Valentine (9 page)

'Very nice, very white,' Valentine answered, struggling
not to giggle.

Nathan shut his mouth. 'I don't know what the big
deal is. I prefer your teeth,' he told Lauren. 'They've got
character.'

Lauren had a face like thunder and she narrowed her
eyes. 'You mean like someone out of a Dickens story! All
crooked and yellow, like a fucking hag's!' she hissed. Then
added 'Motherfucker!' for good measure in her American
accent.

Nathan laughed. 'I can't decide what's worse – you
saying motherfucker, or that accent which is
so
bad.'

'See, I told you,' Valentine put in. 'Only Americans
can say motherfucker; Nathan said it much better than
you and he's not even a drug dealer.' She glanced at him
again; surely he was too wholesome-looking. 'You're not,
are you?'

Now it was Nathan's turn to roll his eyes.

'Anyway, please don't mention the
teeth
,' Valentine
appealed to Nathan. She didn't think she could stand
another night of Lauren's teeth fixation.

He shrugged and muttered, 'Whatever.'

'So what time are we due at Fi-fi's?' Lauren asked. For
a split second Valentine hadn't got a clue what she was
on about, then she twigged. This was the routine Lauren
always used when she wanted out of a situation. Fi-fi
didn't exist except in Lauren's imagination, which was
just as well given her wanky name, and she was very
useful when Lauren needed to rid get of some man
sharpish. Valentine made a show of looking at her watch.
'We should leave in ten minutes.'

Nathan folded his arms across his chest. 'So am I
invited?'

'Darling, I'm sorry but Fi-fi is very fragile. She's just
split up with her husband. Well, he left her and now he's
demanding that she move out of the house. She's in an
appalling state, crying hysterically.'

'Well maybe I could help,' Nathan said calmly. What
was going on? Valentine wondered. This never happened.
It was surely time for Lauren's masterstroke.

'Oh, that's so sweet of you, but she's really off men
at the moment and there are her three children – all
under five – to look after. It could get very . . .' – she
paused for dramatic emphasis – '
emotional
.'

'I used to work at a summer camp for inner-city kids;
I'm pretty much not phased by shit like that.'

Lauren looked at Valentine in dismay and Valentine
shrugged helplessly. Lauren's routine had always worked
in the past; men hated the thought of raw emotion on
show. Throw in the children and it was a dead cert that
they would scarper.

'But if you don't want me to come, that's cool. Can I
have your digits?' Nathan asked.

'My what?' Lauren exclaimed. 'I thought we'd just
done all that.'

'He means your number,' Valentine interpreted.

'Nathan, you've so got to stop talking like a Lily Allen
song. You're American, right?'

Now it was Nathan's turn to roll his eyes. 'And you're
British, so quit saying
so
like some high-school bimbo.
And the motherfucker has gotta go.'

Lauren pursed her lips, she
so
hated to be criticised.
'I've just lost my mobile. Give me your digits and I'll call
you.' Another regularly deployed tactic of hers when she
didn't want to be in contact with someone again. She
hadn't lost her mobile.

'OK.' And wandering over to the table he picked up
a felt pen, walked back over to Lauren, took her arm and
wrote down his name and number on her bare skin. 'Don't
forget to call me.'

'Couldn't you have found some paper?' Lauren said
in outrage. 'I think that was my CD marker pen; it's never
going to come off !'

'Well, you'll have no excuse not to call me then,' Nathan
replied.

'Sure, I'll call you,' Lauren answered, crossing her
fingers behind her back so that only Valentine could
see them. And with that Nathan turned and took his
beautiful body out of the room. Valentine gave a
what the
fuck
look to Lauren, who sniffed dismissively. Nathan had
seemed like a genuinely nice guy – a first for Lauren.
Lauren shrugged, had another sip of wine and poked
ineffectually at the fire. Nathan returned to the living
room dressed in jeans and a blue sweater, the exact colour
of his eyes. He looked adorable and any other woman
would have been clinging on to him like a limpet. 'I
thought you guys had to be somewhere.'

Lauren looked faintly guilty. 'We do,' she insisted.
'We're just having a drink to give us strength; it's going
to be a tough night.' Then she blew him a kiss. 'I'll call
you.'

