Playground Cool

by Sinclair, Jamie

  ‘So much so that you still go out with your ex when I’m not here,’ he said pulling his hand roughly away from her.

  ‘So what then? That’s it? You’re finishing with me over this?’

  ‘I don’t know. I’ll ring you later. I just need to think about this. I still can’t believe it you know.’

  Seconds later she heard the door close loudly and then she was alone in the flat, unsure whether Jack would come back or not. Hating herself, Katie poured herself another glass of wine, picked up the bottle, and went to bed.

  Chapter Thirty-six

  It was Friday, the day of the office party at J.D. King. Katie awoke and immediately checked her answering machine for a message from Jack. Since he’d walked out of her flat three nights ago, after finding out about the Dave fiasco, she’d only spoken to him once. She’d tried ringing him over and over and had finally decided to bite the bullet and go to his flat.

  Jack had let her in and been perfectly civil, but he looked so hurt and sad. All she could think of to do was apologise profusely. He’d stopped her and said that he loved her to bits but felt let down and wasn’t sure if he could risk it happening again. In the end there’d been no other option but to leave and wait for him to make the next move. He’d said he would call her soon, now it was the day he was supposed to be going out with his workmates and still no word from him.

  She went to work and spent most of the day palming off tasks on to her assistant, occupying herself playing solitaire on her pc. Jack’s night out kept playing on her mind, her cynical nature deciding that he’d go without her and pull someone else to even the score and have his revenge. This made her sad and, spurred on by the thought of such a terrible thing taking place; she immediately dialled his office extension.

  ‘Hello Jack Spencer speaking, how can I…’

  She interrupted his spiel. ‘Jack, it’s me. I’ve had enough of this. Look, I know what I did was stupid and selfish and I’m a cow. But if you think you’re going out tonight and getting off with some tramp just to get back at me then you can fuck off. I won’t have it, I feel bad enough about what’s happened and I’d do anything to make it all okay but…’ She paused for breath and he took his chance.

  ‘Hello, nutcase. I was going to ring you at lunchtime. As it happens I did have someone lined up for tonight…’

  ‘You total bastard!’

  ‘Hang on; get a grip before you kick off. I was planning on calling you actually. I take it you still want to come?’

  ‘Yeah, of course. Great.’

  ‘Hmm, good. I assume there’s been no word from the ex then?’

  ‘God no. I told you, I’m not interested and told him so. Even if he does get in touch I’ll tell him where to go.’

  ‘Correct answer. I’m still mad as hell with you though. You’ll have to try really hard tonight.’

  ‘I’ll make a special effort for you. Your mates will be very, very jealous of you.’

  ‘That’s my girl.’

  Amazed at what had just occurred, Katie decided to leave work early and buy some new clothes for the night out that she was, apparently, still invited to attend.

  * * * * * *

  In Ben’s office, over at J.D. Kings, many of the staff had also arranged to leave early to allow time to go home and change before coming back into town for the evening. Em came over to him, where he was sitting contemplating a sheet of performance figures.

  ‘Right,’ she began, ‘I’m off. What time are you coming out?’

  ‘Hmm,’ he replied, trying to seem casual as he turned to face her, ‘I’m not sure yet.’

  They’d barely spoken since their little showdown earlier in the week, and Ben wasn’t looking forward to the night ahead. He reckoned that events would probably take one of two turns. He and Em would either get on really well, get drunk, dance, then end up repeating their bed sharing exercise; or he’d try and avoid her all night until she got drunk and had a go at him in front of everyone for being such a spineless, rat of a man. Either way, Ben could only see things getting worse before they got better.

  ‘Okay,’ she breezed, ‘Might see you later then.’

  She walked away, leaving him, and a handful of stragglers, in the office. With a sigh, he switched off his computer and put the sheets back in the file he’d been viewing. Five minutes later he was in his car and heading home.

  Chapter Thirty-seven

  ‘Mmm, you look particularly gorgeous tonight.’ Jack complimented when Katie opened her front door allowing him to view her in a tight, knee length grey dress she’d bought that afternoon from the DKNY shop.

