Cal hated me.
I stood waiting in reception the day after the party, hoping he might show up. I knew that I had ruined everything, and if it were the other way round, I wouldn’t bother showing up either. Not after what I’d said.
But I still hoped that he might.
‘It’s not that bad,’ Sky assured me, when I filled her in properly on Sunday morning. She was tired from the night before but the party had gone so well that nothing could dampen her spirits, not even the long-haul flight ahead of her. It couldn’t have been more of a hit. Everyone on the guest list had shown up, from glamorous models to dramatic rock stars to showbiz journalists, and every celebrity website in the world was talking about it – the stars, the clothes, the venue. Ellie had been inundated with requests to hire out that room for the oncoming year of parties.
‘We’re going to need to hire more staff,’ I overheard her telling Timothy during the party when she confirmed yet another booking.
I should have woken up the next morning elated by the evening’s events. Instead, I woke up feeling like the worst person in the world. Not even Fritz howling along pitch-perfectly to David Bowie in the kitchen where Mum was making breakfast could make me feel better. I checked my phone: no messages.
‘Why are you so upset anyway?’ Sky asked, as her team busied themselves around her suite, packing up everything. Her flight back to LA was that afternoon, which only made me feel worse. Though at least she’d be flying back next month for the Christmas Ball.
I shrugged. ‘I just feel . . . guilty.’
‘But what you said was true, wasn’t it?’ She dodged out of the way of her assistant who came flying past clutching a handful of hair products.
‘I guess. I just have this horrible feeling in my stomach. Like lead.’
She sighed and slumped down on to the sofa next to me.
‘Tell me again exactly what happened.’
I had arrived downstairs at the party to find it brimming with famous faces greeting each other enthusiastically and posing together for photos. I made my way through the air-kissing crowd to get to Sky, who was talking to a journalist about her new album.
‘– and learning from that relationship inspired several of the songs.’ Her face lit up when she saw me hovering nearby with Fritz, and she gestured for me to join her.
‘And have you enjoyed your trip to London?’ the journalist asked, her Dictaphone light blinking red under Sky’s nose.
‘It’s been the best, mostly because of new friends,’ she replied, hauling me under her arm and giving Fritz a pat on the head. ‘It’s surprising how few of them you can find in showbiz.’
The journalist attempted to pry more information out of her but Sky had spotted Ethan waiting in the queue to get in, so she expertly moved her along by introducing her to her producer. Ethan kissed Sky’s cheeks and admired the surroundings.
‘Can’t believe you pulled this off. I thought you were in big trouble this morning.’
‘So did I –’ Sky nodded – ‘until Flick came along. This is all down to her.’
‘Great,’ he said, leaning forwards to kiss me on the cheek. He smelled so good, it made my knees go weak. What IS his aftershave? I need to buy some to spray on my pillow or something.
Not in a creepy way.
‘Ah, there’s Jacob and Carly. Flick, I’ll find you in a second.’
He disappeared into the crowd and I tried to ignore the sinking feeling of being brushed aside. I guess I couldn’t expect him to only pay attention to me. He was definitely a master of playing it cool, whereas I turned into a lump of jelly whenever he came near. I needed to take a leaf out of Sky’s book – her date to the Christmas Ball wasn’t invited to this party as, according to her, that would make her look ‘way too keen’.
Watching Ethan disappear into the crowd, I spotted Cal nudging his way through to me. I couldn’t help but smile as he approached – for someone who never made an effort for anything except homework, he’d done a pretty good job of scrubbing up. He was wearing a crisp white shirt and a thin black tie, and had done something with his hair so it wasn’t so fluffy.
‘It’s packed,’ he enthused, passing me a drink. ‘Everyone looks like they’re having a good time. Cheers.’
We clinked our pink lemonade as Fritz, tucked under my arm, tried and failed to snaffle a canapé from a passing tray. I plonked him on the ground and it wasn’t long before he was swept up into Jamie’s arms and offered a crab cake.
‘Couldn’t have done this without you,’ I admitted to Cal, as he laughed at Fritz being so spoiled.
He shook his head. ‘Yeah, you could have. With your eyes closed. You’ve always been good at telling people what to do.’
I laughed.
‘Nice lipstick, by the way,’ he said, taking a sip of his drink. ‘Looks good.’
