Free With All My Love by Patricia Scanlan Page B

thing, honest. And then I thought I could make Ursula jealous as well because I wanted to get back at her . . .’ His voice trailed away and he couldn’t look at her.
    ‘I don’t like being used.’
    ‘Don’t be mad,’ he pleaded, and his eyes were big pools of dismay. ‘I like you a lot, Valerie. Honest!’
    She couldn’t stay angry with him. If he had denied it she would have despised him, but he’d been straight and she could understand his motives. And she liked that he was embarrassed. It showed he wasn’t a bastard after all, just a boy with mixed-up feelings who was capable of being hurt. Someone just like her. She was glad she’d had the courage to bring it up. It had cleared the air between them. They were on a new footing now. It felt right.
    ‘Let’s give Miss Ursula something to be properly jealous about then,’ she said wickedly, a madness coming over.
    Jeff looked at her, stunned. ‘Are you not mad at me?’
    ‘I’m at Queen’s concert, aren’t I?’ She laughed. ‘It’s not as if I fancy you or anything.’
    His eyes widened. ‘Oh!’ he said, a touch deflated.
    Got you , she thought triumphantly. Now I’m in charge.
    It was a heady moment, a life-changing moment. One that she would never forget. She had taken back her power. Was this what women’s liberation was all about? Turning things around so that you were in control of what was happening to you? Not being passive and just accepting whatever men dished out? Valerie wondered briefly, remembering all those Cosmo articles she had read on the subject. Whatever it was, she felt elated.
    Before he knew what was happening, she drew Jeff’s head down to hers and kissed him full on the mouth. His lips were so firm and dry, not like those wet, slobbery lips of that Higgins toad.
    ‘Bet she’ll be good and jealous now,’ she laughed, drawing away and slanting a glance over at the scrawny blonde, who was slit-eyed with fury.
    Jeff laughed. ‘You’re bad !’ he said admiringly. ‘And you’re a sport. Thanks.’
    ‘Let’s just enjoy the concert, it’s gonna be fab,’ she shouted up at him, and her heart lightened as he hugged her tightly, and this time it wasn’t to make anyone jealous, it was just for her.
    By the time ‘Killer Queen’ started to thunderous acclaim from the crowd she didn’t care who was looking or what anyone else was thinking, and she sang and danced uninhibitedly, lost in the magic of the best night of her life.
    ‘That’s you,’ Jeff shouted at her. ‘My Killer Queen!’ And she wiggled her ass, laughing. She was dancing, waving her arms in the air to ‘Crazy Little Thing Called Love’ when her eyes met Jeff’s and for an infinitesimal moment it seemed as though the music faded and it was just the two of them looking at each other as if really seeing each other for the first time, and as though no one else existed, and then they were back in real time, dancing and singing. Forever after, Valerie would say that was the moment she fell in love with Jeff.
    ‘It was brilliant, wasn’t it?’ Valerie turned shining eyes on him when the concert was over. She was fizzing with adrenalin as the freezing night air hit them when they emerged out of the Pavilion in a wave of ecstatically happy fans.
    ‘It’s a pity you can’t stay later.’ Jeff linked her arm. ‘We could go for something else to eat. I’m starving again. We could have a last drink in Toner’s and then have one of Ishmael’s kebabs. They really hit the spot. That’s the plan, anyway, with the rest of them,’ he explained as he walked her to where all the coaches were parked. There were crowds milling around like a swarm of highly excited bees, and she wished she could have had a few minutes alone with him.
    ‘I’d love to stay,’ she said wistfully, ‘but I’ve got to get back. My dad would go spare if I’m out too late. He thinks I’m revising for an exam, don’t forget.’ She’d told him the story she’d concocted with