Two-Faced (25 page)

Michelle walked in just as she put the phone down. Venting her frustration on the easy target, Kim said, ‘Why are you back so late? College finished hours ago.’

‘I called in at the nursing home on my way home,’ Michelle told her, slipping her coat off.

Sniffing exaggeratedly, Kim muttered, ‘Yeah, I can smell you from here. Can’t they put nappies on them, or something?’

‘They can’t help being incontinent,’ Michelle murmured as she went into the kitchen and looked in the fridge. Sighing when she saw that it was empty of everything except margarine, milk, and several bottles of the water Mia seemed to exist on, she asked what was for dinner.

‘Nothing,’ Kim told her. ‘Mia’s not given me her keeps, so you’ll have to get yourself something from the chippy.’

Michelle tutted softly. Mia might not have handed over
her
keeps, but Michelle had, and the least she expected in return was food. But now she was expected to try and scrape together the money for dinner from her EMA, even though her mum had already taken half of it, and the rest had been swallowed up on bus fares to and from college.

Deciding that maybe it wouldn’t hurt to go hungry tonight, she filled the kettle instead.

‘Mia’s going out,’ Kim said when Michelle handed her a cup of tea and headed for the door. ‘And you know what she’s like when you get in her way, so stop down here till she’s out of the bath and ready to go.’

‘I need to get changed,’ Michelle protested. ‘I’ve got to be back at the centre in a couple of hours to help out at the barn dance.’

‘Something else you won’t be getting paid for, no doubt?’ Kim grumbled. ‘And if you’ve got that much free time on your hands, I don’t see why you don’t get a proper job and fetch some money in. It’s not like we couldn’t do with it.’

‘I’m doing it for the experience,’ Michelle reminded her, wishing she didn’t always have to be so condemnatory. ‘And my tutor thinks I’ll easily get a job there when my course finishes.’

‘If there’s one going – which there
won’t
be,’ Kim retorted bluntly. ‘I mean, why are they going to suddenly start paying you to do what you’ve been doing all year for free? You need to start wising up, lady.’

A little offended by the insinuation that nobody valued her efforts, Michelle slumped down on the chair by the window and sipped at her tea. No matter how hard she tried, she always seemed to end up facing this same brick wall. Mia could do no wrong, Michelle could do no right. Mia could do as she pleased, Michelle must do as she was told. Michelle could go hungry, because Mia had
yet again
got away with not paying her keeps. And now Michelle couldn’t even go to her own bedroom to get changed, because she’d be getting in
Mia
’s way.

Not that she particularly
wanted
to see Mia, because the hatred her sister felt for her was as ripe as ever. If anything, it was even more intense. But she’d apologised a thousand times to no avail for screwing that TV ad up, so now she just stayed out of her way – which, fortunately, wasn’t too difficult, given that Mia spent so much time out of the house, either working, or partying with her new boyfriend.

It was almost an hour before Mia came downstairs, dressed like a film star and drenched in the expensive perfume that Steve had bought her a few days earlier. Blanking Michelle, she snatched up the phone and booked herself a cab.

‘Er, what do you think you’re doing?’ Kim demanded, hearing her tell the operator that she would be going into town. ‘You’ve got to go to the bank first.’

‘Sorry, it completely slipped my mind,’ Mia lied. ‘And I can’t go now or I’ll be late.’

‘That’s your own fault for taking so bloody long to get ready,’ Kim pointed out. Then, narrowing her eyes, she looked Mia up and down. ‘I haven’t seen them clothes before. Or them shoes.’

‘So?’ Mia replied shortly, taking her cigarettes out of her bag and lighting up.

Kim’s eyebrows shot up in indignation and she snapped her fingers. ‘Er, I’ll have one of them, seeing as you’re offering. And then you can explain where you got the money to be splashing out on fancy clobber when you reckon you can’t afford to pay your keeps.’

Mia tossed a cigarette to her and said, ‘I didn’t pay for it, if you must know. Steve did.’

‘Oh, and I suppose he’s stumping up for the taxi you’ve just booked, an’ all, is he – even though he’s not even here?’

Flicking her a dirty look, Mia stalked to the window without answering and yanked the curtain aside.

‘You’re taking the piss,’ Kim snapped. ‘You must have some change, and I don’t see why I should sit here gasping for a fag all night while you’re off out again, so hand it over.’

