Diamonds Are a Teen's Best Friend (9 page)

‘Of course it’s her decision, but it’s probably not a good idea to
encourage
her. And why is she acting so strangely, huh? What’s up with that?’

I pause and think about how I’m going to handle this. ‘Strangely?’

Marc shakes his head at me. ‘Oh, come on, Nessa. You can’t say you didn’t see that in there. With Antonio. And I overheard some people today talking about how they’d seen her playing badminton. It sounded like she was wearing practically nothing and acting like an idiot. It’s as if she’s turning into this whole other person. I asked her about it, but she denied everything.’

Um, er. ‘Maybe she’s just having a good time …’

Now it’s Marc who pauses. ‘Wait a second. You were there, weren’t you, this afternoon?’

Um, um. ‘For a while.’

‘Has this all got something to do with you as well, her acting strangely?’

Oh, my.

‘Nessa, what’s going on?’

I take a deep breath and face Marc squarely. ‘Marc, you’re being silly. There’s nothing “going on” as you put it.
Holly’s just having a good time. That’s what cruises are for, right? To have a good time. Let your hair down. Act ridiculously on stage. Just lighten up, okay?’

Silence.

And then Marc starts shaking his head, slowly at first, but then faster. His eyes have narrowed until they’re now just small slits. ‘Oh, listen to you. You really think you’re
it
, don’t you? That you’re Holly’s best buddy and –’

I butt in, fast, wanting to stop his train of thought right here. ‘No, it’s not that. I’m not expecting anything from Holly. We’ll probably never see each other again after next week. The talent quest entry was just an idea that popped into my head. I thought we’d have fun. That’s all, Marc. Really, that’s all.’ Well, this is half true – have fun
and
meet all the men on the boat, that is. I have to look away, I’m telling so many lies.

‘Yeah, right. As far as I can see you’ve had a few too many good ideas lately. I just don’t get it, Nessa. I thought we were friends. I thought that you … that we …’ He trails off.

A few too many good ideas? What’s that supposed to mean? Our eyes meet again as Marc stops speaking and,
suddenly, his expression changes. Instead of anger, there’s now disappointment and confusion. He turns then and heads off back down the corridor.

‘Marc?’ I call after him, realising what he’s just said. I take a few steps forward. ‘Marc, of course we’re friends. Don’t be silly. And what do you mean? You thought that I, that we … what?’

But his slump-shouldered, retreating figure doesn’t turn around. And all I get is a shake of one hand in reply.

I trudge back to the cabin, pick Holly’s chicken fillet out of the wastepaper basket and stick it under my pillow where Dad won’t find it. And maybe it’s the chicken fillet making my pillow lumpy, I don’t know, but I
do
know I don’t sleep well that night. I can’t stop thinking about Marc. Not about him lecturing Holly, or having a go at me for signing us up for the talent quest, but about that figure that retreated down the hallway. He looked so … defeated. And that look of disappointment on his face before he left. As if I’d turned out to be someone he thought I wasn’t. Anyway, I don’t think it’s the chicken fillet stopping me from getting any rest. I think it’s me realising that Marc feels hurt. And left out. And as if he doesn’t know everything that’s going on. Which he doesn’t, of course. And it’s all because of me.

As soon as I’m up and showered, I give his room a call, hoping we can have a chat and sort things out. But his answering service is switched on. I leave a message, asking him to give me a call. After breakfast, I leave another message. After lunch, I leave another.

Okay. Something tells me Marc’s avoiding me.

Mid-afternoon, Holly calls me and we arrange to have a quick cocktail/mocktail at our usual spot.

‘Congratulations!’ is the first thing Holly says to me, jumping into my line of view.

I squint up at her from my sun lounge, bringing my hand up to shade my eyes from the sun. ‘Congratulations for what?’

She passes something to me. A piece of paper.

‘We won the talent quest! It’s a one-hundred-dollar drink voucher. All yours.’

‘We won?!’ I sit straight up, looking first at the voucher, then up at Holly.

