Free The Pollyanna Plan by Talli Roland

multiple drinks, Alice’s voice rang loudly around the packed street, and cries of ‘Hi, Emma! Hi, Chaz!’ echoed up and down the pavement. Emma couldn’t resist laughing and waggling her fingers in response.
    ‘Hey, mate.’ Chaz clapped Will on the back, giving Emma an appraising look. ‘I was wondering where you’d got to.’
    ‘Ems, we’ve been invited to join the stag do!’ Alice said, her eyes bright. ‘Unless you’d like to stick around here?’
    Emma shuddered. ‘No way. But Al, we can’t crash the guys’ night.’
    ‘Sure you can,’ Chaz responded. ‘Come on, we’re off to Tiger Tiger next. We can use you girls to draw in others.’ He winked playfully, ignoring Alice’s jab.
    ‘Please come,’ Will said. ‘I need someone halfway sane to keep me company with the rest of these crazies.’
    Emma gazed around the crowded street, full of people having fun and embracing life.
    ‘Why not,’ she said, grinning into Alice’s hopeful face and linking arms with her best friend. ‘Let’s get this party started.’

    Hours later, the party was still going. Clunking up the stairs to Alice’s flat, Emma smiled as she recalled the events of the evening: leaving karaoke speed dating and crossing Piccadilly to Tiger Tiger, where champagne poured with abandon … then being carried (yes, carried!) down Carnaby Street and into Kingly Court, with yet more drinks consumed … the bar at Sketch, where Alice stole the doorman’s bowler hat … squeezing next to Will during a near-lethal rickshaw ride .…
    Finally, they’d all piled into a taxi to Alice’s, decidedly worse for wear. Although a mammoth hangover awaited her the next morning , Emma couldn’t recall ever having such a great night out. Well, minus the karaoke—and even that had bordered on fun, she had to concede.
    ‘Another drink?’ Alice asked as they squeezed onto the sofa. Next to her, Emma could feel the warmth of Will’s leg, and despite their easy camaraderie of the past few hours, her heart beat fast at his closeness.
    Will shook his head. ‘No, thanks. In fact’—he looked at his watch, and Emma admired the perfect sprinkling of hair on his forearms—‘I should make a move.’
    Chaz glanced quickly from Emma to Will. ‘I’ll come see what you’ve got for drinks in the kitchen,’ he said to Alice, making a hasty departure to give them some privacy to say goodbye.
    Will cleared his throat as silence descended in the cramped lounge. ‘Well. It was really nice to see you again.’
    ‘Nice to see you, too,’ Emma said, her own throat feeling dry as she stared into his dark eyes. Despite the protests that she wanted no men in her life since she’d recently broken up with George, she couldn’t deny Will appealed in a way her ex never had. Suddenly, she realised she didn’t want to end the night with Will just walking out the door.
    Well, if she could get up on stage and karaoke, she could ask a man out. What was that annoying expression optimists always used? ‘Nothing ventured, nothing gained’?
    ‘Maybe you can come over tomorrow and help me paint the rest of the walls? I’d love some expert assistance,’ Emma blurted, aware her cheeks were now the colour of an overripe strawberry. Oh, God. Had she really just asked Will over to paint? He probably thought ‘paint’ was a euphemism for something else. Her face flamed redder, picturing them alone in her flat. Why, O why, hadn’t she suggested a sterile dinner, like she and George always had?
    Emma opened her mouth to revise the plan, but Will was already nodding.
    ‘Sure, all right. I’d love to see the colour in an actual room. And I bet with the two of us, we can finish off the remaining walls in under an hour.’
    ‘Fantastic,’ Emma responded weakly, staring at the dusty floor to hide her burning face. ‘Why don’t you come over around one? It’ll give us time to work off our hangovers. Tell me your number, and I’ll text you my address. I’m in Little