Sugar Secrets…& Flirting

by Mel Sparke

  “Well, say it and go,” Cat said, sticking out her tongue at him.

  “Or maybe it’s because I’m a genuinely nice guy, Cat, and I just wanted to let you know that Vikki just called on her mobile and says she’s on her way here.”

  Cat fumed - she didn’t want to say thank you to Matt, even though she knew she should. Luckily, Vikki Grant helped her out of a grovelling apology by turning into the driveway at that very moment.

  “Hey, guys!” she called out, giving them all an enthusiastic wave. Her black plaited hair extensions fanned out behind her as she hurried towards them.

  “Hi, Vik! Didn’t expect to see you today,” shouted Cat. “What’s up!”

  “Only something brilliant!” said Vikki as she neared them.

  “Like?!” asked Cat, whipping off her sunglasses and squinting at her college friend.

  “Well!” Vikki exclaimed, slightly breathlessly, “do you guys know Ben Fitzpatrick?”

  “Not personally,” Matt tried to joke, but his wisecrack was drowned out by Sonja and Kerry’s ironic laughter and Cat’s ear-piercing squeals.

  “Ben Fitzpatrick?!” she squeaked. “Of course I know him! He’s here, filming. Omigod - have you heard where he’s staying? Do you know where the action is? Oh, you haven’t seen him, have you?!”

  “yes, I’ve heard where he’s staying and yes, I know where the programme’s being filmed!” Vikki told her, laughing at her friend’s overexcitement.

  “EEEEEEEEEEEEK!!!” yelped Cat and the others winced. “Where? Tell me everything!”

  “Hold on, hold on!” giggled Vikki. “That’s not the bit that’s brilliant! It’s better, much better—”

  “What - don’t tell me he’s got this weird idea that Cat can actually do make-up and has asked for her to be his personal face powderer?!” Matt chipped in cheekily.

  “Better than that!” gushed Vikki, her eyes twinkling with her secret.

  With her hands clasped over her face and mouth, it looked like Cat was about to faint with excitement - so it was probably just as well she was still sitting on the grass.

  “Cat,” said Vikki, crouching down in front of her friend, “you and me—”

  Kerry, Sonja - and even Matt - found themselves holding their breath.

  “—are only going to be starring alongside Ben Fitzpatrick in his new show!!”

  “AAAAAHHHHHHHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!”

  And with that supersonic shriek emitting from Catrina Osgood, dogs the length and breadth of Winstead jerked to attention and howled in response.

  Sonja winced again and then - seeing that her cousin was temporarily speechless - tried to get some facts straightened out.

  “But how come?” she quizzed Vikki.

  “Well, Jeff Patterson - you know, the Head of English and Drama at college? - he just phoned me!” Vikki explained. “He got a call from the TV people, asking if any of his students fancied being extras!”

  “Wow!” said Kerry. Cat was still speechless with shock.

  “But he couldn’t get hold of lots of people, because of the holidays,” Vikki continued. “So it’s just going to be three others from my class, plus me and Cat, of course!”

  Sonja turned to face Cat again. “Are you OK?” she asked. “Say something!”

  Cat looked glazed. “Pass…” she began breathlessly, “the… frisbee…”

  “Huh?” frowned Matt. What was going on? Had Cat gone mad? Why did she suddenly want to play a game of frisbee after hearing such amazing news?

  Sonja, just as confused, passed over the plastic disc.

  “Phew! That’s better!” gasped Cat, fanning her burning face with it. “I was sure I was going to faint!”

  “Do you want anything else?” asked Kerry, full of concern. “A glass of water?”

  “No,” Cat shook her head. “Just my mobile…”

  “Your mobile? What for?” frowned Sonja.

  A wicked smile crept on to Cat’s face. “I’ve got to phone Maya and tell her about this…”

  “I don’t get it…” said Kerry, sensing there was more to this than keeping Maya up to date with crowd gossip.

  “Oh, it’s just a conversation we were having the other day,” Cat shrugged. “She said that ordinary people virtually never get the chance to meet famous people, let alone go out with them…”

  “And, let me guess,” grinned Sonja, “you’d like to prove her wrong?”

