“That’s just it,” he said. “I’m not spending the summer with my dad.” He must have seen the confusion in her expression because he leaned forward until he was looking right into her face. “Rocky Steel isn’t my dad.”
Ellie was thrown into turmoil. If Rocky wasn’t Joe’s real father, who was? And what did that do to the interview? She wished she’d done more research. How long had Joe’s mum and Rocky been together? Had Joe only recently become the stepson of a rock star? If so, surely the whole interview was pointless? She had to try and rescue something out of this mess. Then another thought struck her. Could this be something to do with the divorce? Had it just come out that Joe wasn’t really Rocky’s son?
Ellie didn’t really want to say anything about that sorry mess, but she had to do something, so she looked at him sympathetically. “So he’s actually your stepfather?”
Joe was shaking his head.
“No! No! I’m trying to explain but you just don’t get it. Rocky Steel isn’t my dad…because I’m not Joe.”
Ellie fumbled to put the bowl of crisps onto the table without dropping them. “You’re not Joe Steel?” she said faintly.
“No.” The boy studied his shoes. “I’m not…Sorry.”
Ellie was reeling from this piece of information, but she tried to remain calm. “Then who are you?” she asked at last.
“I’m Connor.”
“Connor who?”
“Constantis…but you won’t have heard of me.”
“You’re right. I haven’t.” The thought struck Ellie that she had jumped to conclusions when he…Connor had appeared. Had she asked him who he was? No, she didn’t think she had. She’d simply introduced herself, and assumed that he was the boy she’d been expecting. It must all be her fault…but then…surely any normal person would have put her right straight away? Why hadn’t he? Ellie’s embarrassment quickly turned to annoyance. How dare this…person come strolling in here, impersonating Joe Steel. How had he managed it? He’d seemed nice, but maybe he wasn’t as nice as she’d thought. He’d been taking advantage of her. He’d been eating Heart’s nibbles, and drinking their cola and…how dare he? Ellie glared at him. She felt humiliated. Had she been set up? If so, by whom? She was sure it wasn’t the sort of thing Sophie would do…surely her friend Claire wouldn’t either? And Francesca had arranged the interview in good faith. So it must be something to do with this boy who had suddenly become Connor instead of Joe. But how? And why?
“Does that mean I can’t have any more potato chips?”
He was smiling hesitantly at her, but she wasn’t in the mood to be won over. She folded her arms, leaned back in her chair and glared even harder at him. “You’d better explain what you think you’re doing here.”
He put his hands up, as if in surrender. “I will,” he said. “But wait a minute. How about another drink?”
Before she could reply he’d leaped out of his chair and poured himself more cola, without spilling it this time. He poured one for her too, and gave it to her before he sat back down.
“Okay. Confession time.” He paused, put his glass on the table and took a deep breath. “Well, I’m at the same high school as Joe. We’ve been friends since for ever. You see, most times when his dad goes on tour, Joe stays home with his mom, but this summer she went back to Denmark, to spend the summer with her family. Her own dad isn’t well, and Joe knew it would be a heavy summer if he went there. It isn’t even as if he knows the Danish relatives, and being stuck in the country didn’t appeal, so his dad said he could go on tour with him.”
Ellie thought she could see where this was heading, but she asked anyway.
“So Joe asked if you wanted to go as well?”
“Right. And it was the most fun to begin with. We went to a few gigs, ate lots of food, chilled out. You know the sort of thing.”
Ellie nodded, although she’d never been on any sort of tour in her life she could imagine it.
“But now I guess it’s got a bit boring.”
“Really?”
Connor frowned. “It’s not that I wasn’t pleased to be asked. Joe’s my buddy, and the rest of the kids at school were sooo jealous. But we’ve been jetting all over the place, to some countries I’ve always wanted to visit, but once we were there we were mostly stuck in hotels and didn’t get to see anything, or go anywhere. I want to see stuff! I haven’t even been on the London Eye yet and it’s only over there somewhere!” Connor waved his hand vaguely towards the hotel entrance. “But Joe’s gone all celebrity, even though he isn’t. He’s no fun to be with. He skulks around indoors in his dark glasses as if he’s being hounded by the press. But he’s not.” Connor looked exasperated. “I feel like a minder…one that’s locked up with the person he’s minding.” He paused, and Ellie could see a smile fighting for space on his grumpy face. “It’s stupid,” he said at last, his smile winning.