‘Of course! You didn’t think that guy with the ugly dummy was going to win, did you? Or the kid with the spoons? Or the chick with the flying prosthesis?’

‘Oh, very funny. Ha, ha, ha.’ I give her a look as she
dumps her raffia bag on the deck and sits down beside me. ‘We have to split it, though. It’s half yours.’

She shakes one hand. ‘Don’t be silly. It was your idea. And they give me everything for free, anyway. It’s ridiculous what I get for free these days. Dresses, drinks, meals. And I can afford it now! I wish I could go back in time and give half the stuff I get for free now to starving-actress me ten years ago.’

I nod.

‘I’ll tell you something, though. That act worked a treat. I can’t believe how many dates I’ve been asked out on today. I’m pretty much booked solid for the rest of the trip!’

‘No way!’

‘Oh, definitely way. Breakfasts and lunches and trips out to see the dolphins. All kinds of things.’

‘Well, that’s good.’

Holly pauses.

‘Isn’t it?’

She pauses again, looking at me, and then nods slowly. ‘It’s getting … a bit tiring.’

Oh, no. Have I done the wrong thing? I remember how
I felt yesterday, watching Holly throw the badminton game. And seeing her act so strangely with Antonio. ‘But if you don’t want to do anything, if you don’t want to go on any of the dates, don’t go. I didn’t mean to … I …’

Holly reaches over and pats my arm. ‘No. It’s fine. I’m having a good time. Like the lessons state, keep it light. That’s what I want just now. Light and easy with no commitments. It’s been good for me to talk to so many new people. It’s just that sometimes I find myself sizing them all up because it makes me remember that, in my heart, I’m still looking for … um …’

‘The One?’ I try. ‘Perfect Man?’

Holly nods, her face glum. ‘That’s him. PM.’

I pat her arm. ‘Don’t worry. You’ll find him. I know you will. He’s somewhere here on this ship. I just know it.’

Beside me, Holly shrugs a small shrug. ‘I can only hope that that’s true.’

It’s awful to see her looking so miserable. ‘You know what I think?’

‘What?’ She turns to face me again.

‘I think you really should try toning it down a bit. I mean, when I was watching you yesterday, it kind of
freaked me out. Throwing that badminton game – you can’t really have liked doing that.’

Holly shakes her head and laughs lightly. ‘No, I can’t say I did.’

‘No. It wasn’t very you. And why should you have to, anyway?’

Holly gives me a weird look now. ‘So, what are you saying? That we should just forget the whole Nessa’s Lessons in Love deal?’

‘Um … I’m not sure. Maybe if you just tone it down a bit.’

Holly sighs. ‘Tone it down a bit. That was my parents’ favourite saying when I was growing up. “Holly Thelma Isles, tone it down a bit!”’

I look over at her incredulously. ‘Really?’

She nods. ‘Why?’

‘That’s
my
dad’s favourite saying. Well, except his is: “Nessa Joanne Mulholland, tone it down a bit!”’

‘Joanne, huh? I’ll swap you.’

I shake my head and laugh. ‘Thelma? I don’t think so. Anyway, like you were saying, why don’t you just try keeping things light and fun, but forget all the subservient stuff. That’s the stuff I hate seeing.’

Holly snorts. ‘That’s the stuff I hate
doing
. I could have creamed them all at badminton. I think I’ve just got to take a step back for a while. Be me. And not worry about …’ She pauses.

‘Boys?’

She shrugs.

‘Men?’

‘I guess that’s the word I’m looking for.’

I nod decisively. ‘Right then. Step one, stop looking for PM, and step two, just try having a good time.’

‘It sounds so simple when you say it like that.’

‘Like you told me, try not to think about it so hard. Go with the flow, as they say. Think you can give it a whirl?’

Holly nods once more.

Well, good. Time to change the topic, I think. ‘Hey, I just remembered. I’ve got something for you, as well.’

This cheers her up a bit. ‘What’s that?’

I reach into my pocket and pull it out.

‘Oh! Edwina!’

This makes me pause. ‘Edwina?’

