Getting him Back (3 page)

‘My plan was to
meet her and find out what she had I didn’t but I don’t think I
need to now. It’s obvious what she’s got, innit?’

Catherine
sighed. ‘Don’t bother yourself with it. He’s in the past. Just
forget about it now.’

‘And my eyes
are grey not blue,’ I said before glugging down my full glass of
wine in one go.

Catherine’s
mouth gaped open. ‘You need to sort yourself out. You’re not ‘avin
any more wine if you’re going to drink it that fast!’

‘I need more,’
I said trying to wrestle the bottle from her perfectly manicured
hands.

She
glared at me. ‘Look, you wanted to see what she looked like and now
you have. You still don’t know anything about her as a person. She
might be a total psycho.’

‘So what if she
is? Mark prefers her.’

‘So what are
you going to do now then? Let it eat you up forever?’

I shook
my head. ‘I don’t know.’ I started to move the cursor on my laptop
in an attempt to find out some more information about this
man-stealer. I glanced down and noticed a message she’d left on his
wall. Her name was Monica (typical of her to have an exotic name).
Her message mentioned she would miss him when she was out with the
girls on Saturday. I scanned further; another message mentioned
she’d be at “Zanzibar” if he wanted to meet up. This was perfect. I
knew she’d be out on Saturday and I knew where she’d be too. There
could be a problem if Mark turned up but I knew I should go and
meet her somehow; find out what she was like.

Catherine
didn’t approve of my plan to meet up with Monica but as she was
staying tomorrow night she agreed to come with me – if only to stop
me making a total fool of myself.

Catherine
looked amazing in her fitted blue shift dress and silver
high-heels. She’d clipped a diamante hair-slide into her sleek hair
which matched her necklace perfectly. ‘Come on then,’ she said,
‘let me at ya.’ She stood behind me and proceeded to straighten my
rough curls. I could smell the burning as my hair frazzled between
the ceramic plates. It did look pretty good once she’d finished
though. She then started to apply my make-up. I usually did my own
but it consisted only of a swipe of clear lip-gloss and a dusting
of powder blusher. I never enhanced my eyes, though, because eye
make-up irritated my sensitive eyes (that was my excuse anyway).
Catherine used her make-up to underline my small eyes with an
indigo blue pencil. She then applied some turquoise shimmering
eye-shadow and navy blue mascara. I didn’t think it was going to
look as professional as it did. I looked quite good for me. She
then dusted on my blusher and outlined my lips with a dark coral
lip-liner. Next, she filled in my full lips with a similar coloured
lipstick. I loved it. It made my teeth look so white and I looked
like Nicole Kidman.

‘Wow,’ I said,
‘you’re moving back in here and doing my make-up every day!’

Catherine
laughed. ‘You look great. I hope Mark does turn up and then he’ll
see what he’s missing.’

I moved
my fingers through my straight, glossy hair, which suddenly seemed
much longer. I was definitely going to start using my straighteners
much more often. I couldn’t stop staring at this person in the
mirror. It wasn’t me. My hair and face was transformed and my black
jumpsuit made me look two dress sizes smaller. I too hoped that I’d
see Mark. The last time he’d seen me I’d had my hair scraped back
in a pony-tail, my face was bare and I’d been wearing my green
velour tracksuit which he’d said he hated several times. Why hadn’t
I taken any notice of his words? Why did I continue to dress so
frumpily? He’d told me he’d hated the tracksuit yet I’d carried on
wearing it. I’d always said I hadn’t seen it coming and him dumping
me was a total shock but now I think about it there were some
little clues, like the time I went to kiss him and he told me I
should stop eating garlic so much because it was off-putting. Maybe
this was why he’d looked elsewhere. I suddenly understood that
maybe Mark leaving me was my fault after all.

***

I’d only
been in “Zanzibar” twice before and both of those times were with
Claire. We’d have a good enough time but as I was coupled-up I
didn’t flirt with guys like she did. They usually didn’t want to
flirt with me anyway because Claire always stood out more – I was
always second-best. That was another reason I was glad to have
Mark. I didn’t need to impress him; I could be myself. That thought
hit me again –
I didn’t need to make an effort, so I didn’t. That’s why he
left me.
At first I
thought it was going to be another one of those nights where I was
second-best. Most men’s jaws fell open as Catherine walked past,
yet, for the first time ever, some of them dropped open for me! I
couldn’t believe it. Men were actually looking at me
appreciatively.

