by Mel Sparke
“But nothing,” she mumbled happily. “You’re a lecturer at an Adult Education Centre and I’m an adult. It’s not like some seedy teacher-pupil thing.”
“I suppose…”
Maya’s idyll had lasted for all of thirty seconds when a terrible thought occurred to her. A terrible thought that involved a picture in a broken frame.
“Alex…?” she whispered, now squeezing her eyes tight shut against the question she was about to ask and the answer she didn’t want to hear.
“Uh-huh?”
“What about Charlotte?”
“Charlotte?” said Alex with surprise. He pulled back slightly and looked down into Maya’s face.
She gazed back up at him and waited to hear the worst.
“Maya, Charlotte was years ago. We went out together at university.”
“But you’ve still got her picture…”
“‘Course! She’s a great girl and still a mate. I stayed with her and her husband when I was in Edinburgh for the Festival last year. Her wee boy calls me Uncle Alex!”
Muddled among her feelings of relief, a small niggle of doubt troubled her. It was a sense of being out of her depth: Maya had never had a boyfriend before, only ever had one date-with Billy - and now here she was, on the verge of… something with a man whose friends were old enough to be married with children. It felt a long way from meeting up with her mates after school in the End-of-the-Line café, gossiping over Cat’s latest skirt length and deciding which type of doughnut to go for.
“Did you think she was still around?” he said softly, his grey-blue eyes crinkling at the corners as he smiled.
“Well, yes,” she nodded back up at him.
The stared at each other for a second, lost in happiness and confusion.
“What are we going to do, Maya?”
“I don’t know,” she smiled up at Alex, slipping her arms from around his waist and placing her hands on either side of his face.
Slowly, she drew him down to kiss her.
CHAPTER 18
DOUBLE TAKE
“Barney-stop pulling!”
It was obvious to Kerry what was gripping her dog’s attention to the point of strangling himself on his collar: up ahead was a red setter they often saw being walked in the park. Unfortunately, Barney had too few brain cells to figure out that when the red setter bared its teeth and growled at him, it was a sign of deep loathing rather than any indication that it wanted to play.
“Sit down, Barney,” Kerry urged the dog, pushing his reluctant bottom downwards “Let’s wait here a minute until that stupid dog’s out of sight.”
Barney thought better of resisting and parked himself on the pavement, his tongue lolling to one side of his mouth and his doggy gaze fixed on the receding form of the setter.
Kerry leaned on the edge of the bridge and caught her breath. She loved her dog and adored her little brother-she was on her way to pick him up from a friend’s house-but they both forgot that they were meant to play ‘nicely’ with her till her cracked bones had properly healed.
Being a dog, Barney had an excuse for constantly overstepping the mark, but Lewis-at seven-should have known better. Only this morning, he’d dive-bombed her in bed, desperate to show her the small plastic blob he’d got free in his box of cereal.
“D’you like it?” he’d yelped, before realising that his big sister couldn’t talk for the pain he’d inflicted by landing a direct hit on her ribs.
He’d tried to make it up to her by selflessly giving her the plastic blob as a get well gift. She found it sitting on her spoon when she finally made it down for breakfast.
“It’s for you, apparently,” her mum had explained when she saw Kerry peering shortsightedly at it. “Lewis said it was your turn to get the toy. Very generous of him, don’t you think?” she’d said, smiling.
Kerry put her hand in her jacket pocket and let her fingers curl around the unidentifiable lump of freebie plastic. A kids’ thing really. Still, it was nice to feel loved-even by an overenthusiastic little brother-after last night.
Ignoring the roar and bright headlights of the Friday evening traffic moving past her, Kerry leaned over and looked down at the Guinness-black river, its occasional ripples catching the light from the old-fashioned lamps along the path.
How could she do that? Kerry wondered, replaying the incident again in her head. How could that girl just walk up to someone she didn’t know and call them a bitch?
