Everything to Nothing (2 page)

Michelle could
have hit herself. Sally’s cover story for dates that she did not
want her father to know about, which was ninety-nine percent of
them, was Michelle, and vice-versa. ‘No, she isn’t tonight,’
Michelle reluctantly had to say. ‘When she comes home Alfred, could
you please ask her to call me?’

‘Of course, my
dear. I will instruct a member of the staff to leave a message on
her door and I will have one of the maids inform her as soon as she
enters the house.’

Michelle
laughed to herself as Alfred referred to Sally’s residence as a
house. ‘Thank you Alfred.’

‘My pleasure
Michelle. Goodbye.’

‘Goodbye
Alfred.’ Michelle closed her phone and said out loud, ‘I hope she
is okay.’

Now definitely
intent on confronting Simon, she returned to where she had spotted
him but he had moved on. Cursing, she could not understand why
Simon would stand up the gorgeous Sally to go drinking with his
drunken friends.

Michelle shook
her head in mild bemusement and wished she had the opportunity to
have the chance to go on a date with someone as attractive as
Simon. Excusing herself again, this time she wandered through the
bar to the toilets where her reflection caught her eye in the
mirror. She knew she was no Sally, but she was still attractive.
She was more voluptuous than Sally, larger chest, bigger thighs and
not as pretty, but she was still beautiful. Just no Sally. And
didn’t she know it.

Most of her
life she had been in her best friend’s shadow, and she supposed she
always would be. Whenever they were out together the boys flocked
around Sally, almost totally ignoring Michelle. What Michelle had
yet to realize that if she was not with someone as perfect as Sally
then the boys would flock around her; she was beautiful in her own
way. Being around Sally, seeing how she was treated like a princess
by everyone in her life had eventually dented Michelle’s
confidence. Her confidence had been briefly built up, only to be
dashed to the ground by her ex-boyfriend who stayed with until he
had sex with her, taking her virginity, and then dumping her
shortly afterwards.

She pulled out
a small makeup bag out of her handbag, not Gucci but how much did
she wish. She rouged her lips a little more and then released the
clip that let hair long brown hair cascade onto her shoulders, only
to decide to continue to wear it up. Michelle fixed her hair into
the style it was before and scrutinized her figure. She was
beginning to wish she had dressed a little bit more conservatively,
not only because it was cold, but mainly because she did not feel
comfortable. Her breasts, which were very noticeable anyway, were
struggling to stay inside the top she was wearing and the short
skirt was also not leaving much to the imagination. She studied
herself some more in the mirror stating that she needed to lose
more weight. She was not fat, though, far from it. She just could
not see her true self as she was blinded by the competition that is
her best friend.

She shrugged
her shoulders again and muttered quietly, ‘There is nothing I can
do about it now.’ And then she stated loudly, ‘Right, let’s go and
find Mr. Right young lady!’ She turned expertly on her high heels
and went back into the bar.

Chapter 4

She reached the
forecourt of the garage after running as best she could in her
inappropriate Prada footwear. By now, she was sobbing and shaking
uncontrollably as the shock and realization of what had just
occurred took a hold of her. As she passed into the shelter of the
garage she stopped running and noted that there was a shop to the
left of her that was closed, and in fact the whole garage seemed
deserted.

She did not
really believe in God, but all of a sudden she found him as she
started to pray that there was someone in the garage. Unsure of how
long the man would be incapacitated for, she panicked as she
realised that of course he would have seen the way she had ran and
could right now be chasing after her. This set off another bout of
sobs and then faintly, over the drumming of the rain on the roof of
the garage, she heard music. She looked all around her for the
source of this most welcoming of sounds but could not see where it
was coming from. Guessing that it must be coming from the rear of
the complex she quickly realised that she did not want to go round
to the back. It was dark along the driveway leading to the music,
and the last place she wanted to go to was into the dark. She stood
there for a few moments, what felt like to her an eternity, trying
to compose herself, which she managed to do a little. She managed
to stop the sobbing, but the shudders and shivers would not leave
her, partly shock, partly fright, partly coldness. Eventually her
courage built up by telling herself that whatever could be in the
darkness is probably, hopefully, not going to be worse than what
could be running down the road after her.

