Crystal (35 page)

‘Why, Miss Hope,’ he said in a Texan drawl, ‘you sure bring me to the nicest places.’

‘Be quiet,’ Crystal ordered, ‘and get your kit off.’

‘Anything you say, ma’am,’ he replied, unfastening the string ties of her bikini.

So far, it had been a perfect day and Crystal was looking forward to seeing the expression on Jake’s face when he saw the meal she had cooked. But as they travelled back to Notting Hill, Jake’s mobile rang.

‘Are you sure it can’t wait?’ he said irritably to the person on the other end. ‘Okay, well, I’ll drop round now, but I really can’t stay as I’m going out for dinner with Crystal.’

‘Who was that?’ Crystal asked, as he snapped his phone shut.

‘Stella,’ he answered rolling his eyes. ‘She says she got some documents which have got to be signed urgently. I’m going to stop off at her flat. But don’t worry, I’ll just sign them and be out of there.’

‘Okay,’ Crystal answered, ‘but promise you won’t be long. I’ve booked a very exclusive restaurant and I don’t want us to lose our table.’

‘I promise; see you very soon, gorgeous,’ Jake said, kissing her as the taxi pulled up outside her flat.

Inside Crystal walked into the kitchen and studied step one of Jez’s neatly written instructions: ‘Chop onion finely and have a large glass of white wine to steady nerves.’

Ha, she thought, there’s nothing to it. She happily chopped, peeled and sliced and made the sauce for the next thirty minutes, so that when Jake came round all she would have to do was grill the fish. She checked the time; she had an hour to get ready. She was just applying lip gloss when her phone went. It was Jake. He sounded as if he was in a room full of people.

‘I’m afraid there’s going to have to be a change of plan. Stella’s organised a surprise party for me. I’m really sorry, Crystal, but I can’t get out of it.’

‘But what about dinner?’ Crystal asked, not able to disguise the disappointment in her voice.

‘I know, I’m really sorry, but she’s gone to so much trouble and got caterers in and everything, I can’t just leave. Come over. You’ve got the address, haven’t you?’

Bitch
, Crystal thought, remembering quite clearly telling Stella that she was planning to take Jake out for a special birthday meal. ‘Okay,’ she replied, unenthusiastically, ‘I’ll see you in a bit.’ She spent the next twenty minutes searching everywhere for her gold Gucci sandals.
Oh well, I must have left them at Jake’s
, she thought, slipping on a pair of non-designer sandals which always ended up pinching her feet.

When she arrived the party was in full swing and Crystal couldn’t see anyone she knew. She gazed round Stella’s luxurious penthouse, which was about five times the size of her own flat. The redecoration must have cost a small fortune – every piece of furniture, every soft furnishing, looked as if no expense had been spared. No Ikea sofas and flat packs for Princess Stella, Crystal thought. The enormous living room had been decorated with an oriental theme – green and gold patterned silk curtains hung at the side of the vast windows and there were several huge velvet sofas in different shades of green, strewn with beautiful silk cushions in jade, gold and silver. An intricately patterned screen stood at one end of the room and a real fire blazed in the enormous fireplace at the other. On one wall hung a huge black and white photograph of Stella in the iconic Christine Keeler pose – sitting naked astride a chair. Crystal could only hope that Jake hadn’t taken it. Immaculately dressed waiters and waitresses weaved their way round the guests with trays of champagne and delicious-looking canapés. Crystal thought of the meal she had planned at home and her heart sank. She took a glass of champagne when she was offered one, but turned down the canapés, having totally lost her appetite. She sipped her champagne and anxiously scanned the room for Jake. Eventually she saw him. He smiled and walked over to her straightaway.

‘Hi, gorgeous,’ he said, kissing her. ‘I had no idea she had planned this.’

‘I thought you hated surprise parties.’ Crystal said moodily.

‘I do, but you can see for yourself that it would be really awkward to walk out. I’ll make it up to you, I promise. Come on, I’ll introduce you to some people.’ Crystal could tell from the way he spoke that he was already slightly pissed.

‘Tell me you didn’t take that picture.’ Crystal pointed at the photograph of Stella.

Jake laughed. ‘No way, that’s such a cliché.’ They were halfway across the room when Stella called him over and he walked off, telling Crystal he’d be with her in a minute. But Crystal felt abandoned.
Thanks a lot
, she thought bitterly, hating the party and wanting to leave. Unfortunately the next person she bumped into was Ingrid, Jake’s mother. They’d only met a couple more times since that first disastrous meeting in Claridge’s, and each time Crystal had got the distinct impression that Ingrid didn’t think she was nearly good enough for her son.

