Sugar Secrets…& Love Read online

  Maya pointed to where Zac still stood on the periphery of a large group of people on the other side of the room. Cat had her back to him and was talking to a muscular-looking hunk, who was almost drooling in return. Her face was only centimetres from his; any closer and she’d be knocking him over.

  Kerry winced. “Zac looks pretty hacked off, I’d say.”

  “I’m not surprised,” huffed Sonja. “Cat’s been flirting all night - only not with him. I think l’d be pretty peed off too.”

  “Yeah, but surely he knows that’s just how Cat is,” Maya reasoned.

  “Not from the look on that face. Why don’t you have a word, Joe? See if he wants to go home with us.” Sonja patted Joe on the arm in a motherly fashion.

  “Right you are.”

  The others watched as he went up to Zac and tapped him on the shoulder. After a brief exchange, during which they saw some determined head shaking from Zac, Joe returned.

  “Looks like a ‘no’ to me,” Sonja observed unnecessarily.

  “I hope Zac’s OK,” sympathised Kerry. “Cat can be a right pain in the butt when she’s on a high like this, but we’re used to it. I hope he knows what he’s let himself in for.”

  “If he didn’t before, he sure will by now,” Sonja retorted, slurping her drink. “Poor Zac,” she added.

  “Ooh, just the person. Follow me.”

  Sonja took Ollie firmly by the arm and dragged him through the main doors of the building and into the car park beyond.

  “What? What’s happened?” Ollie squeaked, alarmed by Sonja’s urgency.

  “Nothing terrible. I just had to speak to you before we all go home. And I didn’t want any of the others to hear.” She stood with him under the orange glow from one of the car park lights and looked about furtively. “I’ve had the most brilliant idea…”

  She looked at him expectantly, her face lit up with excitement.

  “Huh?”

  “Come on, dummy,” Sonja giggled. “Wake up! Kerry’s present… I’ve got it covered.”

  “You have?” Ollie’s voice squeaked an octave higher. “Quick! Spill!”

  Sonja looked around the car park. It was virtually empty of cars and there was no one in sight. Even so, she bent close towards Ollie’s ear and began whispering. The look on his face turned from anticipation to pure delight.

  “Hi, you two!”

  Sonja and Ollie both jumped with fright. They spun round in unison and came face to face with Anna.

  Crikey, you two look guilty, Anna thought. “Everything OK?” she asked lightly.

  “Er, yeah, fine,” Ollie spluttered. “We, uh… we were…”

  “…just getting some fresh air,” Sonja finished for him.

  “Oh.” Anna nodded. “Me too.”

  Sonja looked guiltily at Ollie then began studying her shoe in the half light. Anna immediately felt she was intruding; there was a definite tension in the air.

  “Actually, now I’m out here, it feels a bit chilly,” she said, rubbing her hands together to emphasise the point. “Think I’ll go and see where the others have got to.” She quickly retraced her steps to the building.

  That was weird, she thought. I definitely got the feeling I was walking in on something there. I wonder what they’re up to?

  With puzzled frown lines etched into her forehead, Anna hurried back inside.

  CHAPTER 10

  DUMPED

  “Hey, Anna, what’s up?”

  Matt fell into step beside a still frowning Anna as she re-entered the building. “Why the worried look?” he added, the day’s permanent smile replaced by concern for a moment.

  “Oh, uh, I just bumped into Sonja and Ollie out there and they were acting really oddly.”

  “What sort of odd?”

  “Dunno - just, sort of… secretive.”

  “Maybe Ol and Son are having an affair,” Matt suggested chirpily.

  “Come on, Matt, don’t be crass,” scolded Anna.

  “Sor-rey,” Matt replied, giving her his best lost puppy dog expression. “Didn’t mean it - I was only joking.”

  “I know,” she relented, “but they were up to something.”

  “Oh well, I’m sure we’ll all find out what before too long.”

  “I guess so.” said Anna, unconvinced.

  “Anyway,” Matt carried on, trying to edge unobtrusively closer, “I’ve been dying to catch you on your own all night. But you’ve been pretty slippery and elusive, Ms Michaels, if you don’t mind me saying so.”

