Wednesday 17th October
Alice
‘So,’ Brooke presses over coffee at hers the next morning. ‘How’s it going living with hot stuff?’ She wiggles her eyebrows suggestively.
I roll my eyes. ‘It’s a nightmare. Although I’ve found one good reason to keep him around.’
Her eyes nearly burst out of their sockets. ‘No! Oh my god, Alice! Tell me everything.’
I stare back at her, dazed. What the hell is she going on about? Wait... does she think I mean I slept with him?
‘Ew, no! Brooke, you’re gross.’ What the hell is she like?
She cackles, her eyes alight with mischief. ‘It’s not gross. It’s only a matter of time between you both.’
How random is she being? Just because we’re temporarily living together does not mean we’re going to bone. That’s like saying men and women can’t be just friends. Tom and I aren’t even that.
‘You have met us both separately, right? You do know how much of a long shot that is?’
She wiggles her eyes. ‘Not that long a shot, I’m telling you,’ she grins. ‘And you’d be in for a treat. He could fuck you into next week.’
‘Ewww!’ I shriek. ‘Too much information, Brooke.’ The thought of them two having sex is too much.
She throws back her head in a hysterical laugh. ‘Anyway, we need to talk business.’
She’s called me here today saying she has an idea for a joint business venture. With her being a designer, I don’t really understand what she could do for me. I already edit my own pictures.
It has me worried. I know I’m not earning good money at the moment with all my clients cancelling—no doubt because they’ve heard I’m some whore that poses naked—but I’m not sure about blending business and friendship. Besides, I’ve been thinking I need to go back to reaching my goal of being a fashion photographer. That’s what I always wanted to be.
‘So, you know how I found Erica reading that embarrassing romance book about a month ago?’
I smile at the memory. ‘God, we ribbed her. What was it called again?’
‘Barefoot Detective.’
We both collapse over again in hysterics.
‘Anyway,’ she continues, stirring sugar into her coffee, ‘it got me thinking about book covers.’
‘Riiight?’ Where is she going with this?
‘So, I joined a load of book groups on Facebook to do my research and custom-made covers can go for anything up to £600.’
‘Shit.’ That’s crazy. Just for a book cover?
‘Exactly. So... I’m thinking with your photography and my graphic design we could make ourselves a little side business doing this. What do you think?’
Wow. It’s actually an idea that’s not completely crazy. I feel bad for doubting her so easily.
‘Well... I was going to say that we shouldn’t involve ourselves in a business relationship,’ I admit.
Her face drops. ‘Oh.’
‘But... for that sort of money I’d consider it.’ Her face lights up again. ‘How would we divide the money?’
‘Sixty, forty. I’d handle all of the advertising and reaching out to clients and once you’ve photographed you just send me the files and I do the rest.’
It does sound good. And it’s not like I’m booked back to back with clients.
‘Okay,’ I shrug. ‘Why the hell not? If it means I get to pay the rent, it’ll be worth it.’
‘Great,’ she beams. ‘Now, we should probably do a few mock-up covers to show off our skills. I’ve already asked Nicholas, and he’s refusing point blank.’
I giggle. I can’t imagine him wanting to pose around like a pretty boy.
‘But Jack is up for it as long as it’s nothing too risqué.’
‘Okay, great.’ I already know he’s mad photogenic.
‘I was hoping that you’d also ask Tom.’ She grimaces.
Oh hell no.
‘What? Why the hell do we need him?’ He’d just love me begging him to take his shirt off.
‘Oh, come on, Alice. You know as well as I do that it would be weird for me to ask him. He might get the idea I’m trying to chat him up or something.’
I roll my eyes. ‘He knows you’re with Nicholas now.’ Not that I reckon it’d stop him. The guy has no standards. I wouldn’t be surprised if he fucked his friend over.
‘Yeah, and you know how crazy jealous he gets. I don’t want to give him an excuse to think I’m still hung up on Tom.’
It’s true. I’ve seen him sulk when Brooke flirted with a bartender. She just loves the attention.
‘I still can’t believe you ever slept with that Neanderthal.’ Who I now live with.
She snorts. ‘Don’t diss it ‘til you try it. He’s great.’
I really can’t imagine that. Surely with him just having one-night-stands, he’d be a selfish lover. Out for all his pleasure and not interested in yours.
‘What, better than Nicholas?’ I can’t help but ask. I’ve always wondered.
‘No! Of course not,’ she snaps. ‘With Nicholas it’s completely different.’ Her eyes become dreamy. ‘It’s so raw and passionate. He even...’ she stops to blush. Brooke blushing. Jesus, what is he into?
‘Brooke, I don’t think I have ever seen you blush. What the hell did you do? Did he buy you a sex swing or something?’
She snorts a laugh. ‘No, nothing like that. He...’ More blushing. ‘Well he told me he wants us to live together.’
I dribble out some coffee. ‘Oh my god, that’s amazing! Did you agree?’
‘Yeah,’ she nods, covering her face with her hair. ‘God, it all feels so girly and cringe talking about it, but... God, I’m fucking nuts about him. In fact, I don’t know how much longer I can cope with us living apart, so it makes sense.’ Brooke gushing about a guy is still so strange to me and now she’s so in love with Nicholas.
