‘I’ll have a large caramel macchiato and a large cappuccino,’ he tells the girl taking our order.
I insist he lets me pay, after everything he’s done for me this weekend, but he’s having none of it.
As we wander out of Starbucks, I check the time – I really ought to be boarding my train now.
‘Well, I had better get going,’ I tell Charles, and I could swear he looks disappointed. ‘Thank you for the coffee. And for the room. And for the alibi.’
He laughs. ‘You’re welcome – especially for the room.’
Oh, there’s that smile again. We stand and stare at each other for a moment – what is the proper etiquette for saying goodbye to a man you hardly know, but have shared a bed with twice?
‘It was nice to finally meet you,’ I tell him sincerely and wrap my arms around his neck for a goodbye hug.
‘It was nice to meet you too.’
Charles loosens his grip around my waist and I move back slightly, leaving us face to face.
It’s an intense moment and I can’t think of anything to say, not that it matters, because before I can utter a few awkward silence-breaking words, Charles pulls me closer again, only this time for a kiss. A long kiss.
‘Wow,’ I say out loud, although not intentionally, when he finally lets me go.
‘Wow indeed. You had better go, you’re going to miss your train.’
‘Goodbye then.’
I turn around and make my way towards the barriers. As I walk through, my phone beeps and I fumble in my bag to find it.
It’s from Charles. ‘Miss you already.’
‘You too,’ I reply.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
The Invitation
Lying on my sofa, nursing a cold cup of tea, I can’t help but feel a little pissed off. After what felt like the longest train journey of my life, I was looking forward to coming home and having a night in and a catch-up with Emily. Instead I am sitting here bored and alone because Vicky is still living with Em and apparently she needed her tonight.
I called Emily when I got home and we managed to chat for a few minutes while Vicky was in the shower. I think she’s driving Emily mad. Today Vicky went through Em’s wardrobe, pulled out all of her clothes and concluded that they would all be too big for her to borrow – that’s Vicky though, total bitch. She makes these little comments that don’t seem so bad, but you know exactly what she means. She may as well have jumped up and down on Emily’s bed shouting ‘look how big your clothes are on me, fatty!’.
I don’t know what could have possibly gone wrong in the shower, but Vicky came out crying so Em had to take care of her tonight. So here I am, alone and bored, and without any work to keep me busy because I did all I had to do before I went to London.
I grab my laptop and type a parent-friendly version of the weekend’s events in an email to my mum, who is even more excited about the photos being in Bacci magazine than I am. Then I go through the motions of replying to emails, checking Facebook and Twitter, that sort of thing. I log into Skype and glance down the list of names and my heart skips a beat at one of them – Luke Fox. So much for telling myself that I didn’t care.
Luke: Hello?
I suppose I could just sign out and pretend I didn’t see his message, but then again I don’t want to sever ties with the band.
Nicole: Hey.
Luke: How are you?
Nicole: Fine thanks, you?
Wow, this is awkward.
Luke: I’m great, just bored backstage. We’re back on tour, as of today.
Nicole: Really? Is Eddie OK?
Luke: He’s fine. His leg is in plaster, but he’s loving all the attention.
I bet he is. This is probably the best thing to ever happen to Eddie, the groupies will be all over him – even more so than usual. I don’t really know what to say, so I say nothing. The ball is totally in his court.
Luke: We’re in Leeds on Friday, I can put you on the guest list if you like?
Nicole: Thanks, that would be great.
Luke: +1?
Nicole: Please. I’ll bring Emily.
Luke: Great. Looking forward to seeing you, so sorry about last time.
Nicole: Don’t worry about it, honestly.
Luke: We’ll talk about it properly on Friday?
Nicole: Sure.
Luke: Well I’d better go get ready.
Nicole: OK, say hi to the boys for me.
