My Demon (12 page)

“What
have
you girls been up to?” Alicia asked, and opened up a Primark bag and peeked in. “Ooo, that’s a beautiful top. Love the sequins.”

Becky moved the other bags out of the way. “You’ll never believe what happened.”

Alicia put the Primark bag with the others, and squeezed alongside Alex on the bench. “Go on, the suspense is killing me.” She took an elastic band from her wrist, and swept her red hair into a ponytail before taking a menu from the plastic holder in the middle of the table.

“Alex won some money on the scratch cards and guess what?” Becky said. “She treated me.”

Alex smiled uncertainly at the ever-thankful Becky, wondering if she’d got ahead of herself and taken things too far.

“What would you like?” The waitress arrived, pen and pad ready and waiting.

Alicia wrinkled her nose at the menu choices. “A pot of tea, please,” she said.

“Can you make that two?” Melissa asked. She took her fags out of her handbag, and offered one to Becky. “Are you going to show me what you got?”

Strange, Alex thought. How can a person get so excited about another’s clothes?

“We’re going to The Deep tonight…” Becky paused as Melissa produced a lighter. She puffed a couple of times on the cigarette, blowing the smoke out the side of her mouth. “Want to come along?”

“Sure thing,” Melissa said. “I got fuck all else to do tonight.” She laughed in her deep sexy way.

Melissa chose one of the bags from under the table. Alicia commented on the belt Melissa pulled out of the BHS bag. Becky shook the creases from a mini skirt, the other two girls nodding approvingly. Their conversation flowed, with Alex listening, observing their smiles, the pursed lips of smokers as they sucked on the filters, hair flicked, sequins examined. They didn’t need her. She sipped her coke, and stared at the front of the café. A drizzling rain had started, and people hurried past. Some wrestled with umbrellas. Others hung out under the awning above the restaurant window, heads facing up to the sky.

“Alex.” Someone shook her arm. She turned back to her friends. The other three waited, expectant.

“What?” she asked.

Melissa glanced at Becky, and said, “Weren’t you supposed to be at work today? I went in for a look and to say hi. Aggie was all over me like a rash, expecting me to know where you were. Apparently you’re not answering your phone.”

“Oh shit!” Alex put her hand over her mouth, the color draining from her face. She rooted around at the bottom of her handbag for a few seconds before pulling out her mobile. The screen was dark, blank. Her Nokia had been switched off. No time to wonder how, although she had her suspicions. They all involved Clive. She pushed down on the power button. Seconds later, the phone beeped, alerting her to a missed call.

“You have one new message…” the phone said in a mechanical female voice.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” Alex impatiently said as she listened.

“Alex. Aggie here. You just walked past my shop with loads of shopping bags. The whole precinct could hear you and Becky cackling away. Consider yourself fired.” There was a loud bang—maybe Agnes missed when she slammed the phone down—then a second click, and the message ended.

“Oh my God. We didn’t…?” Alex asked the rhetorical question to those at the table. She was met with confused expressions. “Aggie left a message. Becs, apparently you and I walked past the shop earlier.” She paused. “That’s it. I’ve been given the sack.”

“What a cow,” Melissa chided, followed swiftly by the other girls.

“She always did seem like a bit of a drag,” added Alicia, and took a swing from her cup of tea.

“You’ve no idea,” Becky said. “She hated me from the first day I showed up to work. I’m not sure why she hired me in the first place.”

“Yeah, I always got the feeling that she was part Nazi, from all the stories you’ve told me,” Melissa said.

Alex sipped at her drink, mute as her friends nattered on about work and their various problems. Alicia ordered more tea, and eventually cakes. No one seemed to notice Alex’s silence. She couldn’t connect, no matter how many times she attempted to enter the conversation. By the time she thought of something to say, they’d moved off the topic and onto a completely different subject. Was this the next sign of her madness—an inability to communicate? Alex spun her glass slowly on the table, and counted the people sheltering under the awning. The rain was coming down hard now. God, how she hated rain.

A flash of someone’s red jacket made her remember Clive. Maybe he’d show up, think up an ingenious way of excusing her from her friends. He might squeeze in on the end of the bench; snuggle up against her in his sexy cat suit, dark wavy locks falling over his eyes. Her heart gave an unexpected flutter. What was he up to right now? Chatting to some other girl from her dimension, telling her sweet nothings? He wouldn’t… She was the important one. A sigh escaped her, he wasn’t real, and she was no more important than the girls sat with her. Alex tuned back into the conversation. Melissa was happily informing everyone about the now deceased relationship between her and Tony. This time, she broke up with him. Without taking a breath, she gabbed on about how she would definitely be on the pull tonight.

Alex closed her eyes tight, and wished she was at home. Voices echoed around her head. The words teased her. How did they talk so easily? Someone tugged on her sleeve. Alex opened her eyes to find three concerned faces peering towards her. She pushed back into the padding of the bench as far as she was able. Her friends leaned forward a fraction more. They were cornering her. Alex slid to the edge of the seat and prepared to bolt.

“You okay?” Becky asked.

“Sorry, tired. I’ll go home and have a little nap. You know, rest up for tonight.” She attempted a smile and bent down to sort out her bags from Bec’s. There was silence at the table. Alex sat back up, her purchases held to her chest. She bared her teeth at them once more as she tried to smile. “I’m okay. Honest. I just need a sleep.”

Alicia glanced at Becky, then Melissa. Melissa stared unwaveringly. Becky reached over, and put a hand on Alex’s arm.

“I’ll see you girls tonight,” Alex said. “Are we taking a minicab?”

