Chapter 15
Andrew, of course, didn’t say no. Ella had never known him to turn down a freebie, and that clearly hadn’t changed. They all arranged to meet up on Friday for pre-gig drinks in the bar of the Olympia.
Ella checked out Pippa’s Instagram in preparation.
She wanted to get some idea of what she was in for, figuring forewarned was forearmed.
What she saw did nothing to allay her misgivings or make her any more enthusiastic about hanging out with Pippa for an evening.
As she’d expected, there were lots of selfies; Pippa posing in front of mirrors and describing her outfits or the makeup she was wearing to her gazillion followers.
She was obviously making money as an influencer and there were videos of her sampling and demonstrating various beauty products.
She’d also recently collaborated with an upmarket leisurewear brand to design her own range of clothes.
Ella had to admit her stuff looked really nice, but then anything would look good on Pippa.
She was intimidatingly beautiful – a big, brash Amazonian with wide blue eyes, voluminous hair and a booming foghorn voice that would carry across several football pitches and was tailor-made for the shouty game show she used to present.
She came across as bright, friendly and fun, relentlessly upbeat with a dazzling smile that never quit.
She sent herself up a lot, conveying an image of someone relatable and down to earth despite her obvious advantages, who didn’t take herself too seriously.
But all Ella saw was an incessant appeal for approbation and admiration, and she thought it must be exhausting to be constantly chasing external validation from thousands of strangers.
She wondered was it driven by insecurity or vanity, but even the posts where Pippa was allegedly showing how shit she looked without makeup, unfiltered, with a break-out of spots or having a bad hair day were just obvious humble-brags and an invitation for her friends and followers to jump in and reassure her that she was stunning no matter what and praise her bravery in ‘keeping it real’.
Andrew was already in the Olympia bar when Roly and Ella arrived, sitting at a table near the door. He stood and greeted Ella with a kiss on the cheek, and she introduced him and Roly.
‘I’ll get the drinks,’ Roly said. ‘What’ll you have?’
‘I’m fine, thanks,’ Andrew said, nodding to the tall glass in front of him.
‘A glass of red wine, please.’ Ella sat beside Andrew while Roly went to the bar. He looked good in a pale-pink shirt and black chinos. He liked clothes, and he’d always dressed well.
‘What are you drinking?’ She nodded to the glass of clear liquid on the table. ‘Gin and tonic?’
He shook his head. ‘Just water.’
‘Oh.’ She was surprised he wasn’t having a proper drink when it wasn’t a school night. She hoped it wasn’t because he was playing the impoverished student.
‘Pippa’s running a bit late,’ Roly said as he returned with the drinks. ‘She was held up at work, but she should be here soon.’
‘This is such a great venue for concerts,’ Andrew said as Roly sat on the banquette opposite them. ‘It’s a while since I’ve been here.’
‘My mum brought me to the panto here a few times,’ Roly said. ‘But I think I’ve only seen a band here once.’
‘Really? We used to come here a lot, didn’t we?’ Andrew said to Ella.
‘Yeah, we did.’ Her mind flooded with memories of nights spent streaming from bar to student party to midnight gig at the Olympia; spilling out onto the streets in the early hours of the morning and eating cheap burgers from food trucks; the taste of red wine on Andrew’s greasy lips, the warmth of his arms around her as she shivered in the cold air of dawn…
She felt Roly watching them closely, and he gave her a surreptitious wink when Andrew wasn’t looking.
‘Hello, hello, hello!’ Pippa breezed in in a cloud of perfume and flopped onto the banquette beside Roly with a gusty sigh. ‘Sorry I’m late, guys. You wouldn’t believe the day I’ve had. Night. Mare!’
She was one of those people, Ella realised, who behaved as if you already knew each other the first time you met.
‘Anyway, hello!’ She addressed this final greeting to Ella and Andrew, and Roly took the opportunity to introduce them.
‘You remember Ella? You’ve met her before.’
‘Only briefly, and it was aeons ago,’ Ella said as they shook hands. She wanted to make it clear she didn’t expect Pippa to remember her.
‘Oh yeah!’ Pippa beamed. ‘Your schoolfriend? Aww, that’s so sweet, you’re still chums. Anyway, I need a drink.’
‘I’ll get it,’ Andrew said, standing. Ella was pleased he was offering. ‘Anyone else want another?’
Ella and Roly both said they were fine.
‘I’ll have the biggest glass of white known to man,’ Pippa said. ‘A New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc, if they have it. And ask them to make sure it’s really cold. Thanks, Andy.’
Ella waited for Andrew to correct her, but he said nothing.
‘Ella and I actually live together now,’ Roly said as Andrew went to the bar.
‘Oh, really?’
‘Just in a housemates kind of way,’ Ella said.
‘So, is Andy your boyfriend?’
‘Andrew, no. We used to go out. Years ago.’
