This is chapter 11 of 'A Strange and Brilliant Light' by Eli Lee, a novel we are reading as part of our book club. Find out more about how to join here.
Rose crossed the back of the gloomy, white-walled room and sat alone. She was early to the meeting so she wasted time by pushing the scuffed carpet flat with her trainers and glancing up to watch people come in. There was something unusual happening today – facing the audience were two young men, one frowning at a laptop, the other frowning even more intensely at his mobile phone. They appeared to be in their early thirties, and both wore smart, attractive clothes – shirts under jumpers, well-fitting jeans and stylish trainers. The one on the left, scratching his greying stubble, was dark and thin, with sunken eyes behind wire-rimmed glasses. The one next to him, now staring at the crowd with a complacent confidence, was broad-shouldered, muscular and handsome. In their brisk, somewhat impatient movements, they both gave off a slightly precious air, as though they were doing everyone else a favour by being there. She had no idea who they were.
Standing to their right was Alek, his eyes trained downwards as somebody else Rose didn’t know whispered in his ear. Almost as if he’d known he had to up his game, he’d worn his most fashionable clothes – a red jumper he liked, black jeans and black trainers she hadn’t seen before. She couldn’t deny it, he looked good. The deep concentration on his face as he listened to the whisperer spiked a moment’s jealousy – she would have loved to receive such focus from him, or at the very least, for him to look up to see if she’d come.
