Sugar Secrets…& Love Read online

  He went back into the club and sat alone on a stool, watching everyone else having a good time. All the boys seemed to have girlfriends; all the girls seemed to be with guys. Then he felt someone tap him on the shoulder and turned, hoping it wasn’t one of the gang intent on sharing their good mood with him.

  “Meg!”

  The surge of excitement that flowed through him nearly knocked him off his stool. He stared at her for a moment, not daring to speak in case she disappeared and he found he’d been dreaming.

  “Hello, Joe,” she said, not disappearing at all. “Sorry I’m so late. The taxi took me in completely the wrong direction or I would have been here half an hour ago.”

  Joe beamed at her. She didn’t need to apologise. She was here now. That was all that mattered.

  Meg looked just as he remembered. The same smiling eyes, the jet-black hair - only now it was long and loose, dead straight to below her shoulders, and shiny. Her clothes were different too; tonight she looked casual in red combats and plain black T-shirt, with black, scuffed Doc Martens tied up with red laces.

  She doesn’t look that different from how I’m dressed, thought Joe. Wow!

  As if reading his mind she looked him up and down and grinned. “I was looking for someone in a suit.”

  Joe beamed. “That’s not really me. It was a hire job, y’know, for the wedding.”

  “Me too - well, not a hire suit. Just… not my usual style.”

  “You look great,” Joe said. And blushed.

  “Thanks.”

  They stood in silence for a moment that, to Joe, seemed to last a decade. His mind had gone blank. He could think of nothing to say. Fortunately, Meg saved him.

  “So whose birthday is it?”

  Joe jerked his mind into action. He quickly scanned the room.

  “See that guy over there?” he said, pointing to Ollie who had Matt in a matey armlock and looked like he was about to pour a bottle of beer down his throat. “In the blue top?”

  “Uh-huh.”

  “That’s Ollie. He’s my best mate and it’s his eighteenth. His sister Natasha’s around somewhere - probably been swallowed up by an army of male admirers. It’s her party too - they’re twins.”

  He paused.

  “I’ve already told you that, haven’t I?” Joe blushed again as he recalled the short conversation he’d had with Meg at the wedding and which was forever imprinted on his brain. I’ll end up boring her to death at this rate, he thought.

  “Told me what?” she said and gave him a’look of mock confusion.

  Joe laughed. “Can I get you a drink?” he asked.

  “I’d love one.”

  As they made their way to the bar Joe was thankful that they hadn’t bumped into any of the others yet. He wanted to spend some more time with Meg before he had to explain to everyone else who she was and what she was doing with him.

  “So, do you live in Winstead?” he asked when they had their drinks. Again, he knew it was a boringly dull, stock question, but hey, at least he was talking.

  She shook her head. “Out of town. I think that’s why I had so much trouble with the cab. I didn’t know where I was going and neither did he.”

  “You’re not a regular here then?”

  “Nope. We’re closer to Munningford so most of my mates live there.”

  “Do you work there then?” he asked.

  “Work?” giggled Meg. “Nah, not yet. How old do you think I am?”

  Joe gulped. He’d wondered about her age a few times during the week, and assumed she was probably a few years older than him. Maybe her sophisticated look at the wedding had had him fooled.

  “Um… nineteen?” he suggested. “Eighteen?”

  “Seventeen. I’m still at school.”

  “Oh.” Joe was relieved that she was the same age as him. It made the whole thing a lot less scary.

  “How about you?” asked Meg. “No, let me guess too. I’d say you were uh… seventeen, maybe eighteen. Am I right?”

  Joe chuckled into his drink. “Spot on. I’ll be eighteen in July.”

  “And you’re studying for A levels, yeah?”

  He nodded.

  “And I bet you’re in a band, aren’t you?”

  Joe looked completely dumbfounded.

  “You look like a drummer to me. Am I close?”

  By now Joe’s eyes were bulging and his mouth was gaping open in amazement. How could she tell all this just by looking at him? Meanwhile Meg was laughing so much her drink was spilling over her hand. Then the penny dropped.

