Brew Books

Chapter 16

The boys and I are finishing dinner when Sylvie comes downstairs. She's wearing an olive green bomber jacket and spotless white adidas trainers. As always, her makeup is flawless, and her thick black hair is styled in a bouncy ponytail.

'We're leaving in five,' Sylvie says, and leaves the flat to cross the hall without waiting for a reply.

Will goes to his room to get shoes, so I head to my room to apply lip gloss and check my reflection again. I can hear the others congregating in the hall, so I open the flat door.

Kitty is leaning against the wall, her arms crossed. She's wearing high-waisted boyfriend jeans, with her sheepskin coat and a mustard knitted hat. When she sees me she raises her chin in acknowledgement. Harper is halfway down the stairs, throwing his wool hat into the air and catching it as he waits for everyone.

'Who we waiting on?' Will says, when he and Ed emerge from our flat.

'The girls, of course,' says Kitty, and she bangs her hand against the wall she's leaning against, to get Sylvie and Charlotte's attention.

'Hang on!' Sylvie calls from inside Charlotte's flat.

Eventually the two of them emerge, leaning into each other and giggling at some joke the rest of us don't share. They glance at me and stop giggling, and slip past us down the stairs, arm in arm.

I follow the rest of the group out onto the street, hugging my arms across my chest as the cold hits us. We rush to the tube station, my boots making clip-clopping noises while the others walk in trainers.

The comedy night is upstairs in a pub in Camden, and the seven of us grab seats at the back because Charlotte doesn't want to be heckled. The four comedians are young and I haven't heard of them before - and one of them is a particularly rude guy who makes me uncomfortable with his jokes - but I'm surprised at how much I laugh and enjoy the night. The female comedian who talks about her ex's bad habits particularly has me cracking up.

After the comedy we grab a table in the pub downstairs for another drink before we go home, even though Ed, Kitty and I need to be awake early tomorrow morning to open the café.

'Okay, so best act was definitely girl with her list of crazy ex-boyfriend problems,' Sylvie says. 'Worst was the dude with the penchant for dropping the C-bomb. He may actually be that girl's crazy ex-boyfriend.'

'Luca actually did that thing she was saying, with the beard hair in the sink,' Charlotte says, a look of revolt crossing her face.

'Babes, before Jane moved in, I was literally living with three guys,' Sylvie says. 'You cannot imagine the amount of facial hair in the sink. It was disgusting.'

'Yeah, but you girls always leave big clumps of hair in the shower,' Harper says, looking pointedly at Charlotte and Kitty. 'And I know it's yours, because it's bright red.'

Charlotte scoffs. 'I'm the only one that cleans that shower.'

'I clean it,' Kitty cries.

'Uh, what did we say?' Will says. 'No arguments about cleaning duties outside of the house.'

'We all have hair, and we shouldn't be ashamed of it,' Sylvie says.

'Says the girl who literally wears a wig,' Harper says teasingly.

Sylvie glares at him. 'I love my natural hair, but it is a fucking hassle. Alright for you to say considering you seem to be allergic to a hair brush. Ooh, look at me, I'm a straight guy, and I've never heard of personal grooming.'

'Alright, alright,' Ed says.

'I'm just saying, girls give guys a lot of shit for being disgusting, but girls are just as gross,' Harper says.