Chapter Eight
Ella
I had sent Zola my Tinder password and a copy of my calendar, hoping and praying she would be kind when scheduling my upcoming dates for the Dicktionary Club.
I then headed to David Lloyd gym in the city’s south side.
It was a pretty average morning, with the sun intermittently escaping through the dark grey clouds.
Still, being a true Glaswegian meant that even with the slightest hint of sun, I’d left my jacket at home and entered the gym wearing only my pale blue Gymshark leggings and matching crop top.
I was meeting Katy to instigate a buzz around Blaze Boost, the new energy drink she was marketing.
David Lloyd’s had its own Blaze fitness class for high-intensity workouts, so it made sense to start marketing the product here, even if the match with the name of the drink was coincidental.
As I entered the gym, I spotted Katy waving me over from behind a table at reception. She had already set up mini cups and laid out cans of Blaze Boost for passersby to try.
‘Ella, just come through,’ she said excitedly, and I wondered how many cans of the product she had already swigged.
I approached the turnstile, where the receptionist scanned me through.
‘Thanks.’ I smiled as I approached my friend.
‘Looks good, eh?’ Katy said proudly.
I examined the table, turning some of the cans slightly to ensure they all faced the exact same direction. ‘Yeah, it looks fab! Have you handed any out yet?’ I asked.
‘Yup!’
‘And .?.?.??’ I gazed at Katy, who looked confused at my questioning.
‘And .?.?. I’ve handed out samples.’
‘Katy, you need to ask them for reactions so we can film it for the client’s socials.’
‘But most of them are hurrying past to get to a gym class or something,’ she replied, quickly defending herself.
‘OK. Watch this.’ I grabbed a can of Blaze Boost and approached a group of girls striding through the reception in clouds of chatter. ‘Hey, would you girls like to try out the best new organic energy drink on the market?’
They paused, hovering slightly.
‘Come on, it’s free!’ I beamed.
‘Can we try after class? We’re running late,’ one eventually answered for them all.
‘Sure!’ I replied cheerily. ‘Have a great workout!’ As soon as they were gone, I turned and headed back to a smug-looking Katy.
‘Told ya!’ she crowed. ‘Maybe we could catch them on their way out?’
‘Why would they want the energy drink after the workout? That’s literally the full point of the product.’ I budged her shoulder and knocked her off balance slightly. We both giggled. ‘We just need to think of how they can’t say no.’
‘Oh my God! Don’t look. Don’t look, Ella!’ Katy blushed hard, and I immediately turned to see what I shouldn’t be looking at.
A tall, handsome man in a suit was striding into the gym. The girl at reception almost flew off her chair to scan him through the turnstile, yet he only acknowledged her with the slightest tilt of his head. Still she seemed to instantly cream her knicks.
‘Excuse me. Excuse me, sir – would you like to try Blaze Boost, the best new energy drink on the market?’ Katy slobbered the words so quickly that it took me a second to make sense of what she’d actually said.
‘No. No, thank you,’ he replied, his voice deep, dark and husky-ish. Although he spoke to Katy, his eyes remained fixed on me.
‘It will take one second to try, sir. We are only looking for honest reviews,’ I added.
A group of glamorous women passed us, whispering and giggling in his direction. He turned when he noticed the crowd and without another word, he lowered his head and walked towards the changing rooms. Katy finally exhaled when he was out of sight.
‘Oh my God! Did you see him? Did you see the way he stared at you? Can you believe he stared at you like that?’
I nodded. ‘I know, disgusting, right? Like I’m some piece of meat.’
‘Piece of meat! Do you realise how lucky you are, Ella? Do you even know who that was?’
‘The manager?’ I shrugged back, having never seen the man before in my life.
‘He’s Philip Khan!’ she almost screeched, and I noticed people glance over at her bubble of excitement.
‘The owner of the biggest hotel and nightclub chain in the UK. He owns that posh place in Edinburgh, the one we went to at Christmas and we got chucked out because Zola snuck in a bottle of Glen’s! Don’t you remember?’
I burst out laughing at the memory of us all, half cut, getting thrown out on the streets of Edinburgh in the snow.
‘And I heard the Beckhams spent the week partying with him on his yacht last year in Cannes. I didn’t realise he trained here! Wait till I tell Zo. Mate, fucking Phil Khan, aaaaagh!’ She brought out her phone and began typing.
I reached over and pulled it out of her hands. ‘We still have our own CAN to FILL because that cunt wouldn’t drink any of our product, Katy! We need to concentrate.’
‘Ella, it’s Philip Khan,’ she persisted.
‘Who cares, babe? He looks like another womanising prick if you ask me,’ I snapped back, reminding myself of his dark eyes scanning my body.