  She gave him a little smile. It was true and deliberately so. She had been avoiding Matt all evening. Whenever she saw him making a beeline for her, she made sure she was either deep in conversation with someone or making sudden excuses to leave the room.

  The reason? She still couldn’t kick the nagging doubts she had about their relationship out of her head - they loomed whenever she thought of him.

  Which was often.

  Anna was scared of her feelings for Matt. Is it possible to like someone too much? she’d wondered about a million times in the past few days. The fact that she’d had such a great time with him today had only confused her even more.

  “Had a good time tonight?” he asked.

  ‘Yeah, great. You?”

  “Uh-huh.”

  Matt moved still closer and placed his hand on the small of Anna’s back as she walked, sending an electric shock of pleasure through her body.

  “Matt, don’t,” she said edgily, resisting the desire to snuggle up close. “The others might see…”

  “Oh, come on, Anna, so what? Does it really matter?”

  “It does actually,” Anna replied stiffly. She looked at him, challenging him to argue with her. Instead, Matt looked hurt.

  “Are you ashamed of me?” he asked quietly. “Is that why you don’t want people to know about us.”

  “No, of course not,” she cried, shocked at such an idea. “What on earth makes you think that?”

  “Dunno really. I thought maybe you think I’m too… crass for you?”

  “Oh, no. Matt, no.” Anna was aghast. “Look, I’m sorry I snapped at you. I didn’t mean to. I had a really good time today, but now I’m very tired, that’s all.”

  “Oh, right,” he sighed. “Well, so long as you’re sure. And we’re OK?”

  She looked into his concerned face and gave him a reassuring smile.

  ‘“Course I am, silly. Everything’s fine.”

  The troubled look on her face as they walked back to the others told a different story.

  It was past midnight and there was only a smattering of people left at the post-production get-together. The makeshift bar had long been folded up and put away, and the community centre caretaker was huffing a lot and gruffly telling anyone who’d listen to please leave the building.

  Cat, Vikki and a few others were sitting cross-legged in the middle of the room, engrossed in a discussion on what their next project should be.

  And Zac was nowhere to be seen.

  “I gotta go,” Vikki suddenly announced, flinging her arms around first Cat and then the others for a goodbye kiss. She stood up and hunted in her bag for her car keys.

  “Anyone goin’ my way?” she asked, jangling the keys in her outstretched hand. “Cat?” she added as a couple of girls made grateful ‘yes please’ noises and stood up.

  “Uh, no thanks, Viks. I guess I’ll share a cab with Zac. Mind you…” she broke off to look around the room, “…has anyone seen him recently?”

  “Bloke with the glasses? He’s in the car park,” the caretaker butted in irritably. “Said he’d be back in a minute.”

  “Oh, right. Thanks.” Cat tottered to her feet and carried out the same round of goodbye kisses and hugs as Vikki. “I guess I’ll just wait here for him,” she said a little uncertainly as the group broke up and began to file out of the room.

  “You want me to wait with you, hon?” offered Vikki, noticing the strained look which “had suddenly appeared on Cat
’s face. She was aware that Cat tended to be nervous if left on her own late at night - a legacy from the time when a drunken lad had attempted to assault her on the way home from a club.

  “I. uh…” Cat looked over Vikki’s shoulder and saw Zac walking back into the room. She felt a little wave of relief sweep over her. Here he is again, she thought warmly, my hero, come to rescue me.

  She waved her friend away. “I’m fine thanks. I’ll call you, OK?” she added as Vikki hurried for the exit.

  “Hel-lo,” Cat chirped cheerily, bounding up to Zac in a flurry of red feathers. “I wondered where you’d got to. I’ve hardly seen you all night. Have you had a great time?”

  Zac was stunned. “Oh, brilliant,” he said incredulously. “The best.”

  His sarcasm was lost on Cat. “Ooh, I’m so pleased,” she wittered blindly on. “What did you think of the revue?”

  Zac gave a bitter laugh and shook his head sadly from side to side. “You know, you’re remarkable,” he managed.

  Cat began preening herself, anticipating the shower of compliments coming her way.

