French Kissing (11 page)

‘Ooh, Alexandre,' Izzy sighed, ‘I could listen to you talk about art for hours.'

Beth said, ‘I never realised that an old painting could be so … could have so much in it.'

‘Another way of describing
Venus and Mars
,' I said, ‘is that the man and the woman have just had a quickie, and he's rolled over and gone to sleep. Take a closer look at Venus' face – she doesn't seem like a girl who's just had great sex to me.'

Izzy giggled. ‘I prefer Alexandre's description.'

‘So do I,' Beth said.

I gestured at the painting. ‘Do you see the wasps flying round Mars' head? They symbolise the painful stings of love. Maybe the meaning of the painting is that the woman wants more than the guy is prepared to give.'

‘There's usually more than one way of interpreting a great work of art,' Alex said. ‘Even the experts don't always agree. It could be that it's the guy who gets stung.' He glanced at his watch, and then looked at me. ‘The gallery closes soon, so we've probably only got time to look at one more painting. What'll it be?'

I shrugged. ‘You choose. Since you know so much about art.'

Alex frowned.

‘If the gallery's about to close,' Izzy said, ‘I'd like to go straight to the gift shop and buy some postcards.
'

‘Fine,' I said.

‘And then we need to decide where we're going to eat,' Alex said.

‘Why don't we go to a French restaurant,' Izzy said. ‘There's one in Covent Garden that's had great reviews.' She smiled at Alex. ‘I simply
adore
French cuisine.'

I supressed the urge to slap her.

‘Sounds good,' Beth said, ‘but Alex will have to translate the menu for me.'

‘Where would you like to eat, Anna?' Alex said.

‘Oh, I don't know.' My evening was already ruined, so I didn't care. ‘Why don't we just go home and order a takeaway?'

‘OK,' Alex said. ‘If that's what you want.'

I turned to Beth and Izzy. ‘You two are very welcome to come back to ours.'

I'd so much rather they didn't.

‘I'd love to come back to yours for a takeaway,' Beth said.

‘Me too,' said Izzy. ‘And we should pick up some beer and wine.'

‘Yay!' Beth said. ‘Mine's a sauvignon blanc.'

‘I thought you weren't drinking alcohol while you're feeding Molly,' I said.

‘Oh, didn't I tell you?' Beth said. ‘I've given up breastfeeding. I can drink all I want!'

‘So let's party,' Izzy said. ‘Dance with me?' Izzy stood in front of Alex, who was lounging on the sofa, cradling a glass of wine.

‘Not tonight,' Alex said.

‘Aw, please dance with me.' Izzy lifted her arms above her head and started swaying from side to side in time to the music coming from my iPod speakers. Alex raised his wine glass to his lips, and watched her through hooded eyes.

I glanced at my watch. Gone midnight. And, despite me doing my domestic goddess act, clearing away the detritus of our Chinese takeaway and collecting up empty glasses, neither Izzy nor Beth were showing any signs of wanting to get off home. When I'd turned down the music, Izzy had turned it up again.

Beth, who'd drunk far more than her share of the white wine we'd bought and had now moved onto red, got up out of the armchair where she'd been sitting and came and joined me at the dining table.

‘Your friend Izzy seems very young,' she said, pitching her voice so that only I could hear. ‘How old is she?'

‘Twenty-one.' Twenty-one going on sixteen. And apparently determined to make a fool of herself over Alex.

‘I remember being twenty-one,' Beth said. ‘You and I were sharing a flat. We'd go out every Friday night. Drink wine. Dance. Meet boys.' She drained her wine, picked up the bottle that was on the dining table and refilled her glass, spilling a fair amount.

‘We had some good times.' I mopped up the spilt wine with a tissue.

‘Izzy looks like she's having a good time too,' Beth's voice, I noticed, was becoming increasingly slurred.

Izzy, having failed to persuade Alex to dance with her, had kicked off her shoes, and was dancing alone, rolling her hips and tossing her hair. Still dancing, she undid a couple of buttons on her shirt and tied it up, revealing an enviably flat stomach. When her dance brought her close to Alex, she smiled at him and held out her hand. He shook his head, but his gaze continued to follow her as she writhed around the room. I didn't know which of them was annoying me more – Izzy for practically giving Alex a lap dance, or Alex for so obviously enjoying it. He's going to sleep with her again tonight, I thought. I swallowed a mouthful of wine. Not that his sex life was any concern of mine.