Now there’s a conversation I’m going to do everything I can to avoid having. I’ll take Emily with me, under strict instructions that she doesn’t leave my side for a second. I remember doing something similar at school when I knew that a boy I didn’t like was going to ask me out. I asked one of my friends to promise not to leave me alone with him. Then again, as soon as he asked her to she walked off and left me alone with him and I ended up being his girlfriend for six months, but Emily would never do that to me.
I’m feeling really nervous about going but I don’t want to end up out of touch, especially now I’m probably out of Dylan’s loop. At least we’ll be in my home town, which means I can go home afterwards. If Luke thinks I’ll be sharing a bunk or a room with him, he can think again.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
The Preview
‘So come on, how was it?’ Jake asks me.
‘It was OK, I guess,’ I tease, amused by his interest in popular culture and the gossip from Dylan’s wedding. Jake couldn’t have cared less about all this stuff until he met me, and although he pretends he still doesn’t care, I know better.
‘Tell us everything,’ Emily insists.
‘It was so glamorous,’ I spill. ‘Well, ninety-nine percent glamorous.’
‘What do you mean?’ Emily looks confused.
‘Crystal Slater – sorry, Crystal King.’
‘You didn’t like her?’ Em asks me.
‘Honestly? She’s horrible. I went down there with an open mind and I gave her a chance, but I really didn’t like her.’
Emily and Jake are both staring at me, absolutely fascinated by my story. We wouldn’t be able to have this conversation if Vicky were here because I don’t trust her one bit. We’ve sent her on the lunch run, which gives us a chance to have a decent conversation.
‘She was horrible to me from the word go, I didn’t stand a chance. If she wasn’t going to try, then why should I?’
‘She probably feels threatened by you,’ Jake tells me frankly. ‘We’ve all seen you with Dylan, you’re his right-hand woman. He hangs off your every word. She’s not going to like that.’
‘Well I can’t imagine I’ll be his right-hand woman any more, not now he has a wife.’ I say the word wife in a silly voice.
I go on to tell them all about it, everything from Daisy the cow to Dylan going missing, although I’m careful with what I say about Charles – it’s not that I don’t trust Jake, it’s just more of a girly conversation.
I’ve only just finished telling my story when Vicky comes barging through the door. As she does, our conversation stops rather abruptly, none of us thinking fast enough to pretend we were talking about something else. Vicky dramatically throws the bags containing our lunch down on her desk. My initial concern is with my sandwich.
‘Don’t stop on my account, carry on,’ she yells, already in a full-blown strop.
‘We weren’t talking about anything in particular,’ I tell her with a forced smile, although judging by the look on her face she isn’t buying it.
‘Bullshit!’ she shouts.
‘Vic,’ Emily speaks to her in a hushed voice, ‘don’t forget who you’re talking to, Nicole is your boss.’
Vicky screams before turning on her heels (the heels of her feet, I’ve never seen her wearing a stylish pair of shoes) and walking straight back out the door.
‘Oh, for God’s sake! Talk about overreacting,’ I say.
‘Shall I go after her?’ Emily asks me. I’m thinking no, but I tell her yes.
‘She’s taking
advantage of Em’s good nature,’ I tell Jake when Emily has left the room.
‘I know, but she won’t listen. You’ve been away a lot recently, so the two of them have been together a lot. Can’t you just sack her, Nic? We don’t need her really.’
‘I want to, believe me. I don’t think I have a real reason though.’
To be honest, I have no idea about that side of things, but it didn’t really matter when I was only employing my friends. I’ll have to have a word with ET.
I walk over to Vicky’s desk and inspect my lunch. Panic over, my sandwich is fine, so I head into my office with it. Jake is back at his desk happily tapping away at something I probably couldn’t understand, so I shut my door behind me. That way I don’t have to face Vicky when she comes back – if she comes back.
I scroll through some of the press releases in my inbox to see if there’s anything special. This is the most stressful time, just after we put an issue online, because we have to start finding things to fill the next one. There’s nothing jumping out of the screen at me but I don’t need to worry just yet.