  ‘Before we go any further you need to know two things.’ She said, pulling at the dress as is necessary only with a new item of clothing.

  Jack followed her into the house and closed the door. ‘Go on.’ He stroked a hand gently across her right buttock.

  ‘I love you and I’m not wearing any underwear.’

  He wrapped his arms around her from behind and kissed the top of her head. ‘No underwear eh?’

  She rolled her eyes. ‘Where shall we go for something to eat then?’ She asked, leaning back into him.

  ‘Wherever. As long as they’ve got food and beer.’

  ‘We could go to that Italian place on Norfolk Street if you like?’

  ‘Which one?’

  ‘Stock, I think it’s called. It’s meant to be pretty good.’

  ‘That was easy then. I’ll ring a taxi and we’ll go now if you’re ready my love. I said we’d see everyone at about half nine. Is Jen coming?’

  ‘No,’ Katie answered, ‘She’s doing something with her new fella.’

  Jack looked surprised. ‘I thought she played the field?’

  ‘She did, until she met Norm. She’s dead cagey but I think she really likes him.’

  The taxi arrived within five minutes and the couple set off into the city centre. Katie was still feeling a little apprehensive in case Jack was tempted to humiliate her in public by telling his friends what she’d done to him. Once at the restaurant, they had a drink and perused the menu before a waiter led them through to their table.

  ‘I don’t know why you bother with the menu,’ she commented as they waited for the waiter to bring their next round of drinks.

  Jack smiled, knowing instantly what she was driving at. ‘I like to have a look just in case something jumps out that I might fancy.’

  ‘But you always, always have lasagne.’

  ‘I like it. Besides it’s safe, any clown can make lasagne and you always get a lot of it. Anyway, I think I might try something different tonight.’

  She smiled affectionately and shook her head. ‘It’s nice in here, isn’t it? That ceiling’s amazing. It’s the original I think, from when it was the Stock Exchange.’

  ‘Oh yeah. It’s certainly a step up from that place we went to the other week.’

  Just then, a waiter came over to take their order.

  ‘Taglitelle O’ Sole Mio for me,’ said Jack, pointing to the dish on the menu.

  ‘And I’ll have the Gnocchi Alla Sorrentina please,’ said Katie when the waiter turned to her.

  The couple ate their meal in relative silence, punctuated with the occasional remark about the quality of the food or their thoughts on the rest of the evening. She smiled as she watched Jack eat. They’d been together for about two months now and she was in no doubt that she was in love with him; the Dave incident had made her realise how strongly she felt. She’d been in such a fragile state of mind when she met Jack, now she couldn’t believe she’d ever contemplated giving up on men altogether. But, despite her initial misgivings about getting involved with someone, Jack had stuck with her, had been there constantly, trying to convince her that he cared for her.

  Her behaviour was unreasonable at times, selfish too. She’d outdone herself by lying to him about the exact same thing she kept nagging at him for. She insisted things be done her way, demanded control, because she was so concerned with being hu
rt again yet she had, as it turned out, hurt him and nearly lost him. She’d refused to trust him, had even accused him of having an affair with his own sister. But Jack hadn’t wavered. Each time she pushed him, he pushed back twice as hard, refusing to leave her, forcing her to see how much he cared.

  She was beginning to feel safe with him, to trust him at last, she’d even said she loved him, but tiny doubts would still flash into her mind. She was still scared that admitting she loved him would leave her vulnerable.

  They finished their meal and he took her hand for the short walk to Citrus, where he’d arranged to meet his new colleagues. They went in and Jack led her over to the group where he exchanged greetings with a couple of faces he was friendlier with before introducing her and pointing towards a vacant seat.

  As always happened to Katie when she drank, now that she’d left the restaurant and walked to the bar, she needed to go the toilet. She told Jack she’d have vodka with anything and wandered off to find the toilets. Five minutes later, having reapplied her lip liner and adjusted her hair, she returned to find him still at the busy bar waiting to be served. He handed a small glass of vodka to Katie before turning back to take a pint of lager for himself and another drink, a bottle of some brightly coloured mixed drink.

