by Mel Sparke
She ended up taking the non-committal route. “Fine…”
“I hear he’s still DJing…”
“yeah, he’s starting to do really well. He’s just got back from a stint in Ibiza.”
“Wow! Really? That’s amazing!” Gabrielle was clearly impressed. “I didn’t realise he was that good.”
“Oh, he is,” said Anna proudly. “And it’s really beginning to happen for him.”
“I’ll have to ask him about it. I’d love to hear what it was like in Ibiza,” enthused Gabrielle, then, checking herself, added, “That is, if he’ll talk to me…”
She broke off and gave an over-the-top grimace. “I mean, I’m a bit nervous about bumping into Matt,” she sighed. “It wasn’t as though we split up by mutual agreement, was it?”
Anna shook her head slowly. “Uh, no, I guess not.”
“Anyway, I’ve been wondering ever since I took this job how he’d feel about having me around,” Gabrielle carried on, “even if it is only temporary. I suppose I should have thought about that before. D’you think he’ll be OK?”
Anna didn’t know what to say. She didn’t have a clue as to what Matt would think about having his girlfriend and his ex working side by side. Her instinct told her that, at first, Matt would find it very spooky indeed. And if he hadn’t truly moved on from Gabrielle, if he was still hung up about her, then perhaps he might have a problem with it.
But seeing as he was now involved with Anna, well, what difference would it make having Gabrielle around? None surely… Anna frowned.
Was that how he’d see it, or was that how she hoped he’d see it? She didn’t know. The only thing Anna was sure of - from the way the other girl was talking - was that Gabrielle didn’t have a clue about Anna’s relationship with Matt.
“Uh, I don’t know…” Anna replied finally. “I guess you’ll have to wait and see. Uh, look, we can talk later, OK? Only now the breakfast rush is over, I need to show you what’s what before the mums and toddlers start piling in for tea and chocolate cake.”
Gabrielle’s hand flew to her mouth. “Ooh, sorry, Anna,” she yelped apologetically. “I didn’t mean to start going on about Matt. It’s not as if it’s your problem, is it…?”
If only you knew, Anna thought ruefully.
OIlie walked towards the End in a daze. His eyes were fixed on some imaginary spot in the distance, his eyebrows knitted together in concern.
He was busy. Thinking. Before he’d left for work, he had called Natasha at her flat in Milan. No one had answered. He’d then called her mobile. It was switched off. As it had been the day before. That struck him as odd. Even if his sister had her phone switched off, she always had the answering service in operation. She’d always felt she had to - if her booker couldn’t get hold of her, she could easily lose important jobs.
OIlie was so worried he’d called up Natasha’s agency in London, something he’d never done before. He’d had to dig out his mum’s address book to find the number, and was relieved that Natasha had spoken about her booker so many times that OIlie knew his name and was able to get through to him straightaway.
He had felt a bit daft explaining that he’d rung because he couldn’t get hold of his sister and was concerned, but the guy was reassuring, saying he’d spoken to Natasha only that morning and she was fine. Working all day on a job, in fact. OIlie had asked him to tell her he’d called and come off the phone feeling no more reassured.
If only she was nearer, he thought, I could hop on a train and be in London in an hour or so. Somehow he felt things would be better if he could just see his sister, then he would be able to judge for himself whether she was all right.
OIlie wandered into the café kitchen and bumped straight into someone who was carefully sweeping a broken cup and saucer into a neat pile in a corner.
“Oh, sorry, Anna…” he said automatically.
Then he did a double-take and his face turned from being apologetic to completely confused. “Omigod! Gabrielle? What are you doing here?” he spluttered.
“Uh… when I’m not dropping things, I guess I’m working here,” Gabrielle said, with an embarrassed little shrug.
OIlie glanced over at Anna who confirmed this detail with a nod of her head and a raise of her eyebrows as she disappeared out front with a trayful of fizzy drinks.
“Wow, really?” Ollie continued staring at Gabrielle, in much the same way as Anna had earlier. “That’s, uh… great,” he enthused, once he’d managed to get his brain and speech connected. “So you’re the new girl Nick told us about at the weekend?”
