Sugar Secrets…& Shocks Read online

“Hey, don’t bring Anna into this - this isn’t anything like what happened to her!” Matt shouted, pushing to the back of his mind the twinges of guilt he felt at the mention of his girlfriend’s name.

  “Damn right this isn’t anything like what she went through!” Cat retorted, flashing her eyes at

  Matt as she made her point. “Anna’s mum treated her like rubbish - whereas your dad loves you. Not that you care! Oh, no! It’s all ‘Poor me! I’m so neglected!’ Well, let me tell you something, Matt Ryan, your father loves my mum, and she loves him. And whether you like it or not, me and my mum are here to stay - so get used to it!” Matt fumed and tried to come up with a reply, but he was so boiling with rage he couldn’t find the appropriate words. He was just about to do a Matt special - turn and storm away - when Cat said something else.

  “Matt, sit down. Now.”

  Maybe he was just suddenly exhausted by the upheaval of the last week or so. Whatever it was, Matt suddenly did as he was told.

  “Look,” Cat began, taking off her yellow sunglasses, “ever since we’ve know each other, you’ve wanted to be this hot-shot DJ, right?”

  “Right,” mumbled Matt.

  “So now it’s starting to happen, isn’t it?”

  He shrugged.

  “And this is just the beginning, Matt - if it all takes off for you, you’ll hardly give Winstead a backward glance. Sometime soon, this isn’t going to be home for you any more - and that’s got nothing to do with whether my mum and me are here or not!”

  Matt said nothing.

  “And I’m only going to be here for another year,” Cat continued. “Once I get college out of the way, I’m off to London and you won’t see me for dust!” Then she laughed. “After all, I’ve been living with my mum for years longer than you - I know exactly how insensitive she is!”

  Matt twiddled a blade of grass agitatedly between his fingers and still said nothing.

  “So it’s not like we have to put up with living together for that long. Can’t we just make the best of it?”

  He shot a look at her then stared down hard at the grass.

  “Come on, Matt, you big prat!” she giggled. “Truce?”

  For a second, he stared at her little finger, which she’d stuck under his nose.

  “Truce,” he mumbled grudgingly, wrapping his own pinky around hers.

  “Now, are you going to let your girlfriend in on what you’re up to?” asked Cat. “Or were you just planning on sending her a postcard once you got back out to Ibiza…?”

  Matt groaned as his guilty conscience jabbed again.

  Maya pressed the doorbell and waited. And waited.

  I should have rung first! she told herself off, realising there might be no one at home. But a second later, she heard footsteps stomping towards her, on the other side of the door.

  “Maya! What are you doing here?”

  Maya shuffled on the doorstep, feeling suddenly shy.

  “Sorry - I know it’s Saturday and I shouldn’t be bothering you like this, but could I talk to you for a bit?”

  “Of course!” smiled Brigid, standing aside and ushering Maya into her flat.

  “Got a second?”

  “Not really,” shrugged Anna as she dished out plates and cups to a waiting table.

  “But I’ve got to talk to you!” said Matt urgently.

  “I’m sorry, but you’ll have to wait,” Anna replied. “I’m really busy and I don’t know when I’ll get a break.”

  “But, Anna, I need to tell you something!” Matt pleaded, ignoring the sets of eyes glued on them, from all around the café.

  “Oh, yeah?” said Anna, heading back towards the counter with her empty tray.

  “Yes!” said Matt, following her round the counter and into the kitchen. “I’m going back out to Ibiza!”

  “Uh, Matt—” Nick tried to interject -as he glanced up from flipping fried eggs to find a heated conversation taking place.

  “I know that,” said Anna, clattering the tray down on to the work surface, oblivious to Nick and his protests.

  “How do you know?” Matt frowned.

  “Well,” said Anna, putting her hands on her hips, “maybe it’s the fact that you’ve told everyone else—”

  Over by the cooker, Nick nodded and shrugged to himself as he acknowledged he was part of that statistic.

  “—and maybe it’s the fact that you’ve been keeping well away from me this week. I mean, I’ve hardly seen you, and when I have, all you’ve done is moan about how miserable you are being back here. It’s not been that hard to read between the lines!”