  ‘Who’s that for?’ She asked in a loud speaking voice that wasn’t quite a shout, necessary to be heard over the noise.

  ‘Her there.’ Jack nodded his head towards the group they were with as they worked their way through the crowd of drinkers.

  ‘God!’ Exclaimed Katie. ‘She looks like a right tart.’

  ‘It’s Em. She works in another department.’

  They took their seats around the tables with Jack’s workmates and she watched him hand the drink to Em. Katie thought her quite plain but with a great body. Immediately Katie felt suspicious of the girl and of Jack’s motives. The girl seemed to be leaning forward across the table while she spoke to him, her impressive breasts pushed upwards to the point where they bordered on spilling from her very low cut top. Jack replied to the girl then promptly turned away to face Katie, his hand finding her leg under the table.

  ‘Don’t panic you,’ he said as gently as he could given their surroundings. ‘She’s always like this.’

  Katie smiled back at him and said that it was fine; she hadn’t thought anything really. She was pleased that he’d been so aware of her feelings and had taken a moment to reassure her. But at the same time, she was annoyed that he assumed she’d been thinking the worst of him. After all, for Jack to worry about her feelings he must’ve been conscious of Em’s obvious charms and perhaps he turned away so quickly because he felt guilty about enjoying the attention.

  After twenty minutes of inconsequential banter and polite listening while conversations were shouted over the music and other voices, they moved to another pub. Katie looked at Jack, growing louder as he became more drunk, and thought he looked quite happy and relaxed. He seemed to be having a good time and apparently got on well with his new colleagues. She was pleased for him, of course, but on this occasion she was beginning to feel a little left out. When she went out with her friends, they all knew each other and nobody was excluded. She didn’t know anyone tonight and was finding it hard to get into the swing of the evening.

  Finally, after much more drinking and increasingly noisy snatches of conversations, the decision was made to move on to a nightclub. It had been decided earlier in the week that they’d all end up in the same place, that way nobody would get left out. By now, Katie was feeling quite drunk and a little tired, but Jack was enjoying himself so she was quite prepared to stay out and drink more without too much arm twisting from anyone, especially since she was supposed to be making an effort to make up for her recent behaviour.

  They meandered and staggered towards the Gay Village and joined the line for Breakfast Club, a popular club on Canal Street. After the usual Friday night queues outside the club followed by the bustle and pushing inside the doorway while those with coats waited outside the cloakroom, Katie and Jack made their way to a bar on the first floor to get some drinks. They’d reached the stage where they were drinking spirits, their first choice being some fruit flavoured vodka. The group dispersed, breaking into smaller pockets of people, meeting up with others already in the club.

  Katie and Jack were people watching, smiling and exchanging occasional comments at some of the more outrageously dressed clubbers, when she spotted Em, who’d been flirting with Jack in the pub. Katie watched her walk towards them and then right past them, boobs wobbling precariously, her light blue spray-on trousers showing off her tiny bum. Suddenly, the girl looked back over her shoulder and gave Jack a half smile that infuriated Katie, before walking away. Fucking cheeky slag! Katie looked at Jack who was looking the other way, showing no sign of having even noticed Em.

  For a moment Katie wished that Jen had been able to come after all, she would’ve marched straight up to Em, tramp, and asked her exactly what she thought she was up to. Failing that she’d have persuaded Katie that she was worrying over nothing and set her mind at rest. But Katie was worried, even though she knew she was being stupid, in her drunken state she couldn’t persuade herself that she could trust Jack. She supposed it would serve her right if Jack did go off with some slut, just to teach her a lesson, but the thought scared her.

  She hoped Jen was enjoying her evening, a cosy night in with the mysterious Norman. Jen had mentioned him a few times before, but Katie still hadn’t met him. Whoever it was, he was certainly taking up a lot of Jen’s time lately.

