Chapter Fifteen
Next day, I arrived at work to find the whole office gathered around a newspaper, giggling. As soon as I appeared, they stopped. Dana folded up the paper, wheeled her office chair to a computer and asked if anyone fancied a coffee.
“What’s going on?” I asked, folding my arms.
“Oh fuck!” Dana said, staring at me. “Have you seen this morning’s papers?”
“Looks like I’m about to!” I exclaimed. “Let’s have a look.”
Dana held up a copy of The Daily Crap, as Mum always called it. It was the trashy newspaper which had pictured me with Dudley a few weeks previously. On the very front page was a large still of the steamy Rub-A-Dub-Dub video under the headline Cheater.
I snatched the paper from Dana and my eyes widened as I read the trashy story which basically said Miss Silky had been cheating on her fiancé with Nutty - a lonely, single young man. Lonely? Single? I almost hit the roof.
I stormed out of the office and called Nutty, who answered straight away.
“Hiya gorgeous!” he said merrily.
“Hiya, lonely single boy!” I screamed.
Nutty laughed. “You’ve seen the paper!”
“I’ve seen it alright. It had better not be true!”
“Of course it isn’t true. Relax - it’s good publicity for me.”
I couldn’t believe his cheek. “Publicity?” I snapped.
“Yeah - you won’t be complaining when I’m bringing in mega bucks as a direct result of this article. It’s front page news Yaz - front page news!”
“Your voice seems to have suddenly recovered miraculously!”
“Been resting it and taking my medicine like a good boy. I’m not fully better yet though. Still worried about the recording sessions.”
I was hardly listening to him. “And where is Miss Silky now?” I asked.
“Dunno - London, New York, Paris, Berlin - your guess is as good as mine babe! I’m just so fucking excited about it all. I’m on the fucking front page and I’m number three in the charts - I’ve worked so many years for this. Don’t spoil it for me. You’re gonna have to get used to this sort of thing if you wanna stay with me - gotta learn to enjoy it all. Goodness knows what’s ahead for me after this - MOBO award, perhaps?”
“You’re not taking me seriously!” I screamed.
“It’s just a newspaper Yaz. Lighten up!”
I thought for a moment and realised I was being unreasonable. “Yeah - I guess you’re right. I, of all people, should know about newspapers - having appeared in one with Dudley.”
Then Kalisha appeared. “Are you alright Yazmin? Phones are ringing.”
“I’ll just be a moment,” I snapped.
“Seriously,” Nutty said on the other end of my phone. “It’s just publicity. They’ll find out you’re my gal soon enough. Love you princess!”
“Love you too.” I hung up feeling good. Nutty sounded sincere. My gut feeling told me he was telling the truth and, as a rather huge bonus, there was the possibility I might very soon be appearing in OK magazine, or posing on the front cover of Vogue or something, making Eyebrow Bitch and Trashy Tracy green with envy. I cheered up and answered my first phone call of the day with a smile in my voice, much to the annoyance of the snob on the end who kept trying to get me down with sour words about The Two Masks Company. I grinned and laughed as the infected scab complained away, before simply cutting the phone off as she said. “And another thing …” I’ll never know what that other thing was - and I’m sure no one cares.