  “Right, you two - take five and take this outside!” ordered Nick, waving them over to the back door with his spatula.

  Anna, her lips pursed and her eyes flashing, finally unable to keep her hurt feelings under wraps, stormed out into the sun-filled backyard.

  “I’m sorry, Anna!” said Matt, following her out and looking at her beseechingly.

  “Sorry for what exactly?” she prodded. “Sorry that you’re dumping me, but haven’t bothered telling me?”

  “No!” said Matt, shocked at her words. “God, no! What makes you think I want to break up with you?!”

  “Well, Matt - what am I supposed to think?” said Anna. “You hardly phoned me while you were away; I’ve hardly seen you since you got home; and now you can’t wait to get away again! And…”

  “And what?”

  “And is there someone out in San Antonio you want to get back to?”

  “Huh?”

  Matt was never too quick on the uptake and right now Anna had lost him.

  “Someone… someone called Trudie?” Anna finally asked, staring him straight in the eyes.

  “Trudie?” said Matt, first frowning and then grinning. “So Kerry did tell you then?”

  Anna said nothing, but just continued to stare at him accusingly. Matt frowned again when he saw her expression.

  “But if Kerry told you about Trudie, she must have told you the whole story…” he said dubiously. “About Trudie being a nutter. How she kept chasing after every bloke in Ibiza - including me - when her boyfriend wasn’t looking…”

  Anna shuffled slightly, the tension leaving her stiffened shoulders. “So there was nothing going on with you and this… Trudie?”

  “God, no! She was disgusting! Ask Kerry!”

  “So why didn’t you tell me about her before? And why did Kerry go all funny on me when she accidentally mentioned her name the other night?”

  “Ah!” said Matt, realising that Kerry hadn’t deliberately given him away after all. “That was my fault. I asked her not to tell you. I thought it would bug you too much, hearing about nutter girls chasing me…”

  “Matt,” Anna replied, her expression still unreadable, “what really bugs me is when you keep things from me.”

  “I’m sorry,” said Matt, scuffing the toe of his shoe on the dusty ground.

  “And I don’t just mean Trudie. Why haven’t you talked to me about going back out to Ibiza?”

  “I’m sorry,” Matt said again.

  “But why didn’t you talk to me?” Anna repeated in frustration. “I mean, I give you plenty of space, I don’t hassle you, and all the time I’m waiting to hear what’s going on in your head, but you never really tell me.”

  Matt hadn’t a clue that Anna had been feeling like this. He suddenly saw the pain in her face and wanted to run over and hug her - but Anna looked so hurt that he was scared she might slap him.

  Instead, he flopped down on one of the plastic chairs in the yard and sighed.

  “I just felt guilty that I was having such a good time in Ibiza, and guilty that I forgot to phone you as much as I promised you I would, and guilty ‘cause you were back working here while I was surfing, and guilty ‘cause I wanted to go back out there so badly…”

  “Well, if that’s all it was, why didn’t you tell me?” asked Anna, flopping down into the other plastic chair.

  “Because… because I
got sidetracked by all that stuff at home too, I guess.”

  “No, it’s not just that,” said Anna, sounding more like her composed self.

  “What is it then?” Matt gazed over at her questioningly.

  “It’s because you’re a jerk…” she answered, a hint of a smile at the corner of her lips.

  Matt’s heart skipped a beat at that tiny hint of forgiveness.

  “Am I?” he asked.

  “Definitely,” nodded Anna. “But it’s my own fault - I knew you were a bit of a jerk before I went out with you!”

  Matt wasn’t offended in the least. He was too relieved.

  “And when is my jerk of a boyfriend taking off again?” she asked.

  “Not till the end of the season; they want me for the whole of October. I mean, it’s going to be pretty quiet by then, but it’s all experience, isn’t it?”

  “Not till October?” said Anna, looking surprised and pleased, he noted.