Beth said, ‘It's not too late.'

‘What? Sorry, Beth, what are you talking about?'

‘I'm still young enough to strut my stuff on a Friday night.' Getting to her feet (and knocking over her chair in the process), Beth tottered unsteadily to the middle of the room, where she launched into a floundering parody of Izzy's dance.

Oh, my lord, she's completely pissed, I thought.

Abruptly, Alex stood up too. For a moment I thought he was going to dance with Beth and Izzy, but instead he walked over to me, and straightened up the chair.

In French, he said, ‘You do realise that Beth's had way too much to drink?'

‘Yes, I had noticed,' I said, in the same language. ‘I'm thinking I should make her a coffee to sober her up before I send her back to Rob in a cab.'

‘I'll say goodnight, then.'

‘You're going to bed?' Alone?

‘Your friends' enthusiasm for art has worn me out. I'll see you tomorrow.' Calling out goodnight to Izzy and Beth, he headed out of the living room.

Izzy stopped dancing. For a moment she stared after Alex, before flinging herself down on the sofa. Beth continued to lurch about.

With a sigh, I got up and switched off my iPod.

‘What's happened to the music?' Beth said.

‘Sit down, Beth.' I ushered her to an armchair.

‘Is there any wine left?'

‘No, but you can have a black coffee. What about you Izzy? Would you like a coffee before you go home?'

‘Actually,' Izzy said, ‘I was wondering if I could crash on your sofa? I've missed my connecting train, and minicabs are so expensive.'

She'd never had any intention of catching her last train. She'd thought she'd be spending the night with Alex. Silly girl.

I forced myself to smile. ‘No worries. I've a spare duvet.' Well, I could hardly turn her out onto the night-time streets, however much I was tempted.

Suddenly, Beth said, ‘Alex isn't here. Where's he gone?' She peered round the room, as though he might be hiding behind the furniture. ‘Alex? Alex?'

‘He's trying to sleep,' I said. ‘So keep the noise down. I'll make us some coffee.'

I went out to the kitchen, made one black and two white coffees, and put them on a tray. Thinking that Beth could probably do with something to soak up the alcohol, I added a packet of biscuits. Then I returned to the living room.

Izzy was sitting on the sofa, flicking through a copy of
The Edge
magazine that I'd bought because it had a double-page spread of Alex's photos. There was no sign of Beth.

I set the tray down on the table and handed Izzy a mug of coffee. ‘Where's Beth?'

‘She went to the bathroom,' Izzy said. ‘I don't think she's feeling too good.' With an irritating giggle, she added, ‘She's totally wasted.'

Memories surfaced of Friday nights out with Beth, when she and I were still sharing a flat. All too often, the evening would end with one of us holding back the other's hair while she threw up. ‘I'd better check she's OK.'

Beth wasn't in the bathroom. And when I looked into my bedroom, thinking she might have collapsed in a drunken stupor on my bed, she wasn't there either. I glanced along the hallway. Alex's door was closed, but even as I stood there, it slowly swung open. And I saw him and Beth, standing next to his bed. Her arms were around his neck, and she was pressed close to his naked torso – he was wearing just his jeans. And he was kissing her.

I tore along the hall. ‘What the hell are you
doing?'

Without any apparent haste, Alex lifted his face from Beth's and removed her arms from his neck. Beth gaped at me in horror, clamped her hands over her mouth, and fled past me, back into the living room.

‘How could you, Alex?' I was so angry with him, I could hardly speak. ‘How could you kiss
Beth
?'

‘She's very drunk –'

‘Oh, well, that makes it all right, then. It's not like you took advantage of her.'

‘Listen, Anna, whatever you thought you saw –'

‘Shut up,' I said. ‘Just shut up. And put a frickin' shirt on.' I turned on my heel and marched back along the hallway.

In the living room, I found Beth kneeling on the carpet, rummaging through her handbag.

‘I can't find my phone,' she wailed. ‘I have to call a cab, and I can't find my phone.'

‘Beth, calm down,' I said. ‘And get up off the floor.'