  Cat raised her eyebrows and smiled.

  CHARTER 5

  HI! MY NAME IS ANNA!

  “Come on now, I wanna see a real big smile, Irene!” Cyndi called out. “And what about a little wave, huh?”

  When Matt walked into the End, looking forward to entertaining Anna with Cat’s latest news, the first thing he saw was Irene, the elderly waitress, looking flustered. And no wonder: Cyndi had her standing against one white wall of the café and was asking her to turn this way and that, as she pointed and clicked a Polaroid camera at her.

  Irene fluffed her grey hair for a second between takes as she tried to ignore the stares of the puzzled customers.

  Looking round the café, he spotted Gabrielle and her friend, Sasha, just leaving a nearby table.

  “What’s going on?” he asked as they walked to the door.

  “Apparently, it’s Cyndi’s new idea,” Gaby answered in a low voice, even though the country record twanging away on the jukebox - another of Cyndi’s little touches - masked their voices.

  “Uh-oh,” muttered Matt. “What is it this time?”

  “She wants to put a board up on the wall behind the till, with the photos and names of all the staff on it. You know, like they do in places like McDonald’s. Only Anna says that Cyndi wants everyone to smile and wave and do ‘cute’ stuff…”

  “Is Anna around?” asked Matt, wondering what his normally calm and sensible girlfriend thought of this latest bird-brained scheme.

  “She’s on her lunchbreak, upstairs in the flat,” Gabrielle told him. “And yeah, she’s had her photo taken - we were watching. Don’t think she enjoyed it much though!”

  “I don’t suppose she did!” Matt grinned down conspiratorially at the two girls.

  “See you later!” whispered Gaby, slipping out of the door with Sasha in tow.

  “Oh, hi Matt, sugar!” trilled Cyndi, suddenly spotting him. “You stopping for somethin’ to eat?”

  “No, no,” replied Matt hastily. “I’m looking for Anna. I heard she’s upstairs, so I’ll just, er, go on up!”

  “Sure thing, honey!” said Cyndi, waving him off with her long pink nails - courtesy of Cat - before she continued pointing her camera at her victim.

  As he made his way out into the street again, Matt could just make out Cyndi instructing loudly, “Irene, what about if you just lift your shoulders up and say ‘ooh!’ like you’re doin’ ‘peekaboo’ to the camera. It’ll look real cute!”

  He dreaded to think what pose she’d asked Anna to do…

  “Like this!” said Anna, sticking a fake, cheesy smile on her face and holding up both thumbs on either side.

  “Urghhhhh…” Matt groaned. He flopped down into one of the armchairs in the small flat and put his feet on the coffee table in front of him, disturbing the brightly coloured cards spread all over it. He was too concerned about Anna to pay much attention to them.

  “And did you notice the new name badges we’ve got?” his girlfriend asked as she sat back down on her sofa, grimacing at the mess Matt had made of her cards.

  “Nope,” he replied. He’d been too busy gawping at Cyndi doing her photography bit to notice whether or not Irene had been wearing a new badge.

  “Here, look!” said Anna, picking something up off the edge of the coffee table and passing it over to him. Matt took the white, rectangular plastic badge and read aloud the words printed in pink on it.

  Hi! My name is Anna! What can I do for you today?

  It was pretty funny, but Matt fought to subdue the hoot of laughter he could feel bubbling
up inside. After all, he didn’t have to wear it. “Has Ollie seen this yet? I can really see him and Nick pinning on one of these with their names spelled out in pink!” he guffawed, trying to sound sympathetic too.

  “Oh, yes! Ollie’s got his on like a good boy, down in the kitchen. But the boys’ names are all printed in blue - it’s only us girls that have them in pink!” Anna explained, rolling her eyes to the ceiling.

  “Mmm, nice touch!” joked Matt.

  “Oh, but Matt - what’s it going to be like, with those stupid photos and these crap badges?” Anna fretted. “How are the customers going to take us seriously? And all the school kids - specially ones like Maya’s sarky sister - are never going to stop taking the mick!”

  “How come Nick’s going for all this?” Matt frowned, flipping the name tag in the air towards Anna, expecting her to lean forwards and catch it.