Poor Ollie had been frantic when they came off stage-he hadn’t even known what had gone on as he introduced the band. With the glare of the spotlights, the sea of faces and the fact that it had all happened in a flash, Kerry knew that he and the boys were oblivious to the Stalker Girl incident. Even though the tears of injustice were still coursing down her cheeks, Kerry had been adamant that she was fine and begged the others not to cause a fuss or any kind of commotion that might alert anyone in the band to what had happened.
Reluctantly, she’d agreed that Cat should nip off and check that Stalker Girl had left the pub, and was relieved when it was confirmed that she had. Cat came back in with Maya, who’d seen Stalker Girl run off crying into the night while she was outside talking to Alex, and suddenly everyone’s attention had turned to her.
“Alex was just passing and thought he’d see if I was here-see if I was all right after feeling ill last night,” Maya had lied to her friends, wide-eyed.
Kerry had managed to dry her eyes by this time. She nodded and tried to look interested, all the time willing her lip to stop trembling and the tears not to start again.
They did, of course, as soon as Sonja gabbled out the story to Ollie later and he went to give her a comforting hug.
“I-I-I’m oh-OK,” she’d hiccuped as the other boys ambled over and were shocked to hear what had happened.
“Told you she was weird!” Matt had announced. “Didn’t I say that right from the start?”
“Yeah, you did,” Ollie agreed, his face dark with anger one second, the next crumpling with sympathy and guilt when he looked into Kerry’s watery eyes.
“But I think that it’s definitely all over now, don’t you?” suggested Joe.
“Why?” asked Billy, scratching his head.
‘“Cause Stalker Girl didn’t stick around to see the band, did she?” Cat joined in. “The mad cow finds out Ollie’s got a girlfriend, gets her jealousy off her chest by yelling at that girlfriend, and then disappears off into the night, never to be seen again. Finito.”
‘Yeah,” nodded Sonja. “Like they say on Friends, that’s ‘closure’.”
“I hope so,” Ollie had said, giving Kerry a squeeze. “‘Cause if she comes near Kerry or me again I don’t know what I’ll do…”
Looking over now into the dark waters of the river, Kerry smiled at her knight in shining armour’s words - it was almost worth being yelled at to feel so loved and cherished by Ollie. Not that he didn’t do that all the time; Ollie was constantly telling her she was beautiful (though Kerry couldn’t exactly see how he made that one out) and making her feel special. She was so lucky…
Just like those two there, she smiled to herself as her gaze fell on a couple cuddled up together on one of the benches overlooking the river. The girl had her head on the boy’s shoulder; the boy-no, man, Kerry corrected herself-had his arm draped around the girl’s shoulders and was kissing her forehead.
A whine from Barney told her that his patience had run out and it was time to be on the move again.
“OK, Barney boy-I know,” she smiled, bending down to pat the dog. “Pavements to pound, lamp-posts to sniff…”
Above the traffic’s drone, Kerry’s ears suddenly pricked up at the sound of distant laughter. She looked at Barney’s ear, comically cocked in the air, as if he too had heard and recognised something in that sound.
Kerry turned and looked back over the bridge, joined by Barney, who’d stretched up on to his hinds legs-his forepaws on the stone parapet-to see what his mistress was
looking at.
The laughter drifted over again as the girl tilted her head back at some unheard joke.
Barney, excited at spotting someone he knew very well, barked his hello.
“Barney!” hissed Kerry, ducking down behind the parapet and pulling the dog with her.
She was too shocked by what she’d seen-who she’d seen-to be aware of the curious glances of the passing motorists, all wondering what the girl with the dog was up to, bent double and tiptoeing her way along the pavement, like an extra in a spy movie.
CHAPTER 19
HIJACKING MAYA
Matt stretched his arms and gazed idly out of the plate-glass window.
“God, I’m knackered! Should’ve stayed in bed really; I’m only fit for Saturday morning telly…” he yawned. “That anniversary party I DJ’d at last night went on for ever and it was dead boring. Wasn’t it, Joe?”
But Joe wasn’t listening-he was staring at Kerry, who was nervously nibbling at the skin inside her lip and fidgeting with a silver ball of foil from her Kit-Kat.
“Joe?”
Matt looked from Joe to Kerry and then to the door, as Cat and Sonja sauntered into the café.
