Read Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend Online
Authors: Jenny Colgan
Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend (29 page)
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‘Pathetic low-life failure.’
‘You just think with your dick.’
‘And you are one.’
At that, Eck pulled back his hand and clenched it into a fist. Cal actually laughed at him. Eck was red and trembling and was just about to throw a punch when, shocked, I jumped in the middle.
‘What the hell is going on?’ I yelled. The little Icelandic girl looked alarmed.
Cal and Eck instantly drew back and immediately looked ashamed of themselves.
‘Sorry man, OK?’ said Cal. ‘I’ve just been stressed out about my degree show. So should you be, incidentally.’
‘I’m sorry too,’ said Eck. ‘Too many things . . . you know.’ Cal nodded. ‘Friends?’
‘Friends.’
‘Hey, is no one going to apologise to me?’ I said petulantly. Everyone in the house turned to look at me in surprise.
‘Well, I was very frightened,’ I said.
Cal shook his head.
‘Girls,’ he said. ‘Nothing but trouble.’
‘Isn’t anybody going to fight?’ said James. ‘I have a lance.’
‘Nope,’ said Cal. ‘Show’s over.’
And he headed upstairs to the room at the top of the house, the little Icelandic pixie scampering behind him.
‘Well . . . that went well,’ I said.
Eck held out his hand to me. I stared at it, confused for a moment as to why my flatmate was offering me his hand.
‘Oh,’ I said.
He took it back.
‘Sorry, not if . . .’
I took it.
‘Yes, please,’ I said.
Eck and I lay together in the bed, kissing and stroking each other. He smelled of Plasticine and something slightly metallic. It was nice. Weirdly, though, I couldn’t quite get into the mood. It was exciting and new, being so close to Eck. But I couldn’t help thinking about the last time I was in this situation - just a floor above - and I somehow couldn’t quite get my mind to switch off. Plus, of course, knowing Cal was upstairs doing exactly the same thing with someone else. What was she like? Was she better than me? I didn’t want Cal, but I couldn’t close my mind off, especially in a new situation when I was nervous anyway.
Eventually, after having to shift about a bit in Eck’s narrow bed, we reached a comfortable position where we were just kissing, and tickling a little, and giggling and chatting. Eventually Eck said, ‘Do you just want to sleep here? You know, not rush anything?’ and I realised straight away that this what I wanted after all.
‘That would be lovely,’ I said. ‘As long as you don’t mind?’
Eck tried to intimate that obviously he did mind terribly but it would be very bad manners under the circumstances, which I thought was extremely gentlemanly of him. The truth, I suspected, was that he was nervous too. Which was comforting. So, kissing and nestled in each other’s arms, we drifted off to sleep. I felt warm and calm and looked after for the first time in a long time. There would be no nightmares tonight.
Chapter Fifteen
I woke up before Eck in the morning, and for a long time looked at his sweet face and brown hair strewn out on the pillow. I felt, for the first time, better waking up in the morning than I had the night before.
I sat up. The morning light was coming through the dirty windows. I felt a momentary shaft of positivity. Right. Eck and I . . . oh, I quite liked that. The sound of it, like we were boyfriend and girlfriend. OK. I was going to work as hard for Julius as anyone ever possibly could, take over the twins’ shoots and anything else I could get my hands on. I’d start building up my own portfolio and have a proper job. A real job. And a bloody cleaning rota. I’d never thought it could ever be a dream of mine to have a cleaning rota, but we all have to adjust our expectations as we grow up.
I left Eck to sleep. I suspected I’d probably given him a dead arm and he’d need his rest to restore his circulation. Downstairs, there was no one else in the kitchen apart from baby Bjork.
‘Hello,’ I said, a little shamefacedly. We must have seemed horribly rough, barging into the house last night and then Cal and Eck squaring up to each other.
‘Hi,’ she said softly.
‘So . . . er . . . good night?’ I asked, then felt stupid immediately.
She shrugged. ‘Oh, you know. Cal. He is like the wind.’
‘What, quick and farty?’ I asked, but then realised that arty girls in love don’t always have the best sense of humour, so I pretended I’d been coughing and put the kettle on.
‘He must fly here and there . . . he can’t be tied down.’
I thought she was putting a very romantic spin on the fact that Cal was basically a slut.
‘He cannot be tamed . . .’
’Cause he’s a feckless arse I wanted to say, but didn’t.
She smiled ruefully, then her face took on a dreamy look. ‘Still, to be with him . . .’
‘Eck is lovely too,’ I said quickly.
‘Who?’ she said.
‘Eck. The other boy who lives here.’
‘The soldier?’
‘No, my boyfriend . . . never mind. Tea?’
‘No, thank you,’ she said. ‘I’m just in to get two glasses of water . . . then, back to bed . . .’
‘Fine,’ I said. ‘Yeah, me too.’
She looked up at me. ‘Have you . . . I mean, do lots of girls come through here?’
‘Don’t worry about it,’ I said. She was terribly pretty, in a wounded penguin kind of a way. Maybe this one would hang around longer than the rest. Longer than me, a little voice inside of me whispered, but I tried to ignore it, as I waited for the kettle to boil.
