Thursday 6th December
Alice
I wake up to banging on the door. I wait for Pickles to start barking, but then I remember she’s not here anymore. That I’m all alone. I got in so late last night after the Glamour shoot that I skipped dinner and went straight to bed in my make-up.
I drag myself begrudgingly out of bed passing Tom’s empty room. I should really put it up for let, but something’s stopping me. Some tiny pathetic hope inside me that Tom will come back. That he’ll fight for us. It’s so stupid of me. I know he’s got more important things on his mind, but I still can’t help but hope.
I answer the door, rubbing the sleep out of my eyes.
‘Alice Watts?’ a guy in a red hat with a clipboard asks.
‘Yeah...?’ I answer dubiously. He nods to someone behind him, then moves to the side so that another guy holding pots full of violas comes in. He walks right through and along the hallway. Err... rude! I turn back to complain to the guy at the door but there are another two men coming in with violas too. What the hell is happening here?
Another two guys come in with flowers. More violas.
‘There must be some kind of mistake,’ I say to the main guy with the clipboard.
He shakes his head. ‘Nope. Alice Watts from apartment 226b. It says right here.’
‘Well, who the hell sent this amount of flowers? There must be a mistake with how many flowers they ordered.’
‘I’m afraid that’s confidential, Miss.’
God, this guy’s a dick. I grab the clipboard off him, but he tries to grab it back. I elbow him in the ribs and he doubles over. Bloody baby.
I quickly look down to the sender details. Tom Maddens. Tom sent these?
‘Is there a note?’ I ask the clipboard guy a little too desperately.
‘Yeah. One of these has it.’
The guys look between each other. ‘I thought you had it?’ they say to each other.
‘Oh Jesus, you’re useless.’
I scan down the clipboard again, moving when he tries to snatch it back again.
Note to be included: Please forgive me.
‘Oh, and I almost forgot this,’ the man says reaching into his pocket. He hands over an envelope.
My shaky hands scramble to open it, hoping it’s a letter. I pull out some kind of ticket. I read it. ‘Brighton vintage fair.’ One ticket. How did he know I wanted to go to this? I remember seeing the poster in the toilets at Nicholas’ birthday dinner. Did Brooke help him with this? Does he have the other ticket, or did he just buy me one?’
Well, the fair is tomorrow. I guess I’m going to find out.
I look around at all the violas, my flat now smelling irresistibly sweet. I’ve never told him how much I love violas. Then I remember the day I took him for a picnic near his work. We sat next to some. Can he really be that sweet? Or could it be a coincidence?
My phone rings. I look down at it expecting to see Tom’s name flashing back at me. Instead it’s a withheld number again.
‘Hello?’
‘Miss Watts, it’s PC Edwards here. I just wanted to give you an update. Is now a good time?’
‘Err, yeah that’s fine. What’s happened?’
‘We’ve got enough evidence to prove that Mr Cundy posted the pornographic picture of you. We’ve sent it all on to the Crown Prosecution Service. It’ll be up to them to decide whether to charge him or not.’
‘Wow. Thanks so much for all of your help.’
‘There’s another thing. We traced the IP address of the emails that were being sent to your friends and family. It turned out to be someone completely different. A Gerald Watts. I’m assuming he’s a relative of yours?’
My stomach nearly drops out of my knickers. Gerald? He sent the emails? What a spiteful bastard. I had no idea he hated me that much.
‘Yes. He’s my brother.’
‘Right.’
‘Look, is there any way I can drop the charges?’ I don’t want to take this tool to court. ‘Just let him off with a warning?’
‘I’ll pass it on that you’re feeling forgiving but it’s up to the CPS now.’
‘Ok, well, thanks for everything.’
I can’t believe Gerald did that. You hear about these overprotective brothers looking out for their sisters, and there’s mine sending around my amateur porn. Sicko.
I take my phone out and type a text message to my mum.
Gerald is in trouble with the police for circulating a naked picture of me. If that doesn’t make you realise what a weirdo he is, nothing ever will.
* * *
Tom
Phase one of ‘Win Back Alice’ is complete. I’ve had a notification from the delivery company that it went through this morning. But... I still haven’t heard from her. That was three hours ago and no matter how hard I stare at my phone, she’s not tried to contact me. I knew she wasn’t going to be an easy nut to crack so I’m moving onto phase two.
