“Hope isn’t a valid plan, El,” Carla said combatively. “Why don’t we get a pen and paper and write some stuff down? It’ll seem like less of a daunting task once you’ve got it out of your head and in the open.”
Carla stood up and disappeared back into the flat only to reappear moments later clutching a pen and notepad. She handed them over to Elodie who opened the pad up and, pen poised, began to write. After several minutes of silence, Carla leaned over to take a look at Elodie’s ponderings. The paper contained several bullet points, a list of Elodie’s past jobs and underneath a wish- list of dream career paths. Carla’s brow furrowed: amongst her friend’s best- case scenario career choices was ‘millionaire, travel writer and film star’.
“I know what you’re thinking,” Elodie said, “I can feel it. Look, I’m not being serious, well not entirely. That bit’s just a joke,” she finished, gesturing to her dream job list.
“You’ve got to get serious, El, time’s running out. Dora’s rent is paid up until the end of the month, that’s two weeks away. I can cover for a bit, but I’m worried for you. You won’t be happy staying at Betty’s forever. We all know you love it there but it’s not your forever job, is it?” Carla said firmly.
“I thought you said I was an early bloomer next to J.K Rowling and Kristin Wiig?” Elodie argued glumly. She felt Carla’s hand rest on her shoulder and give it a little squeeze.
“I don’t want to upset you, El, far from it. I just want you to be happy and I think that long- term happiness might mean some short- term decision- making.”
Elodie nodded. She knew Carla was right, but it was so easy for her. She had rich parents who helped her out a lot. She was fine part- time waitressing and part- time modelling; she didn’t have to make any hard, life- changing decisions. Elodie reached for the chocolates and shoved two in her mouth, she chewed furiously, taking out what she knew was ill- felt annoyance on the caramels instead of her friend.
The two women sat in relative silence for quite some time. They sipped their wine and took it in turns taking chocolates out of the box. The only sounds breaking the stony quiet were the odd aeroplane in the sky or siren on the ground. Eventually, Carla got up from her chair. She finished the dregs of her wine and walked inside, leaving Elodie sat on the balcony. Elodie sat there for quite some time, lost in thought. She was brought to her senses by a sudden chill in the air: the sun had dipped behind a nearby building, which resulted in an almost immediate wintry feel. This made the hairs on Elodie’s skin stand to attention. She rubbed her forearms and, picking up the box of chocolates and her now empty glass of wine, went inside to join Carla.
The doorbell sounded loudly; grudgingly, Elodie arose from her bed to answer it. She had spent the last hour on Carla’s laptop taking careers quizzes to try and get some idea to what she’d be most suited to. Carla had been in the bathroom for almost the entire time Elodie had spent online. Elodie heard her periodically belting out whichever song happened to be running through her mind at that particular point in time: so far she’d been privy to a rendition of ‘How do I live without you?’, a version of ‘I will always love you’ and finally an enthusiastic performance of ‘Un- break my heart’.
‘What the hell is she trying to do to me?’ Elodie mused as Carla started belting out yet another sad song. She padded her way through the living room and to the front door. Stood in the doorway with a bunch of flowers and a smile was Steph. Elodie was overjoyed to see her. She’d spent a lot of time on her own over the last few days and even though she’d needed that time to reflect and re- engage with herself, it was still more than nice to see one of her closest friends there.
“Carla texted me,” Steph said as if by way of explanation. “I thought you might like these?” She extended the brightly coloured flowers and Elodie accepted them gratefully.
“She told you about Tom, then?” Elodie asked, stepping to the side to let Steph in.
“He’s a dick,” she offered, smiling. “Let’s not dwell on him, it’s you I want to talk about.”
Elodie should have known. Carla didn’t like playing both good cop and bad cop at the same time, she needed back- up; and who better to have by her side than Steph?
“Ugh, not you too. I don’t know what I’m going to do, I’ve done career questionnaires online and I’m basically unqualified for everything,” she said dejectedly.