“The very same.”
“So… how’s it going?”
“Great! Anna and Dot have been lovely to me.”
“I meant in general, in your life,” Ollie chuckled. “It’s been months…”
“Oh, I see,” grinned Gabrielle. “Sorry. Yeah, things are good, apart from the fact that I’m skint, which is why I asked Nick if there was any work going.”
“And which is why you’re here now, learning the hard way, by the look of things,” Ollie smiled.
“Hmm, something like that.”
“Now you’re here, Ol, I’m just going to nip next door,” Anna announced, coming back into the kitchen. “We’re running out of change. I’ll see if Nick’s got any.” As she left for Slik Riffs, she added, “There aren’t any orders on at the moment, but the couple in the corner look like they’re about to ask for the bill…”
Ollie followed Anna outside. “Are you OK?” he asked, quietly concerned.
“Sure,” Anna replied. “Why wouldn’t I be?”
“Well… Gabrielle. That must have been a bit of a shock…”
“It was,” Anna smiled. “But it’s fine. Honest.”
“You sure?”
“Of course. Why wouldn’t it be?”
“I dunno. I guess it’s just a bit weird having Matt’s ex working here. Uh, does he know yet?”
Anna shook her head.
“And you’re sure you’re OK about it?” Ollie asked again.
“Doesn’t bother me,” Anna shrugged. “You’d better get back…”
Liar, she told herself as she walked into the record shop…
CHAPTER 8
GOBSMACKED
“Do you want to take a break for ten minutes while we’re not so busy?”
Anna looked over to where Gabrielle was leaning against the fridge waggling one leg in the air, rotating her ankle and grimacing.
“If you’re sure you don’t mind,” she replied. “My feet have gone dead from standing up for so long.”
“I know how you feel! It takes some time to get used to being on your feet all day.” Anna gestured towards Gabrielle’s Adidas trainers. “At least you’re wearing those - very sensible. When Cat helped out in here a while back she wore four-inch high wedges. And then had the nerve to wonder why she was crippled by lunchtime!”
“Ouch! My toes have curled up and died in sympathy,” Gabrielle winced. Gingerly, she made her way out towards the near-empty café, shouting “Cheers” as Anna called out for her to help herself to a coffee. Pouring a mug of the hot black liquid and splashing in some milk, she went over to a corner table and sank down gratefully. She looked over to the big table by the window, the one she used to sit at with Matt and his friends all those months ago.
So far today, none of them had been in. So there was no one else to cry “Omigod!” or “What are you doing here?” like Anna and Ollie had. Mind you, they had been brilliant. They could have been offish (she wouldn’t have blamed them, and had been half expecting it). Matt was their friend after all, and she knew she had hurt him pretty badly when she’d ended their relationship. But those two had both been really welcoming - once they’d got over the initial shock.
Gabrielle stared out of the window for a few moments, pondering how things could have been so different. She’d really liked Matt and it had hurt her to finish with him - and he hadn’t taken it well, either. But he had become to
o serious too quickly. She’d wanted fun, like any fourteen-year-old would, and he’d just been so smothering and intense.
Her gaze wandered across the road to the launderette opposite where mad Vera seemed to be doing some kind of wild dance with her mop, as usual. Then she noticed a figure coming towards the café from the station car park. With a pounding heart, she realised who it was.
Matt.
Gabrielle froze.
Her ex-boyfriend opened the door and breezed in. Wondering if anyone else could hear what seemed like a deafening thumping in her chest, Gabrielle kept her eyes firmly on the plastic ketchup bottle on the table in front of her, though she could see his every move out of the corner of her eye. He glanced around the café, with its two elderly customers hugging a pot of tea by the jukebox and Gabrielle at a small table in the corner.
She could sense him start slightly as his gaze settled on her. Gabrielle felt herself squirming and some inexplicable thing made her raise her eyes and look directly at him.
Gobsmacked.