Nathan looked sceptical and said, 'Well if you don't,
I know where you live, and when I next come round let
me make the fire. Motherfucker! This flat is cold!' Then
he left.

Valentine waited a few minutes until she heard the
downstairs door click shut, then spoke. 'Lauren, he seemed
really nice – why didn't you want him to stay?'

'How long have you got? He's a model, so he'll be
vain, self-centred and boring. I can't be arsed.'

'He didn't come across like that.'

'No, he just came all over me!' Lauren laughed loudly
at her own joke.

'You're evil! You're going to end up a bitter and twisted
old woman, living on her own, with just her memories
and cats for company,' Valentine teased her.

'And the wine, don't forget the wine; I could bear
anything so long as I had the wine! And you have to scrap
the cats, because I'm allergic. Can't I have a horse instead?
A lovely palamino?'

'In your tiny bedsit, lit by the single-barred electric fire,
which you can't afford to have on, with the flocked wallpaper
and garishly patterned carpet? I don't think so,
sunshine. You can have a poodle.'

'
No!'
Lauren exclaimed dramatically, then snapped out
it. 'Forget it, I'm only twenty-fucking-seven; I've got years
of this ahead of me.' She stretched her slim arms over
her head and yawned adding, 'Actually, Nathan was very
good. I might have to see him again. In fact I might even
ask him to Tamara's – he's so good-looking she's bound
to be jealous. And his teeth were sublime. Gods among
teeth.'

'I can't believe you can base a relationship on the state
of someone's teeth!'

'Obviously he's got a massive cock as well,' Lauren
retorted, then cackled with laughter. 'So you'd better take
someone – you don't want Tamara thinking you're a saddo
single on top of being a struggling actress – what about
that Jack? I really want to meet him.'

Now it was Valentine's turn to try and look nonchalant.
'I expect he'll be out with Julia husky Turner, or another
of his lovely ladies. He is catnip to the female population,
I swear, especially the older ones.'

'Well, text him now and ask him,' Lauren demanded.

Valentine stubbornly shook her head, not wanting to
admit that Lauren's idea was a good one. The truth was
she would be mortified if he said no. 'Anyway, I'm going
to Tesco. Do you want anything?' Valentine asked,
keen to deflect Lauren.

'Just tobacco and I fancy some chocolate eclairs.'

Valentine tutted, thinking of her own virtuous planned
purchases of spinach, carrots, cucumber and houmous.
'You
so
deserve to be fat,' were her parting words.

On her way out she checked if Lily and Frank needed
anything but Lily informed her, a little smugly, Valentine
thought, that she'd just done an online shop. 'Honestly
Valentine, you should do it; it's so much easier! Gives you
time to concentrate on other things.'

Valentine couldn't help noticing that as she said it
Lily gave Frank a flirtatious little smile, and Frank
winked back. Surely she didn't mean that they'd been
up to anything this afternoon? Valentine wondered as
she walked round Tesco Metro on Portabello Road. She
adored Frank and Lily, but really didn't want to think of
them
at it
at their ages.
Then again
, she thought as
she sifted through the cucumbers in the fruit and veg
section,
good on them
.

'What the fuck did you do that for?' she said aghast, when
Lauren revealed that in her absence she had texted Jack
from Valentine's phone to invite him to the party and he
had replied that he would love to come.

Lauren rolled her eyes. 'Keep your knickers on; you're
only inviting him to a party, that's all.'

And the thought popped into Valentine's head that
maybe she didn't want that to be all.

'Anyway, just think of the expression on NTM's face
when she sees him – if he really is as gorgeous as you
say, she'll be so jealous. You know how much she hates
it if anyone has anything or anyone prettier than she
does.'

'You're right,' Valentine admitted. 'It would be worth
it for that alone.'

God, I loathe North London,' Lauren grumbled as she,
Valentine, Nathan and Jack got off the Tube at Chalk
Farm station. 'It's so right that the Northern line is black
on the map, because that's what North London is like:
gloomy, depressing, with too many houses too close
together.'