“So qualify for something then. Pick something you want to do, something that interests you and work towards it. Careers don’t just happen overnight, you’ve got to work for them.”
“That’s rich, coming from the woman who’s been given a business on a silver platter,” Elodie said, sarcasm dripping from every syllable.
Steph looked affronted for a split- second, then ran her fingers through her long, flame- red hair and sighed.
“I’m going to let that one slide because you’ve had a rough couple of weeks, but a rough couple of weeks doesn’t give you the right to be a bitch. I only want the best for you, and you should want that too,” Steph reprimanded.
Elodie, feeling rather sorry for herself, cast a downward glance, more out of embarrassment than anything else. She knew Steph was right, it was just a difficult juncture for her and a little bit of not- so- tough love would be appreciated. She was saved from having to apologise by Carla who emerged from the bathroom in a cloud of steam, which billowed out after her in silvery wisps, making her look almost angelic.
“Ahhhh, you made it,” she said gleefully, walking past them towards her bedroom. “I’ll just be a sec, there’s more wine in the fridge if you want it?” she said, calling over her shoulder as she closed the door behind her.
Elodie, although not a big drinker, thought that another glass of wine might be a good idea. She felt very much as though she needed a bit of liquid lubrication to relax her a little.
“You sit down, I’ll get it,” Steph said before Elodie had a chance to play host.
Moments later the three women were settled, Carla now clad in a fluffy white bathrobe, which bore the words ‘Drama Queen’ in beads on the back. They talked and talked; they had known each other for such a long time now that their conversations, if overheard, would make very little sense to anyone else. They seemed to be able to follow one another’s train of thought and regularly managed to cover more than one topic at a time. Elodie had missed this. If her time with Tom had taught her anything, it was that if your man encouraged you to neglect your friendships then he wasn’t the right man for you.
It wasn’t long before Carla and Steph managed to turn the conversation back around to Elodie and her troubles. She knew that if it were the other way around and they were in her position that she would be doing exactly the same thing, and as annoying and uncomfortable as it was to have to put yourself under the microscope, Elodie also knew that it was the only way to move onwards and upwards.
“So let’s have a look at your career results, then,” Carla said, reaching over and grabbing the laptop, which had been placed back underneath the coffee table where it belonged. “Elodie!” she scolded when she opened the laptop and saw that the last website Elodie had been on was a fashion outlet.
“What?” Elodie said sheepishly. “I literally have no decent clothes!”
Steph gave her a reprimanding look and told her that there would be plenty of time for shopping when she had a job, and the money to fund extravagant shopping trips. Elodie rolled her eyes and turned to Carla for support; Steph was always so sensible. Sadly for Elodie, Carla was not on her side but added that until she could afford a whole new wardrobe of her own she could borrow whatever she liked for as long as she liked. This cheered Elodie up somewhat, she settled on the fact that this compromise was actually the best of both worlds: technically a brand- new wardrobe without a brand- new credit card.
Elodie watched as Carla opened up the website which showed the results of the careers she’d be best suited t
o. The careers website had offered Elodie a choice of three ‘perfect’ careers: hospitality manager, customer service rep or tourism advisor. Carla rolled her eyes in anticipation of Elodie’s reaction.
“Let me guess, you don’t want to do any of these?” she said knowingly.
Elodie nodded and took a deep drink of the wine.
“I know it sounds silly, but I want to do something that isn’t serving other people. I mean, I like that, it comes naturally to me you know the whole waitressing thing but if I’m going to it I don’t want to be stuck in one place. I’m young, I want to either have a job so well paid that I can take luxury holidays whenever I like.” All three of them shared a look that said that they knew that probably wasn’t going to happen. “Or… I want to do something that allows for a bit of travelling.”
“Why don’t you just go travelling, then?” Carla proposed. “You know, just pack a bag, go see all the things you’re desperate to see and have no regrets about it?”