I gave him a funny look.
‘What?’ he asked innocently.
‘Nothing. It’s just . . . you’re being nice.’
‘I’m always nice.’
‘I know . . . well, I mean, you don’t like me.’
‘That’s not true.’
Someone knocked me as they squeezed past, almost tipping my lemonade all over me. I looked down to check my dress for any stray spillages when I felt Cal’s warm fingers grip my wrist. Our eyes locked.
‘That’s not true,’ he repeated, in a lower, more serious voice. I was so surprised at the intense way he was looking at me, that I suddenly felt all the breath knocked out of me and a warm, giddy feeling in my stomach.
I really needed to stop being affected so much by boys. How does anyone get anything done when they’re walking around with their sincere eyes and shapely jaws?
Oh my God, I just used the word ‘shapely’.
WHAT WAS WRONG WITH MY BRAIN?
‘Flick?’
Cal dropped my wrist at my mum’s voice.
‘Mum! What are you doing here?’
‘Well, my lecture’s finished, and I came home to hear that I was hosting a party for Skylar Chase.’
I felt the colour drain out my face. I hadn’t told Mum about the party earlier because I didn’t want her to worry about anything. But I had meant to phone her beforehand to mention that the whole thing was happening, you know, it being her hotel and everything. But my panic after Grace leaving and then that really nice message from Olly had totally thrown my brain and I’d completely forgotten to call her.
‘Mum, I meant to –’
‘What a resounding success.’ She beamed. ‘Flick, I could not be more proud of you.’
She reached forwards and pulled me into a hug.
‘Audrey told me everything,’ she continued, releasing me to address Cal too. ‘She said how you two clubbed together to arrange all of this and how hard you have both worked. I must say, I didn’t realise this room even existed. How did you come across it?’
‘Uh –’
‘Well –’
‘Um –’
‘No matter.’ She laughed, as Cal and I awkwardly mumbled, before putting on her sophisticated hotel-owner voice. ‘Guests can always rely on Hotel Royale.’
‘Right,’ I agreed. ‘That was the tagline we were channelling.’
‘I’d better go and talk to Miss Chase,’ she said, before placing a hand on my shoulder. ‘Flick, I think it might be about time we talk about the Christmas Ball. Don’t you?’
She smiled warmly at us and then strode away towards Sky. Without thinking, I threw my arms around Cal’s neck, bouncing up and down on the spot.
‘We did it! We did it!’
He laughed and suddenly I realised I was majorly invading Cal Weston’s personal space, so I stumbled backwards, knocking into a grumpy supermodel behind me. After apologising to her, I turned back to Cal.
‘Looks like you got your way.’ He grinned.
‘Duh!’ I said, flicking my hair dramatically. ‘As usual. Cal, thank you so –’
‘Hey.’ Ethan came out of nowhere, taking my hand and shooting Cal an odd look. ‘Can I steal you away? I need you to meet some people.’
‘Right, yeah, of course.’
As he pulled me away from Cal, he smiled down at me curiously.
‘Who is that guy? Do I need to be worried about riding solo to the Christmas Ball?’
‘No, no!’ I assured him quickly. ‘He’s nobody. Just the son of an employee.’
But Ethan wasn’t listening any more. He had seen someone he knew and was too busy greeting them. I glanced back over my shoulder to see Cal watching me with a stunned, hurt look on his face. He shook his head, and then turned to push his way through the crowd and out the door. He didn’t come back.
‘He’ll show,’ Sky said determinedly as the last of her suitcases were taken downstairs by the porters. When I’d finished repeating the story to her, I’d mentioned that Cal and I had previously arranged a ‘Royale education’ lesson that Sunday with the florist.
I nodded with much more confidence than I felt and escorted her downstairs to where her car was waiting. Mum, Audrey, Matthew and Fritz had lined up ready to say their goodbyes in the lobby.
‘I’ll miss you guys,’ she said, her eyes welling as she picked Fritz up and he gave her a lick on the cheek. ‘See you at Christmas.’
She gave me a long hug, took one last selfie with Fritz, blew us all kisses and then waltzed out the door through the crowd of waiting press and into her car. That was when the florist arrived ready for our day and the wait for Cal started.
He didn’t show up.