“Hurrah! The cavalry, come to save me!” he yelped.
“What are you on about?” asked Cat, sliding into the banquette next to Kerry.
“Well, these two here are about as entertaining as a weekend’s worth of gardening programmes!” Matt moaned.
“Ah, give it a rest, Matt!” said Joe. “I’m tired too, y’know. And I’m sure I did most of the loading up of the gear at the end last night.”
“Not true! I—”
But Sonja wasn’t interested in what Matt was drivelling on about. She’d seen the strained look on Kerry’s face and knew something was definitely wrong.
“Kez-what’s up?”
“Uh, nothing!” said Kerry, with a startled look. “Maybe I’m just a bit tired today too…”
“Why? You were only babysitting Lewis with Ollie last night,” Sonja pointed out.
“Ooh!” cackled Cat. “What were you two doing that’s got you so tired this morning?!”
“Nothing! I didn’t mean—” Kerry could feel herself blushing. Cat never missed a chance to tease someone with an innuendo and Kerry had walked right into that one.
“Tell ‘em, Kez,” said Ollie, coming over to the table and flopping a tea towel over his shoulder.
“Hee-hee, tell us what?” said Cat, raising her pencil-darkened eyebrows suggestively.
“Shut up, Cat,” Ollie grinned at her. “Go on, Kez…”
“OK,” shrugged Kerry. “It’s just that I saw Maya last night and she was with someone.”
Cat’s eyebrows shot up so high they practically met her dyed blonde hairline.
“You mean like a boy someone? Wow!” she clapped her hands together excitedly as she gabbled. “So her tarot’s coming true! So who is he? Who’s the boy? Is it someone we know? Is it Billy?!”
“No,” Kerry shook her head. “It’s not Billy. And it’s not exactly a boy either…
Before a confused Cat could leap to any way-off-the-mark conclusions, Ollie stepped in and spilled the beans.
“It’s Alex.”
Cat’s mouth was hanging open so wide that-if he hadn’t been so surprised himself-Matt might have been tempted to throw Kerry’s ball of Kit-Kat foil right into it.
“Here she comes!”
“Well, get away from the window then!”
Cat stepped back from Anna’s front window, with its gauzy Indian fabric hangings, and stuck her tongue out at her cousin.
“Quick, everyone to their places!” ordered Sonja, pointing Kerry and Cat to the sofa.
“Take it easy, Son! We’re not going to interrogate her,” said Anna, motioning Sonja to calm down. “We’re just going to have a nice chat, see what’s going on, and if she’s OK…”
Anna wasn’t sure about this afternoon’s hijacking of Maya, but the other girls had seemed so upset when they’d come clamouring at her door earlier, begging her to help them. And she hadn’t been particularly keen on the idea of phoning Maya and asking her to come round and see her either. Maya had said “yes, of course” straightaway, but had sounded unsettled by Anna’s unexplained request.
“Why can’t you just talk to her about it when you see her in the café or something?” Anna had asked, when they’d first spelt out their plan.
“Because she might just deny it,” Sonja had sighed. “I mean, think about the way that Alex bloke came charging into the Railway Tavern on Thursday night-something’s obviously been going on for a while now and she’s so uptight about it she’s been keeping it secret from us!”
“Well, we don’t know it’s been going on for a while…” Kerry had interrupted.
“And that’s what we need to find out. God, he could be pressurising her into this! He’s a lot older, isn’t he?” Sonja flapped, full of concern for her friend. “Y’see, Anna, we need to confront her, but in a place away from distractions. That’s why your flat’s perfect. Our places are all full of annoying families who could interrupt!”
Anna had given in and given up her planned lazy Saturday off. Not that she minded; she cared about Maya’s welfare-especially knowing what she did from their previous conversation in the flat-as much as the others did. It was only the subterfuge she found hard to deal with.
“I can hear her!” said Cat theatrically, inclining her head towards the door and the metallic clonk that was audible as Maya climbed the back stairs to Anna’s flat.
Anna sighed, rolled her eyes and walked towards the doorway.
