Sugar Secrets…& Mistakes

by Mel Sparke

  Hearing the others greet him, Sonja’s eldest sister Lottie turned from the cooker where she was stirring something and gave him a beaming smile. “Hello, gorgeous!”

  Matt felt flustered under the piercing, blue-eyed gaze of Sonja’s mum and big sisters, and just managed a grin and a grunt in response. Sonja on her own was fine – he knew she was attractive, but she was just his friend, so he was never anything but relaxed with her.

  The trouble started when he saw them altogether: all three girls were like mirror images of their mother – tall, slim, with honey-blonde hair and those pale, pale eyes… it was totally unnerving. Matt was rarely fazed by good looks – he was too confident in his own natural charms for that – but the Harvey women left him virtually speechless every time.

  “Off to the End, are you?” asked Karin, with a white-toothed smile, before adding sarcastically, “Again?”

  “Yeah, urn, that’s right,” Matt bumbled, aware that he sounded as nervous as Joe often did in front of girls.

  “Now, Matt – what do you want to go and hang out with a bunch of kids and grannies in that grotty café for? Hasn’t a handsome boy like you got better things to do?” chipped in Lottie.

  Matt knew that the teasing was partly for the benefit of their little sister, but it didn’t help him feel any less humiliated. At twenty and twenty-one, Karin and Lottie were only a few years older than Matt, but they seemed a world away from him in maturity and confidence.

  Sonja, who never took her sisters’ wind-ups to heart, laughed along with them as she scooped up her bag from the back of a chair.

  “C’mon, Matt – let’s get going. We don’t want to take up any more of Karin and Lottie’s precious time,” she jibed, pushing Matt ahead of her. “See you, Mum! See you, ugly sisters!”

  Stepping out into the sunshine, Matt felt relieved to be out of the clutches of Karin and Lottie. After all, he was the chat-up king; he was the guy with the flirty one-liners – having two gorgeous older girls do it to him was totally disconcerting, especially since they were only having a laugh. And especially since he quite fancied both of them.

  “Did they freak you out, babe?” Sonja said, rubbing his back comfortingly. “Those full-on sisters of mine?”

  “A bit,” he acknowledged with a grin, pointing the bleeper on his keyring and automatically unlocking the car doors.

  “Anyway,” Sonja began, slithering her long. tanned legs into the passenger seat, “how come we’re going to the End? I thought we were going straight to this record fair you were on about…”

  “Yeah, but Ollie wants me to look out for some records for him. He asked me to drop by and pick up the list he’s put together,” Matt replied, easing the car along the road for the short journey round to the café.

  “Wow, this is going to be an exciting afternoon – watching you go through racks and racks of records. It’s going to take hours if you’re looking for stuff for Ollie as well as yourself!”

  “Well, I did tell you that you’d find it pretty boring. So why did you want to come?”

  Because it’s my only chance to be with you on our own – so I can figure out if there could be anything between us or if this whole idea is just a mistake… Sonja’s thoughts raced.

  “Dunno. I’m just bored, I guess, and fancied doing something different,” was what she actually replied.

  “Oh, speaking of different,” Matt interrupted, “I’m DJing at the opening of the new fitness centre on River Road on Saturday. Fancy coming along and keeping me company?”

  “Mmm… well, OK,” Sonja said as casually as she could, although she couldn’t help feeling that fate had stepped in and given them yet another chance to be together, without the rest of the crowd hanging round.

  Sonja had kept Matt company on a few occasions when he’d DJ’d – they all had, together or singly – but this time… This time maybe it wouldn’t be just as someone to help him carry his gear and fetch him drinks. Maybe this time he’d come to the same conclusion as Sonja had and look at her with new eyes.

  “You know arranged marriages…” Sonja began, looking earnestly across the table at Maya.

  Maya wondered where this sudden change in the direction of the conversation had come from. A minute ago – before Matt went through to the kitchen to gossip with Ollie about the record fair – the three of them had all been talking about the trouble Cat was going to be in if she didn’t tell her mum about college soon.