That was the only way to describe the look on his face. Utterly gobsmacked to see her there. She saw him gulp and watched his Adam’s apple move up and down his throat as he swallowed. No other muscle in his body seemed to move for about three seconds. Gabrielle couldn’t stand it any longer. She had to speak.
“Hello, Matt.” Her voice came out like a half strangled mouse, a screechy, nervous squeak that was nothing like her own. She tried to smile, but could only feel the corners of her mouth twitching uncontrollably as she tried to force them into action.
“Hi,” he replied in a voice as uncertain as hers. “Um, what brings you here?”
“Nick’s given me a job. I’m, er, working…”
“Are you serious!”
Gabrielle nodded. She watched as his head spun round towards Anna who was by now standing in the doorway that separated the café from the kitchen. She looked as tense as Gabrielle.
Matt gave her a questioning look. Anna put down the tray of teacups she was carrying, nodded and began vigorously wiping the work surface in front of her with a J cloth. “Ah, yes, Gabrielle’s the new girl,” she explained brightly. “You remember I said someone was starting work here today, Matt?”
“Well, yes, but…” Matt’s voice trailed off. He looked from Anna back to Gabrielle.
“Gabrielle’s been here all day and she’s doing really well,” Anna carried on enthusiastically, beaming at Gabrielle, and sensing that if she didn’t carry on the conversation, the situation could become even more awkward.
“How long will you be working here?” asked Matt.
“Uh, it’ll be a week or so, I suppose. It’s up to Nick really.”
“Yeah, this is all down to Nick,” Anna agreed. “We’ll all have to wait and see. Coffee, Matt?”
“Sorry? Um, no… thanks. I just came in to say hello. I, um… guess I’ll leave you guys to it. I’ll, uh… see you around, Gabrielle.”
“Bye, Matt.”
Matt turned away from Gabrielle, gave Anna a meaningful look and sauntered back out of the door.
“Phew!” Gabrielle grinned to Anna. “Odd though. He didn’t even stay for a coffee!”
Anna carried on furiously rubbing a nonexistent stain on the stainless steel worktop.
CHAPTER 9
THE TENSION MOUNTS
“Wheeeee!”
“Way-aaaaaaaay!”
“Hee-heee-heee-heeeee-heee!”
“Yeeeee-aaaaaaaaeeeeeeh!”
“You realise you’re supposed to be under fourteen to go on that stuff, don’t you? If the parkie comes round, you’ll be in big trouble. Now, can you get off, please? It’s my turn.”
Andy King’s jokey nagging went largely ignored as Cat, Vikki and Meg sailed back and forth on the park swings as recklessly as they could manage.
“Can’t catch me, Andy!” Vikki mocked and she swung her legs forward and back, while leaning her body back as far as she could for added momentum.
“Vikki, stop it, you’ll fall!” Kerry yelped, her hand practically stuffed into her mouth with fear at the sight of the girl swinging herself so high that the frame of the swing seemed to be pulling out of the ground, making an alarming c’chunk c’chunk sound.
“S’OK,” Vikki called back. “I am immortal - didn’t you know? So, who’s going to dare us to jump from here on to the grass?”
Cat giggled. “Count me out. I already feel like I’m about to fall out of this top. A sudden movement like that could have me displaying my best assets to the whole of Winstead.”
“It wouldn’t be the first time,” Sonja cut in, looking at her cousin, who was indeed about to pop out of her skimpy vest top.
“And hopefully it won’t be the last,” added Billy, “seeing as I haven’t had the pleasure of a Catrina Osgood full frontal yet.”
“Don’t worry, Billy, you won’t have too long to wait, I’m sure,” Sonja retorted. “Cat never goes more than a few months without exposing herself to all and sundry. It’s only a matter of time.”
“Hey, do you mind not talking about me as though I’m not here?!” protested Cat.
Sonja carried on, regardless of Cat’s objections. “Yeah, Cat’ll be in Tescos and she’s like, ‘Whoops! Oh dear, I appear to have popped out of my top. Silly me.’”
Vikki joined in the teasing. “She’s the same at college. She’ll be sitting in a lecture and suddenly you hear ‘Whoops. There they go again. I really don’t understand it.’”