I am stopped in my tracks when I notice a new email come through. It’s from Charles.
I click the message instantly. I haven’t heard from Charles since that text just after he left me at the station.
‘Thought you might like to see a couple of these – strictly for your eyes only.’
I download the attachments excitedly. The first one I open is a photo of me and Dylan from the wedding. Wow, what an awesome photo, it pains me that I can’t show anyone yet, but I know that the magazine is out later this week. The second photo is the one of me and Charles, and I can’t help but think about what a cute couple we make – not that we are a couple. Oh dear, there’s that crazy talk. You know, those little things you hear other girls say right before you thank God you’re not one of those girls. I look so happy in this photo. I’m not drunk, I’m not hanging off a celebrity, I’m not in some random club, I’m just myself, standing next to a normal bloke, and I’m smiling. I feel vain just thinking it but my dress looks amazing, and despite not having enough time to finish my hair, it still looks pretty good. I’m so proud of these photos and I can’t wait to see the rest. I want to show Emily as soon as she gets back, although I already feel a strong sense of loyalty towards Charles and if he says they’re for my eyes only then I plan to keep it that way.
I can hear Emily and Vicky chatting with Jake – Emily must have been able to talk her into coming back, what a shame.
Deciding to keep out of her way, I stay in my office until 5 p.m., but unfortunately I can’t go home without walking through the main office. Let’s say I could fit my arse through the window, but we’re way too high up for that to be an option.
When I walk out into the main office, despite the fact that it is 5 p.m., everyone is hard at work and in total silence.
‘Jake, are you OK switching everything off?’ I ask, trying to avoid eye contact with Vicky although I can feel her eyes on me.
‘Yeah, no problem. See you tomorrow.’
‘I’ll call you later.’ Emily smiles at me.
‘Yeah sure, see you all later.’
‘Wait,’ Vicky calls after me. I take a deep, calming breath before turning to face her.
She makes her way across the room to me with a smile on her face, but she’s still got that look about her, the kind of evil look that would make you think twice about leaving your children or small animals with her.
‘I’m sorry about earlier, Nicole. I thought you were talking about me but, don’t worry, Emily told me everything.’
I look over at Emily, hoping that she didn’t actually tell her everything. She probably made something up.
‘Oh good,’ I say as sincerely as I can manage. ‘Forget it ever happened.’
‘I will,’ she says, and then she does that last thing I would ever expect her to do. She hugs me. I have never seen Vicky show anyone any kind of affection, and here she is, giving me a hug.
‘There,’ she says, finally letting go. I can see Jake sniggering behind her back.
‘Well,’ I say, still rather shocked, ‘see you all later.’
How weird was that?
Chapter Thirty
The Plus One
Maybe it’s because the past couple of weeks have been so eventful, but this week has been so bloody boring.
Work has been quiet, Vicky has been behaving, I haven’t heard anything from Dylan – I wonder when I will hear from him. Is he even allowed to talk to me? I can’t say I’ve had much experience with pregnant women but, going by what I’ve seen in the movies, hormones can make them a little touchy, right? I don’t know how true that is, but I can imagine Crystal being a total nightmare, sitting on her arse, demanding weird things in the middle of the night (like a sheep to sacrifice).
I haven’t heard from Charles either, not since he emailed me those photos. Not a call, text or email. You know what they say, you don’t miss something until it’s gone. A week without drama, and I’m missing it. I get the feeling that’s all about to change though because Luke texted me this morning to say he was excited about seeing me. The poor bastard, he probably thinks he’s going to get lucky tonight. I sent him a polite reply, but nothing is going to happen between us. It’s not that I’m going soft but he isn’t just another band member, he’s been my friend for years and I’m not about to ruin our friendship by sleeping with him. The worst thing I could do would be to demote myself from friend of the band to just another groupie. I have always said that it’s the ones they don’t sleep with who they care about the most.