‘Good morning!’ I walked into the studio holding a cup of my usual café’s takeaway coffee. It wasn’t Starbucks, but I still felt oddly optimistic holding it in my hands as I walked - like a real working person, with a real job, that enabled her to buy coffee.
Julius looked up from his camera.
‘How are you?’ I said.
Julius grunted something into the lens of his Nikon. ‘You’ve perked up. Don’t tell me - bloke?’
‘Maybe,’ I started rearranging the costumes with a smile playing around my lips.
‘That guy yesterday? The vampire pirate? Dashing in to save you from the evils of tittage?’
‘Cal isn’t a vampire pirate,’ I said. ‘He just looks a bit like one. Anyway, no, not him. Someone much nicer.’
I hugged the thought to myself. Someone nice. Someone lovely. Someone dependable.
Julius raised an eyebrow. ‘Well, anyway. I’ve had a friend of yours on the phone.’
‘What do you mean, a friend of mine?’
‘I knew it,’ said Julius. ‘Look, you can’t let this get out, Sophie. If the whole fashion world knows I work glamour on the side . . . well, it’s bad for my image, innit?’
‘What on earth are you talking about?’
‘Carena Sutherland.’
‘What? What about her?’
He gave me a dark look. ‘She wants me to take her wedding snaps.’
‘No way.’
‘I told her, Julius Mandinski doesn’t take wedding snaps. But she wasn’t taking no for an answer.’
‘Well, that does sound like her . . .’
‘Julius Mandinski is a high-end fashion creator. I don’t need fucking weddings.’
‘Just Page Three.’
‘Page Three is a fuck of a lot more honest than most weddings. ’
‘There’s probably something in that,’ I said. ‘So, did you say no?’
‘Well.’
‘What?’
‘She threatened me.’
‘Threatened you? What with?’
‘Exposure. She threatened to go to all the glossy mags and tell them about my little jobs on the side.’
Only Carena would stoop to blackmail on her wedding day.
‘Tell her to fuck off! You don’t care! And by the way, I didn’t grass you up. She got it all from that cow Philly.’
Julius looked a bit sheepish, kicking his expensive trainers. I forget sometimes, that just because I’ve had every bit of dignity and privacy stripped from my life, that other people might feel they had appearances to keep up.
‘Yeah, but, well, it’s useful, like.’
‘Won’t it do your career a lot worse to be seen taking wedding photos?’
‘She says it’s a big society bash, is that right?’
‘Yes,’ I said. ‘She’d have liked David Bailey.’
Julius hated anyone mentioning David Bailey. He kicked the chair leg.
‘Plus, she’s offered a lot of money,’ he said.
‘She has a lot of money,’ I said. ‘Ask her for more.’
‘You’re invited to this wedding I take it?’
‘Me? No. No. Carena and I aren’t friends any more.’
‘That’s right, it were in the paper, weren’t it? She’s marrying your ex—’
‘Yes, well
that
doesn’t matter, I’ve got a new boyfriend now.’
that
doesn’t matter, I’ve got a new boyfriend now.’
There was a pause.
‘How likely is she to carry out her threat?’ asked Julius finally.
‘Very. She is quite evil,’ I said, honestly.
He rolled his eyes. ‘Look, for what she wants . . . I’ll need a full-time assistant to take portraits of all the guests in groups, as well as “casual” shots. Posed and unposed.’
My heart started to beat extra quickly and my brain was racing. Julius was going to take me out on a job! A proper one, with me working! But, but, but, but. It would be Carena’s wedding. I couldn’t. I just couldn’t. Of course not. It would be unthinkable, awful, upsetting.
On the other hand. Did I care? I carefully prodded my heart to see how it reacted at the thought of Rufus getting married and Carena walking down the aisle towards him. There was a sting, definitely.
And would Carena even let me come? I’d already been strongly disinvited, and I certainly wasn’t going to beg. On the other hand, what was she going to do, have me removed by security? Oh, yes, that wasn’t beyond Carena in the slightest.
‘I’ll pay you . . .’ And Julius named a figure that would - well, it would solve a lot of my problems. A
lot
.
lot
.
I blew out my cheeks. ‘OK, you’re going to do it?’
‘Yeah,’ said Julius.
‘And I can work with you on it?’
‘Yeah.’
‘Right,’ I said. ‘Let’s do it. I’m going to text her and let her know.’
‘Yeah, OK. My fucking art, wasted on a wedding.’
‘A very expensive wedding,’ I pointed out, taking out my phone.
‘ Right, hurry up about it, Pinky and Perky are on the way.’
As if on cue the twins burst in. ‘
Sophie!
Who was that totally hot bloke yesterday? He was at your party too!’
Sophie!
Who was that totally hot bloke yesterday? He was at your party too!’
‘No one,’ I said. ‘My flatmate. No one, really. Someone with too much time on his hands.’
‘God, I’d love a bloke to charge in and tell me to stop doing stuff like that,’ said Grace.
‘What about that bloke in Southend last year?’ said Kelly.
‘Yeah, bozo, but that was like my
stepdad
. When I was fifteen. So it doesn’t count.’
stepdad
. When I was fifteen. So it doesn’t count.’
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