A Starlit Summer by Kate Frost (best manga ereader txt) 📕

Carla coming down for the weekend. It was a hellishly long drive for just two days but Jenna appreciated it more than she could say. Building work stopped at the end of the day on Friday and they weren’t going to be working on the cottage over the weekend, so she knew she wouldn’t see Finn for a couple of days at least. She missed him like crazy and regret coursed through her at the way things had played out between her and Milo and her and Finn over the last week.

Carla arrived at lunchtime on the Saturday, pulling into the drive in her battered Ford Fiesta. She climbed out of the car, a familiar sight with her freshly-dyed pink hair, skin-tight trousers and layered tops that clashed with each other, yet somehow the colours and patterns worked.

Jenna flung her arms around Carla and clung on to her.

‘Wowzers, someone needs a hug.’

‘It is so good to see you.’

‘You too.’ Carla released Jenna and wandered round to the front of the cottage, her hand shading her eyes as she gazed up at it. ‘Shit, Jenna. This place is insane. I’d never want to leave if I was here.’

‘Yes you would, you love city life too much. You’d get bored.’

‘Have you been?’

‘What?’

‘Bored?’

‘Well no, but then I’ve been working.’

Jenna opened the door to the kitchen and Carla explored downstairs ‘oohing’ and ‘aahing’. Jenna smiled as she grabbed hummus, olives and cheese from the fridge and put it on a tray with a fresh loaf of crusty bread.

‘You hungry?’ Jenna asked.

‘Starving.’ Carla leant on the work surface and watched Jenna slice the bread and spread butter on it. ‘This place is lush.’

‘Imagine what it’ll be like when it’s finished.’

‘Are your mum and dad going to sell it?’

Jenna shook her head. ‘The plan’s to rent it as a holiday home.’ She handed Carla a bottle of lemonade, picked up the tray and led the way outside and round to the garden at the back.

‘Flip, it’s huge, loads bigger than it looks when you first drive in.’

‘It’s great, isn’t it? So many hidden bits too – my dream garden.’

‘Does the wood belong to the cottage too?’

‘Some of it. It’s kinda hard to see where the garden ends – there’s a fence but it needs repairing.’

Jenna put the tray on the middle of a picnic blanket already laid out on the lawn. They sat down on either side and stretched out in the sunshine. Jenna was sure the run of sunny weather wouldn’t continue, but while it did she was going to make the most of it. She was also going to make the most of having Carla here. However lovely Lily and Amanda were, she needed a friend who really knew and understood her, someone who didn’t judge and who would also tell her the truth.

‘So, spill, tell me everything, all the juicy details.’

‘There are none.’

‘Really, nothing at all?’

‘Nothing. Well not with Milo at least.’

Carla dropped a piece of bread back on her plate and grabbed Jenna’s arm. ‘Woah, wait. What do you mean, not with Milo? There’s someone else?’

‘The builder. Well, one of them – the son, Finn.’

‘Are you serious?’

‘Yeah, we met up on the weekend, just happened to be out at the same place, got chatting, stayed out late, we went for a walk...’

‘And?’

‘And ended up kissing.’

‘Sweet. You really like him, huh?’

Jenna nodded and felt a burning sensation in her throat like she was fighting back tears. ‘We had an amazing day together on Sunday, but I messed things up. At least that bloody article did and me not being upfront with Finn. He saw the article and is understandably mad.’

‘So he thinks it’s true?’

‘Yeah, everyone does.’

‘He’ll come round; wait and see. It’ll blow over, all the craziness that’s happening right now.’

Jenna toyed with an olive on her plate, no longer hungry. She stared past Carla to the trees which cast long shadows over the newly cut grass.

‘Do you know, being here makes me feel far removed from all the shit that’s happening in the real world. I feel cut off from everything – in a good way. My love life – my made up love life I should say – is being played out in gossip magazines.’

Carla picked up her mobile, clicked on something and scrolled through. She turned the screen round. ‘You’re trending on Twitter, Jenna. You’re a fucking hashtag.’

‘I never asked for this.’

‘No one ever does; unless of course they want the attention and actively look for ways they can get themselves in the papers.’

‘I don’t crave attention. I don’t want to be famous because someone thinks I’ve hooked up with a movie star.’

Carla pulled her sunglasses to the end of her nose and looked at her. ‘I know I asked you this before, and obviously you have a thing for the builder, but you’re honestly telling me you’ve done nothing with Milo Blake? I mean, he’s hot as hell; even I would.’

‘He didn’t even kiss me at that pool party. He just made it look like we were about to kiss and put his hands on all the right places. He was the one being all touchy leading me to that quiet spot away from the others so it looked like there was no one with us.’

‘But there were?’

‘Yeah, loads of us.’

‘Do you think he knew there were paps about?’

‘I think he was the one who tipped them off.’

‘Why would he do that?’

‘To get those photos out.’

Carla frowned. ‘He’s famous enough without needing to do stuff like this. He’s an A-lister not a Z-lister.’

‘Don’t you think it’s odd that he was all over me when we were in public but nothing – and I mean nothing has happened between us in private. I was expecting him to invite me up to his room and I was in a total turmoil about whether I’d say yes or not, and then nothing. He just walked back round to everyone else in the pool. And then when he stayed overnight hooking up with