Sugar Secrets…& Lust

by Mel Sparke

  But the fact that Sonja hadn’t mentioned anything about fancying a guy before now surprised Kerry slightly: there would have been a time when she’d have been the first to know. After all. Sonja had been the first person to suss out Kerry’s love for OIlie and had then cajoled her friend into revealing her feelings.

  In fact, it was Sonja’s probing questions that had made Kerry realise just how deeply she felt about OIlie.

  Now that the other two had gone home Kerry felt able to tackle her about the subject.

  “So why didn’t you tell me about Kyle before?”

  “Sorry?” Sonja turned from where she was sitting at her dressing table and gave Kerry a quizzical look. “What do you mean?”

  “Well, I just thought that if you were into someone new, normally you would have been on the phone to me straightaway. Filling me in on all the gory details.”

  “I know, but…” Sonja stopped short of telling Kerry why she hadn’t confided in her before. The fact that Kerry had become so involved with Ollie since they’d started going out-almost to the exclusion of everything else-had really begun to bother her. Even when the gang were together, Sonja sensed that Ollie and Kerry were very much a couple rather than part of the crowd.

  And yet she knew how sensitive her friend could be and wasn’t sure her thoughts were worth bringing out into the open just yet, if at all.

  “But what?”

  Still Sonja didn’t answer. She walked round to her bed, slid under the duvet and hugged her knees. Kerry watched her movements, a furrow of concern etched on her face.

  “Come on, Son,” she persisted. “Tell me. It’s obvious that something’s bugging you.”

  “OK, OK, I will. But promise me you won’t get upset?”

  “Uh, sure. No, of course I won’t,” Kerry answered, suddenly very anxious.

  “Well, you’re right. Normally I would have been on the phone to you or called in at your house to tell you all about Kyle. But the thing is, Kez, you’ve been so wrapped up in Ollie recently that I haven’t been able to spend much time with you, let alone get down to the nitty-gritty of what’s been going on in my life.”

  Kerry raised her eyebrows and opened her mouth as if to protest.

  “And before you object,” Sonja carried on, “that isn’t a criticism as such, because I think it’s great what you and Ollie have got together, I really do. It’s just that when you’re not actually with Ollie or doing your summer job at the chemist’s, then you’re on the phone to him or hanging out at the café or at Nick’s Slick Riffs, depending on where he’s working.”

  Sonja took a deep breath and sighed. “I guess I just feel a bit neglected, that’s all.”

  Kerry felt as if she was about to cry. Of course, it was all true-she simply hadn’t seen it before. Having Sonja sit there and spell it out to her made her feel totally wretched.

  She was, it had to be said, completely besotted with Ollie. She’d never had a boyfriend before and to be going out with such a warm-hearted, gorgeous, loving, thoughtful person as Ollie had completely blown her away. She ate, slept and dreamt Ollie Stanton.

  Now, when she thought about it, Kerry realised that she hadn’t been out with Sonja-just Sonja-for ages; the truth was, she couldn’t even remember the last time. Sure, they saw each other at the café with the rest of the gang, but more often than not Ollie was there too. And Sonja was right-Kerry’s attention was always mainly on him.

  She had even thought about crying off this girls’ night in, not because she could have gone out with Ollie instead-he was seeing Joe-but because she would have preferred a night in on her own, watching TV and drifting off into warm, cosy thoughts about her boyfriend. In the end, Kerry’d really had to force herself to come along.

  What a cow! she thought. No wonder Sonjas hacked off with me.

  Kerry groped around on the bed for her wire-framed glasses and hastily put them back on so she could see Sonja’s face.

  “Son, I’m so sorry,” she wailed, looking earnestly at her friend. “You’re absolutely right-I’ve been selfish. I’ve been so head over heels in love with Ollie that I’ve thought of little else for weeks. You must hate me!”

  Sonja shook her head and smiled. “No, not at all. Despaired of you a little, maybe, but of course I don’t hate you. And I don’t begrudge what you and Ollie have. It must be wonderful to be so in love with someone and to know that they’re equally into you. But I would hate us to drift apart. I reckon that would be a big mistake.”