  Only she didn’t bother. Instead she just let the badge drop to the floor, where it went skittering under the sofa.

  “Love!” shrugged Anna. “It’s made his brain go soggy!”

  “Well, I guess there’s nothing wrong with someone being in love, is there?” Matt smiled at her, hoping for a smile in return.

  It didn’t come.

  “I mean, it’s nothing too serious, is it?” he continued. “I’m sure everyone’ll get used to it.”

  “But it could get more serious,” said Anna ominously.

  “How do you figure that one out?”

  “Well,” said Anna, “we’re kind of overstaffed at the moment…”

  It took a long time for things to dawn on Matt. But suddenly, he could see what was really bothering Anna about Cyndi. It wasn’t just stupid name tags and dopey new signs on the loo doors - it was the fact that Anna was scared she was going to lose her job.

  “Hey! Don’t go thinking Nick will let you go!” Matt assured his girlfriend, joining her on the sofa.

  “You’re his right-hand woman!” He wrapped a comforting arm around her shoulders and pulled her close.

  “But for how much longer?” Anna blinked at him, the worry apparent in her eyes. “I mean, once everything is sorted with the immigration department, Cyndi will be working in the café legitimately. Nick won’t need - or be able to afford - to keep me on too!”

  “Don’t be silly!” Matt tried to laugh, but thinking about it, he could see what she meant. Out of the regular staff, Ollie was unlikely to get the boot, because he was Nick’s nephew and had been there longest. And Dorothy and Irene only worked part-time shifts. Out of everyone, it was more likely that Anna would be the one to be made redundant, if it came to it.

  “I know it’s not the best job in the world, Matt, and it’s not like I ever saw myself being a waitress forever, but I don’t want to lose it either, not while I’m still trying to figure out what it is I do want to do,” Anna continued fretting. “And ‘specially not since I’d lose my home into the bargain!”

  Matt opened and shut his mouth as he realised the significance of what she’d just said. Having the flat above the End thrown in with her job did make Anna’s situation more complicated.

  “I, uh… well, it might not come to that,” he said unconvincingly as he struggled to think of something constructive to say. “Anyway, all that immigration stuff can take months and months to sort out. And—” He suddenly had a thought.

  “And what?” asked Anna.

  “And anyway, it was a total whirlwind thing for Nick and Cyndi - I mean, they don’t even know each other that well, do they? It’s like, he meets her on holiday earlier this year; they keep in touch by phone; he goes back over and marries her?! It’s not exactly rock solid, is it? Who knows if they’re even going to last!”

  “Matt, that’s a terrible thing to say!” Anna was visibly shocked. “Anyway, the cards predict they will…” She pointed to the colourful cards that were now scattered over the coffee table. Her boyfriend squinted down at them.

  “What are you on about?” he asked her. “What is this stuff?”

  “Tarot cards. I bought this set, and a book that explains how to use them, from that new shop on the High Street that sells crystals and things.”

  “What, you’re trying to see into the future?” Matt asked, wondering, not for the first time, how someone as reasonable as Anna could be influenced by things like the position of a few pretty pictures spread on a table.

  “Kind of.” Anna shrugged, looking a little shy in the face of her boyfriend’s obvious scepticism. “It’s just that I’ve been feeling so muddled lately that I thought, why not? If trying to read the cards can help me sort out stuff in my head then it’s worth a go…”

  “So what are they supposed to say?” said Matt dubiously, twisting his head around to make sense of the images in front of him.

  “Well,” Anna began to explain, taking up a book that was lying open by her side and studying it and straightening up the cards at the same time, “this row here is meant to represent what’s going on around me at the moment…”

  Matt looked at the line of cards she was pointing at and could hardly tell them apart. It was all figures and rainbows and suns and moons.

  “…and it says that the situation is a happy and solid one - but for others, not for me. Which I reckon means Cyndi and her mad ideas are here to stay.”

  Matt frowned. Much as he loved Anna, he couldn’t really get his head around this stuff.

  “And this bit here,” Anna continued, pointing to another jumble of cards, “is supposed to be my future. And all these cards mean ‘change’. See what I mean?”