“Yup. I’ll book it in a mo, you go rest.” Becky lit another cigarette. “Go on. I’ll see you later, lovey.”

Alex waited a second then left the table. She was going to get drunk tonight, she thought, and walked out into the rain.

M
elissa pulled up in a one-year-old bright blue Tigre. Alicia climbed carefully out of the passenger seat, holding the hem on her micro mini skirt down as she stood up. She tugged her boob tube back into the right position, and tottered over to Alex and Becky. Melissa locked the car, and zipped the keys into a pocket in her clutch bag. A drop of rain fell on Alex’s shoulder. She turned her head skywards, frowning at the thick cloud cover. No stars on show tonight.

“Come on girls!” Becky said and linked arms with Alex. More drops fell. They made black patches on the pavement. Halfway down the alley, a large man in a dark suit waited beside an open door. A wire snaked out from his jacket, and into an earpiece. He stood under a canopy, and ignored the girls until they stopped by the entrance. Then he examined each in turn as they gathered by the door. Becky dragged on the last of her cigarette and flicked it out into the rain.

“Come on,” Alicia said, and disappeared inside.

Alex followed, grinning back at the bouncer before stepping into The Deep. A long flight of stairs descended into the club. Lanterns hung on the walls all the way down. Faux flames flickered an orangey-yellow light up towards the sloped ceiling. On each step, a low-level spotlight glowed red. Stairway to hell, Alex thought. A shiver passed through her body, and for a second, she stopped. She almost turned and left, but Becky put a hand on her shoulder.

“You okay, lovey?” she asked.

Alex gave a broad smile. “Fine,” she lied, and continued on her way down. A vodka and Coke would sort her out. A picture of her mother, falling off the sofa, an empty wine bottle clutched in one hand, flashed before her eyes. “I can handle the booze,” she muttered.

The music pumped up the stairs, reverberating in Alex’s chest as she climbed down the last two steps. The beat of the base cheered her, and she strutted over to the bar in time to the drums. The other girls piled around as she leaned up against the worn wood countertop.

Inside, The Deep was about half-empty. Thursdays tended to be a bit quiet, and Alex preferred this. Tomorrow, the club would be stuffed full, with everyone sweating in the heat, and no room to move. The bartender served their drinks—shots of tequila to start the night. All four shivered simultaneously, and slammed their glasses down on the counter.

“Again?” he asked.

“Yes please,” Melissa said, and winked.

“You’re such a flirt.” Alicia turned round to survey the dance floor.

“Here you go, ladies.” He slid the four shot glasses towards them.

“Cheers!” Becky said, and gulped the tequila down.

Alex picked hers up, swilling the contents around for a few seconds. She poured the liquid into her mouth, savoring the burn of the alcohol on her tongue, and swallowed. She didn’t shiver this time. She’d heard alcoholism was hereditary, but as the initial tingles slid into her brain, and thoughts of Clive dulled, Alex gave her first proper smile in days. She pointed at her glass, and slid it back down towards the barman.

“Come on, Alex,” Becky said and headed over to a group of young men.

Alex caught the shot glass on its return, and gulped down the drink. “Coming,” she called, and joined her friends in dancing to the pounding beat of the music.

Several rounds later Alex propped herself up on the bar. Three lads moved out of the shadows, and closed in on her friends. She studied them, noticing how their dancing styles grew more erotic the closer they got to each other.

On the opposite side of the dance floor, Alex caught a flash of red. She turned her head a little, angling to see between the heaving mass of bodies. She found the smile first, the lips stretched too wide, the pleased as punch grin that infuriated her so much.

Clive stood at the other side of the main chamber. Was he waiting for her to come to him? Alex watched him best she could with people bouncing away between them. Clive didn’t move for a long time, just stared at her with his smoldering dark blue eyes. Their eye contact didn’t waver, and little shivers of excitement coursed through her body. She pressed up against the bar, bottle of Stella in one hand, and waited for him.

Becky boogied up to Alex, fag hanging from the side of her mouth. “Come dance with us,” she begged in a cloud of smoke, and caught Alex’s free arm. She pulled, trying to drag Alex away from the bar.

“No, I’m fine here,” Alex replied. She drained her bottle, tilting her head gently to maintain her view of Clive.

“Come on!” Bec tugged on her again.

Alex released Clive from her sights to offer a smile at Becky. “I’m all danced out for now.” Alex searched the crowd for Clive.

“Fine, have it your way,” Becky said and shrugged. She returned to the dance floor, her feet already moving in time to the beat.

Clive had disappeared. Alex peered into the chaotic swarm of dancers before her. Perhaps he’d gone, she thought. Puffed off to someplace else. She ran a finger around the top of her beer bottle. That would be for the best. No demon was a good demon. Then Clive reappeared in the middle of the throng, walking slowly towards her.

“You’re here,” Alex said. Anesthetized by the alcohol in her system, and pleased for once about the wonderful anonymity a sexy invisible friend offered, she didn’t worry about talking out loud. The club was now fairly full of people. She could be talking to anyone.

“Of course I’m here. I’ve been waiting for you,” Clive replied. He started to dance in a sexual Latino style, gyrating within millimeters of her body but without actually making contact. Alex shuddered with excitement.

“Funny, I’ve been dreaming of you,” Alex finally said, and put her bottle on the counter behind her.

Clive took up a position beside her, even closer than when he was dancing. His breath cooled the perspiration on her neck.

“You smell … so damn good,” she whispered. His scent surrounded her, blocked out the mix of sweat, perfume, and smoke that filled the club.