  “I know. Talk about love is blind and all that. Oh, God! I must have seemed really pathetic, all loved-up and gooey-eyed. It must have been nauseating for you. And the others. Has anyone else said anything?”

  “Nope. Not a word. Well, only nice stuff. Honestly, Kez, it’s not a big deal. I wasn’t even going to mention it until you kept on at me. But now that it’s out in the open, it’s up to you to decide what you do about it. If anything. Like I said, it’s not a big problem.”

  Sonja snuggled down under her duvet and closed her eyes, totally relaxed.

  “If you’re sure. Thanks for being so understanding. Son,” said Kerry, climbing into her bed and taking her glasses off again. “Hey, to make amends, let’s have a night out together. And I promise I won’t waffle on about Ollie! I won’t even mention his name.”

  “Don’t be daft! I like you going on about Ollie-it makes me laugh. But, yeah, a night out is a fab idea.”

  “What would you do if you bumped into Kyle though?”

  “Snog him, of course. Wouldn’t it be great if I started going out with him? Then we could all go out as a foursome together. And I could drone on about Kyle as much as you do about Ollie. What do you say?”

  Kerry threw a pillow at Sonja for an answer.

  “No chance. Sorry, Kez, but there’s absolutely no way I’d want to do that.”

  Ollie looked into Kerry’s earnest eyes and, seeing the look of disappointment in them, immediately regretted what he’d said. They were walking hand in hand through the park and Kerry had just told him about her conversation with Sonja the previous evening.

  He had listened sympathetically. He’d agreed that Kerry shouldn’t drift away from her best friend because of him, and had laughed out loud when Kerry mentioned that Sonja had accused her of ‘droning on about her boyfriend’.

  But when she’d mentioned Kyle and the possibility of them going out in a foursome together-even though Sonja and Kyle weren’t even an item yet-Ollie’s face had clouded over. He dismissed the suggestion so emphatically that Kerry almost felt as if she’d just asked him to gouge out his eyes with a blunt instrument.

  “Honestly, Kerry, it’s not that I’m against going out in a foursome in principal. It’s just that I’m 99 per cent sure I know of this Kyle and, believe me. he’s a complete waste of space. Sonja would be mad to get involved with him.”

  Kerry stopped in her tracks and stood in front of Ollie, her eyes searching his face for clues.

  “What do you mean?” she demanded. “How do you know him? I’ve only told you his name. How do you know we’re talking about the same guy?”

  “Well, for a start, how many guys do you know called Kyle around here? There can’t be too many of them walking around Winstead, can there?”

  “Er, no, I guess not. So what do you know about him? He must have done something pretty awful for you to bad-mouth him like that. It’s not your style at all.”

  Ollie turned towards Kerry, a serious expression on his usually cheerful face. “Maybe I’m being a bit harsh, but I just think the guy is bad news. If Sonja’s looking for a quick fling then fine, but believe me, he won’t hang around once he’s got what he wants. He’s like it with all girls. She’d be better off steering well clear of him.”

  His words of warning ringing in her ears, Kerry wondered how she should break the news to Sonja.

  But it was already too late.

  CHAPTER 4

  BOYWATCH

  By the time Kerry had got up and left
the Harveys’ house on Sunday morning, Sonja had already mentally put the finishing touches to her Kyle-catching plan. There was no time to lose if she was going to win her bet with Catrina, which she was determined to do.

  Although she knew little about him other than his name and the fact that he worked in the new sports shop in the Plaza, Sonja figured it would be a good test of her initiative to discover more. The obvious place to start was the Plaza. She was pretty sure the sports shop would be open on a Sunday.

  Sonja had decided a while ago that it was about time she had a boyfriend. She hadn’t had any serious love interest for months. Most people who knew her considered Sonja to be a ten out of ten on the babe-o-meter. Easily. She had long blonde hair, penetrating blue eyes, perfect bone structure, a figure to die for and great dress sense. She literally turned heads in the street.

  When she thought about it, Sonja realised that she probably was too fussy. But rightly so. She had no intention of going out with just anyone. Most of the guys who came into contact with her and who fancied their chances were given the knock back. Politely, of course.