“What about his dad though?” said Ellie. “Doesn’t he want Joe to see something of the places you’re going? It’s a great opportunity, isn’t it?”
Connor sighed. “Money’s no object,” he said. “But time is. Joe’s dad is busy, and I’m sure he thinks that because Joe has me around, everything is fine. He said we could go where we like as long as we’re together, but Joe won’t go to places I want to, and…” Connor paused. “The other day he gave me the slip, and I didn’t know where he was. His dad would have gone mental if he’d known about that. Joe’s dad never stops working. He doesn’t have time to sort us out. It might not look like it, but he works really hard. Even all this stuff about the divorce.”
“How is that work?” said Ellie scathingly.
Connor smiled at her. “It’s all promotion for his latest album. The media asked the question about divorce because Astrid, Joe’s mom has been away. So his mom and dad have been going along with it, to keep his dad in the press. The more he’s in the news, the more albums he sells. See?”
Connor sat back, looking impressed at the Steels’ savvy. “It’s amazing. Joe’s dad’s been out there this morning, looking even more out of it than usual, giving the impression that he’s trying to pretend nothing is wrong with his marriage when it is.” He grinned at Ellie. “But of course there isn’t really anything wrong with their marriage! Pretty clever, eh? It’s a sort of double bluff. You have to admire it.”
Ellie wasn’t convinced, and didn’t smile back. “You haven’t told me yet why you ended up coming over here to do Joe’s interview. Isn’t it a sort of fraud or something, doing that?”
Connor shook his head. “No way! It wasn’t supposed to be that heavy a deal.”
“How heavy a deal was it supposed to be?” said Ellie cynically.
Connor bit his lip. “It was because Joe didn’t want to be interviewed.”
Now Ellie was astonished. “Didn’t want to be interviewed for Heart?”
“Well don’t blame me!” Connor sounded totally fed up. “It’s not my fault!”
“Well it’s certainly not mine,” said Ellie primly.
They seemed to have reached stalemate.
Ellie was wondering frantically what she was going to say to Francesca. Piano would so enjoy making a big deal of how gullible Ellie had been. It was going to be awful. It really stung that the interview idea should have gone so badly wrong. None of it had been her fault, but she had been totally humiliated.
“The thing is…” Connor appeared contrite. “I’m sorry. I was just trying to help out a friend. His dad would have gone ballistic if he’d known Joe was going to dip out.”
“So why did he?”
Connor sighed. “He doesn’t want to do many things that his dad wants him to do.” There was a pause. “His dad wants him to appear onstage with him, but he keeps refusing. And last night he persuaded me to come to this interview instead of him. He said it wouldn’t matter. Not many people know what he looks like because he always keeps his head down, and his hair over his eyes….and he wears dark glasses as well. He reckoned I could easil
y be mistaken for him.” Connor looked earnestly at Ellie. “He said it would be a laugh if I did it, and that I could tell you what you wanted to know. But it wasn’t easy…” His voice trailed off and he looked away.
“So why did he agree in the first place if he didn’t want to be interviewed?”
“His dad didn’t even bother to ask him. It was Rocky who agreed, not Joe. And the thing is…the time Joe disappeared I was so freaked that he wouldn’t be back before his dad. I tell you, you don’t want to get on the wrong side of Joe’s dad. Besides, I was left in the hotel feeling like his anxious mom or something.”
“So where had Joe gone?” asked Ellie.
“I don’t know. He was mooching around the streets I guess, but he wouldn’t tell me anything about it. Just that he needed to get away for a bit.”
“Well, that’s understandable, isn’t it?” said Ellie. “If his dad is putting pressure on him.”
“I guess so,” said Connor slowly.
