Crystal (27 page)

She shook her head and carried on watching the movie.

But the man persisted. ‘You are her, aren’t you? The one
who shagged her friend’s boyfriend,’ he laughed. ‘Cheeky cow!’

Crystal ignored him, willing him to go away. But instead he shook her shoulder again, this time harder. ‘I’m talking to you! My daughter loves your group and I want an autograph.’

‘Piss off,’ Crystal muttered, turning her head away from him.

‘I heard that!’ the man’s voice became more aggressive and louder. ‘I’m not moving until you give me an autograph.’

Judging by the alcohol fumes on his breath he’d been hitting the duty free for some time.

‘Look, mate, why don’t you just go back to your seat and leave her alone.’ It was Jake.

‘Fuck off!’ the man shouted back. ‘It’s none of your business!’ But Jake was already unfastening his seat belt and standing up as two of the cabin crew were approaching them. And drunk and belligerent as he was, the man realised he was outnumbered and backed off, but not before delivering his parting shot. ‘It’s the blonde one’s autograph I really wanted, not that slag’s.’

Crystal felt tears of humiliation fill her eyes. She never should have agreed to make this final video. Whatever it cost her she should have said no. Her self-esteem was already in tatters. She really didn’t know how much more she could take. Next to her Jake had sat down again, and muttered, ‘You okay?’

She nodded, not trusting herself to speak.

‘Why don’t we swap seats? You won’t get hassled in the middle.’

‘Thanks,’ Crystal managed to reply.

‘There’s more leg room for me at the end anyway,’ Jake answered.

Still
, thought Crystal,
it had been nice of him to rescue me; he couldn’t still hate me, could he?

He barely spoke to her for the rest of the flight. Instead Crystal found herself chatting to Gavin. She had always got
on well with him. Luckily she didn’t have to do much of the talking as Gavin had recently fallen in love and was desperate to talk about Lara, his new girlfriend who he’d met while he and Jake were working in Australia. He’d obviously bored all his friends stiff and needed a fresh audience. Crystal was only too happy to oblige, anything to stop her obsessing over Jake.

‘So what do you think?’ Gavin said eagerly at the end of his glowing description of his girlfriend.

‘She sounds great,’ Crystal answered.

‘And you’ll have to meet her; she’s flying over when I get back from Ibiza and I’m having a party.’

Crystal smiled; partying was the last thing on her agenda.

‘And if you’re seeing anyone, you can bring them too,’ Gavin added.

Crystal shook her head. ‘I’m not seeing anyone.’

That got Jake’s attention. He turned to Crystal. ‘That must be a first for you.’ There was an edge to his voice that made Crystal wince; she’d been wrong earlier. He obviously did hate her.

She shrugged. ‘Not at all.’ Not wanting the attention to be on her, she asked Gavin if he had any photographs of his new girlfriend. She regretted asking as Gavin proceeded to show her what seemed like a hundred snaps. With every picture of the two of them wrapped in each other’s arms, or of his girlfriend smiling away happily at the camera, Crystal felt a wave of sadness and regret rise up inside. She couldn’t ever imagine being that happy and in love again.

She handed the photographs back to Gavin, repeating how lovely his girlfriend looked, and as she did so the sleeve of her jacket slipped back revealing the long scar on her right arm.

‘What happened to your arm, Crystal?’ Gavin asked, sounding concerned.

‘It was from my accident,’ Crystal answered, assuming he knew.

‘What accident?’ Jake put down his book and turned to look at her.

‘You know, when I got knocked over by the car, in December.’

Jake shook his head. ‘I didn’t know.’

‘Oh? My brother left a message for you with Stella. She said she would call you.’ She dared herself to look at Jake. For a few seconds it looked like he actually cared, before he said: ’There must have been a mix-up. I never got the message. You’re okay, though?’

Crystal nodded and Jake went back to reading, while Gavin wanted to know all the details.

She hung back from the group when they landed. She didn’t want to see Belle or Dallas but he sought her out.

‘Good flight, Crystal?’ he asked.

‘It was great, thanks. I must travel economy more often; you meet such interesting people. You should try it, Dallas,’ she answered sweetly, determined not to let him get to her.

He laughed. ‘I’m sorry, you were meant to be in first class, there was a mistake in the bookings. I’m not
that
mean. Anyway, good to see you looking so well.’ He walked off, then seemed to remember something else. ‘But by the way, you’ll be staying with the crew in the guesthouse. It’s nothing personal, it’s just I can’t risk Belle getting upset by seeing too much of you. You do understand, don’t you?’

