Free Unplugged by Lisa Swallow Page A

possible to read to delay her bedtime, and after slogging through the never-ending tale about princesses and fairies, I arrive back downstairs to find Louise in her favourites blue dress, and face made-up ready for a night out.
    “ You coming?” she asks.
    “ You never said you were going out.”
    “ I’ll wait for you, I’m meeting Connor, and he’s bringing some friends.”
    “ Trying to set me up?” I ask and think ‘with someone who isn’t your brother’. “No, I only asked your parents to babysit the other night, I can’t ask again.”
    “ She’s asleep! Come on!” Louise gives me a small push toward the stairs.
    Liam walks into the kitchen and heads to the fridge for a beer. He ’s barefoot in dark denim and a Blue Phoenix T-shirt that stretches across his tattoo-covered biceps. Another of the weird moments passes between us, the kind that blanks the world around, an unspoken understanding that we’re fighting something.
    “ You going out, Lou?” he asks.
    “ Just with Connor and some friends.”
    “ Ah, cool, I’ll get my coat. Are you coming, Cerys?”
    Louise flicks a look between me and Liam , opening her mouth to protest.
    “ Um. I’m not sure,” I reply.
    “ Mum!” yells Liam into the lounge room behind him. “Is it okay to listen out for Ella for a couple of hours? We’re going to the pub!”
    Now I ’m the one about to protest and Liam winks at me. Oh, God. Linda is bound to say yes. She does. Crap
    “ Cool, you going like that or getting changed?” Liam asks me.
    I looked down at my scruffy, checked pyjama pants. “What do you think?”
    “ Yes?” There’s a teasing glint to his eye and I have a sudden inclination to go out as I am.
    “ I’ll change but I don’t think I’ll reach your standards of women,” I say, remembering my earlier conversation with Louise.
    I leave the kitchen but don ’t miss Liam’s surprised look.

 
     
    CHAPTER 10
     
     
    CERYS
     
    Liam isn ’t the only one who’s been away from St Davids long enough to be on the edge. I’ve been out with Lou a couple of times since I got back here but nobody else came; tonight we’re at the local pub with a number of school friends. Going out in the evening is a strange occurrence for me in the last few years, and I’m apprehensive at meeting all these people from my past whose lives are very different to my own.
    Tatty gold and silver Christmas garlands adorn the wooden beams of the old style pub and a small fake Christmas tree hung with a meagre amount of blue baubles stands in the old stone fireplace. The friends we’re meeting sit on stools crammed around a couple of small, dark wood tables, and they wave us over as we walk in. I have nothing to worry about because Liam attracts more attention from our old school friends than I do, his presence eclipsing most of the occupants of the pub. These are your average group of twenty-somethings on a night out, high street fashion clothes picked by girls to impress each other as much as the guys. They huddle together over phones, discussing people and events I have nothing to do with.
    I watch Liam at the bar; he could be an ordinary guy out for a drink with friends , but something in his presence sets him apart. He’s more confident than the teenager with false bravado that I once knew. A couple of the other guys with us are dressed in a similar way although nobody has hair as long as his. Liam’s the only one with a job that allows this. Job . How much of his life is a job and how much of Liam is Blue Phoenix?
    Liam arrives back from the bar with a tray of drinks and sets down my vodka and tonic in front of me.
    “Aren’t you worried about being spotted?” I ask, taking a sip.
    He shrugs off his leather jacket and shoves it under the table. “In St Davids? Unless I’ve done something controversial, the paparazzi will stay away. To everyone else, I’m old news.” His panic over our appearance in public the other day remains unmentioned.
    I