Chapter Two
Battersea, 5.30 pm
I’m cold to the bone; I take the stairs up to our fifth floor flat. All I want is a nice cup of tea and a nice quiet night in front of the telly. Unfortunately, I arrive just as the food delivery guy is handing three large bags to Emma.
“Hey” She grins. “Just in time.” she hands the bags to her boyfriend, the smell of curry already wafting from them.
“Happy birthday!” She kisses my cheek.
“Thanks.” I give her as cheerful a smile as I can. “Hi, Mike.”
Behind him, I can see several friends in the sitting room.
“Hi guys.” I call, already turning towards the kitchen.
“No, no, come and join us.” She takes my hand and tugs me towards the sitting room.
Six or seven others take up all available seats and even spill over on the carpet. There are bottles of drink and at least one spliff making the rounds. Oh God, I’m really not in the mood, but Emma seems excited. Very Excited.
“What’s up?”
She doesn’t answer. Paul, another of our friends, jumps up to make room for me on the sofa then perches on the arm next to me so now I’m sandwiched between him and Mike.
To make matters worse, Paul slips an arm around my shoulders. He’s actually Mike’s friend, but since Mike is almost always here, we see a lot of Paul. And since I split up with my ex, he’s become very touchy-feely.
I look up at Emma, my excuses ready, the long drive, a headache, an early audition, anything. I just need to be alone to think.
She’s still looking at me, eyes sparkling but lips pressed together as if on a big secret.
“What? You’ve been nominated for an Oscar?”
“I don’t think toothpaste ads qualify for academy awards,” she says unable to hold back her smile.
Mike pulls her down to sit in his lap and holds her hand out for me to see the small but very shiny diamond.
“Oh my God, Emm.” I fling my arms around her and she hugs me back just as hard.
“When?”
“Last night.”
Now the party, the champagne bottles, the takeaway, all make sense. And Emma is my good friend, so I stay and celebrate with her and everyone. At least the need to fetch plates and forks from the kitchen gets me away from Paul for a minute and when I come back, I sit on the floor next to Fatima, the only other woman in the room.
“Happy birthday,” she says, unfortunately just loud enough for someone else to hear.
“It’s your birthday?” Paul shouts from the sofa.
There’s a chorus of congratulations and someone shoves a glass of Champagne into my hand. I set it aside on the coffee table.
“Did you get anything nice?” Emma asks.
When she sees my eye-roll she laughs. “Let me guess, a spa day?”
“Mum thinks being an actor on equity minimum shouldn’t stop me getting regular beauty treatments.”
Paul’s eyes widen. “What the hell do you need beauty treatments for?”
Another of the guys joins in. “Shouldn’t you be on the poster advertising the spa?”
Oh good, let’s have all the attention on me. No, not on me but on my face, my figure, my hair, my legs. I bring my knees up and hug them. It’s my go to move to hide my 36DD, less obvious than crossing my arms.
Sometimes, like just now, I wish I had a figure like an ironing board, short stumpy legs, and maybe a unibrow.
“So?” I ask Emma to give her the spotlight again. This is her engagement party after all. “Have you set a date?”
“Mike’s got a new job.” She leans into him and he kisses her quickly. “A fab job.”
“Yeah,” Fatima, beside me agrees. “Dance teacher. Private school and a relocation package worth thousands.”
Relocation? You don’t have to be a genius to work out what this means. “Where?” I lift my eyes to Emma?
Her smile slips for the first time this evening. “St Andrews.”
Scotland. My heart falls. “Congratulations, it’s beautiful up there.” And I make sure to give her my best brightest smile. She doesn’t need to worry about me, not tonight.
If she’s moving with him to St Andrews, it means she’ll have to give up the lease on her flat. Emma has one of the last few council flats in Battersea. Almost opposite the park. these are like gold dust. A great central location and very cheep rent.
Later that night when all the guests have gone and I’m in the kitchen washing up, she comes in with masses of take away boxes still half full.
“It’s a really good job for Mike,” she says almost apologetically.”
“It sounds it. When does he start?”
“He has to be there in three weeks, it’s why we decided to settle things.” She holds up her left hand with the sparkling diamond. “But I don’t have to move immediately.”
She’s so sweet trying to reassure me. Considering they’ve been almost inseparable the last few months, she must be eager to go as soon as possible.
“Emm, darling.”
She stops me. “Really don’t worry. I have to give notice at the office.”
The office is her day job, the one that pays the bills while she waits for her acting career to take off.
It won’t help if she’s moving to St Andrews. There’s not much theatre work in smaller towns. As for film, forget it, it’s London or nothing.
“I’m going to retrain as a teacher,” she says. “Let’s face it, I’m thirty, if it hasn’t happened yet it’s not going to.”
“Won’t you miss it?”
She shrugs. “What? The cattle call auditions, the hundreds of letters chasing casting directors, accepting unpaid Fringe plays in the hope I’d be spotted? The endless rejections? No, I’m not going to miss it. It’s different for you. You have an agent who gets you paid work, you’re in Aladdin for God’s sake.”
Oh, that’s right, Aladdin. A two-month tour. Starting at the end of November.
“I’ll keep the flat until you get back and can get yourself sorted.” She says, guessing my worry. Or reading my expression.
“Oh, darling, don’t do that. Don’t stay for me. I’m so, so happy for you and the timing is perfect,” I say, turning away to wipe the counters and put leftover korma and sag paneer in the fridge. “My stuff can go into storage. I’ll start looking for a new flat tomorrow and line something up for when I get back from tour. It’s a good time for house searching. Lots of properties on the market in the low season.
Yes and everything will cost twice as much as this flat.
“Are you sure?”
“Of course. You need to be with Mike. It’s a very exciting new adventure.”
We hug again.