Sonja chuckled, “And then she’ll complain, ‘I wish they’d cut them to a decent size when they’re making these bra things.’ Like, have you tried getting a bigger bra, Cat?”
Everyone collapsed into fits of giggles as Cat slowed her swinging to a gentle sway and began adjusting the stretchy material of her top over her ample chest.
“Oh, ha haa,” she pouted. “Let’s all have a joke at my expense, shall we? Haven’t you guys got anything better to do than take the mick?”
“Nope,” Sonja replied, “nothing better to do at all. Tragic, isn’t it? Here we all are, a bunch of happening people, supposedly with the world at our feet, and all we can do is bum around in the park, commandeer a load of kids’ swings and bitch about Cat. Pathetic.”
“Typical summer break, really,” added Vikki, pretending to yawn.
“Your appetite for life is completely underwhelming,” Cat mocked. “Personally, I like nothing better than to hang around in the park, gossiping. I’m not bored at all.”
“I am,” said Andy.
“We should all plan a day out,” Billy suggested. “Go somewhere different. Maybe go along the river somewhere. We could take a picnic. Next weekend. What do you think?”
Sonja thought it was a great idea. “Let’s do it!” she enthused. “We could get the train down to Southy Green - it’s only a couple of stops. We could hire a boat, take our swimming stuff…”
“That’s the village with the pub on the river, isn’t it?” said Andy.
“Uh-huh.”
“Even better then,” grinned Billy. “It’ll be a great excuse to celebrate your exam results.”
A collective groan went up from Sonja, Kerry and Meg.
“Don’t. Please,” Kerry wailed. “Just when I forget all about them, someone brings the exam thing up and I feel sick all over again.”
“I know,” agreed Meg. “I can’t believe the results are due in on Wednesday. In two days our futures will be pinned up on a board in the hall for everyone to see. I can’t bear it.”
“I’m dreading it,” Sonja added, her thoughts suddenly in turmoil.
‘“What’s wrong with you?” demanded Cat. “You don’t have anything to worry about. Everyone knows you’ll pass them all. You always do.”
Sonja lay back in the grass and peered at the grey cloudy sky above her. What Cat said was true. She had never had any trouble passing exams - she’d never failed one in her entire life. Of all her friends, she was the most ambitious and would be expected to do
the best. That was a given.
But this year was different.
No one else knew it, but for the first time in her life, Sonja couldn’t be certain she had passed any of them.
Anna had only been in her flat for ten minutes after work when the doorbell rang. She’d guessed who it was even before she went to answer it.
She went to the bathroom where she had left the bath running. Turning the hot tap off, she padded barefoot back into the living room and opened the front door.
“Hi, Matt,” she said, turning her face up for the toe-tingling smooch she had come to expect when her boyfriend arrived.
Matt was standing on the top step, looking distracted. Bending down, he gave Anna a quick peck on the cheek, then walked inside and whirled round to face her. “Good day?” he asked.
“Uh, not bad,” Anna replied, a little put out by his absent-minded greeting. “I’m worn out though. I was just about to jump in the bath. D’you want a beer?”
“Mmm, please.”
Anna went to the fridge and took out a can of lager, which she handed to Matt. She could tell from the tense look on his face that he was desperate to get something off his chest. And she knew exactly what it was.
“Gabrielle’s working out well,” she said, referring to the subject she knew was on both of their minds. “Ollie had her cleaning the fridge after lunch. I think she’s actually quite enjoying the work.”
“You didn’t tell me she was coming to work at the End,” he said grumpily. “How come?”
Ouch! Anna hadn’t expected that. He sounded so accusing, as if she’d organised the whole thing.
“I didn’t know,” she replied, on the defensive. “Nick said a new girl was starting - he didn’t say who. In fact, I’m pretty sure he didn’t realise who she was.”
Matt walked over to the sofa and slumped down on it. “It was such a shock seeing her there,” he said, taking a slug of the beer and wiping a stray drip from his chin.
How did you feel when you saw her? Anna wanted to ask. Did she make you remember the good times you had when you went out together? Do you miss her?