  “No, not really,” shrugged Maya in response to Sonja’s statement. “It’s not something my family are into.”

  “Yeah, I know that,” nodded Sonja, oblivious to the fact that she’d got Maya’s back up a bit.

  Maya’s pet hate was that, because of her family background, plenty of people expected her to be some expert on Asian culture when, in reality, she knew more about McDonalds and the Body Shop than peshwari nans and bindis.

  “What are you on about then?” asked Maya.

  “Well, everyone in the West has a kind of downer on the idea of arranged marriages, but plenty of them work, don’t they?”

  “I guess so,” Maya shrugged. The only people she knew who’d had an arranged marriage were her grandparents on her dad’s side, but she couldn’t say whether their marriage was a good one since she’d never got to know them properly. In fact, it was her own father’s wish not to have an arranged marriage that had led to the family bust-up between him and Maya’s paternal grandparents.

  “What I mean is, the principle is that a couple is matched because their families think they’ve got a lot in common, right?” Sonja tried to explain herself.

  Maya gave a grudging nod.

  “So, the couple start off as just friends, then fall in love as time goes by!” Sonja proclaimed, holding her hands out in front of her as if she’d just said the most profound thing in the world.

  “I guess that’s the theory…” Maya answered dubiously.

  “But it’s an interesting idea, isn’t it? ‘Cause when you think about it, most of us fancy someone, fall slap bang in love and then find that it doesn’t work out. Whereas…” Sonja wriggled in her seat and continued excitedly, “…you put two friends together, who already know and like each other, and why shouldn’t that make for a more solid, real love?”

  “What – like Kerry and Ollie?”

  “No, not exactly. They were both in love with each other for ages before they got round to admitting it out loud.”

  Maya was feeling really uncomfortable with this conversation. Sonja would hate to hear it, but she could be very like her cousin sometimes: just like Cat, Sonja had a habit of being transparent when it came to scheming.

  “What then?” asked Maya impatiently. She was hoping Sonja wasn’t about to hassle her some more about how she should seriously think about Billy – her friend from photography club – as serious boyfriend material.

  “I mean, friends who aren’t in love but are fond of each other – they should maybe just give it a go. y’know, try dating and see if anything happens,” said Sonja dreamily. “It could work out brilliantly.”

  “Why are we talking about this?” Maya asked bluntly. She wished Matt would hurry up in the kitchen, and come and drag Sonja and her fantasies away.

  “Uh… I- I-” Sonja stammered, coming back from dreamland with a bump. To Maya, it looked as if Sonja had suddenly realised she’d said too much.

  “I just saw the end of a documentary about arranged marriages the other night…” Sonja waffled, hoping Maya wasn’t about to ask for times and dates.

  A rumpus from the kitchen and a booming voice distracted them before Sonja could tie herself in any more knots.

  “Oi, Matt! This kitchen – you customer! Stop distracting my staff and get out front where you belong!”

  “Sorry, Nick!” Matt laughed as he found himself being good-naturedly pushed through the doorway between the kitchen and the cafe’s front counter.

  “Sorry, nothing!” Nick replied, following him out. “Breaking heal
th and safety rules by leaning on a work surface when I don’t know where your hands have been; distracting my nephew when there’s customers to serve—”

  “Nick, the lunchtime rush is over – there’s only Maya and Sonja out here!” Ollie protested, close on his uncle’s heels.

  “But it could have got busy!” Nick persisted, trying to sound like the boss for once.

  “Yeah, and what if it had been busy? Where were you the last twenty minutes?” OIlie counteracted, enjoying baiting his uncle.

  “You know I had to nip next door to the record shop for change!”

  “Nah – you went next door for a yak with Bryan and a read of the NME!”

  OIlie knew he’d hit a raw nerve when even Nick’s bald spot went red.

  “Anyway, Matt was telling me about something you’d approve of – there’s a record fair up at the Balinard Hotel this afternoon.”

  “Is there really?” Nick nodded thoughtfully. “Maybe I should pop up later and have a look for stock for the shop…”

  OIlie rolled his eyes as he recognised Nick spotting another opportunity to skive off.