‘Whatever you want, Dallas,’ Crystal answered, thinking,
shit, I’m staying with Jake. What’s that going to be like?
Just then Gavin called her; ‘Hey, Crystal, the car’s waiting, come on.’ Crystal picked up her bag and walked swiftly to the exit.
If I can get through the next week,
she told herself grimly,
I can get through anything.

The guesthouse turned out to be a spacious, luxurious villa next to Dallas’s mansion. No expense had been spared in its lavish decor, and it even had its own pool and hot tub. There would be five of them staying there – Jez, Danni, Jake, Gavin and Crystal. After the car dropped them off they all wandered into the house and into the open-plan lounge, with its stunning view of the Med.

‘There are five bedrooms – three face the sea and two are at the back. So shall we draw straws to see who gets what?’ Gavin asked the group. Crystal could tell that Jez and Danni really wanted a sea view, and as she didn’t care where she slept she said, ‘I’m happy to have one of the back rooms, if that makes it easier.’ The others seemed okay with that, so she picked up her bag and wandered upstairs. It had been a very long day and she felt emotionally strung out. All she wanted to do was have a shower, a beer and crash out. She smiled to herself as she checked out her bedroom – she made sure she chose the smallest of the two, not wanting the others to think she was grabbing the best one for herself – but it was still a huge room and shared a bathroom with the other double. She’d almost forgotten that Dallas never settled for anything less than full luxury all the way. The view from the balcony was of a beautiful garden filled with purple and orange bougainvillea and palm trees. She took a long shower, put on a pair of denim shorts and a black vest and went downstairs to grab a beer from the fridge, intending to sneak back upstairs, sit on her balcony and celebrate her birthday quietly. Most of the others were outside by the pool drinking beer and chatting.

‘Come and have a drink, Crystal,’ Danni called out. Crystal hesitated; she could go back upstairs and be on her own, or she could join them. It was going to be a tough week and she’d missed her friends – at least they still liked her.

‘Okay,’ she shouted back. ‘Anyone want another beer?’

‘I’ll have one.’ Crystal started at the sound of Jake’s voice behind her. She turned round. He’d also had a shower and swapped his jeans for cut-off combats and a white vest. He looked seriously good.

‘Sure,’ she answered, getting two beers out of the fridge. Just being this close to him made her so nervous she couldn’t even work out how to use the bottle opener. After a few minutes of watching her fumbling around uselessly Jake took the opener from her and expertly prised the tops off both bottles.

‘A man could die of thirst waiting for you,’ he said,
handing her a beer and walking past her and out on to the terrace. She followed him out, taking a slug of beer for confidence.

As she sat down Jez held up a bottle of champagne and said, ‘Surprise! Happy birthday, Crystal!’ He cracked it open and poured everyone a glass.

‘Oh my God!’ she exclaimed, self-conscious about being the centre of attention. ‘You didn’t have to do this.’

Jez came over and kissed her. ‘You didn’t think we’d forget our favourite girl’s birthday, did you?’ he said, handing her a present and a card. He was followed by Danni, who handed her another parcel, and by Gavin, who gave her a big hug and said, ‘Jez only told me when we landed, so I couldn’t get you anything.’

Jake remained sitting some distance away but at least he raised his beer and said, ‘Happy birthday, kid.’ Crystal smiled, then quickly looked away. It was too bitter-sweet seeing him. Jez bossily ordered her to open her presents.

He’d bought her some gorgeous lingerie from Agent Provocateur, which Crystal hastily wrapped up again as she felt awkward looking at it in front of Jake.

‘I thought you deserved a treat, my darling,’ Jez said as she thanked him. Danni had bought her some lovely spa products.

‘Thank you so much,’ Crystal said, hugging both her friends. ‘I feel really spoiled.’ She was touched that they’d remembered her birthday. She didn’t want to be the centre of attention any more but her friends hadn’t seen her in months and were keen to catch up with her and bombarded her with questions.

‘How was your Christmas?’ Danni asked.