‘Really? So, what’s holding you back?’
She sighs, slumping her shoulders. ‘He doesn’t want to leave his dad after the heart attack. He’s all better now, but he’s worried he’ll be lonely.’
‘Oh,’ I nod. I get why she doesn’t understand that. Like me, she’s not grown up close to her parents. We both got out as soon as we could. ‘And you wouldn’t move to Peterborough?’
‘Yuk!’ she screeches dramatically, like I just told her to consider Iraq.
‘It’s really not that bad!’ I snort. ‘And it’s so cheap you could probably buy.’
‘You move there, then,’ she retorts with raised eyebrows. ‘Besides, now that I’ve found my dad I don’t want to move far away from him.’ She only recently re-united with him after growing up not knowing who he was. ‘So…’
‘So...?’ I press. God, what has she done?
She cracks a devilish smile. ‘I’ve put his dad on Tinder.’
‘You’ve WHAT?’ Only Brooke would be nuts enough to put a middle-aged man on Tinder when he has no intention of dating.
‘Yep,’ she nods. ‘I made his profile last night. There’s already been some matches.’ She starts taking her phone out of her bag.
‘You are fucking insane. He’ll never go for it.’
She starts flicking through pictures. ‘But what if he does? Some of these are alright looking. Problem solved.’
I get up and collect my bag from the back of the chair. ‘Whatever, don’t involve me. I don’t want to be involved when it all blows up in your face.’
‘It won’t,’ she says, sounding hurt. ‘Just ask Tom about the photos, yeah?’
‘Maybe,’ I call after me before slamming the door shut.
* * *
Tom
Dad called me today to find out how I was doing. Find out if I’d fucked up yet more like. The thing that I haven’t told the others is that my dad all but kicked me out. Told me he was sick of me treating the place like a hotel. Or did he use the word brothel? I’ve forgotten.
Not even a happy birthday call to my mate back home, Charlie, managed to cheer me up, and he was complaining about his nutty family. I normally piss myself over that shit.
I’m barely in the flat when Alice starts being nice to me. It’s unnerving as hell. She clearly wants something.
‘Why are you being so nice?’ I ask as she serves me a cup of tea.
She looks hot as fuck today in black and white hounds-tooth cropped trousers, and a tight black t-shirt that’s just short enough to see a glimpse of her stomach. Her hair is scooped up with one of those head scarfs she likes to wear wrapped around it.
‘Can’t I just be pleasant?’ she shrugs with a wide grin, kicking off her red-and-white polka-dot heels and collapsing next to me on the sofa.
‘Okay.’
She lets out a huge sigh. ‘Ugh, I can’t do it. Alright, there’s something I need to ask you.’
I smirk. ‘I knew it. Go on then.’ She clearly wants a piece of Maddens.
She turns to face me. ‘Right, well...’ She squirms awkwardly, twiddling with a ring on her finger.
Wait a second. She does want to do a friends-with-benefits thing?
‘I know what you’re going to say,’ I nod knowingly, a grin splitting my lips apart.
She frowns, her red lips falling open slightly. ‘You do?’
‘I do,’ I nod, trying not to come across as too arrogant. ‘You want to make a friends-with-benefits arrangement. That’s fine, but we need some ground rules.’
She starts to smile. She’s happy I’ve said it for her. Then she bursts out laughing.
‘God, you’re such a tool.’
‘Huh?’ Wait, she doesn’t want my dick?
‘I don’t want to sleep with you, you twat.’
‘You don’t?’ I’m genuinely confused. I was sure she secretly wanted me. What the hell else could she want to ask me?
She rolls her eyes. ‘Of course I don’t. Jesus, Tom, not everyone wants to shag you. It’s actually quite sad that you think that’s all your worth.’
What the hell does that mean?
‘What I wanted to ask was if you’d mind posing semi-naked for a book cover?’
I stare back at her. Is this another joke? Is she setting me up just so she can ridicule me again?
‘You want me to what now?’ I blurt out, growing tired.
She starts explaining that her and Brooke are starting a new business venture and they want me to be the model. Of course they do, I’m hot.
‘So, what exactly would I get out of this?’ I ask with raised eyebrows, my tongue suggestively at the side of my mouth.
‘Bragging rights?’ she offers weakly. I raise my eyebrows. As if I’d do it for nothing. ‘Okay,’ she finally relents, ‘we’ll also pay you a hundred quid if we sell the photo.’
‘That’s more like it.’ I could do with the extra cash. ‘And my pictures aren’t going to end up online for some haemorrhoid cream advert or something, right?’
I see it cross her mind. Evil cow.
She chuckles. ‘No, don’t worry. They’d be exclusively for book covers. Although now you mention that...’
Knew it. I love when she tries to tease me. ‘And you’ll be taking the pictures?’
She nods. ‘I will.’
The thought of forcing her to look at my half naked body through a lens has a thrill going straight to my dick. She won’t be able to resist me for long after that.
‘Okay, I’m in. As long as you can control yourself.’
She rolls her eyes. ‘Somehow I think I’ll manage.’
It’s so sweet how she thinks she can resist me. Only a matter of time before she’s in my bed and I’m collecting my winnings from Nicholas.