Today is going very slowly. It’s 4 p.m. now, at five I can go home and get ready which will take a couple of hours – I’ll probably be late, but what’s new?
Spinning around in my chair as I often do to pass time, I stop to face the window and gaze out over the busy streets of Leeds. I have such an amazing view from my office window and yet I rarely stop to appreciate it. I’m really lucky the ByteBanter team took me on because I could never afford the rent on an office like this – or on my flat to be honest, my parents pay for that. They told me they were moving to France for my dad’s job, my little brother too, and after all their efforts to talk me into doing a degree we decided it would be best if I stayed here. They weren’t supposed to be gone very long – a year or so – but things took off over there and the years soon piled up. I’m not sure when they’re coming back, but in the meantime I get lots of free holidays.
Our family home isn’t actually that far from Leeds, but I haven’t been back since they left. I didn’t fancy living alone and village life just isn’t for me. So everything is as I left it – well, it should be. My auntie and uncle are house-sitting for us but I don’t visit them. Mainly because we’re not that close, but also because it would remind me of how much I miss my mum and dad. I even miss Jack, my little brother/nemesis, but most of all I miss our dog, Harley. I haven’t seen any of them since July when I popped over for a few days. My Mum is always trying to talk me into moving there, and, believe me, it’s tempting – particularly on a cold and gloomy day like today – but I’ve come so far with the magazine, it would be a shame to give it all up to live it up in France. I think.
My phone rings, which is lucky because I was on the verge of feeling lonely, abandoned and emotional. I spin my chair meaningfully until I am facing my desk again. It’s Charles.
‘How are you?’ he asks me.
‘I’m great, thank you. How are you?’ I neglect to tell him that I am bored, lonely and missing my mummy.
‘I’m good. What are you doing tonight?’
‘I’m going to a gig – just one of the bands I work with.’
‘Oh,’ he says, clearly disappointed.
‘What’s up?’ I ask.
‘I’m actually on the train at the moment, I’ll be in Leeds in about ten minutes. I thought I’d surprise you. I should have checked that you were free, I’m sorry.’
‘Don’t
apologise,’ I insist, suddenly feeling like the bad guy. ‘I’ll text you directions to the office, come straight over.’
‘Are you sure? I don’t want to ruin your plans.’
‘You won’t be, I’d really like to see you,’ I tell him honestly.
Panic stations! I jump out of my chair and fly towards my office door, slamming my brakes on just in time to stop myself crashing face first through the glass.
‘Emily,’ I try to call her name calmly, but that child-at-Christmas squeak in my voice is a little obvious. ‘Do you have a moment?’
‘Come on then, who’s put that smile on your face?’ she asks, and I feel my grin widen.
‘Charles,’ I tell her as calmly as possible. ‘He’ll be here any minute.’
‘What? Here? Here here?’
‘Yep, he just called. He wanted to surprise me.’
‘Oh my God, Nicole, that’s great. He must really like you. You give this man a proper chance, none of your usual bullshit about him not being a musician.’
I laugh, mainly because she’s being serious.
‘What am I going to do about tonight? The gig is sold out and I can’t really call Luke and ask him to put another bloke on the guest list, can I? But I don’t want to miss the show...’
‘You should go, take Charles, you want Luke to see you with another guy, it’ll sort out your friendship, set some boundaries.’
‘Or you could take Vicky,’ I suggest, but the look on her face says no.
‘Give Charles my ticket, it’s fine.’
I’m not sure exactly how fine it really is, but I kiss her on the cheek and tell her what a good friend she is.
‘Ah, Nicole, what if life isn’t about sleeping with rockstars? Maybe life is about being with a nice guy who travels two hundred miles just to surprise you.’
I smile. Perhaps she’s right.
‘It’s so romantic,’ Emily continues. ‘I can’t wait to meet him.’
How Not to Be Starstruck Page 13