  “When I saw you up there on that stage I was so proud of you,” continued Zac. “I wanted to stand up and shout out how brilliant you were, what a great actress I thought you were. I wanted to tell you how I felt so lucky to be your boyfriend…”

  Cat smiled sweetly and opened her mouth.

  “No, no, I haven’t finished yet,” he insisted, putting his hand up to stop her from butting in. “And then… and then you came off-stage and came sweeping into this room with all your acting buddies, and you became this… this awful person who I didn’t recognise, much less wanted to go out with.”

  The muscles on Cat’s beaming face flickered and twitched and her smile disappeared.

  “Wh-wh-what?” she stuttered.

  “You really showed yourself up, Cat,” said Zac, his voice tight with anger. “What did you think you were doing, flirting with anyone in trousers? Didn’t you stop to think how I would feel, standing there having my nose rubbed in it while my so-called girlfriend came on to every other guy in the room?”

  “Wh-what do you mean?” Cat was genuinely bewildered.

  “Cat, you should have seen yourself. Maybe you’re so used to it you don’t even notice you’re flirting—”

  “I was just being friendly. I didn’t mean anything,” blustered Cat.

  “Well, that’s a matter of opinion,” spat Zac. “But even if I was giving you the benefit of the doubt, it still doesn’t explain you blanking me all night. You barely acknowledged my existence. I felt like a complete prat.”

  “I thought you were OK about it.” she reasoned. “I thought you preferred to be in the background. I mean, you don’t usually say very much—”

  “You don’t usually give me the chance!” he raged. “All I ever hear is your voice going ‘me, me, ME’. I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone so self-obsessed as you are. I reckon you only go out with me so I can sort out your dramas. But as soon as life gets back to normal again, I just don’t exist!”

  Cat was too stunned to speak. She was completely taken aback by his outburst - he’d never had so much to say to her before. She tried to gather her thoughts.

  “Can I just say—” she finally began in a small voice.

  “No, you cannot,” interrupted Zac, determined to have his say for the one and only time. “You’re not interested in hearing what I’ve got to say or who I am. You made that blatantly obvious the other evening in the restaurant. And then again tonight. So why the hell should I listen to you?”

  Seeing the devastated look on her face, he began to relent, though only a little.

  “Y’know, maybe this is all my fault,” he sighed. “Yeah, that’s right, I blame me. Because I knew we were opposites, that was fairly obvious right from the start. But I figured maybe that stupid saying about opposites attracting was right. I was so wrong…” He broke off and looked at her sadly.

  “What are you saying, Zac?”

  “Come on, Catrina, do I have to spell it out?”

  “Are you… finishing with me?”

  “Yes, I am.” He went over and picked his jacket off the floor. “See you around, Cat. There’s a taxi waiting outside. Take it, with my pleasure. Oh, and have a nice life.”

  With that, he turned on his heel and walked out the door.

  CHAPTER 11

  HIGH DRAMAS

  Cat cried all the way home in the taxi. She then howled her way up the stairs to her flat and into her room, only stopping long enough to check whether her mother was at home (she wasn’t). Then she sat sobbing on her bed for the next ten minutes, replaying the humiliating scene with Zac over and over in her head, desperate for someone to share her anguish with.

  She looked at her bedside clock: 00.40. Who could she call at this time of night? Cat racked her brain. Sonja, Kerry and Maya were non-starters - their families would be livid if the phone rang at such a God-awful hour…

  Then she had an idea. She rifled through her bag for her phone and pressed the preset button for Anna’s number at the flat above the End.

  She rubbed her eyes as she waited for Anna to answer.

  But Anna didn’t pick up. Cat must have heard the ringing tone thirty times or so before she hung up. Where’s Anna got to? she wondered. She was sure Anna had left the community centre ages ago. With Matt and Sonja and a few others. Why wasn’t she at home now? Cat’s curiosity almost made her forget her own troubles… for a few seconds.

  Then she began to fret again. There had to be someone she could unburden herself to at such a critical time in her life.

  And there was - Matt. OK, so they’d had their differences in the past but what the hell? They were practically brother and sister now their parents were dating. And Matt was a bit of an owl, just as she was. He wouldn’t mind her phoning in the middle of the night.