We were in the
middle of ordering our drinks when a man came over. He was quite
good-looking with short auburn hair and friendly brown eyes. He had
loads of freckles which made him look like a cheeky schoolboy. He
was the total opposite of Mark. ‘Hi, there,’ he said, looking
directly into my eyes.

‘Hi,’ I
replied, feeling slightly embarrassed and unsure as to what to do
next.

‘Would you like
a drink?’ he asked.

‘My sister’s
getting me one, thanks,’ I said.

He looked at
Catherine and took a step back. ‘Oh, well, in that case…’ He
started to walk away but Catherine, realizing what I’d said, called
him back. ‘It’s ok. You don’t have to go,’ she said.

He turned
around and smiled. ‘I thought she was giving me the brush-off.’

Catherine
placed her arm around my shoulder. ‘She’s been out of the dating
scene for a while. She hasn’t got a clue. She turned towards me.
‘Have you?’ I shook my head and she giggled. ‘I’m Cat and this is
Tez.’

He frowned.

‘It’s Terri,’ I
said.

‘Oh, right. I’m
Mark.’

That was it. It
had all been going so well until he’d said that. I didn’t want
another Mark – I just wanted my Mark.

He held
out his hand for me to shake and I offered mine. It felt nice to
touch another man’s hand but I felt self-conscious too. I did feel
some sort of spark but I felt guilty, as though I were cheating on
my Mark somehow. I noticed Catherine’s expression- smug and
self-satisfied.

‘I just
remembered, I’ve got to make a phone-call,’ she said, and before I
could stop her she was striding half way across the dance floor
leaving myself and Mark nervously facing each other. This dating
lark was horrible. I felt so exposed; so vulnerable. Right now,
this man thought I was potential girlfriend material, it was a nice
feeling, which after a few months would be replaced with arguments
and me wearing my green velour tracksuit and him eyeing up other
women. I couldn’t let it happen.

‘
I think
I’m going to find out where Cat’s got to,’ I said before walking
slowly away. I turned back to see the look on Mark’s face –
disappointment. Well it was better to be disappointed now and not
two weeks before the wedding, wasn’t it?

I was
scanning the room, looking for Cat, and that’s when I saw her –
Monica; in the flesh. She seemed smaller and slimmer. She’d tied
her hair up into a high ponytail but I knew it was her because of
the sparkling eyes and freckles. She was in the middle of a group
of girls who could have been cheerleaders. Her dirty laugh echoed
over the music. Catherine was right – she did seem cheap and
slutty, especially now I could see how she dressed. She wore a pair
of hot-pants which were so high up her thighs you could see her bum
cheeks and on
her top
half; she wore a matching bra-top. The other girls weren’t much
better. I noticed half the men in the room were slavering over
them. I knew I had to get to know her better so I could find out
what Mark found so fascinating, other than her stunning good looks,
of course. I didn’t know how to do it though. Girls didn’t approach
girls, unless they were lesbians. I looked at the other girls,
hoping I’d know one of them from school, or something, but they
were all strangers. One of them caught me staring and glared at me.
I moved towards the corner and found a seat. I kept on looking for
Cat, but I also kept one eye on Monica and her gang.

I saw a
group of men approach them. There was an obvious leader – he looked
like John Travolta in his white t-shirt and leather jacket. He
moved closer to Monica and she seemed flattered by his obvious
leering. At one point he had his hand on her bottom as he whispered
in her ear. I found it odd that she didn’t slap him. All she did
was move closer and whisper replies into his ear, at the same time
placing her hand on his arm. She was a total flirt. How could she
do this to Mark? I never did anything like that when I was with him
– granted nobody approached me in the first place, but that wasn’t
the point.
I’d never
flirt with another man like that when I had a boyfriend. I watched
as he sat down and pulled her onto his knees. I saw his hand
rubbing her thigh and I heard her dirty laughing again. I felt like
going over to her and punching her in the face but fortunately for
me Catherine suddenly appeared and sat down opposite me. ‘I’ve been
looking everywhere for you,’ she said placing a glass of lager down
in front of me.