Andrew returned and placed a large glass of wine in front of Pippa.
‘Thanks, Andy. You’re an angel.’ She picked it up and took several long gulps.
‘God, that’s delicious.’ She set it down again.
‘Okay, scooch up everyone! Selfie time!’ She picked up her phone and shifted along on the banquette.
‘Come on, Andy.’ She patted the empty space beside her with a jangle of bracelets.
‘If it’s not on Insta, it didn’t happen, right? ’
Andrew hated selfies, and strongly disapproved of social media and the whole culture of narcissism around it.
Ella expected him to flat out refuse, or at least to be a curmudgeon about it, griping and groaning and making sure everyone felt his displeasure.
But no, there he was scooching, without so much as a murmur of protest. In fact, he was cosying up to Pippa with almost indecent haste, leaning into the shot with his face against hers.
Ella bowed to the inevitable and perched on the banquette beside Roly while Pippa held her phone aloft and told them to smile.
She took several shots in rapid succession, then spent some time tapping on her phone, choosing the best one, applying filters and texting captions and hashtags.
‘I’ve tagged you,’ she said to Roly. ‘Will I tag you guys?’ she asked, looking at Ella and Andrew.
‘I don’t have an Instagram account,’ Andrew told her. Was Ella imagining it, or did she detect a note of regret in his voice? He could probably earn a lot of cool lecturer points if his students saw him at a gig, snuggled up to a glamorous model and influencer.
‘You can tag me,’ Ella said and gave Pippa her handle.
‘There, done!’ Pippa tossed her phone on the table and picked up her drink. ‘Now that’s out of the way, we can relax.’ She took another long slug of wine. ‘So, what do you do, Andy?’
‘I’m a Philosophy lecturer at Trinity.’
‘Wow, get you!’
Andrew smiled smugly.
‘The closest I ever got to university was a “hot for teacher” photoshoot for Ariana’s Boudoir.’
Andrew’s eyes were bugging out.
‘Yeah.’ She laughed. ‘I was the slutty student, trying to seduce the professor.’ She undid the top buttons of her shirt, exposing a purple lace bra, then she leaned forward, pressing her boobs together and stuck a finger in her mouth, making sultry come-hither eyes at Andrew.
‘Gosh!’ Andrew reddened.
‘Yeah, it was mad stuff.’
Effective, though, Ella reckoned. Andrew looked about ready to buy a bra or anything else Pippa was selling.
‘Pity I didn’t know you at the time,’ she said, sitting back and buttoning up her shirt. ‘It would have been nice to have a real hot professor instead of some thick model who thought a pair of glasses and a frown made him look intelligent.’
‘So you’re a model, Pippa?’ Andrew asked.
Ella had to suppress a laugh at Pippa’s expression. She obviously wasn’t used to not being recognised and she looked affronted for a moment, stunned into silence. But she recovered quickly. ‘Yes, but I don’t do much modelling now, except for my own line. I’ve done some TV—’
‘Anything I’d have seen?’
Unlikely, Ella thought, given Andrew’s attitude to trashy TV.
‘I did Celebrity Cell Block, I’m A Celebrity and Stranded, and I used to present Shout It Out – you know, the game show?’
Andrew shook his head. ‘I never saw it.’
‘Anyway, these days my main focus is clothes designing and influencer marketing. How about you?’ she asked, turning to Ella. ‘What do you do?’
‘I work at a techwear company. I’m just doing general admin and marketing.’
Unusually, Andrew didn’t jump in and make excuses for her lowly job. She waited for him to say that she was actually an academic and was just on hiatus, slumming it in the world of business until she could get back to her PhD. But it didn’t happen.
‘Good for you. God, I’m hopeless at organising anything. I have a tonne of apps and planners, and I still don’t know what I’m supposed to be doing half the time. What’s the name of the company?’
‘Citizens of the Wild.’
‘I’ve heard of them,’ Pippa said. ‘Their stuff is brilliant.’
Ella nodded. ‘They’re going to London Fashion Week next year with their urban range.’
‘Maybe I’ll see you there.’
Once again she waited for Andrew to say she’d no longer be working there by then, but he didn’t.
‘You haven’t asked me what I do,’ Roly said.
‘I know what you do,’ she said, elbowing him playfully. ‘Sod all!’
He shook his head. ‘Guess again.’
‘Why, what are you doing?’
‘I’m signing on. I’m a Jobseeker.’
‘Seriously?’ Pippa asked, wide-eyed. ‘Scumbag!’ She laughed.
‘Actually, it doesn’t make me a scumbag at all. Ask Ella.’
‘Well, lose that flab and I could get you some modelling work,’ she said, her eyes flicking over him.
‘Yeah, I’m working on it.’
Ella was cross on Roly’s behalf. He was working on it – really hard. He’d already lost half a stone and was gaining noticeable muscle definition.