  But Sonja was no wilting wallflower either. If she saw someone she fancied, she had no qualms about going straight over and chatting them up. Not in a full-on way like Catrina, but subtly, sussing out whether they had a brain behind the good looks.

  She was quite measured in her approach to guys-they had to be good-looking, but if there wasn’t a spark in the conversation as well, forget it. She didn’t have the time to waste on pretty-but vacant-faces.

  The dilemma with Kyle was that they’d never actually met. Somehow she was going to have to find a way to chat him up in the shop or in the street. Even super-assured Sonja found that prospect daunting. Hence the need for a plan, which she was now ready to put into action.

  Pulling her bright red paddle brush through her hair, Sonja glanced at herself in the full-length mirror in the hallway and gave herself a quick once-over.

  Straight-cut jeans, strappy low-heeled sandals, a bright blue T-shirt, lightly bronzed skin and no make-up other than a touch of lip gloss was as much effort as Sonja felt she needed to make. It was as much effort as she ever made, not being into the tarty clothes nor caked-on make-up look (hence the scene with Cat on Saturday night).

  “You’ll do,” she muttered to herself as she grabbed her bag from the sideboard and headed for the front door.

  The stroll through town to the centre of Winstead on such a fabulously hot day was uplifting. She almost forgot her reason for going as she breathed in the heat and listened to the gentle breeze rustling the trees. Being a Sunday, the roads were quieter than normal, and what traffic did pass by seemed to be moving at a much slower pace, in keeping with the laid-back feel of the day.

  When Sonja got to the Plaza, Winstead’s shopping centre, she went inside and wandered towards the new sports shop, looking in casually as she passed.

  Unable to see Kyle, she sauntered on to the little café at the centre of the mall and ordered a cappuccino. Then she sat down and spent the next twenty minutes watching the world go by.

  Just as she decided it was time to head back and go right into the shop this time. Sonja saw Kyle wander right past her. Wow! He looked tastier than ever. And, even better, he seemed to be on his own. Perfect! Time to put her plan into action.

  Before he was able to get too far away from her, Sonja leapt up from her seat and chased after him.

  “Ben! Ben! Wait up!” she called as she sped towards Kyle’s rapidly disappearing (and very cute) rear.

  Not surprisingly, he didn’t turn round. Directly behind him now, Sonja reached up and tapped him on the shoulder.

  “Ben?” she said again. He stopped and turned to her, a confused look on his face.

  “Oh! I’m sorry!” said Sonja, smiling sweetly, then looking at the ground in a show of embarrassment.

  Returning her gaze to his, she added, “I thought you were someone else.”

  Kyle looked moderately taken aback but pleased at the same time as he took in the vision standing in front of him.

  “Sorry to disappoint you,” he grinned, blushing. “I could change my name if that’s any help…”

  Sonja smiled back and thought, So far so good. “That’s OK-and it’s not a disappointment.”

  Anyone else would have cringed at such a line, but not Sonja. She was confident enough to carry it off and make it sound like the most sincere thing she had ever said.

  And Kyle certainly seemed to appreciate it. His grin just got broader, his face got redder with embarrassment and his eyes popped even further out of his head as he so obviously thought. Wow, what a babe!

  “So, uh… were you supposed to be meeting this Ben here, then?” he asked, trying to keep the conversation going.

  “Ooh, no, I came into town on my own” answered Sonja pointedly. “Ben’s the boyfriend of a friend of mine and you just looked like him from the back.”

  “Oh, right.”

  They stopped talking and looked at each other for a moment, then Kyle picked up the conversation again.

  “Uh, it’s my lunchbreak… I was actually just heading off for a coffee. D’you fancy one?”

  “Mmm, that’d be great,” replied Sonja, thinking, Yeesss, I’m in here!

  Kyle looked over Sonja’s shoulder and spotted the café-bar she’d just come from in the distance. “Is that place OK for you?” he said coolly.

  “Fine.”

  They retraced their steps back to the café and Kyle motioned to the very table Sonja had been sitting at a few minutes before.

  “I’ll get them,” he said, digging his hand into his jeans pocket. “What d’you fancy?”