Elodie had thought of this. She would have loved to be able to go and do that. The only problem was, as it was for most people who dreamt of seeing the world, that she didn’t have the money.
“Because going travelling is expensive. I already looked into it when I thought it’d be something Tom and I might do.” She paused. Sadness had crept into her voice but she didn’t want this evening to be ruined by the ghost of her relationship with Tom, so she pressed on. “It’s incredibly expensive. It’s a nice idea but that’s all it’ll ever be for me,” Elodie finished resolutely. She cast a downward glance at her friends: both of them were looking at her sympathetically.
“OK, so maybe you need a bit more time. Maybe do a spot more research on all the different jobs out there. I could do you a spreadsheet?” Steph suggested helpfully.
Elodie smiled and thanked her friend, fearing that she would need a little more help than a spreadsheet to get her through. She groaned and rubbed her shoulder. She was already beginning to feel stressed by this. Carla leaned over and gave her friend a little squeeze.
“Until then, though, you need to let your hair down. You’re too tightly wound at the moment, El, I can practically see the tension, you’re tighter than my Spanx were after last year’s Christmas dinner,” Carla said, laughing.
“Well…” Elodie trailed off, “we could have that girls’ night out, you know I’d love that. What’s everyone’s plans this weekend?”
“Working,” both Carla and Steph replied in unison.
Elodie’s face fell. She had completely forgotten; she was meant to be working, too. ‘There goes that idea, then,’ she thought sadly.
“Let me see what I can do, I’ll phone Mum and ask her if we can swap. That reminds me, speaking of mums…” Steph said, trailing off and fixing Elodie with a dogged expression.
Elodie knew exactly what Steph was getting at. She wanted to know if Elodie’s parents knew about the break- up yet. Elodie had put off telling them, not wanting to upset them or to be upset herself by their reaction. Finally, she had talked herself into calling. They had taken the news as well as could be expected: her mum asked if she’d done the right thing, alluded to the fact that she should have stayed with Tom because of his prospects but finally had come to see that Elodie needed more than someone else’s prospects to make her happy.
“I phoned her already, she took it as well as could be expected,” Elodie answered.
Steph looked her up and down and, when satisfied that her friend was telling the truth, gave a small nod and smiled.
“See, I knew it wasn’t worth getting worked up over. They’re your parents, El, they just want what’s best for you.” Steph added.
“What’s best for my bank balance, more like,” Elodie said gloomily.
The three women shared a knowing look and Carla pretended to play a very small, very sad violin before bursting into a fit of giggles. Elodie couldn’t stay forlorn for long with these two around.
“So that’s settled then, parents know, we’re off the hook work- wise and we’re going out out,” Carla cried happily. “I know, let’s choose your outfit,” she finished, jumping up from the sofa and darting into her bedroom as if she were running a race and the starting gun had just sounded. Moments later she materialised with swathes of material in hand, she must have been holding at least a dozen different outfits. She thrust them towards Elodie who took them gladly. She placed them on the seat next to her and rifled through the pile outfit by outfit.
“Don’t just hold them up, go put them on,” Steph encouraged.
Elodie cast a permission- seeking look in Carla’s direction but she needn’t have bothered. Carla was already nodding vigorously at Steph’s suggestion and pointed towards Elodie’s new bedroom.
“Go on then, try everything on, I want to see it all,” Carla said enthusiastically as she plugged her phone into her speaker and pressed play. Music filled every corner of the flat as Elodie scooped up the clothes, gave her friends an excited look and disappeared into her bedroom, ready to debut in what seemed to be her first- ever fashion show.
Outfit by outfit came and went. Elodie was average height with an average build and an average dress sense, so some of Carla’s more risqué outfits were fun to try on in the privacy of her own home but weren’t something she’d ever dream of wearing in public, not unless she wanted to be slapped with a public indecency order. Her particular favourite was a pair of high waisted dark denim shorts, which Carla had teamed with a baggy white T- shirt which read ‘Kanye not’ on it and a pair of black, heeled gladiator sandals, whose laces reached all the way to the middle of her thighs. When she had emerged wearing that particular outfit it had been a firm no from Steph but an avid yes from Carla.
