booked singers from the local choral society to sing the hymns. No one’s getting out alive without a headache.’ She rolled over.
    â€˜It’s turning out all right, though, isn’t it?’
    â€˜We thought that at sixteen.’
    â€˜Oh yeah, when we hadn’t gotten pregnant. God, we knew nothing.’
    â€˜I think we thought that was it, didn’t we? That we’d cracked it.’
    â€˜And at any moment, the knight in shining armour was just outside putting money in the meter …’
    â€˜Can you believe both of our Prince Charmings are going bald?’ said Tash meditatively.
    â€˜Yours fastest,’ I said defensively.
    â€˜It’s all the testosterone building up from me being too tired to shag him after planning this damn wedding.’
    â€˜Does not shagging them make them bald? We could have saved Prince Edward after all.’
    â€˜No we couldn’t.’
    The thing is, when your friends fall in love – seriously – it gets very difficult to discuss the boys with them any more. It’s fine to completely and totally dissect someone you’ve seen