Sugar Secrets…& Jealousy

by Mel Sparke

  “Did Sunny give you my message?”

  “Oh, sure,” snorted Maya. “About four days after we left home. She let it slip during one of the few conversations we had while we were away.”

  Alex sighed. “I kind of had an inkling something like that might happen, knowing how she likes to cause you as much grief as possible.”

  “So why were you calling?”

  “Well, I…” She heard him sigh at the end of the line. “I thought I owed you an explanation about that night - God, it seems like a million years away now. But that Friday before you went on holiday, when I saw you by the cinema…”

  Maya shuddered as the memory came flooding back. She’d thought of little else for the first few days of her holiday. Then, after her mother had told her how she was ruining it for everyone else by being miserable, she’d given herself a major talking to, sorted a few things out in her head and got on with the rest of the trip (almost) as though the incident had never occurred. Now, in spite of her good resolve, she felt her battered emotions surface again.

  “Honestly, Alex, you don’t owe me an explanation,” she began defensively. “After all, it’s over between us and…”

  “No, but I can’t just leave it like that,” he protested. “The thing is, Holly and I weren’t out on a date that night. I met up with her because she rang and said she needed to meet me, and that it was important. Anyway, it turned out she’d met someone else she was serious about and she wanted to tell me herself rather than have me hear it from another source. Boy, I can’t tell you how relieved I was,” he added jokily.

  “Oh, right, I see,” said Maya, still not quite able to grasp what he was getting at.

  “So the reason I was ringing was because I felt bad about the way it looked,” Alex continued. “It cheered me up, going out with a friend, but it wasn’t a date. I wanted you to know I wouldn’t do that…”

  He broke off and Maya smiled to herself. He was still so sweet and caring. Not wanting to hurt her feelings…

  “Thanks, Alex,” she said in a small voice. “I have to admit I was shocked when I saw you together. I did jump to the wrong conclusions and I was a bit jealous of her too…”

  “Were you?” There was a glimmer of hope in Alex’s voice.

  “Yeah, but at the time I was still hurting pretty badly. Like you said, it was only a week after us, and I wasn’t even sure I’d done the right thing…”

  Now it was Maya’s turn to break off as she wondered if she’d said too much.

  “And are you still unsure?” he asked.

  “Not any more.” Maya was adamant. “This holiday gave me the space to work it all out in my head, and I know now for definite that it was the right decision. For all the reasons that I gave you at the time… getting away from it all just confirmed that it was time to move on.”

  “Then that’s that,” said Alex a little forlornly. “Though I hope moving on doesn’t include moving on from the photography club…?”

  “No way! Not when I’ve got the best tutor in the county teaching me,” giggled Maya. “Actually, Alex, I know this sounds corny, but I hope we can still be friends.”

  Alex chuckled. “You try and stop me.”

  “So did Natasha get back to London OK?”

  Kerry took the coffee cup Ollie was offering and set it down on the End table in front of her. Although Natasha had asked him not to tell anyone everything she’d told him on Sunday, she had let on to the others that she was thinking seriously about giving up modelling.

  “Yeah,” Ollie replied. “She went back yesterday. She said she was going to go and see her agency to try and sort a few things out.”

  “D’you think she’ll go through with it? Packing it in, I mean?”

  Ollie shrugged. “Who knows? Natasha changes her mind more often than most people change their underwear. I hope she does, for what it’s worth.”

  He grabbed a few dirty cups and saucers from the next table and put them on the counter ready to take into the kitchen.

  “So, d’you think she’d move back to Winstead? It’d be strange for her, after all that time in London,” Sonja mused. “I mean, this place must seem tiny compared to the capital.”

  “Who’s to say she would come back?” said Cat. “I wouldn’t. She’s probably got loads of contacts there. She could easily join another agency.”

  “Talking of coming back, has anyone seen Maya yet?” Kerry asked.

  The gang at the table shook their heads. No one was even sure what time their friend was due back, only that it was sometime today.

  “And then there’s Nick - he’s due back today too, isn’t he, Ol?” Matt shouted to his mate, who was about to disappear into the kitchen.