‘I’ve been
looking everywhere for you. In future, don’t run off like that,
ok?’

‘I was leaving
you two to get to know each other. I didn’t want to be a
gooseberry.’ She looked behind her and then scanned the room.
‘Where is he anyway?’

‘I don’t want
another boyfriend, Cat. It’s too soon.’

She shrugged
her shoulders. ‘Well, I thought he was lovely. He seemed like a
really nice lad. Just what you need.’

‘
You know
what I need.’ I sipped my lager and resumed my spying on Monica.
She was now sitting next to Travolta, with her head resting on his
shoulder while he continued to stroke her thighs. The other girls
were talking to his friends. Only one of them was left by herself
and the poor thing was sat on a stool, twisting her hair around her
fingers and sipping what dregs remained in her wine glass. I felt
sorry for her. That used to be me. She was probably single too. It
didn’t seem fair that Monica had my Mark yet she was also about to
have Travolta too by the looks of it- the greedy cow.

Catherine
opened her crisps. ‘Do you want one? I didn’t get you
any ‘cause I thought you’d left
with that nice guy.’

I took a crisp
and savoured its cheesy flavour. ‘I don’t know why you thought that
– you must know it’s too soon.’

‘It isn’t too
soon at all. If you leave it any longer you’ll end up a lonely old
woman.’

‘Stop being so
dramatic, Cat!’

We were
in the middle of a sisterly argument when the Mark from earlier
came and sat down next to Cat. He looked at me. ‘So you found each
other then?’

He obviously
couldn’t take a hint. ‘Yeah.’ What else could I say?

‘I’d get you
another drink but I see you already have one.’ He pointed to my
lager.

‘Yeah.’ Boy,
this conversation was awkward.

Catherine
intervened. ‘So, do you live local, Mark?’

‘Just round the
corner.’

Catherine
offered him a crisp and he smiled as he took one.
‘We do too,’ she said,
obviously enjoying every minute. ‘Do you work?’

I thought
this was a bit rude, asking somebody if they worked, but Catherine
wasn’t the most tactful person. She spent her days chasing up
people who didn’t pay their debts and so she could seem abrupt
sometimes.

‘
Yeah, I
work for the
Herald
.’

Catherine sat
upright in her seat. ‘So you’re a journalist?’

‘Not quite. I’m
in editing at the moment but I’m doing little bits. I hope to be
one some day.’

Catherine
was impressed but I wasn’t. Well I was a little bit, but it didn’t
change the way I felt about dating him. Mark continued talking to
Catherine about work and various other boring things while I
focused on Monica again. Things had gotten worse – now she was
sitting on his lap facing him and from where I was sitting it
looked like she had her tongue down his throat. I could see his
hands roaming all over her backside. What a slag! I knew I had to
find my Mark and tell him about this. He had to know that he’d
dumped me for a total slapper. Then he would realize how good I was
for him and get back with me. I interrupted Catherine and Mark’s
conversation. ‘Cat, look!’ I pointed to Monica.

Catherine
wasn’t impressed. ‘What?’ she asked, irritably.

‘It’s her!
Monica!’

Catherine’s eyes widened as she took in the drama unfolding
in the corner. She grabbed her mobile phone from her handbag and
took a photo. It didn’t turn out very well though because of the
lighting but it would do as evidence if Mark were to come into the
club tonight.

Freckly Mark
looked surprised at Catherine’s actions. ‘What are you doing?’ he
asked.

‘I’m just
taking a photo. It’s evidence.’

He looked
amused. ‘Evidence of what?’

‘Do you see
that girl over there?’

He smiled. ‘I
see her.’

‘Well it’s a
long story. But let’s just say her boyfriend won’t be too happy
about her snogging another fella.’

Mark
laughed. ‘Moni has loads of boyfriends. She’s just having a laugh
while she’s young.’

Catherine
and I stared at him. ‘What do you mean?’ I asked.