‘Crystal, how nice to see you,’ Ingrid said offering a cool cheek for Crystal to kiss. ‘Isn’t it a fabulous party? Stella’s done an amazing job, and it’s a great PR exercise. A lot of these people are very important movers and shakers, you know.’

Tossers and wankers more like, Crystal wanted to say, thankfully spotting Jake’s dad and going over to say hello to him.

‘How’s the singing going, Crystal,’ he asked. He was being genuinely nice but it was a harsh reminder of the one thing that she was always trying to forget, namely that her singing career was at a dead end.

She shrugged. ‘Not great.’

‘Don’t worry,’ he said kindly, ‘I’m sure it won’t be long before it’s back on track. You’re very talented, and talent always wins in the end.’

Gavin and Lara then joined her and she spent a few minutes chatting to them – like her they hardly knew anyone.

‘Everyone seems so up themselves,’ Crystal said quietly. ‘Are they really Jake’s friends?’

‘A few of them are – the ones who look down to earth, but most are business contacts, magazine editors, people like that,’ Gavin replied, adding, ‘I expect Stella only asked me and Lara because she had to.’

‘Well, I certainly wasn’t at the top of her guest list,’ Crystal answered grimly.

Gavin was about to say something else when Jake wandered over and put his arm round Crystal. ‘Sorry about leaving you. There was an editor I needed to talk to. God, this feels more like work than a party. Are you okay, Crystal?’

She nodded. ‘It’s just that it was supposed to be our day, wasn’t it?’ she whispered, hugging him close as if to protect herself from the other guests.

‘I know, and you’ve given me a perfect day.’

Crystal smiled, pleased to hear he’d enjoyed it so much. But her happiness was short-lived.

‘Hi Crystal.’ It was Stella, looking stunning in a short gold-sequinned dress. It looked like a Chloé dress and it probably was a Chloé dress – no high street rip-offs for Stella. Crystal nodded back, not quite able to bring herself to speak to the creature.

‘I’ve just got a little something for the birthday boy,’ she said handing a silver gift-wrapped present to Jake.

‘Stella,’ he groaned. ‘You didn’t have to get me anything, not after organising the party.’

‘It’s not much, just to say thank you for letting me stay at the flat and being so lovely after I split up with Xavier.’

Go on
, thought Crystal,
see if you can squeeze out a tear.
But instead Stella smiled, as if she was being very brave and watched Jake open the present. He ripped off the silver paper to reveal a very expensive-looking box, inside which was an extremely flash watch, a Breitling, the three grand watch she’d seen on her trip to the jeweller’s with Jez.

‘Stella, that’s far too generous,’ Jake exclaimed. ‘Please, I can’t accept this.’

‘You have to; I’d be so upset if you didn’t,’ Stella said, pouting in a way which would have upstaged even Victoria Beckham.

‘Well, thank you, Stella, I’ve wanted one of these for ages,’ he replied, giving her a quick kiss on the cheek.

Crystal’s mood became even fouler. Along with the conversation she’d had with Stella about her plans for Jake’s birthday, Stella had also asked her what she was going to buy him and Crystal had told her that she was buying him a watch. The nasty cow had deliberately upstaged her. She bit her lip; not wanting to make a scene she looked down at the ground. As she lowered her eyes, she saw her gold Gucci sandals on Stella’s perfectly pedicured feet.

‘Are those my Guccis?’ she said accusingly.

‘Oh, yeah,’ Stella drawled in her posh rich-girl voice. ‘I meant to ask you if I could borrow them. I found them at Jake’s and as they go so perfectly with this dress I thought you wouldn’t mind.’

Suddenly all Crystal’s intentions to play it cool deserted her. ‘I do fucking mind, actually. I looked everywhere for those shoes tonight. I wanted to wear them.’

‘Sorry.’ Stella didn’t seem at all sorry.

‘Take them off,’ Crystal said.

‘What?’ Now Stella was looking less composed.

‘Take them off and give them to me.’

‘But what about my outfit?’

‘I don’t give a flying fuck about your outfit. Take my shoes off,’ Crystal repeated through gritted teeth. Jake had been caught up talking to other guests, oblivious to the heated exchange; he turned round just as Stella had unfastened the sandals and slung them at Crystal. Giving Crystal a filthy look, she marched off.