Holly nods. ‘Edwina and Lucy are my spares. This is Edwina. Edwina, meet Nessa.’

‘I think we’ve already met,’ I laugh. ‘Intimately.’

Suddenly, a shadow looms over the two of us. Well, the three of us (Holly, me and Edwina). ‘Ladies. Can I offer you something to drink?’ It’s the scary drinks waiter.

‘Hmmm,’ Holly says, still holding Edwina out (nipple up) and not making any moves to put her away. ‘I think I’ll have a peach and mango smoothie, my good man.’

‘I’ll have a tab, thanks,’ I say. ‘And I don’t mean the kind that comes in a can. It’s Nessa Mulholland. Cabin 252b.’ I pass him the voucher. ‘To start, I’d like to put a strawberry frappé on it, please.’

‘Of course, ladies.’ The scary drinks waiter turns and heads off.

‘Oh, and a bowl of maraschino cherries, as well!’ I say as he goes.

Beside me, Holly nods. ‘Good call,’ she says. And we both settle back for an hour or two of afternoon drinks and gossip.

We’re halfway through our second round of drinks when I spot them. The young couple, off to our right, taking photos of us. ‘You’ve seen them, have you?’ Holly says to me, without turning around to look. ‘They’ve been
there for at least ten minutes, snapping away. I hope they got a good close-up of my leg-hair stubble.’

‘Ten minutes? Really?’ I hadn’t noticed them until now. Then again, I hadn’t noticed Holly’s leg-hair stubble, either.

‘You develop a special kind of vision in this game. A wider kind of vision. In case one of them has a knife, or something worse.’

‘A knife?!’ This makes me sit up a bit. I twist around to have a better look at them.

‘No, it’s okay. The one with the knife’s still in jail. I hope. Oh, look. They’re going. Good.’

She’s right, they are walking off now they’ve been spotted. But when I turn around again, I can’t do anything but sit, mutely, and look at Holly. Her words have sunken in and now I don’t know what to say. Those people. I’ve just realised something – how are they any different from me? I mean, why am I sitting here with Holly and they’re over there? And maybe Holly sees this written all over my face, because she moves into action, swinging her legs around off her sun lounge and placing them onto the deck beside me so we’re sitting much closer together.

‘I knew we should have talked about this sooner. I guess this is all a bit weird for you, Nessa.’

Still mute, I nod as I look into her eyes. The eyes I’ve seen on a million movie posters.

‘I mean, you must wonder what I’m doing. An old pathetic person hanging around with you, cramping your style.’

What? My eyes go round now. Hang on a minute. Holly thinks she’s cramping my style? As if! And she’s not old. Or pathetic. Holly’s … amazing. Just amazing. I go to open my mouth, but she shakes her head and I realise she wants to say something important, so I let her continue.

‘You’ve just got this really great take on life, Nessa. Your whole Marilyn thing – that just cracks me up. Not to mention trying to find PM for me. And it’s so refreshing that you don’t … God, how can I put this? That you don’t want anything from me. Adults always
want
something from me. Not that you’re a kid, of course I’m not saying that. What I mean is you’re not old and jaded and only out for yourself.’ Holly looks at her hands for a moment. ‘I just feel like I can tell you things and you won’t, you know, betray me. Oh, I don’t mean
betray
,
it’s too strong a word …’ She shrugs and looks up again to give me a small smile. ‘Am I making any sense at all here?’

I think for a moment, trying to force my brain into accepting what my ears are hearing, but eventually I manage to answer. ‘Yeah. Yeah, you are.’

Holly sighs and reaches out to grab both my hands. ‘Don’t get old and jaded, Nessa. Hold on to
you
if you can. Hold on to you and how you look at things. It’s important to remember who you are inside. Sometimes, as you get older, you forget. And that would be a great shame in your case.’ She repositions herself and then takes a deep breath. ‘Ugh. I’m sounding a bit like Yoda, aren’t I? Sorry.’

I shake my head, our eyes finally breaking contact. ‘No,’ I say. ‘What you just said – I think that’s the nicest thing anyone’s ever said to me.’