‘Oh, he is! He dated Miss Scotland for two years, but I heard he dumped her on her twenty-fifth birthday.’ Katy’s eyes expanded, like she would explode if she didn’t get out everything she had on this man.
‘Are you sure that wasn’t Leo?’ I asked, vaguely familiar with the famous actor’s preference for younger women.
Katy tilted her head to one side. ‘Hmmm .?.?. maybe actually. But he definitely dumped a girl on her birthday. Like a supermodel or influencer or something.’
I let out a sigh, unimpressed. ‘Yep, just as I thought, he sounds like another prick.’ I was beginning to feel deflated by the number of arseholes I’d encountered over the past few days of the Dicktionary Club being set in motion, and I’d still only been on the one real date.
But Katy was obsessing, craning her neck to see further into the gym. ‘Where do you think he went?’ she asked.
I rolled my eyes. We had all of the Blaze Boost to shift and not one piece of footage to share to socials. I knew how important it was to gather good content for the client and Andrea, or our boss would definitely kill both of us.
‘Katy.’ I popped my hands on my friend’s shoulders. ‘We need to focus on Blaze Boost right now, OK? If you pull it off, this will be big time,’ I said, trying to ground her.
‘Yeah .?.?. OK.’
I sighed. ‘Thank you!’
‘So, do you think he trains here or has a meeting in the coffee shop?’ she asked, having retained nothing of what I’d just said.
‘Yeah, he trains in his shirt and trousers,’ I snapped. ‘He’s obviously in the changing rooms or .?.?.’ I felt a smile appear on my face. ‘Wait. That’s it! Grab your phone. I’ll take the cans.’
Katy looked confused as I crammed as many cans as possible into my arms and headed towards the David Lloyd changing rooms. I pushed open the women’s door with my shoulder and Katy followed me inside.
Immediately, we saw a bunch of around ten girls crowded around one woman who was visibly upset.
They were in their late twenties I’d say, and they all seemed to have had some work done, and I wasn’t sure if it had made them look younger or older, but they were certainly all beautiful in their own glamorous way.
As soon as the door shut over behind us, the girl began sobbing loudly.
‘Wow. Tough crowd already,’ Katy whispered.
I bit my lip, trying not to laugh. Katy approached the group.
‘Hey! We’re so sorry to interrupt.’
The girls turned around to us, looking surprised.
‘So, I’m Katy, and this is Ella, and we work for .?.?.’
Shuddering heaves were coming from the girl who was crying, and one of the other women had wrapped her arm around her.
‘Oh. We’re so sorry, this is obviously a bad time,’ Katy said.
‘It’s .?.?. it’s fine. What’s up?’ the upset girl managed between sniffles.
I glanced at Katy, who was swaying between full pitch mode or wanting to join in on bitch mode. ‘Are you sure? Are you OK? Hey, what’s happened?’
Bitch mode it was.
‘I’m fine .?.?. honestly. I’m fine, angel.’ But the girl had barely got the words out when she burst into tears again, holding her face in her impeccably manicured hands.
‘Look, she’s just going through something at the moment. An incredibly tough, emotional breakup,’ one of the other women piped up in the poshest Glasgow uni accent I’d ever heard.
‘Oh my God,’ Katy puffed, her shoulders finally relaxing. ‘I know how that feels, trust me.’
‘She sure does,’ I clarified.
‘And the guy who broke her heart and basically is the LOHL just ignored her! We were planning on going to a spin class and he just stormed past her without saying a word!’ one of the other girls added.
‘LOHL?’ I whispered to Katy.
‘Love of her life,’ she interpreted quietly.
‘I just feel like such a fool!’ The crying girl began sobbing loudly, comforted by the surrounding group of women.
Katy and I tutted in disgust.
‘What a dick!’ I said. ‘Were you together long?’
She nodded through sobs. ‘We only had two official dates, but they were incredible. You know that way when you meet someone, and you just know it’s going to be forever?’
‘YES!’ Katy agreed instantly.
And there lies the problem , I thought.
‘Then he walks past me like I’m a piece of shit on his shoe!’
‘He was wearing Prada shoes. Did you notice that?’ one of younger girls asked another.
‘I’ve phoned and messaged him so many times, but he’s totally ghosted me!
I knew he was going on a work trip, and I even checked the flight scanner just in case his plane was hijacked or bombed or something.
I was scared. I mean, I almost Facebooked his mother, for God sake!
It’s like, you meet someone, have this instant connection, plan your entire life out in your mind with them, just so they can stroll right past you a week later like you’re a complete stranger! ’
An older woman, who must have been overhearing the conversation while towelling herself dry, shook her head in disgust. ‘It’s so triggering.’