'You should really learn to have an opinion,' Nathan
teased in his Californian drawl.

Lauren insisted on walking up the stairs as she had a
phobia of lifts, and Nathan went with her, so Valentine
and Jack waited for the lift together. Jack had his hands
shoved into the pockets of his battered black leather jacket
with the collar turned up. He looked so sexy and Valentine
got a thrill every time she sneaked a glance at him.

'I'm glad you asked me tonight,' he said. 'I was going
to ask you out, but you beat me to it.'

'You make it sound like a date,' Valentine replied, 'And
this is not a "date" date.'

'I thought that was exactly what this was,' Jack replied.

Valentine was on a mission to play it cool, and side-stepped
the comment. 'Oh look, the lift's here.'

As the steel lift door closed, Jack moved closer and
said, 'You look beautiful in that dress.' Valentine was sure
it wasn't just the speed of the lift that made her stomach
flip so deliciously.

Lauren and Nathan had already climbed the stairs and
were waiting outside the station. Lauren was lighting up
one of her roll-ups while Nathan looked on with an expression
of disgust. 'You know you really should think about
giving up,' he said. 'Hypnotherapy might help.' Lauren
blew out one of her perfect smoke rings and said, 'I like
smoking. When I don't, I'll give up. If you don't like it,
well . . .' She shrugged, leaving Nathan in no doubt what
he could do.

'Whoah, you're harsh!' Jack exclaimed.

'She's a pussy cat really,' Valentine hastily put in, fearing
the evening was about to go spectacularly tits up. Lauren
did not take kindly to criticism.

'She's no pussy cat,' Nathan said dryly. 'But I like her
anyway,' and he put his arm round Lauren. Valentine
was waiting for Lauren to push him away, but she didn't.
She must like him.

'So what's Tamara like? I hope you don't think I'm
being rude, as she's a friend of yours, but she's not a great
actress, is she?'

Valentine liked Jack all the more for recognising Tamara's
talent bypass. 'I can't stand her actually, but Lauren thinks
we might meet someone useful there. I know that sounds
shallow, but frankly she deserves it. She's probably only
asked us so she can feel better about herself. We needn't
stay long; we can just see if there are any people worth
talking to, down the champagne and then split.'

They walked slowly through the elegant, wealthy streets
of Primrose Hill. Valentine wished they weren't going to
the party; she was enjoying being alone with Jack far too
much. But within ten minutes they had arrived at Tamara's
three-storey house. Lauren and Nathan had got there first
and the four of them stood outside for a minute, taking
in the view of the stunning white Georgian building. The
party had already started and they could see the guests
milling around the vast, elegant living room, while waiters
circulated with trays of champagne and canapés. It was
a scene of such wealth and opulence. Valentine suddenly
felt conscious of how shabby her second-hand black fake
fur coat from Portabello market must seem and how her
red suede heels had really seen better days. She shivered.

'You cold?' Jack asked. 'I can warm you up.' And he
raised her hand to his lips and softly kissed it.

'Smoothie!' Valentine shot back, but she didn't pull her
hand away and after Jack had kissed it he continued to
hold it as they walked up the stone stairs to the imposing
front door.

Moments later one of the waiting staff had taken their
coats and had ushered them into the palatial living room.
It was lit by two dazzling chandeliers, flickering Jo Malone
candles on the white marble fireplace filling the room
with their heady scent. Tamara was holding court with
some well-known actors. She spotted them and waved,
but carried on talking.

'We're not important enough for her,' Lauren whispered
to Valentine. 'But what the fuck, let's get some
champagne.' She quickly got the attention of one of the
waiters and they each took a glass of champagne from
the tray he offered. As a stroke of luck, Lauren recognised
him from one of her castings and managed to
persuade him to leave them the bottle. 'And keep them
coming,' she winked at him.

'Will do, Lauren,' the waiter said adoringly.

'Tell me you didn't,' Nathan demanded when the waiter
had trotted obediently off to get Lauren more champagne
and a tray of sushi.

'Could have,' Lauren replied, narrowing her beautiful
blue eyes, 'but I chose not to.'