After what seemed like the one hundredth outfit change of the evening, Elodie emerged in one outfit that had both of her friends giving a sure and excited thumbs- up. It was a red, panelled dress that was less form- fitting and more figure- hugging. Normally not one to have both legs and cleavage on show, this type of dress would have been something that Elodie would have skipped straight past on the clothes rail. Surprisingly, though, she felt extremely comfortable in it. She surveyed her reflection in the full- length mirror hanging on the back of her bedroom door and thanked the heavens that Carla was so generous. Her long, chocolate- coloured hair tumbled over her shoulders. Elodie knew that with a bit of Carla’s expert teasing and tousling she could really look her best. She stood on her tiptoes to try and get an idea of what it would feel like to wear this dress with a pair of heels. Elodie was excited and happily realised that part of that was down to the fact that she felt more daring and far sexier than she had felt in a very long time. She brushed the silky material of the dress downwards and admired how the luxurious fabric felt across her skin. When she had finally entered the living room, both of her friends clapped their hands to their faces in amazement. Carla thought that it so looked so good on Elodie that she insisted Elodie keep it.
“It looks so much better on you than it ever did on me, you should keep it. Consider it a welcome gift.” Carla said.
Elodie accepted the dress graciously, so pleased with the gesture that she hadn’t even managed to put up the pretence that she couldn’t possibly accept such a generous gift. Elodie wasn’t surprised to learn that the dress’s only outing in life had been to meet a man for cocktails. Carla’s date had ended unceremoniously after the guy who arrived to meet her was about twice the weight and three times the age of his online pictures. Carla had been unable to hide her disdain; she had told him straight that she should sue for false representation and given him a withering look before sauntering off. Other than that, Elodie’s beautiful new dress had spent its entire life hanging up amongst the rest of Carla’s extensive wardrobe.
With her outfit sorted for their night out, Elodie slipped off the dress and into a pair of jogging bottoms and a baggy T- shirt and went to re- join her friends who we
re now deciding on a film to watch. She stood in the doorway for just a moment, surveying the sight in front of her: if she had been told that this would be her life a month ago, she would have found it hard to believe it.
‘It’s amazing how your life can change so quickly,’ she thought, realising that as horrible as the last couple of weeks had been, if she could get her professional life sorted then she was sure her personal life would just fall into place.
“Pretty Woman or Dirty Dancing?” Carla asked, pointing to the television. “We can’t decide.”
“I haven’t seen either,” Elodie confessed. The reaction of her friends was extreme, to say the least: if there had been someone on the outside looking in, they would have been forgiven for thinking that Elodie had just admitted to the crime of the century.
“I can almost forgive Dirty Dancing,” Steph admonished, “but Pretty Woman! What’s wrong with you?”
Elodie laughed and shrugged her shoulders, unsure how to answer that particular question without sounding like a repressed housewife.
“Tom just didn’t like those sorts of films, I have however seen every Jason Statham movie and all those car ones too,” she offered hopefully.
“It’s taking all my will- power not to tit- punch you right now,” Carla said, a little too seriously for Elodie’s liking. She placed her arms over her chest protectively and looked to Steph for support.
“I’m with her, I’m afraid,” Steph said in a matter- of- fact tone. “Well, that settles it, then: we’re just going to have to watch both.”
Steph grabbed the remote control from Carla and pressed ‘play’. Elodie watched the first film, Pretty Woman, with great interest: everything about it captured attention. She couldn’t believe she had gone her entire life without ever having witnessing Vivian and Edward’s love story. The film finished far too soon for Elodie’s liking and as the credits rolled she turned to her friends with a huge grin on her face.
Chasing Clouds Page 10