  “Oh, yeah, he rang from the airport. He’s on his way.”

  “Did he have a good time?”

  “Didn’t say.”

  “I had a wonderful time, thank you!” A familiar voice resounded around the End-of-the-Line café.

  The gang turned to see a grinning Nick standing in the doorway. Looking tanned and healthy, his all-too-familiar T-shirt and blue jeans had been jazzed up with a pair of silver-tipped cowboy boots and a suede stetson.

  Directly behind him stood a woman dressed in similar garb. She had peroxide blonde hair sticking out from the sides of an enormous black Stetson, and her figure - curvaceous to say the least - was clad in a blue denim shirt with silver tassels, blue jeans held up with a silver and leather belt, and a pair of pink leather cowboy boots. A slash of pink defined her mouth, which moved constantly as she chewed gum.

  Cat sniggered to herself as an image of Lily Savage suddenly popped into her head.

  Nick cleared his throat.

  “Everybody,” he said, “I’d like you to meet Cyndi. My wife!”

  Sugar SECRETS …

  …& Flirting

  “What’s a let-down?” asked Maya, who’d been idly gazing out of the window of the End-of-the-Line café on this Monday morning, until her friend’s sudden outburst.

  “This!” said Cat, nodding at the glossy pages of smiling celebs spread open on the table.

  “What about it?” frowned Maya. Sometimes, working out what was going on in Cat’s mind took a bit of effort.

  “Well, it’s rubbish this week - it’s all women!” Cat exclaimed, flicking dismissively through the pages. “There’s absolutely no fanciable blokes in here!”

  “Well, in my opinion, there’s no point wasting your energy fancying famous people anyway,” Maya shrugged.

  “Why not?” frowned Cat.

  “Face it - it’s not like you’re ever going to meet any of them, never mind go out with them!”

  Cat sighed theatrically and shook her head.

  “Maya, you can be so negative. Why couldn’t it happen? I mean, celebs fall in love, just like normal people!”

  “Yeah, but they don’t tend to fall in love with normal people, just other famous people!,” Maya pointed out.

  “Rubbish,” muttered Cat grumpily. “It happens all the time. And you won’t be so smug, when you read about me in a few years time, when I’m starring in my own TV show or something and my lovely pop star husband!”

  “Which just proves my point,” grinned Maya.

  “What do you mean?”

  “Exactly,” Maya grinned. “Famous people are only interested in other famous people. I rest my case.”

  Cat stuck out her tongue at Maya and turned back to her magazine.

  But she could never shut up for very long.

  “Is Joe coming in this morning? Or is he working at Central Sounds again?” said Cat, gazing across the table enquiringly.

  “He’s doing a few days in Central Sounds this week, but he’s not in there today,” replied Maya. “He’s gone to meet Meg at the bus station. She’s getting the coach back from Brighton.”

  “Oh, good! Maybe he’ll stop moping now!” snorted Cat. “I mean, did you see his face in here yesterday? You’d think she’d been gone for two months instea
d of two days!”

  Maya smiled to herself. It was true; Joe’s forlorn face had practically put Matt off his Sunday morning fry-up. And it took a lot to put Matt off his food.

  “He’s got the love bug and he’s got it bad,” Maya commented. “I don’t know how he’s going to cope once he’s in London and she’s in Brighton!”

  “He’ll be one of those soppy guys you hear about that has to phone her every single day…” muttered Cat.

  “Oooh, you wouldn’t be jealous, would you?” Maya suggested, with a wicked smile on her face.

  “Jealous of what? Are you trying to say I’ve got the hots for Joe or something?” said Cat incredulously.

  “No. I mean, You’re jealous that they’re so much in love - and you’re single!”

  Cat finally flicked her eyes away from the pages she was scanning and gave a little shrug.

  “Maybe…” she mumbled. “But you can hardly talk, Maya Joshi, since you’re single too.”

  “Yes, but mine was through choice, remember,” Maya pointed out. “I finished with Alex.”

  “Thank goodness,” mumbled Cat.

  “Thank goodness? What do you mean?” asked Maya dejectedly. “Didn’t you like him?”