  “No. And hey—”

  Matt didn’t know why he hadn’t thought of it before. It wasn’t as if Anna was a prisoner. After all, she was allowed out of the End-of-the-Line café from time to time…

  “—why don’t you save your holidays till then and come over with me? Maybe you could come for three weeks!” he started babbling excitedly, now the idea was fixed in his mind. “I can show you my favourite secret beach; I know the cheapest places to eat; I’ll teach you how to snorkel from a Lilo; we can watch the sunset at the Café del Mar…”

  He suddenly realised he was talking too much.

  “What do you think?” he asked hopefully.

  Anna bit her lip and stared at him.

  “I thought you’d never ask,” she suddenly beamed at him.

  From inside the steamy, noisy kitchen, Nick heard the whoops of happiness. Stepping back, he peeked out into the yard and saw Matt twirling Anna round in his arms.

  “Guess they’ve made up,” Nick muttered to himself as the eggs sizzled in the frying pan. “Maybe my waitress can get back to work now!”

  Maya felt good. For a while now, she’d felt like she’d been on some kind of emotional rollercoaster and now, finally, she was going to get off it. And she couldn’t wait to get her feet back on firm ground again.

  It was all thanks to Brigid.

  It’s funny that I always find her easier to talk to than my own parents, Maya mused as she hurried along the road. She understands things so well.

  Where her parents would have flipped out, administering punishments and causing a big, excruciating scene, Brigid had advocated leaving things be.

  “I don’t think you need to say anything to Sunny about Andy,” Brigid had advised her, knowing all too well the uncomfortable situation between Maya and her sister. “It sounds like Anna handled the situation just right.”

  And her parents wouldn’t have understood the Ashleigh situation - they’d have scoffed and put it down to childishness. But Brigid understood.

  “Ashleigh’s having a hard time at the moment,” the older woman had explained. “My sister - her mother - and her husband might be splitting up and it’s hit Ashleigh hard. She’s a little on edge about everything at the moment. Let me talk to her.”

  And Alex - even with Alex, Brigid knew what to say. Or at least how to ask the right questions to make Maya see more clearly how she felt.

  “Answer this honestly: do you love him?” Brigid had urged her as they sat in her sun-dappled living room.

  “Yes, I think so,” Maya had replied.

  “And are you happy?” Brigid had then asked.

  “Not exactly,” Maya had answered, after a moment’s pause.

  “So what are you going to do to make yourself happier?” Brigid had put it to her simply.

  Sometimes you just need someone else’s perspective, Maya thought to herself as she walked up the path and stood in front of the building’s intercom. It’s like telling Brigid has made it so obvious to me…

  Maya pressed the buzzer next to the name ‘A. McKay’.

  “Hello?” said a familiar, warm voice.

  “Alex? It’s me. Can I come up?”

  “Maya?” his voice crackled through the intercom. “Hi! Yes, of course! Come in!”

  The front door clicked open and Maya stepped into the echoing hallway.

  “Hey - I wasn’t expecting you!” she heard Alex laugh down the stairwell, from his second-floor landing.

  Maya smiled as she took that first step on the flight of stairs and felt herself tremble.

  It was a weird feeling - to be so happy and sad at the same time.

  Her heart soared at the freedom that lay in front of her; the uncertainty, the lack of confidence, the feeling of not fitting in another person’s world - it would all be over soon. And yet the tears prickled in her eyes, knowing the words she was going to have to say that would make that freedom possible.

  “Hi, Alex!” she smiled up at him, seeing his wonderful friendly face grin back down at her through the stairwell.

  She was just about to do the hardest thing she’d ever done. But Maya knew - deep inside, past the lump in her throat and the hot tears welling behind her eyes - that finishing with Alex was the right thing to do.

  Sugar SECRETS …

  …& Jealousy

  Maya had spent most of the week avoiding the End-of-the-Line café, feeling horribly empty after her break-up with Alex. It had taken a lot of persuasion from her friends to come out to Pizza Hut tonight.

  “I’m fine,” Maya said unconvincingly, aware that five pairs of eyes were fixed on her, “I’m just not hungry. Sorry… I’m not very good company, am I? I knew I should have stayed at home.”

  “No way!” Sonja Harvey’s tone was emphatic. “We haven’t seen you all week.”