  Apart from you. you mean? thought Sonja naughtily. “I’ll have a cappuccino, please,” she smiled brightly then sat down and watched him as he sauntered up to the counter.

  Such a cute bum! she thought. I can’t believe how well this is going.

  “So, I haven’t seen you around Winstead before,” she lied when he came back with the coffees. “Are you here on holiday?”

  Kyle blinked at her a couple of times then opened his mouth and laughed. “Er, no,” he replied. “I live here, always have done. I work in the new sports shop-it’s just back there. Do you know it?”

  “Oh!” Sonja replied, all fake surprise. “Well, I’ve walked past it a few times. But I don’t think I’ve seen you in there.”

  “Maybe because until a week ago my hair was a lot longer and mostly covered my face, so you might just have missed me hidden under there. And, of course, I looked like a bit of a dork.”

  “Oh, I can’t believe that,” smiled Sonja. She watched him study her every move as she sipped her coffee.

  He looked totally smitten.

  CHAPTER 5

  MISSION ACCOMPLISHED

  “Honestly, guys, it couldn’t have been easier. He might as well have had a sign on top of his head that said ‘Ask Me Out’. I swear, his chin nearly hit the floor when I invited him to go to the pictures with me on Friday night. I’ve never picked up such an easy date in my life.”

  Sonja was sitting at the window table in the End-of-the-Line café relaying yesterday’s encounter with Kyle to Catrina, Matt. Kerry and Joe in great detail.

  She was still on a high from the meeting, not only because her plan had worked out perfectly, but because Kyle had been such a pushover. Once she’d realised he was interested (in about a millisecond), the rest had been easy.

  They had chatted at the café for about twenty minutes, by which time they’d swapped phone numbers and arranged a night out together.

  Kerry kept quiet, her stomach in her boots as she listened to Sonja babble on. After her conversation with Ollie, she’d intended to have a quiet word with her friend while they were all at the End. But it was too late. Sonja wouldn’t thank her for announcing that the first guy she’d had the hots for in ages was bad news. Who would? Kerry decided to keep the knowledge to herself for a while longer and pick another time to say some
thing. If at all.

  “So, the upshot of all this,” Sonja continued, turning to her cousin, “is that I win the bet from Saturday night. Remember, Cat?”

  Catrina gave Sonja a cool stare. “Uh-oh, I don’t think so.” she replied. “I mean, you haven’t actually gone out with him yet. Just because he’s said yes doesn’t mean he’ll turn up.”

  “Oh come on,” snorted Sonja. “Like he’s going to stand me up.”

  “He might not have had his contact lenses in yesterday,” Catrina shot back. “When he sees what you really look like, he’ll run a mile.”

  “Don’t judge other people by your own experiences, Catrina,” Sonja said, enjoying the sparring match. “Just because you have to go out with a bag over your head in order to get a date.”

  “Now, now, girls, can we have an end to this bickering, please?” Matt Ryan interrupted, his arms outstretched as if to keep the cousins (who were sitting on either side of him) apart. “I think most of us came here for a drink and a chat among friends, not to witness World War Three breaking out. Now, who’s for another coffee-I’m buying.”

  Matt took everyone’s order and strode up to the stainless-steel serving counter. Behind the scenes, the End looked deserted.

  “Hello?” Matt called. “Anyone there?” He heard a clattering noise coming from the depths of the kitchen then saw Anna Michaels hurrying towards him, wiping her hands on a towel.

  “Sorry, Matt,” she called. “Ollie’s working next door, so I’m here on my own. I was just making up some sandwiches. What can I get you?”

  Giving Matt a big smile, she brushed a few stray hairs away from her face and pulled a notepad from the pocket of her apron.

  “Two coffees, one cappuccino, a Diet Coke, a strawberry milkshake and whatever you’re having. Then why don’t you take five minutes and come over and join us?” Matt winked and gave Anna his sexiest grin.

  “Thanks, Matt,” she said. “I’ll have a coffee. And if we don’t get a rush on in the next few minutes, I’ll take you up on the offer of a sit-down. I’ll bring them over when they’re ready.”