  “Speaking of the fair, I’d better get going,” said Matt, glancing at his watch. “Still coming with me, Son?”

  ‘“Course,” Sonja replied, sliding out of the booth. “Someone’s got to stop you going crazy with your credit card!”

  Matt winced – Sonja was only joking, but his father hadn’t been when the hefty statement on Matt’s card arrived the week before. Threats of cutting up cards and sharp scissors had been mentioned.

  “Oh, Matt! I forgot—” Maya exclaimed as her two friends stood poised in the doorway. “On Saturday night, is it OK to, uh, bring a friend to this fitness centre opening?”

  Maya glanced at Sonja and wondered why her face had suddenly fallen.

  And Sonja – trying to swallow her disappointment over the fact that Matt’s invitation had been an open one and not for her alone – wondered why Maya looked so sheepish.

  CHAPTER 6

  MATT MISSES THE POINT

  For the fleeting moment that they passed over the railway bridge, Sonja peered down at the track and the river that ran along beside it. She loved looking out for the families of swans that lived on that stretch of water.

  She found it strangely comforting to know that swans had nested in the same spot in Winstead for centuries: Ollie had told her that his mum and dad’s pub, The Swan, was named after the town’s favourite residents and the pub itself was nearly two hundred years old.

  “Look!” Sonja gasped as she saw two huge swans glide into view.

  “What, the train?” said Matt, his eyes flickering away from the road for a second and spotting the 2.45 coming in from the city.

  “God, boys! What are you like?!” sighed Sonja. “I could probably stick you in front of the Mona Lisa and you’d say ‘Nice frame’!”

  “Mona Lisa? That gangster movie with Bob Hoskins?”

  Sonja spun around in exasperation at his ignorance, then saw the grin on his face.

  “Oh, you!” she laughed, slapping him lightly on the arm.

  “The swans are beautiful and the Mona Lisa’s very nice, but there are paintings I like better. Now, do I pass for an OK human being? Horrible boy that I am?”

  “Of course,” smiled Sonja, adding another couple of humour plus points to her mental list of Matt’s virtues.

  They were companionably quiet for a minute or two as the houses thinned out and the road became leafier.

  Now, thought Sonja, now is the time I should get him round to a more romantic topic of conversation…

  “It’s so sweet about Billy and Maya, isn’t it?” she began.

  “Uh, did I miss something?” Matt replied, shaking his head slightly in confusion. “Didn’t she just ask to bring him along as a friend on Saturday?”

  “Yes,” said Sonja patiently, “but we all know what that really means!”

  “Well, maybe I’m just being thick here, but I thought that because he’s her mate from camera club, she thought this’d be a good chance for us, her other mates, to meet him properly.”

  Sonja bristled. Getting Matt to see the romantic side of life obviously wasn’t going to be that easy.

  “Matt, Matt, Matt! However much you boast about them, you’ve got a lot to learn about girls!” she exclaimed. “Don’t you see? If she wanted us to meet him as a friend, she’d have just told him come into the End one day. But Saturday, that’s like a proper night out. Like a date!”

  “She went on one of those when she first met him and it didn’t work out. Why would she risk it again?”

  “Because she realises she feels more for him than just friendship…”

  Sonja’s loaded comment went straight over Matt’s head.

  “And she’s told you this for a fact, has she?” he smirked, stealing a quick glance at Sonja’s agitated face. He loved the way they could take the mickey out of each other and have a laugh about it.

  “Well, no – but you know how private Maya is about a lot of stuff,” Sonja answered defensively, unaware of Matt”s teasing smile.

  This isn’t a very good start, she thought. How do I move on from here? How can I push this on a stage?

  “I know what this is all about…” said Matt suddenly.

  “Oh yeah?”

  “Yeah. After your recent pathetic attempts to have a relationship, you’re looking for love somewhere new…”

  Her heart lurched in shock.

  “…which is why you’re so keen to believe Maya’s got a bit of a love thang going with her mate Billy.”

  Sonja managed a breath again.

