Page 13 of Wish You Knew
“Hi,” I said.
“Oh, you are there! Thought you might have succumbed to Scott’s charms again.”
If only I had…then maybe last night wouldn’t have happened.
“Don’t be ridiculous. He’s probably with that woman from the other night.” I bluffed, hoping she wouldn’t see through me. I hadn’t told her about our latest hook up.
“And if he is, you’ve only got yourself to blame.” Saff huffed. “Honestly, you either need to kick him to the curb completely or marry the guy.”
Given his behaviour this morning, the former certainly held more appeal. He definitely wasn’t marriage material.
“Anyway, did you get home okay? How was your shoot? Did you see Ellie?” She changed the subject.
“Yes. Fine. And yes.” Too tired to elaborate further, one words answers would have to do.
My short answers were clearly cause for concern. Saff proceeded to quiz me about every aspect of theSFUsession. Before she could question me any further, I cut her off.
“Are you supposed to be doing something else? Like writing music? You don’t usually get this hyper about my shoots.”
“Damn, busted. Yeah, Darren wants to go back in the studio soon and I’ve promised him three new songs. Procrastination at its finest.” She laughed. “No wonder you’re my best friend if you can read me like that.”
“I remember what you were like when we were trying to do homework.”
“Nothing’s changed.” There was a pause as she shouted at someone in the background, presumably Tris, to say yes to a cup of tea. “By the way, are you coming to Brixton this Friday?”
“What’s in Brixton?”
“Trash Gun have a support slot at the Academy. Scott’s asked me to come and sing with them again. Tris is going back to his aunt and uncle’s for some family thing, so I’ll be on my own. I was going to say no, but it’s good publicity and Jonas thinks it’s a brilliant idea.” I could almost hear her rolling her eyes.
“This Friday?” I stalled on giving her a firm decision.
“Please, Rosie? I know I spent pretty much the whole time on tour alone with them recently, but it would be great if you could make it.”
Saff wasn’t usually one to beg.
“Can I see how I feel on Friday? I’m not sure what other work I’ll be doing between now and then.” Part of that was true, I couldn’t remember what appointments I had or what castings were coming up.
A heavy sigh came down the line. “Yeah, I guess. But let me know soon, yeah?”
“Promise.”
We chatted for a few more minutes before Tris came through with the tea.
“Gotta go, Rosie. See you Friday?”
“I guess…” I tried to up the enthusiasm levels in my tone, with little success. I ended the call and turned my attention back to my emails.
There was the usual plethora of newsletter updates, online shopping offers, requests for collaborations and so on.
My booker at the model agency reminded me of the casting I had on Monday. Normally, I didn’t need to do castings as I sorted out a lot of collaborations myself. But this was forAspiremagazine’s fashion spreads, and they didn’t deal direct. The glossy fortnightly magazine was one of the very few I interacted with, and it had been a staple of my life for several years. The great mix of celebrity, fashion, style and music rivalled other publications such asGraziaorHello.It would be a coup to land the job. I’d need to spend the weekend on virtual lockdown, making sure I ate clean and healthy, and absolutelynoalcohol. It would be a great excuse as to why I wouldn’t be able to go to the gig with Saff.
Ellie had sent through some more photographs from the shoot. I scrolled through them, some of which featured me and Mark laughing and giggling together, his hands on my skin. Nausea rose in my throat. Even thinking about what could have happened, if Scott hadn’t arrived when he did, caused a mixture of anger and fear to bubble up.
How could I tell her what he’d tried to do?
At least we were unlikely to work together in the near future. He was one bad apple. Not everyone was like him.
I whiled away the afternoon replying to messages, and even posted a couple of the newSFUshots on social media, with some strategically placed teaser boxes so the whole look wasn’t showing. I’d learned a long time ago brands didn’t like you sharing their new content before they did. Ellie had given a date for the formal reveal. Of course, Scott had got an early preview.