  “OK, who told you?” said Joe, running his hand through his hair and looking sheepishly at her.

  “I’ve been doing my research. My mate Linda from the wedding is a good friend of Gillian’s niece. That’s how we got invited to the reception. She asked around for me.”

  Joe was so flattered and so embarrassed that she’d taken the time to find out more about him, he felt the tips of his ears burning.

  “Uh… oh. So did she say anything else?”

  “Only that you weren’t a nutter. That’s all I needed to know really.”

  “Thanks!”

  Joe roared with laughter and suddenly felt unbelievably relaxed. I can hardly believe my luck, he thought. She’s gorgeous, funny and dead cool. What more could a guy want?

  “I love you.”

  “I love you too. More than anything.”

  “That’s really sweet, Ol. Me too.”

  “C’mere, I need to talk to you.” Ollie drew Kerry off the dance floor which was packed with bodies smooching to Robbie Williams’ Angels and led her to a darkened part of the club. He sat down and pulled her on to his knee.

  “Y’know I said earlier I had a surprise for you and I was waiting for a special moment?”

  “Hmmm.” Kerry bent down and kissed him tenderly on the nose.

  “Well, this is it.”

  Kerry lifted her head and looked into his eyes. They looked really serious for once.

  “What is it, Ol?” she said, concerned for a moment that he might be about to tell her something awful.

  “I wanted to celebrate my eighteenth by doing something special, to show you how much you mean to me,” he explained.

  Kerry blushed. Although Ollie was always saying nice things to her, she never got used to it and often felt slightly embarrassed by his honesty and depth of feeling for her.

  “So I got you a present. It’s something for both of us, actually. Something that I hope we’ll remember for the rest of our lives.”

  He put his hand in his back pocket and drew something out. Then, kissing her tenderly on the lips, he placed it in her hand.

  Kerry looked at the tatty bundle she was holding and frowned. “What is it?”

  CHAPTER 20

  HAPPY ENDINGS

  “…So Ol said, ‘if you open it you might find out’. Which made sense, I suppose, so I did. And this was what was in it…”

  Kerry rummaged in her pocket and pulled out a few sheets of A4 paper. Unfolding them, she held them aloft for the rest of her spellbound gang of friends sitting in the window seat to see. In her other hand she held a keyring with an aeroplane dangling off the end of it.

  It was the morning after the party and they were all gathered in the End for the regular postmortem of events. Kerry was delighting in getting everyone up to speed on her unexpected gift from Ollie. However, the story so far wasn’t enlightening anyone…

  “Uh, right,” Cat said, looking baffled as she began to scan the dense lettering on the first page.

  “It’s a letter.” said Anna matter-of-factly.

  “And a keyring,” Maya added.

  “Ollie’s bought you a plastic plane for his birthday,” joked Matt. “How very, um, lovely.”

  “Prat.” Ollie kicked Matt under the table with his trainer, then went back to watching Kerry. She wore the same helpless smile on her face as she had the night before, once she’d realised what her present was.

  “So
anyway,” continued Kerry, ignoring the jokey comments, “it took a bit of explaining from Ollie, ‘cause it was late and my brain wasn’t working very well by then, but the letter is confirmation of the holiday in Ibiza he’s booked for us once my exams are over. And the toy plane is, well, because it’ll be the first time I’ll have been on one.”

  She paused for maximum effect.

  “Oh, wow! You jammy cow,” shrieked Cat.

  “Kerry, that’s wonderful!” Anna said, her eyes sparkling.

  “Cool move, Ol,” winked Matt. “I wouldn’t mind being your girlfriend if you gave me presents like that.”

  The letter was passed round the table.

  “It sounds fabulous!”

  “It’s such a brilliant idea, Ol. However did you think of it?”

  “Well, actually…”

  “He came up with it one day when we were out looking for something to get Kerry,” Sonja cut in.

  Ollie looked at Sonja gratefully. It was nice of her to say it was his idea, even though it wasn’t. “Son was in on the whole thing from the start,” he said.