‘I have to get home to Rob and Jonah and Molly. I want to go home.'

‘I'll call you a cab,' I said. The sooner she went home the better. ‘But first you need to sit quietly for a bit.'

From the sofa, Izzy said, ‘She is going to have the most
awful
headache tomorrow.'

Thanks for that, Izzy. That really helped.

‘I kissed him.' Beth said. ‘I kissed Alex. I'm so sorry.'

‘You and Alexandre …' Izzy's voice trailed off. Her face went very red.

‘I want to go home,' Beth repeated.

Alex, wearing a shirt, came into the living room. He went straight to Beth, put his hands under her arms and raised her to her feet. She slumped against him, but let him walk her to an armchair and sit her down.

‘I'm sorry, Alex.' Beth's eyes filled with tears. ‘I just want to go home.'

‘As you keep saying,' Izzy muttered.

‘It's OK, Beth,' Alex said. ‘We'll get you home.'

I said, ‘The state she's in, we can't just put her in a cab –'

‘Obviously not – I'll go with her.'

‘I think you've done quite enough,' I said. ‘I'll go with her.'

‘I'd like to make sure she gets home all right.'

‘I can do that.'

‘Would you two stop?' Izzy said. ‘I don't think Beth's going anywhere tonight.'

I spun around to see that while Alex and I had been squabbling about who'd take her home, Beth had fallen asleep, and was now half-sitting, half-lying in the chair, her head thrown back, her arms hanging limp, one leg draped over the other.

‘She looks a bit like that Mars guy in the painting,' Izzy said. ‘Maybe he hadn't just had sex – maybe he was drunk.'

Oh, for goodness' sake. I shook Beth's shoulder. ‘Beth, wake up.'

Beth mumbled something unintelligible, and batted away my hand.

Alex said, ‘It'd be better if she stayed here tonight, and slept it off.'

I knew he was right. However much Beth might want to go home, attempting to transport an unconscious woman across London in a cab in the early hours wasn't exactly practical.

‘Do you want to put her on the sofa?' Izzy said. ‘Because I can sleep on the floor.'

‘No, it's OK,' I said. ‘She can come in with me.' I wasn't going to be able to shift Beth to my room on my own, but I couldn't bring myself to ask Alex for help.

Alex said, ‘I'll carry her.' He picked Beth up as easily as she lifted up Molly. Stifling the impulse to tell him to get his hands off her, I followed him as he carried her into my room, and laid her down gently on my bed.

‘Is there anything else I can do?' he said.

‘No,' I said.

He left without another word, almost colliding with Izzy in the doorway. I heard his bedroom door open and shut.

Izzy said, ‘I brought Beth's bag. Her phone rang. Your phone rang as well.'

‘Oh, Lord, that'll be Rob wondering where his wife is. I'll have to call him back.'

‘Beth's married?' Izzy's gaze flickered to Beth's left hand, where her wedding band gleamed softly on her ring finger.

‘Yes, she's married,' I said. ‘She has two children.'

I took off Beth's boots and her watch and covered her with the duvet. She moaned a couple of times, but then rolled onto her side and lay quiet. I located my spare duvet on top of my wardrobe, and handed it to Izzy who was still hovering in the doorway.

She said, ‘Are Beth and Alexandre having an affair?'

‘What? No. No, of course not. She's only met him a couple of times.' As far as I knew. ‘Besides, she'd never – She and Rob are very happy.'

‘Then what's she doing kissing Alex?'

‘I've no idea. Goodnight, Izzy.'

‘Night.'

I waited until Izzy had vanished inside the living room, and then I stormed into Alex's bedroom.

He was sitting on his bed, talking on his mobile, but he stood up when he saw me.

‘She'll be fine,' he said. ‘Anna will look after her …
Bonne nuit
.' He ended the call. ‘That was Rob. He'd expected Beth to be home by now, and when he couldn't get hold of her on her mobile, he was worried. Especially as you weren't answering your phone either.'

‘What did you tell him?'

‘That she'd had too much to drink and was asleep in your bed. He's going to drive over in the morning with the kids, to collect her.'

‘I presume you left out the part where you kissed her.'

‘I didn't kiss –'

‘I
saw
you.'

‘I didn't kiss her. She kissed me.'