“Come on in, Maya,” she smiled, ushering her friend inside.
“Hi! So what’s -? Oh.”
Maya stopped dead as she saw Sonja, Cat and Kerry staring back at her from Anna’s small living room.
“Why do I feel like I’ve just walked into a courtroom?” she asked, glancing at each of her silent friends in turn.
“Maya,” Anna smiled at her. “We’re all a bit, well, freaked out.”
“What about?” asked Maya, though she had a funny feeling she knew exactly what was on their minds.
“About you and… Alex,” said Kerry, finding her voice. “I saw you two by the river last night, when I was out collecting Lewis.”
Maya thought hard for a second. If Kerry had spotted them then there was no point denying anything. It was a pity. She and Alex had hoped to keep things quiet for a little while, till they were sure themselves what was going on.
“What’s the deal with you and him then?” Cat blurted out in her usual blunt fashion. “Is he your boyfriend?”
“To be honest, I don’t know,” shrugged Maya. “But I know I’m happy.”
There was a lot to be said, a lot to be explained, but it wasn’t going to happen right at that second. The girls were so engrossed they hadn’t heard the speedy steps clattering up the stairs, but they certainly heard the hammering knock on the door.
“Ollie!” said Anna in surprise. From what Sonja had said, all the boys were in on the plan for the girls to confront Maya-so why was Ollie interrupting?
“Sorry, sorry, sorry!” he said, bumbling into the living room, scraping the hair back from his face and looking slightly perplexed.
“What’s wrong?” asked Kerry, getting up from the sofa and reaching towards him.
“It’s OK, Kez,” said Ollie, grabbing hold of her hand and sitting himself down on the arm of the nearest chair. “It’s just… well, I needed a place to hide out for a bit.”
“What?” squeaked Cat incredulously. “Who do you think you are, Ol? Some guy on the run from the Mafia?”
“I know it sounds stupid…”
Kerry watched as he talked. She could see the beads of perspiration glistening at the side of his face. Something had well and truly spooked him out.
“…but Nick left me alone to lock up downstairs in the caff and I was putting the dead bolt on the front door, when I saw someone staring at m
e from across in the launderette.”
“What? Mad Vera?” asked Sonja, talking about the daft old dear who ran the place.
“No-her.”
“Her who?” bleated Cat.
Ollie pulled a face as if to say, “You know who I mean - and I don’t want to say her name out loud in case it’s a jinx.”
“What d’you mean? Stalker Girl?” said Sonja, finally clicking.
“Yeah, Astrid, or whatever she said her name was,” Ollie shrugged.
Straightaway, Cat was on her feet, stomping over to the window for a bird’s eye view of the launderette across the street.
“I know it sounds mad, but I didn’t want to leave straightaway in case she came bowling over and made a scene,” said Ollie, looking frazzled and embarrassed at the same time. “I just thought I’d come up and hang out with you lot for a while till she disappeared.”
Kerry leant over and hugged him. So, her knight in shining armour needed help from the girlies after all…
“Can’t see her,” muttered Cat, staring out of the window like a net-twitching old granny. “But then I can’t see all the way to the back.”
“I’m going to stick some coffee on,” said Anna, glad for Maya’s sake that the change in topic had taken the heat out of the moment. The return of Stalker Girl wasn’t exactly a bundle of laughs, but Anna was aware of the tension dropping away from Maya’s shoulders.
“Sorry-did I, urn, interrupt anything?” Ollie apologised with a hint of a knowing grin playing at the corners of his mouth.
Maya looked round at her friends. Kerry’s big round eyes were like saucers; Sonja was staring intently; Cat’s eyes were wicked and Anna’s were smiling.
“You could say that!” Maya smirked as a ripple of laughter bubbled up in her chest. A split second later, all the girls-with Ollie looking bemused on his armchair perch-were all giggling till the tears streamed down their faces.
CHAPTER 20
HAPPYISH ENDINGS
“I think I’d better go and rescue Andy…”
“Why, what’s up with him, Maya?” asked Joe, whose view of the bar was obscured by a newly arrived crowd of people.