  “Yeah, you wouldn’t believe how much of a pain he was,” chuckled Sonja. “We had a nightmare thinking of what he should do for Kerry. Ol was hassling me to go shopping with him at all hours of the day and night. Every time I saw him he was like, ‘have you thought of anything yet, Son?” Or ‘you haven’t mentioned it to anyone else, have you?’”

  “Ah-hah,” Anna butted in, suddenly understanding. “Now it’s all fallen into place. That night, after Cat’s revue,” she carried on, staring at Ollie and Sonja’s puzzled faces, “when I saw you two huddled together like a couple of crones in the car park. I had the distinct feeling that I’d walked in on something I shouldn’t have. I was quite embarrassed actually.”

  “I remember!” said Sonja. “That was the night I told Ollie about my idea. Yeah, you did walk into the thick of it. I remember waffling on about getting some fresh air…”

  Anna chortled at the thought. “It’s funny now, but at the time I even had this inkling that there might be something going on between the two of you…”

  Ollie spluttered into his cup of coffee, while Sonja’s eyebrows nearly disappeared into the top of her hairline. Kerry’s hand shot up to her face and she began giggling into it, her shoulders shaking uncontrollably.

  “It only lasted a millisecond,” blustered Anna, trying to explain. “Then I realised it’ was ridiculous and I pushed it out of my mind. I knew all along that there was nothing going on…” She broke off, realising she was fighting a losing battle as everyone else around the table chuckled at the absurdity of it.

  “Anyway, I think I’ll shut up now,” Anna continued. “Y’know, quit while I’m behind.”

  Sonja cleared her throat and waited for everyone to quieten down before she spoke.

  “Actually, Anna - and Matt - talking of something going on…” She looked pointedly from Anna to Matt and back again.

  In unison, they coloured, squirmed in their seats and looked down at their laps, the table, the salt and pepper cellars, anywhere to avoid making eye-contact. Everyone else cracked up again, which only unnerved Matt and Anna even more.

  “Is there something you and Matt would like to share with the rest of us?” Sonja asked, her eyes twinkling.

  “Wh-what d’you mean?” Anna grimaced at Sonja, sitting opposite, and half-cringed, half-laughed at how ridiculous the situation was becoming.

  “We-ll.” Sonja carried on, “you realise that we all know about you two?”

  “Um…” Matt got no further with his sentence.

  “Come on, guys,” Cat picked up the story, “it’s got to be the worst kept secret in Winstead. You’ve been seen together all over the place.”

  “It was Joe who first noticed,” said Ollie. “But once he’d pointed it out, we kept on seeing you making faces at each other when you thought no one was looking.”

  “Yeah - and Kerry saw you kissing under the fairy-lights at the wedding,” put in Sonja. “Wish it’d been me - I’d have outed you on the spot!”

  “And as for last night!” Cat raised her eyebrows to the ceiling. “I mean - you danced to all the slow records; you kept on disappearing together; you even shared food! Do I need to go on?”

  “Oh!”

  Anna looked at Matt who didn’t dare look back for fear of what her reaction would be.

  What if she’s really angry? he thought. What if she blames me?

  Anna turned to Matt and thought: what the hell? “So that’s it then, Matt,” she grinned. “We’ve been rumbled.”

  Matt gave an enormous sigh of relief.

  “Well, thank God for that,” he said and slipped his arm gratefully around Anna’s shoulder.

  “So who was that guy you were chatting up all evening?”

  Cat turned the spotlight on Maya, who until now had been quietly sipping her Coke and taking a back seat in the banter that had been going around the café that morning.

  “Huh? Oh, you mean Steve? We were just talking; he’s a photographer friend of Natasha’s.”

  “Well, from where I was standing it looked like you two were discussing more than exposures,” Cat carried on. “And he was seriously cute, so if you didn’t fancy him then you need your focus adjusting.”

  “Yeah, I noticed him too,” added Sonja. “Who wouldn’t - he was gorge.”

  “Uh, OK, you win,” Maya held her hands up in surrender. “He was nice, I must admit.”

  “And seeing as old man Alex couldn’t be bothered to show his face, I trust you took the opportunity to have some fun?” Cat cackled, waggling her eyebrows suggestively.