Holly smiles. ‘Well, good. Because I meant it. Every word and … oh.’

‘What?’ I say, but then follow Holly’s eyes across the deck. It’s Ted.

‘Oh, god. It’s Ted,’ she says with a groan.

I turn to face her again. ‘Don’t you like him?’ How
could anybody not like Ted? He’s such a sweetie. I still can’t get over the fact he gave me ten copies of that photo.

‘Who? Ted? It’s not that I don’t like him, he’s just … like my shadow. After five years it gets a bit boring.’

Five years? Huh? ‘What do you mean?’

Holly sits up a bit. ‘Ted. You know, my personal paparazzo.’

Oh. Oh, no. ‘What?’ I only just manage to get the word out, my mouth is hanging so far open.

‘Hi, Ted!’ Holly calls out now and Ted runs off.

I’m not sure what to say. All the things I’ve told him – my name, who my dad is, what Holly and I have been doing – they all whiz through my head at a million miles an hour. ‘I thought he was the ship’s photographer,’ I end up saying quietly. And how idiotic am I? No wonder he was so surprised that first time I met him. My asking how much his photos cost. Wince. And where I could find them. Double wince. No wonder he acted so weird – he probably thought I was going to chuck his camera overboard and run off to search his cabin for film. How embarrassing.

‘What’s the matter?’ Holly looks over at me.

‘Oh, nothing. Nothing. I was just thinking it must be
awful, having someone follow you around all the time. As in, professionally. Not just like the people before.’

Holly shrugs. ‘Well, yes. But I’m lucky. Ted’s a really nice guy. A sweetie. Very shy, though.’

I wince again now. A sweetie. Just like I’d thought. But, hang on. ‘Shy?’ I say. After all, shy doesn’t exactly fit in with the job description.

‘Well, with me, anyway. Just look at him!’

I look over to the far side of the deck and spot Ted – peering around a corner, camera at the ready.

‘Really, I’m very lucky. And you can’t tell me he’s not cute.’

She’s right. I forgot to mention that the other day. Ted is super cute, with gorgeous wavy brown hair and brown-flecked green eyes.

‘I think it’s the tan that really sets him apart. All that waiting around for me outside movie studios and the like,’ Holly continues.

She’s right again. He does have a nice tan. Which sets off his green eyes perfectly.

‘Hmmm. If he wasn’t my personal paparazzo, I’d have invited him out for dinner a long time ago, I think.’

I turn and look at Holly now. ‘Why don’t you? It’d save him chasing after you for one evening at least.’

Holly laughs. ‘No, I couldn’t. It’d be too … weird. And, I mean, if it worked out, he’d have to quit, wouldn’t he? And then I might get an awful personal paparazzo like that ugly, rude one that Cameron –’

For the second time this afternoon, a shadow falls over us and we both look up.

Unfortunately, this time, it’s not the drinks waiter.

It’s Marc.

Oh.

He moves over beside Holly’s sun lounge and ignores me when I say hello. ‘Hey!’ Holly says. ‘Guess who was just here? Ted!’

Marc groans. ‘Great. That’s all I need.’

I wince when I hear this and wonder if I should come clean about Ted. To both of them. But, no. I’d just look stupid, wouldn’t I? How was I to know that Ted was a paid-up member of the paparazzi? I thought he was the ship’s photographer and that getting Holly seen would lead to more male meetings, if you know what I mean.

‘Well,’ Holly says, putting her drink down on the table
in between us. ‘I’d better run. I’ve got three dates tonight.’

‘Three?!’ Marc and I say at the same time. I look up at him when this happens, but he keeps right on ignoring me.

Holly laughs. ‘It sounds a bit much, doesn’t it? I’ve got drinks, then dinner, then more drinks lined up. Oh, Nessa, tell your dad I’m sorry I couldn’t make it again, won’t you?’

Huh? My dad? He hadn’t told me he’d invited Holly to dinner again. ‘Um, sure,’ I say. Marc shoots me another filthy look. What? He’s got a problem with my dad now? I roll my eyes. Who knows what’s going on in his head?