Conversation flowed easily between the four of them.
Lauren clearly liked Jack, as she was particularly cheeky
to him, taking the piss out of him for falling for the
fluffers lie, which was always a sign that she approved
of someone. The time to worry about Lauren was when
she was coolly polite.

It was a good fifteen minutes before Tamara got round
to saying hello to them, making them fully aware of their
position in the status stakes, not that any of them cared. 'Hi
guys! I'm so glad you could make it!' Tamara exclaimed,
sweeping over to their group, a vision of loveliness in a
Grecian-style white silk dress. There then followed the obligatory
introductions and air-kissing rituals, where Valentine
couldn't help noticing how Tamara's gaze lingered longest
on Jack. Even though nothing had happened between her
and Jack, she felt a sudden flash of jealousy.

'So how are you Tamara?' Lauren asked her, summoning
their waiter over for yet more refills.

'Absolutely exhausted,' Tamara declared. 'I've been
filming back to back for the last six months!'

She didn't look tired, Valentine thought bitterly; she
looked as good as ever. She might possess very little acting
talent, but Tamara's stunning good looks meant that the
camera loved her face with her huge blue-grey eyes,
regular features, shoulder-length honey-blonde hair and
a naturally petite body, which she kept small through
rigorous exercise and dieting. Though she did have one
Achilles heel – her arse was really quite large for someone
with such a small frame. Valentine and Lauren had been
known to call her Five Mile Bottom behind her back.
Tamara was extremely conscious of it, hence the floaty
number that disguised it. Arse aside, Valentine even at
her thinnest – a size ten as she was now – always felt like
a cart horse next to the miniature Tamara. Instinctively
she crossed her arms over her chest, feeling self-conscious
that she was revealing too much cleavage in her low-cut
figure-hugging black dress. Lauren rolled her eyes at
Valentine. They both knew what was coming next: time
for Tamara to revel in their lack of work.

'So what have you two been up to? More theatre work?
It must be so lovely doing stage; I've really missed it.' And
without waiting for their reply she pressed on, 'I've said
to my agent that when I've got a decent break between
films, I would so love to do some stage. Film just isn't the
same; I really want a role I can get my teeth into.'

'Perhaps you could be in
Chicago
,' Jack put in. 'They're
always looking for guest stars.' And Valentine wanted to
kiss him for puncturing Tamara's bubble.

'Oh no!' she exclaimed, looking horrified, 'I meant
serious theatre, darling! You know, like Nicole Kidman
appeared in
The Blue Room
!' She looked most put out and
curled her lip petulantly. Then Valentine saw her give
Jack another appraising look as she clearly decided to give
him a second chance. She tilted her chin up and looked
coy. 'So what would I have seen you in? You look very
familiar.' Lauren had been spot on in her comment that
Tamara would fancy Jack – she probably fancied Nathan
too, but he had his arms draped round Lauren and had
eyes only for her.

Valentine grabbed another glass of champagne from
their waiter, who was hovering nearby, neglecting his
duties to gaze at Lauren. She'd been wrong to listen to
Lauren and come to the party. She could feel her self-esteem
plummeting; any minute now she'd be attacking
the canapés. Jack might have said that Tamara had no
talent, but he couldn't fail to be impressed by her
looks, her wealth and her connections. Out of the corner
of her eye she noticed Tamara's famous movie-star
mother holding court. Still a beauty in her late fifties,
she had however seriously OD'd on the Botox. Her face
was almost completely immobile; probably she had to
hold up flash cards to indicate what emotion she wanted
to express.

Valentine turned back to Tamara and Jack. Was it
her imagination or had Tamara moved closer to Jack?
So close in fact that one of her small, perky breasts,
small enough to be bra-free, was nearly brushing against
his arm.

'I'm sure you must be a fantastic Bottom!' Tamara
giggled, and Valentine had to fight the temptation to grab
the tray of exquisite sushi and throw it all over her shiny,
poker-straight (it bloody would be, wouldn't it?) hair. 'You
must tell me when the play's on and if I'm not in LA I'll
come and see it.'

'I think we're sold out,' Valentine lied.

'Really?' Tamara replied, wrinkling her perfect little
nose in disbelief. 'Well, if you say that
I
want to come
then surely they'll be able to russle me up a ticket.'

