Jenny Colgan - Looking for Andrew McCarthy

This book is dedicated to the girls I first watched these films with, particularly Queen Margaret’s finest: Katrina McCormack, Karen Murphy and Alison Woodall. (I was going to include some Nightmare on Elm Street stuff, but I reckoned we’d get too frightened.)

The passion runs deep .

Strapline, St Elmo’s Fire, 1985

The laughter. The lovers. The friends. The fights .

The talk. The hurt. The jealousy. The passion. The pressure .

The real world .

Strapline, Pretty in Pink, 1986

Bernie’s back – and he’s still dead!

Strapline, Weekend at Bernie’s II, 1993

Cover

Title Page JENNY COLGAN Looking for Andrew McCarthy

Dedication Dedication Contents Cover Title Page Dedication Epigraph Chapter 1: Less Than Zero Chapter 2: Absolute Beginners Chapter 3: The Breakfast Club Chapter 4: The Sure Thing Chapter 5: Footloose Chapter 6: Pretty in Pink Chapter 7: Say Anything Chapter 8: Planes, Trains & Automobiles Chapter 9: Dangerous Liaisons Chapter 10: Big Chapter 11: Licence to Drive Chapter 12: Adventures in Babysitting Chapter 13: The Lost Boys Chapter 14: Some Kind of Wonderful Epilogue Acknowledgements About the Author Praise Also by the Author Copyright About the Publisher This book is dedicated to the girls I first watched these films with, particularly Queen Margaret’s finest: Katrina McCormack, Karen Murphy and Alison Woodall. (I was going to include some Nightmare on Elm Street stuff, but I reckoned we’d get too frightened.)

Epigraph Epigraph Contents Cover Title Page Dedication Epigraph Chapter 1: Less Than Zero Chapter 2: Absolute Beginners Chapter 3: The Breakfast Club Chapter 4: The Sure Thing Chapter 5: Footloose Chapter 6: Pretty in Pink Chapter 7: Say Anything Chapter 8: Planes, Trains & Automobiles Chapter 9: Dangerous Liaisons Chapter 10: Big Chapter 11: Licence to Drive Chapter 12: Adventures in Babysitting Chapter 13: The Lost Boys Chapter 14: Some Kind of Wonderful Epilogue Acknowledgements About the Author Praise Also by the Author Copyright About the Publisher The passion runs deep . Strapline, St Elmo’s Fire , 1985 The laughter. The lovers. The friends. The fights . The talk. The hurt. The jealousy. The passion. The pressure . The real world . Strapline, Pretty in Pink , 1986 Bernie’s back – and he’s still dead! Strapline, Weekend at Bernie’s II , 1993

Chapter 1: Less Than Zero

Chapter 2: Absolute Beginners

Chapter 3: The Breakfast Club

Chapter 4: The Sure Thing

Chapter 5: Footloose

Chapter 6: Pretty in Pink

Chapter 7: Say Anything

Chapter 8: Planes, Trains & Automobiles

Chapter 9: Dangerous Liaisons

Chapter 10: Big

Chapter 11: Licence to Drive

Chapter 12: Adventures in Babysitting

Chapter 13: The Lost Boys

Chapter 14: Some Kind of Wonderful

Epilogue

Acknowledgements

About the Author

Praise

Also by the Author

Copyright

About the Publisher

‘HEY! HEY! HEY! HEY!’

Simple Minds. Ellie nudged it up with her foot, still concentrating on whitening up an extremely old pair of stilettos, and joined in with gusto.

‘Wooohhwoooahh!’

The phone rang and she turned the music down reluctantly.

‘Hedgehog!’

‘Oh, hi Dad.’

‘HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!’

‘Yes, yes, yes.’ Ellie tried to sound embarrassed, but was actually pleased.

‘Did you like your present then?’

‘Dad, it’s a beret.’

‘It’ll come in handy, though, won’t it? For skating?’

Ellie hadn’t been skating with her father for sixteen years.

‘Uh, yeah.’

‘So, are you all set for tonight then?’

Ellie looked around the room. One of the problems of having an eighties party, she mused, was not quite having the resources to rip out your entire flat and redesign it to look like the set of Dynasty . So she’d hung lots of old Brat Pack and Duran Duran posters on the wall, left lots of Jackie annuals lying about and bought a bunch of pink and black striped napkins. Later on, she was planning on spraying around some Anaïs Anaïs.

‘Hmm, pretty much,’ she said.

‘Is Julia coming?’

Ellie raised her eyes to heaven. ‘Dad, she’s my best friend. Of course she’s coming.’

‘I bet she’ll look nice.’

‘Yes, well, I think it’s enough every male my own age I’ve ever known fancying Julia without you as well, okay?’

She could hear her dad shrug over the phone.

‘She’s very pretty.’

‘Dad, you’ve know her since she was five. Stop being disgusting.’

Ellie stared in the mirror next to the phone and squinted at herself, trying to see if she could get her hair to lie down simply by leaving her hand on it for a long time. Ellie didn’t quite fit into the ‘very pretty’ category. She might make ‘very perky’ on a good day, with her ridiculously curly hair, which went in every direction, snub nose, and generous sprinkling of freckles. At least her eyes were nearly black, usually with mischief.

‘Yes, well,’ he said, changing the subject. ‘Thirty, eh, darling? Leaving your wild, carefree youth behind you.’

Ellie contemplated a much-loved picture of Limahl and wondered if her youth had been quite wild and carefree enough.

‘Ehm … something like that,’ she said, trying to manipulate sellotape, poster and phone at the same time. ‘I stole a traffic cone once. Anyway. What did you do for your thirtieth birthday?’

‘Don’t you remember, Hedgehog?’ he said. ‘You were the one who wouldn’t stop biting the waitress.’

‘I was there ?’

‘There? You were practically at school. Couldn’t go back for another black forest gateau for years. Then we went to the garden centre in the afternoon and you weed behind the fountain.’

‘That sounds terrible,’ said Ellie, glancing at the piles of old twelve inch Howard Jones singles she was planning to use as the major form of entertainment.

‘No, actually, it was lovely,’ her father said, nostalgically.

Ellie examined her face in the mirror again. It was a Nik Kershaw one she’d found at a boot sale.

‘Wrinkles and freckles? That can’t be right, surely,’ she thought to herself.

‘Huh?’ she said.

‘Nothing. Just have a nice time.’