  “Well, he did give me his card,” Maya flushed, having been secretly thrilled that someone so head-turningly good-looking should show an interest in her, even though she had no intention of doing anything about it. “And asked me to call him.”

  “I presume you’ve got this card safely tucked under your pillow at home, ready to take him up on the offer. After all, he did look several decades younger than Alex and a whole lot more fun.” Cat hadn’t got over being told that Maya’s boyfriend had preferred the pub to Ollie’s party and was taking every opportunity to have a good-natured snipe at him.

  “Actually, I think I lost it,” giggled Maya. “Which must have been fate. I reckon it was a sign from someone that maybe I need to sort out any differences I might have with Alex before I start looking around for a new boyfriend.”

  “So is that what you’re going to do?” asked Kerry.

  Maya shrugged. “I suppose so - though I can always get Steve’s number from Natasha if I ever feel the need…” she added mischievously.

  “Way to go, Maya. You’re learning girl!” hollered Cat. “What with you, and Joe with that girl for most of the evening, I reckon Ol’s party was a good night for the dark horses among us.”

  “Yeah, that was a turn up,” Ollie said. “He kept her quiet, didn’t he? Said he wasn’t gonna let on he was meeting someone in case she didn’t show.”

  “Aah, he must have been made up when she walked in,” sighed Kerry. “That’s so romantic.”

  “But did anyone see her leave?” Cat demanded, desperate for some more gossip. “I mean, did they leave together? Separately? Is he seeing her again?”

  Ollie nudged Cat in the ribs and pointed to the pavement outside.

  “Look over there,” he said, “and I think you might have your answer.”

  They all turned and peered out of the steamed-up window to the road beyond. Walking towards the café was Joe, his arm wrapped snugly around Meg’s shoulder, and a happy, contented, soppy grin all over his face.

  “Joe, sweetie, can you give me a hand with something?”

  Susie Gladwin stood in the doorway of her son’s bedroom, looking plump, comfy and mumsy, yet simultaneously helpless and little girlish too. The mumsiness was down to her not very fashionable clothes, her verging-on-middle-aged (ie no particular style) hairdo and her general air of smil
ing friendliness. By contrast, what gave her an occasional look of someone much, much younger were her childlike, soulful round eyes.

  And now those eyes were fixed pleadingly on her son.

  Joe gazed up from his desk and saw neither his mumsy mum nor her girlish incarnation. All he saw was an interruption to his swotting. It was only five o’clock on Saturday afternoon and he was already well behind with his revision plan.

  Taking a deep breath, he resisted the urge to snap at her to wait till later and forced a smile.

  “What’s up?” he asked, hoping the irritation wasn’t obvious in his voice. After all, it wasn’t her fault he was finding studying such hard graft.

  “One of the kitchen cupboard doors is jammed. Can you get it open for me? It’ll just take a minute!”

  Joe put his pen down and gritted his teeth. He knew that nothing, when it came to his mum and her little requests, ever took just a minute.

  Half an hour later, Joe had finally found the Phillips screwdriver he needed in the jumble of DIY bits and pieces in the garden shed and was tightening the dodgy hinge on the kitchen cabinet.

  “Oh, Joe, that’s marvellous - that door’s been getting stiffer and stiffer to open lately,” his mother gushed, clasping her hands together and looking up adoringly at her son. “What would I do without you?”

  Again, her words irritated him - but he knew it was through his own guilt.

  Thing is, it’s not like I’ll be here forever, he thought to himself, the prospect of universities and where his grades might take him looming in his mind.

  Not that he wanted to bring it up with his mother at the moment. She’d had enough to cope with lately.

  She said she’d been fine about Joe’s dad getting remarried; didn’t mind that Joe was going to be best man at Robert Gladwin’s wedding to the much younger Gillian. She’d even given Joe a card to present to the happy couple.

  But it couldn’t have been easy for her, Joe realised, sitting at home alone on that one particular day, knowing that her son was away helping celebrate her former husband’s marriage to another woman.

  She’s amazing really, he thought of his even-keeled, seldom complaining mother.