Free Sticks and Stones by Susie Tate Page A

So she was touched that Frankie would do it in her defence, but enough was enough. She didn’t want to ruin Frankie’s relationship with Dylan when it was already on shaky ground after Frankie had found out how Dylan had kept Tom and her apart at Uni.
    Unfortunately Lou had had to lead by example, and that meant she’d had to pretend that her heart wasn’t broken, and force herself to be around Dylan as if nothing had happened. She lied to Frankie and the others, told them that the little scene in the mess was nothing, and that she was over it so they should be too. How she felt about Dylan had changed, but she still cared about him and she didn’t want him cut off from everyone.
    ‘Okay Frankster, lead the way.’ Lou turned away from Dylan but not before she saw Katie bounding up to him. This was another new development over the last month; Dylan it seemed had finally started a proper relationship. If Lou had still been in love with him she would have sunk into another pathetic Dylan-induced depression. Thankfully her emotions had settled into a comforting blanket of numbness, which she told herself was a relief. She was, however, confused by his choice.
    Dylan had always seemed to go for shy, quiet types and Katie was certainly neither of those; she was a small dark-haired bundle of limitless energy, and, much to Lou’s annoyance, completely adorable. Katie was a GP in Sarah’s village and Sarah’s best friend, and as such they had all met her occasionally over the last few months since Tom and Frankie got together. But Dylan only started taking an interest in her over the last three weeks or so. Lou braced for the onslaught of cute verbal diarrhoea likely to emanate from Katie as she approached, but was shocked when another voice cut through the murmurings around her.
    ‘Louise, there you are.’
    No.
    Please no.
    ‘It’s such a crush in here, we thought we’d never find you.’ Lou turned and was confronted by both her parents. Her mother was brushing some, no doubt imaginary, dirt from her pristine white silk blouse, and her dad was shifting on the spot in his Armani suit, looking noticeably uncomfortable in the small pub. Great, this party just got better and better.
    ‘Mum? Dad? What are you doing here?’
    ‘Don’t looked so shocked darling,’ her mum said, frowning at her. ‘It is your birthday. We popped into the flat earlier to see you, and Frankie told us about the party. So we thought: why not pop along?’ Her mum gave her a tight smile then moved to air kiss both her cheeks. Lou obediently went through the hollow ritual with both her parents, wondering why they would be showing so much interest this year after so many years of indifference.
    Her twenty-first party had been an excuse to show off to all their friends, but since then they had lapsed back into the rather casual attitude they’d always had towards her birthday. Some years they sent her a card or even rang her, but to actually want to see her was rare indeed.
    ‘But…but…’ Lou didn’t know if she could handle her parents, or more specifically her mother, on top of everything.
    ‘I’m really sorry Mr and Mrs Sands but we’ve go to cut the cake now,’ Frankie had subtly inserted herself between Lou and her parents and was ushering Lou away.
    ‘Don’t you think you should change first darling?’ Lou hated how her mum managed to make an endearment like darling seem like a sarcastic sneer. She managed to convey in just that one word how very far Lou actually was from being her darling.
    ‘I think I look fine mum,’ Lou replied. ‘Everyone knows I’ve come straight from work.’
    Lou’s mum emitted a ladylike but derisive snort, communicating exactly what she thought of Lou’s outfit, and Lou was about to turn back when she felt a strong arm at her back.
    ‘See you later Mr and Mrs S,’ Dylan threw over his shoulder as he propelled Lou forward through the crowd. Lou tried to push away, but he just pulled her closer