‘Oh, what, like
you
used to hand it over whenever
I
asked for something when I was a kid?’ Mia sniped, dropping the curtain when she saw the cab turning onto the road.

Jaw dropping, Kim gaped up at her. ‘You liar! I
always
gave you money when you asked for it.’

‘Only after you’d made me beg.’

‘Don’t talk to mum like that,’ Michelle said quietly, pushing herself to her feet. ‘She hardly ever had money when we were kids, but you
always
got what you asked for.’

‘Was anyone talking to you?’ Mia sneered, looking at her sister as if she’d just crawled out of a tramp’s backside. Sucking her teeth when the horn hooted, she pulled out a five-pound note and tossed it into Kim’s lap. ‘There! Now you know how you used to make
me
feel.’

‘I’ll bloody swing for her one of these days,’ Kim hissed when Mia flounced out, slamming the door behind her. Then, balling the money up, she threw it to Michelle, telling her to nip down to the shops and get some cigs.

‘I’m already going to be late,’ Michelle reminded her wearily.

‘So two more minutes won’t make any difference, then, will it?’ Kim barked. ‘Christ, anyone would think I never did anything, but I’ve spent my entire
life
running round after youse two. I’m like a bleedin’ skivvy in me own house, and what thanks do I get . . . ?’

Sighing, Michelle picked up the money.

15

There was a long Joe Public queue to the left of the doors when Mia arrived at Shalimar that night, and a shorter VIP queue to the right. Stepping out of the cab, she smiled when Simone spotted her and rushed over

‘You look
amazing
!’ Simone gushed, looking her up and down. ‘Is that a Dior?’

‘Vintage,’ Mia affirmed, giving a little twirl in the short beaded dress with its shimmering purple and green hues, plunging neckline and non-existent back.

‘And please don’t tell me they’re Rossi?’ Simone was breathless with envy now as she gazed at the strappy shoes on Mia’s feet. ‘I saw them in Milan a few years ago, and they cost an absolute
fortune
!’

‘Uh-huh,’ Mia lied, preening herself for the benefit of the people who were already looking their way. Simone was an idiot if she couldn’t tell the difference between originals and copies – but that was precisely why she was never going to make it to the big time, in Mia’s opinion.

Mia felt excited as she took her invitation out of her tiny beaded handbag. She’d been here several times in the past but had never managed to get into the VIP area before, so this was a special night. Especially so because she was about to share airspace with some pretty famous people – like the two premiership footballers who were climbing out of the limo which had just pulled up a short distance from where she and Simone were standing.

Two premiership footballers minus their wives or girlfriends!

Simone spotted them at the same time and clutched at Mia’s arm. ‘Anton McCready! Oh, my God, I
love
him!’

‘It’s Ant
w
on,’ Mia corrected her, having religiously genned up on footballers in her pre-modelling days. ‘And stop drooling, it’s unattractive.’

Mia took a deep breath and strolled towards the queue. As fit as Antwon undoubtedly was, she was far more interested in his friend, Jay King. With his dark hair and green eyes, he really reminded her of Liam. And it might have been years since she’d seen Liam but her heart
still
raced whenever she thought she saw him on the street or in a club.

Deliberately brushing against Jay as she passed him now, she reached out and lightly touched his arm. ‘Sorry, babe. I wasn’t looking where I was going.’

Jay peered round at her and gave her a slow smile. ‘No worries, darlin’.’

Just as Mia was about to ask if he was going to the same party, as a means of striking up a conversation, somebody yelled out her name. Glancing irritably around, she frowned when she spotted Laura Peel waving at her from the end of the other queue. Pissed off when she looked back to see Jay and Antwon disappearing inside, her nostrils flared when Laura called her again.

Knowing that it was obvious she must have seen her, and that she would therefore look like a bitch if she ignored her – which wasn’t the best of images to give to your public when you were about to need their support – Mia told Simone she’d be back in a minute.

‘Oh, wow, it’s fantastic to see you!’ Laura gushed, throwing her arms around her. ‘It’s been absolutely
ages
! What have you been doing with yourself?’

Disentangling herself, Mia stroked her hair back into place. ‘Catwalk at the G-Mex,’ she said – casually, so the people who were eavesdropping wouldn’t think she was being big-headed.

‘God, really? That’s brilliant,’ Laura exclaimed, sounding genuinely proud of her. ‘Always said you’d make it big, didn’t I?’