‘What was that about?’ Jake demanded.

‘Stella was just returning my shoes which she’d borrowed without asking,’ Crystal said, expecting him to take her side.

‘Oh, come on, Crystal, you could have let her keep them, couldn’t you?’

‘I only lend things to my friends,’ Crystal snapped back.

‘You’re being a bit childish, aren’t you?’ Jake retorted and turned away from her again.

‘Don’t ignore me,’ Crystal said, grabbing his arm. ‘Ever since I met her, Stella has gone out of her way to be nasty to me. Can’t you see that she fancies you? She knew that I was taking you out for dinner tonight so she arranged your party; she knew I was buying you a watch so she bought you one too, though I expect Mummy had to help her out.’ Crystal knew that she sounded bitchy but couldn’t help it; she was sick of pretending that she couldn’t see what Stella was up to.

Jake just laughed. ‘I’ve told you, Crystal, she really doesn’t fancy me! Chill out! I’ll get you another drink.’ He walked away, leaving Crystal fuming.

Crystal didn’t think the evening could get any worse but then she found herself trapped by one of the posh pissed male guests, who was holding – she could hardly believe it – the magazine with her photo shoot in it.

‘I must say,’ he slurred, ‘looking at these pictures Jake is one very lucky guy.’

‘Where did you get that?’ she demanded, snatching the magazine away from him. ‘There’s a stack of them over there; thought Jake must have put them out to show you off. Bastard.’

Crystal looked in the direction he was pointing and there was a pile of about five magazines on one of Stella’s elegant little coffee tables. There could only be one person responsible for this. Crystal marched over to the pile of magazines and grabbed them, intending to take them out of the room. She was just weaving her way through the guests, when Stella stepped in front of her.

‘Oh, you found the magazine, Crystal. I was just going to show it to Jake.’

‘If anyone is going to show it to him, it should be
me
. Stop interfering,’ Crystal snapped back, trying to get past Stella. But Stella was tougher than she looked and, standing her ground, reached out and tried to grab a magazine.

‘Fuck off, Stella!’ Crystal hissed.

‘This is my house. Don’t speak to me like that!’

‘Or what? You’ll call Mummy and Daddy and say someone’s being nasty to you. Just get out of my way.’ Crystal tried to get past her again.

‘You shouldn’t be with him,’ Stella snapped, ‘I’m much more his type than you are. I could really help him with his career, whereas all you ever do is drag him into the tabloids.’

By now other guests had overheard them and stopped their own conversations to listen.

‘I’m not going to argue with you, Stella, just let me get past,’ Crystal said, trying to stay calm but feeling the rage reach boiling point inside her.

‘No, I won’t; he needs to see what you’re really like, a cheap little chavvy tart who’ll do anything for money. God, you even slept with your friend’s boyfriend. How low is that?’

Crystal made one last attempt to get past her but Stella decided to play dirty and, grabbing a large hunk of Crystal’s hair, pulled it sharply, causing Crystal to cry out in pain and drop the magazines. Swiftly Stella grabbed one and, before Crystal could stop her, she ran to where Jake was standing and handed him the magazine. She saw Jake’s jaw tighten and his eyes grow serious as he flipped through the glossy pages. Then he came striding towards Crystal, took her arm and practically pulled her out of the room and into the hallway. Drink had made him unreasonable.

‘I thought you were supposed to be a singer,’ he said with barely restrained anger, leaning over her as she stood against the wall.

‘I am a singer but I needed to earn some money,’ she shot back, furious that he was having a go at her.

‘These are really tacky pictures, Crystal. God, if you wanted to do some modelling, I’d have photographed you. I don’t understand why you did them.’

Crystal was about to try and explain when he added sarcastically, ‘Did you have a shoe bill you couldn’t pay or something?’

‘Actually my rent,’ she said bitterly.

He didn’t seem to have heard her. ‘All the guests have seen these. Do you know how that makes me feel?’

‘Well, they wouldn’t have seen them if Stella hadn’t bought all these copies,’ Crystal shouted back. ‘Didn’t you hear her having a go at me?’ She’d had it with Jake taking Stella’s side. Tonight had been more than she could take. ‘I didn’t want to do the modelling, but I had to, and I don’t think I’ve got anything to be ashamed of. The pictures might not fit in with your arty style but they’re not tacky either.’

Jake was about to reply but Crystal pushed his arm out of the way and marched towards the front door.