  “Alex? Yeah, but that’s not the point, is it?”

  “Well, what is the point?”

  “The point is,” said Cat, flicking a page over with a cracking sound, “with you on your own, it means I’m not the only person out of our closest friends not to be dating. After all, Kerry and Ollie are practically married, they’re so inseperable; Anna and Matt are all cosy-cosy; and all Sonja can talk about is moving in with her precious Owen when she goes off to uni. At least with you being single, there are two of us losers!”

  “Hey - single does not mean loser!” protested Maya, without taking Cat particularly seriously.

  “Yeah, maybe. But you are being a bit of a loser if you don’t go to your photography class just ‘cause you can’t face seeing your ex!” said Cat, narrowing her eyes at her friend.

  Maya’s face blushed red - it was true, she had been back from holiday for two weeks now and had found fairly pathetic excuses both Wednesdays not to turn up. Although she’d spoken to Alex on the phone right after her holiday - and cleared the air over their break-up - she still couldn’t quite face meeting him in person.

  There was only one thing she could do.

  Change the subject.

  “Anyway, why are you so interested in where Joe is today?”

  As she spoke, Maya reached out and moved the vase in the middle of the table over to the window, so she could see her friend all the better.

  The vase, and the three large, plastic flowers in it, was just one of the new innovations that Cyndi - café… owner Nick’s new wife - had made around the place. Every table had a similar decoration, much to the confusion of the workmen who regularly came in for their breakfasts.

  Maya had been pretty confused herself by all the changes when she’d arrived back from her holiday. Bachelor bloke Nick being a married man all of a sudden had been the biggest shock of all.

  “Well, I was just wondering how Joey got on last night - you know; finding somewhere to live in London,” Cat replied to Maya’s question.

  Maya raised an eyebrow slightly at her friend. It was very unlike Cat to be so concerned and interested in the details of Joe’s life. Much as everyone in the crowd loved Cat, they knew only too well that her favourite topic of conversation was always herself.

  “I hope he got on better than he did on Friday and Saturday,” Maya replied cautiously, eyeing up Cat and wondering what her angle was. “He had no luck with the ones he got through to then.”

  “Well, I really, really hope he’s got something fixed up. And in a cool area too…”

  Maya was by now seriously confused. This concern of Cat’s was well beyond the call of duty.

  “…because,” Cat continued, “the first weekend I can, I’m going to be straight down to London staying with him. And I’m telling you now - he’d better not expect me to come and visit him if he’s living in some grotsville place!”

  Ahh! Maya grinned to herself. So that’s it - Cat sees Joe as her passport to the big city!

  London… a career on TV… a celebrity boyfriend… it was all part of Cat’s star-spangled vision of her future.

  “And he’d better not end up sharing with girls!”

  “Why not?” laughed Maya. “In case it drives Meg wild with jealousy?”

  “No!” exclaimed Cat. “Because I want him to share with a bunch of gorgeous boys - so I can get myself a lovely student boyfriend!”

  “I thought you said you wanted a celebrity boyfriend?” Maya teased her.

  “Of course! Doesn’t everyone, if they had a choice?!” said Cat, wide-eyed. “But until I can get my hands on one, a fit student will do nicely!”

  “Cat!” laughed Maya. “Do you think of anything else except—”

  “Wow - look at her!“ Cat interrupted, tapping her finger beside a photo, one amongst a page of celebrity photos, snapped at some awards ceremony or other. “How ridiculous is that dress?!”

  Maya knew she was meant to be horrified by the wispy bits of chiffon ribbons that were barely covering Jennifer Aniston’s bits on the pages of OK. But to be honest, she’d seen Cat wear outfits that were almost as revealing (even if they didn’t have a designer price tag on them).

  The other reason Maya was finding it hard to concentrate on the photo was that her eyes were being magnetically drawn to the finger that was tapping beside it. The nail extensions that Cat was wearing were outrageously long, painted electric blue with silver metallic tips and with a tiny fake diamond placed dead centre on each nail. It looked like her friend was doing some Beauty Therapy course homework on herself, even though it was still the holidays.