‘Oh, you know, pretty quiet, it was just my brother, his girlfriend, a few of their friends and me.’ The truth was it had been awful – everyone was so full of festive spirit and Crystal had never felt more miserable. She’d put on a brave face for everyone else’s sake but hated every minute. It was meant to have been her and Jake’s first Christmas together and he had
talked about hiring a cottage somewhere where they could celebrate it, just the two of them. When Crystal had said that she didn’t particularly like the countryside he had told that she didn’t have to go out, and that they’d spend the time making love in front of the fire . . .

‘You should have come to my New Year’s Eve party,’ Jez said. ‘It was fabulous, wasn’t it, Danni?’

‘It was unforgettable,’ Danni replied. ‘Jez had a beach theme and everyone had to go in their swimsuits. Jez wore the tiniest pair of white trunks and more fake tan than everyone else put together.’

‘Well, I had to show off my new body,’ Jez said. ‘I’ve lost nearly a stone, haven’t you noticed, Crystal?’

‘I had and you look great,’ Crystal smiled, enjoying being back with her friends.

‘Though if you don’t mind me saying so, darling, you’ve lost a little too much weight. You’re not going all anorexic on us, are you?’ Jez said, a note of anxiety in his voice.

Crystal tried to shrug off the comment. ‘I haven’t really, Jez, I’ve just been going to the gym a lot. I’ve got to wear a bikini for most of the shoot and I didn’t want to be worrying about my belly and having to hold my breath in the whole time.’

‘All right, but I’ll be keeping an eye on you to make sure you eat. Size zero is
so
last season. Anyway, I love the hair, it looks sensational, though I wish you’d come to me, darling, I am a little hurt.’

‘Sorry,’ Crystal answered. ‘It was a bit of a spur of the moment decision.’

‘It really suits you, Crystal,’ Danni put in. ‘I just can’t believe you were brave enough to have it all cut off.’

‘And what’s this?’ Jez pointed at the delicate black tattoo on her wrist.

‘Oh, it’s nothing,’ Crystal mumbled. ‘Just the Chinese character C,’ she lied,
really
wishing they would talk about something else. Jez looked as if he was about to say something else, so Crystal quickly got in first and asked Danni about her
recent trip to France. As Danni talked about her stay in Paris, working on one of the fashion shows, Crystal sipped her champagne and took surreptitious glances at Jake. He was talking to Gavin and he looked relaxed and happy. The last time she’d seen him was when they broke up. He’d looked so angry and hurt.

God, I’ve missed him so much.
Not wanting to think about it, she had another sip of champagne and lit a cigarette. Immediately Danni was on her case.

‘I thought you’d given up, Crystal,’ Danni exclaimed.

‘I did for ages, and then I cracked,’ she answered. Jake looked over at her and frowned. Smoking was one of the few things they’d argued about. He thought it was a disgusting habit and gave her a really hard time about it. She had managed to give up when they were together and then when the Max situation came into the open, she went straight back to her bad habit.

‘Well, you should try again, shouldn’t she, Jake?’ Danni asked. Jake looked over but avoided eye contact with Crystal.

‘I’m sure Crystal will give up when she wants to.’ He looked away again. Crystal took another drag of her cigarette and found she didn’t really want it any more.

‘Hey, Jake, isn’t that a new tattoo on your arm?’ Jez exclaimed. ‘You and Crystal are getting into them, aren’t you? Next thing we know you’ll have a giant crucifix on your back à la Beckham.’ Crystal looked over. Jez was right. On Jake’s right shoulder there was a tattoo that she hadn’t seen before.

Jake nodded, clearly not wanting to talk about it. Crystal shot Jez a warning glance as she could see he was about to ask him more.

Jake stood up. ‘I’ve got a couple of calls to make. I’ll see you later.’ And he walked back into the house.

‘Why did you give me that look?’ Jez demanded.

‘Because I could see he didn’t want to talk about it. It’s probably the name of his new girlfriend,’ Crystal said bitterly.

‘Actually, it’s your name, Crystal. He had it done when
he was filming in Spain; he wanted it to be a surprise and then—’ Gavin trailed off awkwardly.

‘Then we broke up,’ Crystal finished the sentence for him. She wondered if there was any hope to be gleaned from the fact that he hadn’t had it removed yet, and then remembered he still had Eve’s name tattooed on his wrist.

‘Yeah, he says he’s not going to get anyone else’s name tattooed and that if he does it will only be after they’ve been married for at least ten years. Oh God, sorry Crystal. I didn’t mean to say that.’ Gavin looked mortified.

‘It’s okay,’ Crystal reassured him, feeling anything but okay.