Free The Celeb Next Door by Hilary Freeman Page A

someone? I mean, how can you be sure?’
    Dad creases his brow. ‘Hmm, I think you just know.’
    This is what I’m afraid of. ‘Yeah, but is it always right away?’
    ‘Oh, no,’ says Dad, a misty look in his eyes. ‘It can take time. One day you don’t notice someone – they’re just a friend, or a colleague – and then they say something, or do something, or wear something, and you look at them and you think they’re the most beautiful, perfect person you’veever seen, and you can’t imagine ever not feeling that way.’
    ‘Really?’
    ‘Oh yes. When I first clapped eyes on your mother, I wasn’t interested in her romantically at all. I thought she was a bit bossy, a bit prim. And she used to wear these horrible, shapeless black dresses, although to be fair, it was the Eighties … Don’t ever tell her I told you this, but it was her friend Susie I was after …’
    ‘Too. Much. Information.’
    He doesn’t take any notice. In his mind he’s gone back twenty-five years, and he’s at university, falling in love with my mother. ‘ … But one day, in my third year, I bumped into her in the university canteen – literally, bumped into her – and then she spilled coffee all over herself, and the expression on her face made me melt. She looked like she wanted to kill me …’
    ‘La la la la la la la la …’ I have my hands over my ears now.
    ‘And after that, I couldn’t stop thinking about her. And then,’ he winks, ‘I invited her to come and see my etchings …’
    ‘Stop it! Please! You’re torturing me.’
    He laughs at me.‘Sorry, Rosie. But you’ll be forty-five one day too and nostalgic for your youth.’
    ‘No I won’t,’ I say.‘That’s never going to happen to me. And if it does, I think I’ll kill myself first. Anyway, it’s taking long enough to get to fifteen.’
    He sighs and rubs the back of my head. I grimace – I’ve told him not to do that because it makes my hair frizz. ‘Oh, Rosie, my love.’
    I duck away from him. ‘So, getting back to what I asked, if you don’t fancy someone the minute you see them, it doesn’t mean you never will?’
    ‘That’s right. So why are you asking? Who’s the lucky fella?’
    ‘No one,’ I say. ‘I was just wondering.’
    ‘OK.’ He looks hurt that I won’t tell him, like he thinks I don’t trust him.
    I pause. ‘If you really want to know, it’s Max, Rufus’s brother. Rufus told me he likes me and I don’t know if I like him back. Like that, I mean. I’m kind of enjoying having a guy friend.’
    Dad smiles, kindly. ‘Don’t rush into anything, love. Just because he’s a guy and he likes you doesn’t mean you have to go out with him. You can stay just as you are. It’s perfectly possible to be platonic friends.’
    ‘Yeah, but I don’t want to hurt his feelings. He might not even want to be my friend any more if I knock him back. It would spoil everything.’
    ‘It’s a tricky one. If it makes any difference, both your mum and I think Max is a very nice young man. We wouldn’t have any objections.’
    ‘Daaaad!’ I cringe. ‘Is that like a reverse psychology thing? If you say you like him, you hope you’ll put me off?’
    ‘Course not. I know you’re far too clever for that to work.’
    ‘Hmm. There’s another thing: Vix fancies him. She actually said so.’
    ‘Oh, yes, I can see that is awkward.’ He ponders my dilemma for a moment. ‘But you know what they say, Rosie? All’s fair in love and war. I’m sure you’re all going to have lots of boyfriends along the way. If you’re good friends, you won’t let them come between you.’
    I nod. Dad hasn’t really told me anything I didn’t already know, or helped me to make my mind up, but I do feel a bit better.
    Later, Sky pops round to my house. I’ve been leaving messages for her all afternoon, saying I want to talk, but not telling her why. She hates it when I do that but I don’t like leaving voicemails, especially about complicated