Page 4 of Real Rocks
I wished I could tell her the truth about Carl. I wished I could tell someone. But if I did, it could come at a cost. One I didn’t want to contemplate.
“Why don’t you have a drink? Some wine might sort you out.”
Reluctantly, I shook my head. I’d love a gin or vodka or a glass of rosé. But I’d promised Darren, Barney and Tommo I’d be stone cold sober when I arrived. I didn’t want to let them down. They’d stuck with me when they didn’t have to. By working our arses off, we’d managed to get this EP recorded. I owed it to them not to turn up pissed and all over the place.
“Not one drop of alcohol can touch my lips until tonight,” I announced, although it pained me to say so.
“Nothing to stop me though, right?” She clinked her glass with mine.
“Saff? What are you doing here?”
I turned and saw Tris’ Aunt Annie tentatively walking across the restaurant towards us.
“Hi, Annie.” I stood up and air kissed her on both cheeks. “We’re getting a bite to eat before tonight.” I gestured to her bags. “Have you been treating yourself too?”
She nodded. “Yes, Col’s sorted out a hotel for us up here so we don’t have to get the last train home.”
I’d completely forgotten Tris had invited them to the launch party. “That’s nice. You’ll be able to have a couple of glasses of wine then.” I gave her a smile.
Annie’s gaze fell on Rosie, her eyes lighting up in recognition. “Ooo, hello! I recognise you from last month’sEllemagazine. You were in the feature on throwaway fashion, weren’t you?”
Rosie preened. She loved it when anyone recognised her, even if it was a middle-aged woman from suburbia. “I was. It makes such a difference when a brand chooses to embrace sustainability, don’t you think?”
“Oh, absolutely.” I noticed Annie trying to shuffle her Primark bag between the others. “Will you be at Saff’s little do later?” she asked, trying to change the subject.
“I will indeed. We can chat more later then if you’d like? I know Saff needs to go home and get ready, so we’ll be leaving soon.” She shot me a look which said, ‘who the fuck?’
“Lovely! Look forward to seeing you both later.” Annie fluttered her fingers in a wave and headed off to find a table of her own.
“Who’s the polyester wearing busybody?” Rosie asked, keeping her voice down in case it carried across the restaurant to Annie.
“Tris’ aunt. She’s…” I tried to find the right word to describe her. “She means well.”
“Shall I guess she doesn’t think you’re good enough for her darling nephew?”
“Bang on the money as always.”
“And what did she say after your recent hospital stay?”
I sipped on the elderflower pressé and wished there was something stronger in there. “Tris didn’t tell her. Well, he didn’t tell her the truth. He said I’d had an allergic reaction to nuts. Now she’s paranoid she can’t make her famous almond meringue roulade when I go next go there for dinner.”
A snort of laughter came from Rosie’s side as a spray of gin and tonic shot across the table. “That’s hilarious! Are you going to play up to it?”
“Maybe. It’s certainly better than what actually happened.” Not having meringue dessert was a small price to pay in return for keeping one of the worst events of my life from Annie Judd.
4
Tris
The upstairs bar of RedVBlue was filling up rapidly. Some people I recognised, most I didn’t. From the way Saff and Jonas were working the room, I suspected many of them were involved in the music industry. I stood to one side, with Darren North, the guitarist in TheSB. He and I had become close friends in the time I’d known Saff, even closer after the house party incident. It was good to have a guy friend, someone I could chat shit with and who knew exactly what Saff was like. As so many of my friends had deserted me since I went to prison, I enjoyed his friendship. Aside from Saff, we had a few things in common and he was a great guy to hang out with.
“Is it always like this?” I gestured to Saff with my bottle of beer.
“What? Her and her cousin schmoozing, while me, Barney and Tommo stand on the side-lines?” He nodded, telling it like it was. “I’ve got used to it though and it doesn’t bother me as much as it once did.” There was a moment’s pause before he went on. “When she’s on form, she’s amazing, but there’s something I can’t put my finger on. She doesn’t seem herself at the moment.”
I had noticed the same thing. Like this morning when I’d teased her about taking photographs; her reaction had been out of character—extreme almost. Usually she would have played along, even snapping a few shots herself before deleting them. Plus, she’d been unusually jumpy the past couple of weeks, almost secretive at times. I hadn’t pushed her on it, in case she was already having second thoughts about us and our relationship.
“I’m glad you think so too. I thought she was only being different around me.”