  “I know. But I haven’t been feeling very sociable. Which is stupid, seeing as it’s my fault that I’m feeling so rotten.”

  “What do you mean?” asked Kerry.

  Maya sighed. “Well, if I hadn’t had a brainstorm and ended it, Alex and I would still be going out together—”

  “—And you’d be really miserable,” Cat butted in, blunt as ever.

  “I guess so. So instead, I’m miserable anyway. Even though, deep down, I know I did the right thing.”

  “You did,” Sonja encouraged, sensing that Maya was about to add didn’t I? “You couldn’t have carried on the way things were.”

  “You must be really strong to have gone through with it,” said Kerry.

  “Except that now a part of me wishes I hadn’t,” Maya lamented. “A little bit of me wants to believe what Alex said - that we could have worked it out.”

  “Do you think you could?” asked Sonja. “I mean, knowing you, you must have thought it through long and hard before you did it.”

  “Mm, I thought of nothing else for days. And the truth is, I don’t think so. He was never going to feel happy hanging out with you guys, and I was never going to feel comfortable with his friends. And right now, without wanting to sound selfish, being with my friends and thinking about what’s best for me is more important.”

  “At least this way, you’re not prolonging the agony,” Cat said matter-of-factly.

  “I suppose not. Anyway, it’s done and there’s no going back. Now all I have to do is stop feeling sorry for myself and get on with my life,” Maya shrugged. “I tell you, a few weeks ago I wasn’t looking forward to going on holiday with my family tomorrow. I remember thinking ten nights seemed like for ever. Now I wish we were going for longer. I think it’ll do me good to get away.”

  “Oh, you bet. I’m dead jealous,” sighed Cat. “I’d much rather be feeling sorry for myself by the luxury pool of a Spanish villa, than stuck in a crummy Winstead garden.”

  Vikki snorted with derision. “Ooh, I feel sooo sorry for you, Cat,” she cackled. “You, in your huge, gorgeous garden that’s bigger than my house. It must be dreadful for you!”

  “Actually, you’re right,” Cat said, biting her lip. “I keep
forgetting I live in one of the poshest houses in town now. Mind you, it’s not all it’s cracked up to be. I challenge any of you lot to put up with Matt, the Slobby Son from Hell, like I have to. Sorry, Anna…” She looked across to where Anna Michaels was sitting laughing and carried on. “I know Matt’s your beloved and all that, but you’ve got to admit, he’s not the most well-mannered piggy at the trough. Apart from the obvious male shortcomings like leaving the loo seat up, he’s got some really unpleasant habits too.”

  “Go on,” urged Sonja gleefully. The others -Anna included - leaned forward, grinning at the prospect of Cat dishing the dirt on their mate Matt.

  “Well, where should I start?” Cat replied, revelling in being the centre of attention. “I suppose I could begin by telling you how he eats cold baked beans straight from the can…”

  A shriek of disgust went up from the girls.

  “Or how he’s so vain I once caught him plucking the little hairs between his eyebrows.”

  Everyone cracked up at this revelation, although Anna felt a slight twinge of disloyalty as she did so.

  “Anyway, enough of this,” continued Cat. “Can we go now? I have to show you all the dress I want to buy in the window of What She Wants. Actually, not just the dress, the whole look. It’s so me you would not believe. Come on!”

  Cat shimmied out of her seat and wiggled towards the door. Her fake ponyskin miniskirt, denim cropped jacket - with just a bra top underneath - and white platform mules drew astonished looks as she walked by. The other girls trooped out too and wandered off down the high street behind Cat, who was steaming on ahead, arm in arm with Vikki.

  “I don’t think our views count for much when it comes to Cat and her choice of clothes,” Kerry giggled. “She’s in a league of her own on that score… Ouch!”

  Kerry winced as Maya grabbed her by the arm and gripped it so tightly she began to lose the feeling in it.

  “Omigod! Look!” Maya came to a halt on the pavement and stood frozen to the spot, her eyes transfixed on something further down the road. Seeing that Maya was looking towards the cinema, Kerry’s eyes frantically searched the billboards advertising current and upcoming productions to see what it could be that had made Maya’s react so violently.