'Actually, I don't know if they can,' Jack put in. 'Fire
regulations, you know.' And Valentine gave him a warm
smile, thrilled that he clearly hadn't been taken in by
Tamara. At that moment Tamara's attention was claimed
by one of her starry guests, Lauren took Nathan off to
meet someone she recognised and Valentine and Jack
were left alone.

Jack smiled and whispered, 'She's a bit up herself, isn't
she?'

'She's very pretty, though. With her luminous skin. And
tiny birdlike frame,' Valentine replied. She was tempted
to add that she had a massive arse, but thought it made
her sound too bitchy, so she kept it zipped.

'I'll give her that,' Jack agreed. 'But nothing like as
pretty or as sexy as you in that dress.' He was gazing right
at her. He was so delicious. Valentine felt light-headed
from desire. Or maybe, she tried to tell herself – not
very successfully, given the feelings of lust that were
fizzing round her body – it was the fact that she hadn't
eaten all day, and the no-carb rule she had imposed on
herself because of the nipple tassels was really getting
to her. She could imagine it being responsible for many
an affair as carb-deprived women lost the ability to think
rationally. And there was the fact that she still hadn't
heard from Finn.

'Aren't I a bit too young for you?' she bantered back.
'What with your liking for the older ladies.' Before Julia,
Jack had revealed that he'd been out with another forty-something
actress.

Jack shrugged. 'Older ladies can be more appreciative
and you can always learn something from them.'

'Yeah, but I bet there are some drawbacks. They're
not exactly honeymoon fresh anymore, are they?'
Valentine said cheekily and instantly regretted her words.

'Now, now,' Jack replied, laughing. 'Isn't that being
unsisterly? Or are you trying to draw my attention to your
much tighter, fresher—'

Valentine frantically interrupted him. 'Just forget I said
it, please!'

'I can't!' Jack said, laughing. 'Now all I can think about
is your—'

Valentine put her hand over his mouth, but Jack
continued trying to talk. His lips felt gorgeous. He held
her wrist and moved her hand away. 'I won't say another
word about your superior anatomy if you kiss me.'

Valentine hesitated, then stood on tiptoes and lightly
kissed him on the lips. A kiss that he returned. And the
kiss, which she had hoped would stop something, was
turning into a hot, hard kiss of desire. It was irresistible,
but somehow Valentine found the strength to pull away
and she realised that she had wrapped her arms round
Jack's neck, and that she'd been pressing her body against
his. Bad, very bad. And far too good. She moved
away as if she'd been scalded, then tried to pull some
gestures as if nothing had happened, flicking back her
hair and taking a sip of her champagne. But Jack wasn't
going to let her get away with it; he leaned right over to
her and whispered, so she could feel his warm breath
against her skin. 'And now I just want you even more.
Come back to my flat.'

Valentine nodded, not giving herself time to think of
all the reasons why she shouldn't.

'I'll just grab us a bottle of champagne,' Jack added,
looking for their waiter. Valentine felt as gloriously fizzy
as the champagne, bubbling up with happiness and
desire and anticipation. But then Tamara sidled over
to her.

'Guess who I saw last week, Valentine?'

Valentine shrugged. She was certain it was not going
to be good news for her. It wasn't.

'Finn!' We were both at Adrian's thirtieth.' (Adrian was
another actor who owed his career to his famous parents.)

'Oh.' Valentine tried to keep her expression neutral,
but she could feel the happiness she'd just experienced
beginning to slip away. Tamara always had that effect on
her. She was like one of the Dementors in the Harry
Potter books, sucking all the joy out of her.

'Yeah, he's doing really well, isn't he? And Eva is looking
so gorgeous. Do you know, I think she's lost even more
weight.'

Valentine's happiness levels fell fifty per cent.

'And they've just got engaged.' And kept falling.
'Apparently Finn proposed the day after Valentine's Day.
Funny that he didn't do it on Valentine's Day, isn't it? Oh
course, I remember now! Valentine's Day has bad
memories for all of you, doesn't it?' Happiness levels down
to zero. Job done, Tamara.