  “I don’t think you’re on to a winner there, but never mind,” said Matt, grabbing her hand and bringing it up to his mouth. “I love you, babes.”

  His lips touched the back of her hand and Sonja’s heart-rate shot off the monitor.

  Cat hitched her tight skirt up higher.

  “Cat! I don’t think the entire population of the park wants an unhindered view of your pants!” snapped Maya, who’d propped herself up on her elbows to see why Cat was wriggling so much.

  “Oh, shut up, you old nark!” Cat retorted, feeling satisfied that she’d got maximum exposure for her legs.

  Maya sighed and flopped back down on the grass. It was pointless trying to get Cat to cover up when she didn’t want to.

  “Don’t worry, there’s no one around – only a few ducks are getting an eyeful,” Kerry announced, lifting her head just high enough off the ground to check out their surroundings.

  “Pity…” Cat murmured.

  The three friends fell silent and let the sun warm their skin. Only the sound of children playing and the distant growl of traffic intruded on their individual thoughts.

  “So, Cat,” said Maya finally. “I know this is a stupid question, but have you told your mum about college yet?”

  “No,” mumbled Cat sulkily. “But don’t nag me. I will tell her.”

  “What – this year? Next year…”

  “Maya, get off my case!”

  “Well, when then? You start in a week and a half!”

  Cat was irritated, but still too lazy to move from her comfortable sunbathing spot. If it had been a different season and colder weather, she might have stomped off in a huff to avoid this awkward line of questioning.

  “Yeah, so I start in a week and a half, so I’ve got plenty of time…”

  “So? Are you thinking of leaving it till the night before?” niggled Maya. “Or maybe just the day you’re due to start, as you’re walking out the door?”

  Cat turned her head and glared at Maya.

  “Don’t get all high and mighty at me about keeping secrets from parents, when you did exactly the same thing yourself not so long ago!”

  Maya stayed silent and squinted at the thin wisps of cloud in an otherwise blue sky. It was true – she had lied to her parents about joining the photography club, but only because she knew they wouldn’t approve.

>   Cat sensed she’d hit a sore spot and couldn’t resist needling Maya some more.

  “And you don’t have to take it out on me, just ‘cause you’re all in a tizz about Billy.”

  “I’m not in a ‘tizz’! Billy is just coming out with us on Saturday night, end of story!”

  “Well, why were you all flustered about it when me and Kerry arrived at the End?”

  “Because Sonja started to make a big deal out of it before Matt dragged her away – Maya’s already explained that,” Kerry interrupted, leaping to her friend’s defence. Kerry was all too aware of Sonja’s overeagerness in the matchmaking department. Sonja had done the same to her and OIlie, but at least they actually had genuinely wanted to go out together.

  “Where were Sonja and Matt going anyway?” asked Cat, whipping her head around to stare at Kerry now.

  It’s amazing the way she can pick up and drop subjects just like that, thought Kerry, as she came under Cat’s scrutiny. Actually, she probably will make a good actress…

  “Some boring record fair,” Kerry answered, reaching into her bag for more sunblock.

  “What did Sonja want to go to that for?” Cat quizzed her, wrinkling up her nose in disbelief.

  That’s what I want to know, Kerry mused to herself, instinctively sensing that her best friend wasn’t telling her everything.

  CHAPTER 7

  ON PLANET HOLLYWOOD

  “Look, Joe! Just look at them!”

  Joe leant forward and felt his chest constrict with nerves. Or possibly he’d forgotten to breathe for a few seconds.

  “Er, yeah, there’s a few more,” he acknowledged, looking at the sprinkling of freckles across the bridge of Kerry’s nose.

  “But it’s not fair! I put plenty of sunblock on yesterday and I still get more freckles…”

  “Yeah, but they look… nice,” he tried to say encouragingly. They looked beautiful to him. He wanted to stay this close to Kerry for ever…

  “Ollie! Joe’s telling me lies!” she yelled over the café to her boyfriend, moving away from Joe and breaking the spell.

  “Oh, yeah?” said Ollie, ambling over with an empty tray in his hand and a less-than-shiny-clean dishcloth over his shoulder.