  Cat pressed another button. This time for Matt’s mobile…

  “Huh? Wossat?!”

  Matt lifted his head from Anna’s shoulder and blinked into the semi-darkness. Anna half sat, half lay, on the sofa next to him, sound asleep, while MTV played silently on the TV in front of them. The muffled ringing of his mobile carried on relentlessly from somewhere in the room.

  Matt rubbed his eyes and looked around, wondering where he’d left it. Then he realised the noise was coming from somewhere very close. He grappled with the jacket pocket he was sitting on and reached in to grab the phone, all the while trying not to wake Anna up.

  Matt wrestled his mobile out from under him and peered at the LCD display. It said CAT. Typical! No doubt she wants to tell me what a great time she’s had and how she’s now having an even better time at some club or other.

  Matt yawned. He’d been feeling really cosy snuggled up to Anna as they dozed off together in his den. Talking to Cat might… disturb things.

  I’ll phone her tomorrow. Matt decided, then reached up with his thumb and switched off the phone.

  Sonja and Maya sat on a bench overlooking the lake in Winstead Park and took in the bright spring sunshine.

  “Just imagine how great this would be if it was ten degrees or so hotter,” Sonja purred. letting out a big yawn and stretching in her seat.

  “I guess so… maybe twenty degrees though, so I could be here in a bikini, rather than a jumper, boots and my trusty jacket by my side.”

  “In case it snows…”

  “Yeah. You never can tell, can you? Sunny one minute, two metres of snow the next.”

  “I can’t believe we’re having a conversation about the weather,” Sonja snorted. “How sad is that?”

  “Well sad.”

  The girls were distracted from their meandering conversation by a clattering noise on from the path behind. They turned abruptly when they heard a voice they recognised.

  “Oh, Sonja, Maya, I’ve been looking for you everywhere. Something terrible has ha-ha-happened…”

  Cat’s voice trailed off and her face crumpled as sh
e sank down on the grass, blubbing into a piece of ragged tissue.

  “Cat! What is it? What’s wrong?” Sonja demanded, falling to her knees and clutching Cat by the shoulders. She glanced up at Maya who wore the same look of alarm. Soon they were both sitting with their arms wrapped around their friend who was sobbing uncontrollably.

  “It’s Zac-c-c. He’s d-d-dumped me. Last night.”

  “Omigod!” Sonja couldn’t contain her surprise. While she’d never imagined a long-term relationship for Cat and Zac, she’d never anticipated him finishing with her, rather than the other way round. “What happened?”

  “You w-w-would not believe the h-h-horrid things he s-s-s-said to me.” Cat blew her nose loudly into the tissue and dabbed at her tear-stained eyes.

  “What did he say?” Maya asked.

  “H-he said I was s-self-obsessed, s-selfish and a f-flirt. And he said he didn’t want to go out with me any more.”

  “You poor thing,” Maya sympathised, giving Sonja a knowing look. Though they loved Cat dearly, what Zac had said wasn’t exactly far from the truth. However, he’d also missed out on Cat’s redeeming features - her humour, generosity, infectious high spirits - all the things which her friends loved her for.

  “I’ve never been s-spoken to like that by a g-g-guy in my life,” Cat snivelled, slowly getting herself back together again. “How could he?”

  “There, there, it’s OK.” soothed Maya. “You know, it could be for the best. Obviously not the way it happened, but… well, you two are very different, aren’t you? Maybe this shows that he wasn’t right for you in the first place.”

  “But I really liked him,” Cat whined. “I thought…” She broke off to blow her nose once more. “I mean, how dare he?” she carried on, changing tack. “He doesn’t know me, not really. Who does he think he is?”

  Sonja and Maya could sense Cat was beginning to get a grip on herself. There was no long-term damage - just some rather dented pride.

  “Look, we were just about to head to the End for coffee,” said Sonja. “Coming?”

  “Ooh, yes. I’m starving too. I could do with some fries. And perhaps a small milkshake. I was so upset this morning I could hardly eat a thing.” Managing a little smile, Cat wobbled to her feet and linked arms with her friends.