“Well,” Ellie couldn’t help feeling for Connor, but she was still angry with him, “between the two of you, you’ve really dropped me in it. I’m supposed to be getting material for an article, but the right person isn’t here. How am I going to explain that? I’m going to look so stupid.”
The truth of what she was saying hit Ellie hard, and to her horror, hot tears of self-pity began to spill from her eyes. Now she was feeling more humiliated than she’d ever felt in her whole life. How was she ever going to recover from this morning of utter disaster?
Ellie was trying desperately to compose herself, and Connor was looking at her in horror.
“Oh no, please don’t cry.”
“I’m not crying,” she said, furiously rubbing the tears from her cheeks. “I only cry about important things like war and…and animals that have been injured.”
“Oh. Sorry. Well if it’s any help I cried at the film I, Robot.”
She wondered if he was laughing at her, but it appeared not.
“Anyway,” she said, sounding more forceful than she meant to. “I ought to go.” She got up and he did too, looking anxious.
“But what about the interview? What are you going to say to cover your back?”
Ellie swigged her drink and the sugar rush made her feel stronger. “I’ll think of something, I expect.” She picked up the empty nut dish and put it on the tray. He took the crisp bowl and offered it to her. She looked at the few crumbs left and gave him a slight smile. “You might as well eat them, I suppose. Otherwise they’ll only get thrown away.”
But Connor was concentrating on Ellie’s problem. “Why not tell them that you haven’t got enough for an article yet?”
She looked at him curiously. “Why wouldn’t I have enough? And anyway, how would that help?”
He scratched his head. “Well, maybe I…Joe got called away and you couldn’t finish the interview, so you are going to have to give it another shot.”
“Ye-es. Maybe. I suppose. But then what?”
Connor put the crisps down and pulled out his phone. “Give me your number. I’ll try to get Joe to meet you. Honestly. I will.” He hesitated. “If I possibly can.”
“But what if he still refuses? What then?” Ellie was having trouble thinking straight.
Connor jiggled his phone from hand to hand. “Then you tell me your questions and I’ll get the answers for you. How about that?”
He looked so desperate to put things right that Ellie believed him, and she had to admit that the idea was rather neat too. “Oka-ay.” It couldn’t do any harm to give him her number. And maybe he might even come up with the goods for her. He seemed keen enough.
Ellie told Connor her number and he keyed it into his phone. “Here, have mine too,” he offered. She tapped in the number and then there didn’t seem anything more to say.
“Well,” he said after an awkward pause. He gave her a smile, and she felt herself responding. After all, it was nice of him to try and help her out, even if he had partly caused the problem in the first place.
“I’ll see you out. Are you catching a cab?”
“Francesca told me to ask reception to get one for me when I’d finished.”
“Okay. So let’s do that.”
Together they hurried to the reception desk. The man who had been on duty had gone, and his place had been taken by a woman with long blonde hair. She smiled at Connor and Ellie. “Can I help?”
Ellie explained, and the woman nodded. “If you take a seat I’ll call for one now. It should only be a few minutes.”
“Thanks,” said Ellie.
Ellie and Connor were both quiet while they waited for the taxi. There didn’t seem to be any more to say. But Ellie found herself taking sideways glances at her companion. She had been angry that her interview was wrecked, but she couldn’t help liking Connor, in spite of that.
After a few minutes, the receptionist told them the taxi had arrived. They both got up, and Connor walked Ellie to the door. The doorman held open the door of the taxi, which made her feel pretty special, but before she could get in, Connor spoke.
“Thanks for the eats and soda. And I’m sorry about Joe, but it was good to meet you, Ellie. I’ll be in touch.” Then, he suddenly reached forward and gave her a hug, and a kiss on her cheek. He dived back through the hotel door and was gone.
In the taxi, Ellie could feel herself blush and was glad he hadn’t seen that. But Connor had kissed her! It had come totally out of the blue and had made her heart race. Ellie tried to think. She needed time to sort out what she was going to say once she got back to the office. She didn’t want to tell anyone about what had happened, not even Sophie. The only person she would have liked to confide in was Hannah, but there was no point in thinking about that.