I call Jack.
‘Hey dude, how are you doing?’
‘I’ve been better,’ I admit. ‘Anyway, I’m ringing for a favour. Can you get the girls to keep Alice out of the flat the morning of her birthday?’
He yawns. ‘Next Wednesday? Yeah, I’m sure I can. Why, what you got planned?’
‘Just promise you’ll help me first.’
He sighs. ‘Okay, fine. I’m in.’
* * *
Friday 7th December
Alice
This morning I woke up to an envelope through the post in Tom’s handwriting. Inside it was a picture of Tom and Pickles in the park with a background of violas. Written on the back was ‘We miss you’.
I’m dressed up in my vintage orange coat with faux-fur trimmed collar. Underneath, I’m wearing my vintage 1940’s navy and ivory polka-dot wrap-dress. It’s always been my ‘go to’ confident dress. It gives me curves that I don’t have and makes me feel both sexy and classy. I’ve teamed it with matching navy and red heels.
I queue up with what seems like hundreds of people for the vintage fair. I keep looking around, but I can’t seem to find Tom. Maybe he did just get me a ticket. I suppose it’s not really his thing anyway. He’d probably moan the whole way around. Yes, I’m better on my own. That doesn’t stop me doing a double take whenever I see a blonde guy though.
I hand over my ticket to the woman. She pauses when she spots my name.
‘Ah, you’re Alice.’
‘Err.... yeah. Why?’ I ask dubiously.
She smiles. ‘I’m supposed to give you this.’ She hands over a piece of paper.
‘Oh, thanks.’ I take it and open it frantically as I walk into what looks like a cave of wonders. Dress stalls, workshops on how to do victory rolls, ‘high tea for two’ cafes. It’s like heaven.
Alice,
I bought this ticket for you with no conditions and I hope you enjoy your day. But, in case you’d like to see me, I’ll be waiting by the candyfloss stand.
All my love
Tom xxx
Wow. A love letter of sorts. From Tom ‘Manwhore’ Maddens. I can’t believe it. I wander into the first clothes stall and start looking through the dresses, my head still in a bit of a daze. Should I meet up with him? Would it be nicer if I just texted him and said thanks, but I won’t have time?
I don’t want to give the guy false hope. We can’t be together. We just won’t work when I don’t trust him. Especially with everything that’s gone on between us. But the guy has just lost his dad. Maybe I should see him, be friendly at least.
Oh, who am I kidding? I’m walking to find the candyfloss stand before I can talk myself back out of it. I get shoved on the shoulder by someone walking past. We both turn to apologise to the other. That’s when I see him. Not Tom, but Ted.
His eyes widen when he realises it’s me. ‘Shit. Alice…’
‘Ted.’ I take a deep breath. ‘You should be ashamed of what you did to me.’
He hangs his head. ‘I know. For what it’s worth, I am sorry.’
‘Bit late now that the entire world has seen my tits, don’t you think?’
He nods, biting on his lip. ‘Look, there’s something else I need to tell you. I was going to email.’
I fold my arms across my chest. ‘What is it, Ted? I don’t have time for this.’
‘Well…’ he takes a deep breath. ‘You need to get checked for Chlamydia.’
My mouth drops open. ‘Sorry? What?’
‘I’ve just found out I’ve got Chlamydia. You should get checked too.’
I think back to when we first got together. He’d talked me into us not using a condom. Showed me a report from the local clinic saying he was clean.
‘You faked the report?’ I can’t help but blurt out. ‘You tricked me?’
‘No, actually,’ he snarks back. ‘But, well, I kind of got it while we were dating.’
‘Sorry?’ I stare back at him, my face blank. What does he mean? He’s squirming now. Wait… ‘You mean you cheated on me?’
He huffs. ‘I didn’t mean for it to happen.’
I nod and snort. ‘But it did, without a condom, and you didn’t think to protect me from anything you might have gotten. Nice, Ted. Real nice. You know I’ve been blaming someone else for giving me this, when I’ve actually probably given it to him!’
He scoffs. ‘Who, that prick you sent round to see me? Sorry if I don’t feel too bad for someone that held me down and threatened to expose my dick to the world.’