  “Well, I dunno,” shrugged Matt. “But listen, why don’t you just try not to worry about it, eh?”

  “But Matt, it’s hard not to!” Anna protested as her boyfriend pulled her towards him and kissed her.

  “Hey, try and ignore it for now, OK?” he tried to reassure her. “Me and you are going out to Ibiza next month; maybe all you really need is to get away for a while and it’ll seem better.”

  Anna gazed up at his handsome face, full of concern, “you’re right - I should just try and concentrate on the holiday,” she smiled at him. “Look forward to something positive…”

  “Too right,” said Matt, hugging her close and nuzzling his face into her hair. “And, you never know, things might not work out as badly as you think.”

  But if anyone ever made me wear a badge that said ‘Hi! My name is Matt!’, he thought silently to himself, I’d tell them where to stuff it - and their job!

  CHAPTER 6

  DAYDREAMS AND MAKE-OVERS

  Ben Fitzpatrick ran his hand over his short crop of dark hair and sighed.

  With his gaze downcast, Cat took the opportunity to stare at him. He was definitely - impossibly! - more gorgeous in the flesh than he was in any of his TV appearances or magazine photos - and they were cute enough.

  Ben had that rough diamond look: handsome, but not in a pretty, model boy way. With her heart thumping a little harder than usual, Cat took in his sexy, sleepy-looking brown eyes, which were framed by thick, dark brows, à la Liam ‘n’ Noel. His broad jaw was moving slightly as he distractedly chewed gum. Dressed in an old black suede jacket and dark blue jeans, with just a hint of stubble round his chin, he reminded Cat of how she’d first seen him - acting as the young guy in a TV series about East End gangsters.

  When Ben suddenly sighed again, Cat shuddered. She should say something, she knew. This was her big chance…

  “What’s up? Can I help?” Cat asked, stepping closer to him, wondering if she should reach out - like she would with any of her boy mates - and put a comforting hand on his shoulder. But, for once in her impulsive life, she didn’t dare.

  At her words, Ben looked directly into her eyes. Her heart leapt as she saw that his trademark smouldering gaze had turned into a look of tortured longing.

  “Yeah, you can help,” he said simply, his voice cracking slightly with emotion.

  Cat felt dizzy. “How? What do you want me to do?” she replied, fin
ding herself melting in the spotlight of those eyes.

  “Say ‘yes’,” he said earnestly.

  “Yes to what?”

  A shy smile broke out on Ben’s face. “Cat - do you believe in love at first sight?”

  Instantly she understood, even though she couldn’t trust herself to believe it.

  “Yes!” she whispered.

  “Good, ‘cause I do too,” said Ben, moving closer to her. “It’s crazy, but the moment I saw you, I just knew you were The One. And I’ve been trying to work up the courage to tell you…”

  “Oh, Ben!” sighed Cat, tilting her head to one side as he gently cupped his hand around her cheek. His fingertips on her skin felt as if they were generating tiny little electric shocks.

  “Cat, I’ve got to ask,” he whispered. “Do you feel the same?”

  “Yes!” she breathed softly as his beautiful face bent down to kiss her…

  “Oi!”

  The yell, and the accompanying hammering slaps on the bathroom door, jolted Cat out of her delicious daydream.

  “Get a move on, Cat!” she heard Matt bark. “I’ve got to leave for the Railway Tavern in five minutes and I need to have a shower now!”

  Cat pulled her towel tighter around her chest, wiped the steam from the bathroom mirror and stared at her reflection.

  Me and Ben Fitzpatrick… I wonder if it could happen for real? she mused, with a shiver of excitement. Tomorrow would be her first day of filming; her first chance to get to know him; to make her daydream come true…

  “Cat - move it!” Matt’s muffled cry came through the door again.

  She turned, flipped the lock and yanked the door open. “Some people haven’t got a romantic bone in their body!” she growled at him as she strode past.

  Matt frowned as he watched her walk away, padding little wet footprints into the carpet. He had no idea what Cat was on about, but then that wasn’t exactly unusual…

  “How did your photography club go last night, Maya?” asked Sonja, before taking a big slurp out of her Coke.