  “Oh, do you like them?” asked Cat, spotting Maya’s stare and wiggling all ten fingers around.

  The effect was pretty overpowering. Maya wished she had her sunglasses on her.

  “Cat, how do you manage to do anything with those?” asked Maya, practical and to the point as usual.

  “What do you mean?” frowned Cat, slightly hurt at the lack of compliments coming her way.

  “Like… like going to the loo!” said Maya bluntly. “I mean, how do you even undo your trousers?”

  “Carefully…” Cat replied with a casual shrug.

  “Gee, those nails sure are pretty! Where d’you get them done?”

  Both Cat and Maya looked up at the sound of Cyndi’s thick-as-treacle Southern drawl.

  “I did them myself!” Cat told her proudly, wiggling her fingers in the air for all to see.

  “Hey, could you do my nails for me, sometime?” asked Cyndi, enthusiastically.

  “Yeah! Why not!” smiled Cat, lapping up the compliment.

  “I sure would like something like that in a nice ice pink!” Cyndi continued, leaning her weight on the table and gazing admiringly at Cat’s handiwork.

  “Well, that would be no problem,” gushed Cat. “I’ve got plenty—”

  Just as Cat began to give an inventory of her nail varnish collection, the public phone began to ring on the other side of the busy café.

  “Anna!” yelled Cyndi, turning her blond head of curls and scanning the room, as she settled herself down in the booth next to Cat. “Get that would you, hon!”

  Maya gazed over at a flummoxed-looking Anna, who was struggling to keep her piled-high tray of dirty plates upright, while two small children - ignored by their chatting mothers - crashed into her legs.

  “Uh, Cyndi - I’ve kind of got my hands full!” Anna called over, trying to stop the toddlers thumping each other with her one free hand.

  “Well, I’m kind of busy, too, sweetie!” Cyndi called back, tucking her order pad into the pocket of her faded denim shirt.

  Anna - her face like stone - clattered the tray down on the table nearest her, startling the gossiping mums long enough to realise their ki
ds were tearing chunks out of each other.

  Maya watched Anna stomp over to the phone, wiping her hand on her apron before she picked up the receiver.

  “It’s one of the things I really miss from back home,” smiled Cyndi, spreading her fingers out on the red Formica. “I always went to this sweet little beauty salon once a week and get my hair and nails done. An’ I don’t want Nick to get the idea that just ‘cause I’ve landed my man, I’m gonna let myself go!”

  “Nick’s not going to think that!” Cat pointed out. “You had a whirlwind romance! He brought you all the way back from the USA to be with him! He’s not going to care if you don’t have your nails done!”

  “Ah, now that’s where you’re wrong! It’s the little details that count in a relationship!” said Cyndi, with a knowing look.

  “What do you mean?” Cat frowned back at her.

  “Well, ladies, I hope y’all don’t think I was listening in,” Cyndi began, “but I couldn’t help hearing that you two were talkin’ about being single. And if I can give you one piece of advice, that’s always to remember the details. That’s the way you land yourself a man - an’ that’s the way you keep him too!”

  Maya felt her mouth drop open slightly. Cat, on the other hand, couldn’t wait to hear more.

  “But what kind of details, Cyndi?”

  “Just keepin’ yourself pretty for your man. Nice hair, nice nails, pretty lipstick. It all helps you feel special, and a man appreciates a woman takin’ good care of herself!”

  Maya gave herself a little shake, just to check she hadn’t fallen asleep and dreamt she was in some previous millennium, where women stayed at home raising the kids while the caveman went out and bashed antelope over the head for tea.

  “Cyndi - didn’t you hear me calling?”

  It was Anna, who was now standing over their table.

  “No, I didn’t, honey - I was busy talking to these ladies!” Cyndi smiled up at Anna.

  “The phone - it’s for you,” Anna replied, her hands on her hips. “It’s Nick calling from the cash and carry.”

  “Oh, my sweet pea!” gushed Cyndi, unnecessarily patting her hair into shape before she dashed over to the phone. “‘Scuse me, ladies!”