After a little
more hesitation she walked to the left of the building and along
the driveway, keeping close to the wall of the shop, away from the
fence on the other side of which was just blackness. Time slowed
down for her. Eons seemed to pass as she walked along the driveway
and then suddenly a courtyard opened in front of her surrounded on
three sides by large sheds used by the mechanics. There was faint
light in the yard caused by light passing out of the slightly open
door of one of the sheds. She made her way quickly across the yard
to this light and hopeful sanctuary. She reached the threshold of
the door and paused as she heard the voice singing along with the
song that was playing.

Despite all
that had happened to her in the last hour she could not help a
small smile appearing briefly on her face as she heard the terrible
noise that was meant to be singing coming through the door. The
smile passed quickly as she crossed the threshold and stepped into
the brightly lit mechanics’ shed. She began to sob again as relief
overwhelmed her and then puzzlement as she couldn’t locate the body
that must accompany the voice. It was after a few seconds of
confusion that she saw the feet protruding from under a car. She
walked across the few yards and bent down and shook the feet.

‘Hello. Could
you please help me?’

‘What the fuck!
Ouch!’ The surprising shock of having his feet shaken had so
surprised him that he had tried to sit up whilst he was under the
car. He had banged his head against the underside of the vehicle
after which he slid out quickly from under the car; wrench in hand,
ready to defend himself if needed. Instead of what he expected to
see, which was a someone with intentions to rob, mug or murder him,
his eyes met the most beautiful eyes he had ever seen. They were
emerald green and mesmerizing.

The rest of the
face was strikingly beautiful too. Her lips, big and full, her nose
perfectly formed and her long black hair. All this was attached to
a body which was, in his eyes, perfect. Full, large breasts, flat
stomach, slim hips and long, tanned legs. These features he noticed
in the couple of seconds it took for him to think of something to
say. He placed the wrench by his side and said, ‘Who are you? You
scared me half to death!’

‘Sorry.’

‘You okay? What
are you doing in this area at this time of the night? Why are you
in my garage more to the point?’

‘Sorry, I, I,
I’ve broken down up the road there towards the railway bridge. A
man just tried to attack me.’

‘Let me guess,
the flood right? I’m not complaining; it’s good business for the
garage.’ Then what she just said then registered on his tired mind.
‘Did you just say that you got attacked?’

‘Yes.’

‘Shit! Where is
he? Did he follow you?’

‘I don’t know
where he is now. I kneed him and ran off.’

‘Where did you
knee him?’

‘Here.’ She
pointed coyly to her groin area.

‘Good girl!
That should have put him down good and proper! Don’t worry. You’re
safe now. I’ve got my wrench! First, let’s get you into the office.
There is a heater up there and a kettle. Nice cup of tea will fix
you up.’

‘Yes, that
would be nice.’

‘Sorry, I don’t
really know what to say. A cup of tea is probably a stupid thing to
offer you.’

‘No, it’s good.
Thank you. Heat is good too right now.’

‘Well, let me
get my T-shirt on and then we can go to the office. I always work
with my T-shirt off when the boss is not around. Gets really stuffy
under the cars.’

She managed to
get her sobbing under control again as she felt safer in the
presence of this mechanic. She watched him stand up and she could
get her first proper look at him. He stood about six feet tall,
slim and muscular with broad shoulders and the trunk of his body
petered down to a slim waist. His stomach was smooth, well not
smooth but bumpy with muscle. She guessed his age to be around her
own, maybe a little older, but it was hard to tell as his face had
little patches of grease and oil on it. He had dark, almost olive
skin that covered the most handsome of faces.

He smiled at
her as he reached for his T-shirt that was on top of the car and
this smile lit up his face and his light blue eyes. His hair was
ruffled and unkempt and became even more so after he had pulled his
T-shirt onto his body. ‘You’re lucky I’m here. Usually gone by
sevenish, especially on a Friday. Got a lot of work on though and
the boss pays good overtime especially on a Friday. Got to work
hard to get the car I want. The office is across the courtyard
unfortunately. There’s a phone there too. Might be an idea to give
the police a call in case this idiot is still out there. Anyway,
back out into the rain for you unfortunately.’

