Pictures of Lily by Paige Toon Page A

week. But he never said anything to me either. It just seemed to be common knowledge amongst everyone that our relationship was over.’
    ‘Fuck me. What a little prick.’
    I can’t help but giggle at Ben’s reaction. I’m not used to hearing him swear. He’s still too pissed off to smile back at me though. I suddenly have an urge to reach over and smooth away his frown.
    ‘Don’t worry about it,’ I say instead. ‘It’s all in the past now.’
    ‘I can’t believe you dragged your feet about coming to Australia. I would have wanted to be as far away as possible.’
    ‘Don’t get me wrong, I didn’t want to be at school either. But I would rather have gone to live with Dad. It’s all a bit of a blur how I managed to get through the last few weeks.’
    ‘I bet.’ He collapses his head back on the sofa and stares across at me. There’s concern in his eyes and it makes me feel a bit funny all of a sudden.
    ‘Can you hold her for a moment?’ I ask abruptly, nodding down at the sleeping koala. ‘I need to go to the loo.’
    ‘Sure.’ He leans in and gently takes the furry bundle, but as his warm arms press into mine, my stomach flutters. ‘Second door on the right,’ he calls after me as I hurry out of the room, my face inexplicably burning.
    What the hell? I close the bathroom door and sit on the toilet, confused by the sensations I just felt. Maybe I’m not as sober as I thought.
    When I return to the living room, Ben has slumped further into the worn brown leather sofa and the joey is snuggled up in his arms. I take my seat next to him; strangely, the sofa seems to have shrunk in size.
    ‘Do you want her back?’ he asks me.
    ‘No, no, it’s okay,’ I mumble. ‘She looks happy there.’ I glance at him as he gazes down at the koala and again the butterflies sweep through my stomach. What’s got into me? It’s Josh I fancy!
    ‘How’s the driving going?’ he asks.
    ‘Well . . .’ I cast my eyes heavenwards. ‘Josh took me for a lesson.’ Ben looks unimpressed. ‘It didn’t go very well,’ I add.
    ‘You don’t say,’ he comments sarcastically. He looks straight at me and I want to look away, but instead I force myself to keep eye contact and try to act normal.
    His eyes are surprisingly dark blue. He’s really quite good-looking, isn’t he?
    There goes my face again. I quickly avert my gaze. LILY! What is wrong with you?
    ‘Do you want another tea?’ he asks.
    ‘Er, yeah, that’d be good,’ I mutter.
    ‘Here, can you take her again?’ He indicates the koala. ‘Or shall I put her in front of the heater?’
    ‘No, give her to me.’ I have an odd desire to feel his arms pressing into mine again, and once more when they do, my pulse picks up its pace. Oblivious, Ben hands over his charge and walks out of the living room.
    I cuddle the joey and tell my heart to calm down.
    ‘Actually,’ Ben says, coming back into the room and startling me, ‘do you want me to take you home? I’ve just seen the time. It’s one-thirty. I’ve been getting carried away, talking to you.’
    ‘Do you want me to go home?’ I ask unhappily.
    ‘No, but aren’t you knackered?’
    I shake my head. ‘No.’
    ‘I’ll get on with the tea, then.’ He chuckles and goes back into the kitchen.
    Hang on. He’s got work tomorrow. Does he really want a teenage girl taking up his precious sleeping time? I feel very awkward by the time he returns.
    ‘I forgot you’ve got work tomorrow,’ I say. ‘I could call a taxi?’
    ‘You’ll struggle to get one at this hour. Don’t worry, I’ll drive you home. You could even crash in the spare room, if you like. Oh no,’ he immediately dismisses that idea. ‘Josh might worry about you in the morning.’
    I snort. ‘Are you kidding me? Josh won’t even know I’m not there. He never gets up before midday on a Sunday.’
    Ben shrugs and sits down again. ‘If you want to stay, you can take the baby to bed with you.’ He nods at the fluffy lump in my