  After about an hour of dancing broken up with more drinks, Katie took a turn to wait at the bar while Jack went to the toilet. She was standing in the mass of people waiting for alcohol when, in a sudden gap, she saw Em following Jack out of the door like a witch’s familiar. Distraught, she spun around to order the drinks. He loves me. He loves me. Oh hell.

  * * * * * *

  Ben had decided against going to the pub with the rest of his colleagues, choosing instead to go straight to the Breakfast Club where he knew they’d be. He’d already had four or five cans of lager at home and now, on his third bottle of beer in the club, was feeling slightly heavy headed and weary. So far he’d spoken to a few faces he recognised, making a point of acknowledging some of the new starters that he came across on one of his laps of the dance floor. Up until now, though, he hadn’t seen Em and was grateful for that, since he was in no mood to fend off her advances and didn’t want to argue with her either.

  He looked at his watch and reckoned he’d stay for another half an hour before going home to bed. He hadn’t been able to get Rhia off his mind all night and had even re-read the letter she’d sent him before leaving the house. Now, the more drunk he became, the angrier he got with himself for wanting her so much.

  * * * * * *

  She staggered after him into the gent’s toilet and decided it was now or never. She’d been flirting with him all night and he hadn’t made a move. If he wasn’t interested then she didn’t want to waste the rest of the night on him.

  ‘Jack.’ She slurred, almost falling into him. ‘You look like you need company.’

  ‘Em! This is the gents mate.’

  ‘What you got in there for me then?’ She giggled, grabbing at his crotch.

  ‘Look, mate. You look amazing tonight, but I’m here with Katie. My girlfriend.’

  ‘Dump her mate. I’m much more fun. Come on.’

  ‘It’s not gonna happen Em. I’m nuts about her and you’re very drunk.’

  ‘Fine!’ She spun around to leave the toilet, ‘Fuck you then. You’re minging anyway.’ Time wasting bastard. ‘Your bird’s a fat minger as well.’

  She stormed back into the corridor and almost ran straight into Ben who was coming down the stairs.

  ‘Ben mate, at last!’ He’ll do very nicely Em thought. Plus he’s mad keen.

  She threw her arms around him and tried to kiss him, but he reacted immediately and prised her
arms open to hold her in front of him.

  ‘Hiya,’ he shouted, ‘Having a good night?’

  ‘Brilliant. Totally hammered. I’ve been looking everywhere for you.’ She tried to move closer to him, her eyes searching for a direct line to his.

  ‘You seen Jack yet?’

  ‘Fuck him. He’s brought his girlfriend with him. Timewaster.’

  ‘Never mind. I don’t doubt you’ll find someone else. I’m off soon.’

  ‘Nooo,’ she cried, clutching at his arm. ‘Not yet, we’ve got to dance and stuff.’

  She pulled him towards the dance floor, forgetting, in her drunken state, that she was trying to avoid Ben and that she’d been telling him how much she fancied Jack all week at work. They bobbed up and down to the beats being pumped out by the dj, Ben conscious of the fact that Em was very drunk and evidently in flirtatious mood. He too was drunk, but tonight, in this frame of mind, her advances only made him more convinced that he didn’t really want her, that his future lay with Rhia.

  Em made another lunge towards him, feigning a fall and his patience ran out. He absorbed her weight and gently pushed her back before indicating that he was going to the toilet and forcing his way through the sweating bodies. He was furious with himself now; he wanted to be anywhere but here. No, that was a lie. He wanted to be with Rhia, location didn’t matter as long as she was there. He was angry because he’d let himself get into such a state and because of the awkward situation with Em.

  He walked out of the toilet, further agitated by having to wait, and walked straight into a man staggering in. Their shoulders collided as they moved around each other, glaring with angry, drunken eyes.

  ‘Dopey twat,’ mouthed the man.

  This was all it took to push Ben over the edge. His confusion over his feelings for Rhia, his anger over Em, mixed with the alcohol, fuelled his totally uncharacteristic response. He spun around to face the man again.

  ‘Get to fuck you prick!’ He shouted into his face, grabbing the man’s arm with his right hand at the same time.