‘Whatever, Ted. Good luck in your court case. Hopefully I won’t ever have to see you again.’
I storm away from him, livid. I just want to see Tom now. I spot him standing next to the candyfloss machine looking anxiously at his phone every few seconds. He’s obviously worried I’m not coming.
Seeing Tom like this is enough to break my heart. I want nothing more than to bundle him up and take him away from all of this. Somewhere he can forget it all for a moment. To see the heartbreak in his eyes, God, it just guts me. It’s making me wonder if I was right throwing him out at all, even with what I did think.
When someone dies you realise what’s important in life. Not that I’m ready to forgive him for everything. Even if I was, I can’t be with him. He still started our relationship on a lie. A bet. Once the trust has gone in a relationship there’s nothing left. I know that better than most people. I’m just glad I didn’t send this one any sexy pictures.
He looks up, as if sensing my presence and spots me, a smile forming on his lips.
‘Alice,’ he almost whispers, as if saying a prayer.
‘Hi, Tom.’ I walk towards him, my hands shoved in my pockets, so I don’t fidget. ‘How are you?’
‘I’ve been better,’ he admits on a shrug.
‘I’m so sorry I didn’t come to the funeral. Only I couldn’t turn down the job.’
He puts his palm up to stop me. ‘Alice, I’m glad you took the opportunity. Plus, you really do owe me nothing. Especially after the way we ended things.’
I swallow, avoiding his eyes. ‘So... did you want to tell me something? Or were you just looking for a chat?’ I tuck my hair behind my ear.
He smiles sadly. ‘I just wanted to explain myself a bit.’
I sigh. ‘Tom, there’s no point. What’s done is done. There’s no point going over it again.’
‘Please, Alice,’ he begs, his eyes pleading.
‘Fine. What do you want to say?’
He takes a deep breath. ‘Look, I handled the whole thing terribly. Obviously, I thought I was clean, but when I think about it now I was tested about four girls ago.’
‘Tom, it was me.’
He stares back at me, his brows furrowed. ‘What was you?’
I gulp. ‘The Chlamydia. I just found out that it was Ted that gave it to me. Which means I probably gave it to you. Did you get tested?’
He nods then pulls me in for a hug. ‘It’s not your fault, Alice. I don’t blame you for assuming badly of me.’
‘I… what if I hadn’t have gotten tested? This could have stopped me from having children. That’s a huge thing for me. I can’t believe him.’
‘He’s a dick.’
I lean back to look into his face. ‘You still bet on getting me into bed.’
‘I’m sorry.’ He looks genuinely gutted. ‘You have no idea how bad I feel. I couldn’t put it into words if I tried.’
‘Well then why didn’t you fight for us, Tom?’ I can’t help but cry. I take a discreet deep breath to try to stop my eyes stinging. ‘You gave in and moved out.’
He pulls his hand through his hair. ‘Look, I lied to you before about having it all sorted with my boss. I’d just been told that I was basically fired because I turned down her advances and that I’d be bad-mouthed all around Brighton.’
I tut. ‘Another lie, Tom. Really?’
He grimaces. ‘The way I saw it I’d already messed up any chance of living here, so I thought a clean break while you were angry at me was the best thing to do.’
I shrug. ‘Maybe it was.’
He takes my hands, holding me captive with his piercing green eyes. ‘I don’t expect you to take me back; but know I’m here just in case you ever want to forgive me. I’ll be waiting for you.’
‘You might be waiting forever,’ I admit, looking down at the ground.
‘Then I’ll wait forever,’ he nods, his eyes sincere. ‘Here.’ He reaches into his jeans pocket and takes out a wrapped-up present. ‘This is for you. I bought it before we broke up.’
I go to unwrap it, but he stops me. ‘No. Please promise me you won’t open it until your birthday morning.’
‘Seriously?’ I laugh. ‘I have to wait?’
‘Please,’ he nods. ‘Just do that one thing for me.’
‘Okay.’ I nod, take it, and kiss him briefly on his cheek. He closes his eyes. ‘Goodbye, Tom.’ I turn and walk away.
‘Remember, Alice,’ he shouts over to me. ‘I’ll be waiting.’