Stars and Hearts

Chapter Seventeen

  I woke the next morning feeling drained. The events of the past few weeks were really taking their toll now. I guzzled down two cups of black coffee, enjoyed some toast and painted my face. Then Mum offered me a lift to work and I set out to face the day.

  Mum and I descended the stairs and were met by three gossiping old women standing by the apartment block exit door.

  “Have you heard the news?” said a dark-haired woman in glasses.

  “No,” replied Mum curiously.

  “Mr. Arnold from flat six died in the early hours of this morning – they think it was a heart attack. I saw them take him.”

  “Oh no!” Mum cried. “That’s very sad. Is he the old man with the Spanish wife?”

  “Yes,” replied the woman. “Eighty-seven he was, but he always seemed fit as a fiddle – he could climb those stairs faster than I could.”

  “He did seem very sprightly for his age,” Mum agreed. “I’m very, very sorry to hear that.”

  Heads bowed, we left the building, crossed the carpark and climbed into the car.

  Mum sat there silent for a moment and then looked at me. “Mr. Arnold lived directly beneath us,” she said, breathing heavily. “I heard someone knock loudly around three o’clock this morning and then there were voices.”

  “Depressing,” I said glumly.

  “Thing is the knocking and commotion all began around fifteen minutes after you woke me up.”

  “Don’t remind me of that dream Mum – it was awful.”

  “I know. It’s just … Oh, nothing. I’d better get you to work.”

  As Mum drove us out onto the main street, I suddenly realised what she was trying to say.

  “Mum – you’re not saying my scream killed him?”

  “I did wonder …”

  “Oh my god!”

  “He was pretty old though. If he hadn’t kicked the bucket this week, it might have been next week anyway. It’s not as though you killed someone of your own age.”

  “Cripes Mum. I killed someone!”

  “We don’t really know what happened, but it’s best not to breathe a word of this to anyone. If we hear reports of death by blood curdling scream, just act surprised. After all, it wasn’t your fault you had a nightmare.”

  I sat there in disbelief as we waited in a traffic jam. Could my life possibly get any worse? The old man was pretty ancient though. Perhaps it was a mere coincidence he happened to have a heart attack the moment I screamed blue murder within close proximity of him.

  I swallowed down a lump in my throat. “I’m not sure I can face work after this,” I said.

  “You’ve already had time off with your migraine and the Dudley newspaper shock,” Mum pointed out. “Loads of people would love your job – including myself. You don’t want to be getting the sack now, do you?”

  “No,” I replied, as the car stopped outside the theatre.

  “Listen love,” Mum said, looking at me sympathetically. “I know you’ve been through a lot recently, but be strong.”

  “I’m going to have to be,” I agreed. “I guess I have no choice.”

  When I arrived at work, Suki was sat there beaming as usual. “Got my date with Mick today!” she said excitedly.

  Oh God - Creepy Mick from my nightmare – the nightmare I’m going to remember for the rest of my days. The nightmare which possibly killed an old man who might even have lived to a hundred-years-old, had I not had that horrible dream.

  Suki frowned. “You don’t look very happy for me. Jealous?”

  “No!” I snapped.

  Suki looked shocked and upset.

  “Sorry – I’ve had some not very nice news – the man in the flat below me died in the night.”

  “So sorry.” Suki said.

  “It’s ok – he was very old. It’s just on top of the Dudley shock and everything… Hope you have a great time with Mick, anyway.”

  “Talking of Dudley,” my colleague Dana said, has anyone heard how he is?”

  “He’s fine,” Rose replied. “They checked him over – just a few bruises – a really nasty one on the side of his thigh.”

  Suki and I looked at each other knowingly.

  “How do you know he’s got a bruise on his thigh?” Dana asked.

  Suki and I waited with baited breath as Rose glowed red and stuttered incomprehensively.

  “Only joking!” Dana exclaimed, before breaking into cascades of cackling laughter.

  There was an awkward silence for a minute or two until the box office was open for business and the phones began ringing. It was probably the first time in my life I’d been relieved by the prospect of speaking to a load of stuck up toffs to avoid listening to Suki going on and on about Mick. As it turned out, a lot of the customers weren’t too bad that morning, although there were a disproportionate amount of Dudley fans raving about how they couldn’t wait to see his performance, and how talented he was. I just laughed falsely. I wasn’t going to pretend I agreed with them. One old woman called him sexy, which made me wretch. I wanted to shout “Dirty old bag!” down the phone, but I managed to control myself.

  Suki’s lunchtime came and went and mine was straight after hers. Then she was downstairs on the window and I was in the phone room, so I didn’t get to see her for a whole three hours. I spent every minute of it hoping the date had been a disaster.

  Just after three o’clock, she appeared in the phone room, looking really happy. I was devastated, but managed to give her a half smile whilst in the middle of a telephone conversation with a spoiled snob. When I told the silly bitch the performance of A Christmas Carol she wanted to see was sold out she said, “I’m very, very, very cross about that. Can you hear me stamping my foot?” It was basically a toddler tantrum. Then she went quiet, expecting me to suddenly say I’d found seats for her. Instead, I slammed the phone down and looked over at Suki who was sat there with both thumbs up, dying to tell me about her lunch date. I stuck a thumb up back at her, although I would rather it had been my middle finger, and then I proceeded to answer one call after the other without a pause. It was good we were busy, as I really didn’t want to know about Suki and Mick’s date.