‘Mmm,’ Mia murmured, remembering all too well that Laura, along with the rest of their loser friends, had never believed for one minute that she would make it. But she’d certainly shown them.

‘You remember Stu, don’t you?’ Laura asked now, dragging the guy who was standing behind her into better view.

Nodding, Stu Quigley gave her a sheepish smile. ‘All right, Mia. You’re looking good.’

‘Thanks,’ Mia said, her smile staying firmly on her lips and out of her eyes. ‘Right, well it was nice to see you, Laura, but I’d best—’

‘We were talking about you only the other day – weren’t we, Stu?’ Laura blurted out, seemingly oblivious to the fact that Mia was trying to get away. ‘Darren’s always asking after you.’ She paused after she’d said this and gave Mia a conspiratorial smile, as if she thought that Mia ought to be flattered by this information. ‘You know he’s in Strangeways, don’t you?’ she went on after a moment, mercifully lowering her voice as she added, ‘He got eighteen months for
supposedly
beating Sandra Bishop up. And I say supposedly, because he did do it, but only after she went for him with a knife, so she kind of asked for it.’ She sighed, and shook her head. ‘Anyway, he’s coming out on the fifteenth, and I know he’d give
anything
to see you again, so if you’re free you should come to the party Stu’s organising.’

The words
Are you fucking crazy?
sprang to the tip of Mia’s tongue. Smiling, she said, ‘Sorry, I think I’m busy on the fifteenth. Work commitments.’

‘We could rearrange it,’ Laura offered, glancing at Stu for confirmation. ‘I’m sure Darren wouldn’t mind if it meant seeing you. You’re all he ever talks about these days, and he’s always asking us to send in new pictures for his cell.’

Shuddering at an image of Darren lying on his bed playing with himself while she smiled down at him, Mia said, ‘Yeah, well, I’ll have to get back to you on that. But I’ve really got to go now – end-of-show party.’

‘Any chance of getting us in?’ Stu piped up hopefully. ‘Us being mates, and that.’

‘Er, no, sorry. I would if I could, but it’s invitation only, I’m afraid.’ Slipping her phone out of her bag when it beeped, Mia deleted her mum’s message without reading it. Then, using it as an excuse, she said, ‘Sorry, best go. My boyfriend’s wondering where I’ve got to.’

‘Anyone we know?’ Laura asked, smiling conspiratorially. ‘Or should I say, know
of
? Like the footballer you were talking to at the door just now.’ Whispering now, to preserve what she presumed was supposed to be a secret – although it was obvious that everybody around had heard, because they were all gaping at Mia, waiting to hear her answer, she said, ‘What’s his name again, Stu?’

‘Jay King.’

‘Yeah, him – it’s not, is it?’

Blinking slowly, as if to say,
Damn, you got me!
Mia smiled, and said, ‘I’ve really got to go.’

‘I’ll call you,’ Laura called after Mia as she strolled back to Simone. ‘Then we can have a proper catch-up – without anybody listening in on stuff they don’t need to know!’

Mia waved over her shoulder without answering.

‘Friend?’ Simone asked.

‘Not really,’ Mia said, handing her invitation to the doorman, eager to get inside before anyone else tried to delay her. ‘Just someone I used to know at school.’

‘Ah, that’s nice. And it’s good that she recognised you. I’m not sure anyone would recognise
me
if I hadn’t seen them in ages. But I suppose I’m lucky, because I still see most of my old friends – when I get a chance between jobs.’

‘Must be nice to see so much of them,’ Mia commented smoothly.

A shadow flitted across Simone’s eyes as she wondered if Mia had just had a dig at her. It kind of felt like it, but Mia was still smiling, so maybe not.

Simone handed her own invitation over and said, ‘I still can’t believe how easily you got Antwon’s friend to talk to you.’

‘Believe me, if I get my way we’ll be doing a damn sight more than
talking
before the night’s over,’ Mia laughed.

‘You’ve got a boyfriend,’ Simone reminded her in a mock-scolding tone.

‘He’s not my boyfriend, we’re just dating. Anyway, you’ve got room to talk. What was that you said earlier about how you’re glad Henry couldn’t come because you’re dying to shag someone fit and famous?’

‘That’s different. I’ve been with him for two years, so it’s obvious I’ll get bored now and then. But you’ve only been seeing Steve for two
weeks
, so you’ve got no excuse.’