‘That’s okay.
I’m soaked anyway.’

‘Yeah, good
point.’ He smiled again, lighting up his blue eyes, and then he led
her out into the courtyard and as he was locking the door he said,
‘My name is David. Nice to meet you.’ He offered his hand, which
she accepted.

They shook
hands and she said, ‘My name is Sally.’

*

They scampered
across the courtyard and reached the back wall of the shop. There
was flight of steps that led to a door on the first floor of the
store. David ran quickly up the slippery metal steps whereas Sally
took her time, her heels making the steps ring every time she took
a step.

By the time she
had reached the top David had the door unlocked, opened and was
holding it open for Sally. He closed it behind him, locked it and
slid a bolt across that was at the top of the door. Then he
switched on the light and they both blinked like startled rabbits
caught in a car’s headlights as the bright lights affected their
vision.

The office was
small. It contained a battered desk with a chair and a filing
cabinet behind it, a refrigerator and also a small camping stove
with a gas bottle attached to it. There were posters on the wall
but the first thing that caught Sally’s eyes after they had
adjusted to the light was a calendar with a picture of a blonde
woman. This woman had un-naturally large breasts and was lying on a
beach with her legs wide apart. Both the top half and the bottom
half of her body were completely naked.

David glanced
at Sally and noticed what her eyes were focusing on. She glanced at
him and saw him blush, obviously embarrassed. He awkwardly tried to
say an apology as he strode across to the wall and tried to take
the calendar down. ‘Sorry. Erm, we are not used to having, erm,
females in the office.’

‘It’s okay.
Nothing I haven’t seen before.’

David was
fumbling, trying to get the pin out of the wall. He managed to,
eventually, and all the time he was fumbling and struggling he was
turning redder and redder. She could not help thinking that his
embarrassment was quite cute. After all, she was a woman and it was
not as if she had never seen those parts of the female anatomy
before.

He took down
the calendar and hid it in front of his body with his back turned
towards her, as he flipped the pages over to the start of the
calendar. He looked noticeably more at ease and less red as he
turned back towards her, the calendar now successfully turned to
the front cover. David walked towards the desk, but in his anxiety
he tripped on a rip in the carpet and dropped the calendar at
Sally’s feet.

As it fell, the
pages flipped over to the delightful picture of Miss February bent
over a hammock with both the top and bottom of her body exposed,
and in her hand was a bizarre looking tropical fruit. Sally
shuddered to think what she was going to do, or had been doing,
with this fruit. Then she glanced at poor David. She smiled as she
saw him go such bright red that it looked as if his head may
explode.

He bent down at
her feet, picked up the calendar, quickly turned away and stepped
over to the desk flinging the calendar onto the floor behind this
piece of furniture. He turned around and sheepishly looked at her.
‘Sorry.’

She was trying
her hardest not to laugh out loud and make the situation any worse.
‘That’s okay. Like I said, half the population of the planet looks
like that without any clothes on. Nothing new or exciting to me.
How about that cup of tea?’

She could
almost see him thanking her for the change of subject and for
understanding his male dominated work environment. ‘No probs.
Fingers crossed the kettle has got water in it so I don’t have to
go out into the rain to the tap.’ He picked up the kettle, and took
the lid off. ‘Superb! Half full.’

He placed the
kettle on the little stove, which he lit and then turned and looked
at Sally. Their eyes met and she tried to, he did, smile. He could
not help admiring in the faint office light, her beauty, admiring
how sexy she looked, not only because she was dressed incredibly
sexily, but also the fact she was soaking wet stirred an emotion
within him. As the microseconds passed while their gaze met, his
initial urges as a young, virile male passed and he noticed how
scared, how vulnerable she looked. Then his mind would flick back
to how perfect her face was, how her perfect young body attracted
him.