  I answered my last call five minutes before the box office was due to close. The person on the other end wanted to know what play was on practically every day of the frigging season. I was kind of glad, though, as Suki was stood there grinning waiting to speak to me, so I drew the call out even longer and the conversation didn’t finish until ten past six.

  “OMG!” Suki said. “What a busy afternoon. I’ve been bursting to tell you everything. Mick and I had the most fantastic date! Let’s go to the pub – I’ll tell you all about it!”

  “I’m a bit tired after the old man dying on top of everything else,” I said. “Oh, and Mum’s picking me up tonight.”

  “That’s a great pity,” Suki said, sounding severely frustrated. “Oh well …”

  Suki and I strolled out of the building. Mum was outside in the car. She rolled down the window and said, “Hi Suki! Would you like a lift?”

  “Thank you!” Suki exclaimed, opening the door and hopping into the back seat as I slumped into the passenger seat. The car interior reeked strongly of food.

  “How are you both?” asked Mum.

  “I’m great!” Suki said. “Yazmin and I were thinking of going for a drink and a chat, but she was a bit tired and you were picking her up so …”

  “Come round to ours if you like,” Mum said, starting the engine. “I’ve just been to the Chinese. We can all share a take-away.”

  Suki jumped at the chance. “Yes please!”

  My heart sank. All I wanted to do was go home and soak in a steamy bubble bath. I turned around to Suki. “There might be food waiting for you at home.”

  “It’ll be fine. I’ll only have a little of your food – there’ll be plenty of room left.”

  “Oh. Ok then.”

  When we reached the flat, we sat around the dining table
. I picked at my share of the take-away, smiling, nodding and laughing falsely as Suki excitedly relayed every detail of her date to us.

  “It was great!” she said. “Mick and I went to The Sesame Bap and both ordered smashed avocado. He’s really nice – he was born in East London - his parents met when they were hospital cleaners. He has an older brother called Steve, plus a little sister called Nancy, and he’s determined to be famous, and he really likes me, and he does voluntary work at a dog shelter, and his parents adopted two of the shelter dogs – Bobby and Joe – really cute dogs – he showed me a photo – no, actually two or three photos. He’s asked me on another date – we’re going to a club on Saturday night and I’m the happiest I’ve ever been in the whole of my life and I think I’ve found my soul mate. Oh, and we both drank coffee and had banana fritter and syrup for dessert. Everything we ordered was exactly the same – see what I mean when I say he’s my soul mate?”

  How she went on and on, barely taking a breath, I’ll never know, perhaps she has a reserve pair of lungs tucked under her ribs, or something hugely gross.

  When she eventually shut up, Mum told her about her disastrous date the previous night. Then they both looked at me as though it was my turn to talk, so I shoved a big chunk of satay tofu into my face and chewed slowly.

  Then Suki started talking endlessly about her idea of a dream wedding with Mick, planning the whole blessed thing from the bridesmaids to the cake to the honeymoon to the ushers – who were going to be the family dogs – Bobby, Joe and Max. Then she kept on and on about how wonderful he was – Mick this – Mick that – Mick the other.

  I spent the whole evening wanting to be somewhere else.

  Then Mum declared she had to be up for work early and ran Suki home before returning to the flat, shutting the door and breathing a huge sigh of relief. “I’m absolutely drained and exhausted!” Mum sighed. “Does that girl ever stop talking? I’ll have to go straight to bed.”

  “Me too,” I replied.

  I managed to get to sleep quite swiftly, but woke several times during the night with awful flashbacks of Suki going on and on and on about Mick; and terrible visions of the old man downstairs hearing my scream, sitting bolt upright in bed, then clutching his chest, gasping for breath.

  I woke next morning feeling dreadful and was seriously thinking of terminating my friendship with Suki. The day was bright and sunny, but I didn’t feel that way. As soon as I tread through the gleaming glass doors of the theatre, I could hear Suki talking about Mick. I felt like stepping back out into the street, grabbing my phone, and calling in sick, but I couldn’t. I didn’t want to look jealous, so I put on a big smiley face and bounced into the office like a crazy kangaroo.

  Suki looked thrilled to see me. “I’m just telling Kalisha about Mick!” she said.

  “I’m so thrilled for you, sweetheart!” Kalisha said, throwing her arms around Suki. “And I’m sure Yazmin’s thrilled too!”

  “Of course I am!” I lied, still somehow managing the smiley face.

  “Now we’ve got to find someone for Yazmin!” Kalisha said.

  “Oh, I’m not all that bothered,” I lied, almost sounding as though I meant it.

  “There’s a party a week on Saturday for Dudley’s birthday!” Suki said.

  “Oh,” I answered.

  “At least sound a bit more excited!” Suki demanded, looking at me in puzzlement. “Mick and I are really, really, really looking forward to it.”

  “I’m not sure what I’m doing that Saturday yet. I might be busy.”

  “I hope not,” Suki said. “Because …” She delved into her handbag and pulled out a big ticket with a cartoon drawing of Dudley’s face on it. “We’ve bought you this. Happy party!”

  I wanted to rip the damn thing up. I had a horrid sinking feeling in my stomach as I envisaged standing on the side of the dancefloor like a wilted lettuce leaf, watching all the loving couples, including Suki and Mick and Tracy and Ty, slow dancing together.

  I didn’t want to appear ungrateful or jealous so I answered weakly, “That’s lovely. Thank you both. Where’s the party?”

  “In the rehearsal room again,” Suki said. “Should be a good night!”

  Yes, I thought. A good night for everyone else but me.

  I couldn’t wait for the day to end. I went home depressed, had an early night, and slept extremely badly.