Instead, she began to wonder whether she did have the makings of an article. Could she write about what had really happened? Then she’d have to admit that she’d been duped of course. But would it be worth reading? No one liked to look a fool, but what if she could laugh at herself? Would it be worth it to get a good piece?
Still running alongside these thoughts was the memory of Connor’s sudden and unexpected kiss. What was all that about? He hadn’t wanted to shake her hand when they met, but he had given her a hug and a kiss when they parted. He didn’t have to do that. He could have just let her go.
Ellie wasn’t sure how she felt about it. She’d been very angry with him for a while, but he’d offered to try and put things right, and he had just been helping out his mate, which she supposed was pretty okay really. Did she like him? Well…yes, she supposed she did. Or at least, if he proved himself to be genuine by doing his best with Joe she might allow herself to like him.
As she reached the office, Ellie was still feeling a bit vulnerable. She was still smarting, knowing she’d been tricked. But at least Connor had owned up. Ellie shuddered to think what could have happened if he hadn’t let on. She might have written and published an article based on a lie. It didn’t bear thinking about!
“Ellie! Back already? How did you get on?”
It was Francesca.
“Um…” Ellie concentrated on rummaging in her bag to find her sandwiches for lunch. “Okayish, but I need more really, and we ran out of time.”
“Oh?” Francesca looked surprised. Then her expression cleared. “Well, no doubt he leads a busy life. Did you make another date?”
“Not exactly,” said Ellie. “He’s going to get back to me.”
“Fair enough,” said Francesca. She thought for a moment. “You know, occasionally I think there’s going to be an article in something, but for one reason or another it just doesn’t work out.”
Ellie looked at her. “Really?”
Francesca nodded. “Really. Your original idea was excellent though, and if you do get what you need from young Joe Steel I’m sure there’s a good piece there waiting to be written.”
She smiled, and suddenly Ellie felt a whole lot better. Francesca wasn’t at all suspicious about Ell
ie’s lack of copy, and if Connor could come up with the answers she wanted she’d be sorted. “Is it okay if I go for an early lunch?” she said. “I could take Ferdinand at the same time and go to the park. It’s a really nice day.”
“Okay,” said Francesca. “Why don’t you? Angel has a whole load of clothes for you to unpack, but you can do that this afternoon.”
Ellie glanced at Piano on her way to collect Ferdinand, but Piano didn’t make any remarks about the interview, Joe, or anything else. In fact she totally ignored Ellie, and kept on working. Ellie had the feeling that she’d got away with it. Unless she chose to write about being temporarily duped, no one would ever know.
By the end of the day, Ellie was on top of the world. She’d had great fun unpacking the clothes. Angel was going to profile a new, young designer and almost her whole collection had been delivered so Angel could choose which clothes to photograph and feature in Heart. Ellie absolutely loved the funky dresses, cool tops, and especially the new jeans. Angel wanted to know what she thought, and Ellie hoped Angel might put some of Ellie’s thoughts in her article. The collection had been sold to one of Ellie’s favourite fashion stores, and already Ellie was planning what she would buy for herself when they became available. But then, Angel had suggested Ellie take a couple of things from the collection to wear, and test her friends’ reactions. It was an amazing way to end the day, and Ellie went for her bus with a designer carrier bag in her hand and a big smile on her face. With Angel, you never quite knew what might happen next, but her offer had totally raised Ellie’s mood. She couldn’t wait to show off her new top and jeans to her friends. She could just imagine their squeals of excitement as they realized that they were getting a sneak preview of new designs that hadn’t made it onto the high street yet.
That evening, while Ellie was getting ready for bed, her phone buzzed. As soon as she heard the sound she couldn’t help herself, and her heart leaped, hoping it was a message from Hannah. She leaned over and grabbed the phone, but the text was from another friend, Naomi. Weekend starts here! Coffee tomorrow. Usual place. Bex’s birthday. 11.00.
Best Friends Rock! Page 5