Crystal (15 page)

‘You know me, I love the masterful type,’ Jez said, looking dreamily into the distance.

‘I’m with Jez,’ Danni put in. ‘He was hot, hot, hot!’ Crystal frowned, thinking that her two friends were deluded.

‘And I would have thought Jake was right up your street. It’s about time you went out with someone, isn’t it? Or if not Jake I know someone who could introduce you to Russell Brand,’ said Jez, ever the matchmaker.

‘Jez, I’d like to have a relationship with someone, not just a one-off shag. And God knows where those ball bags have been!’ Crystal said, laughing.

‘Oooh, I know, the swines!’ exclaimed Jez.

‘No, Jez, I really don’t want to be another notch on a very crowded bedpost. And I would never sleep with anyone with bigger hair than me.’

At the Thai restaurant she sat next to Gavin who was like a breath of fresh air; he was so enthusiastic and friendly, wanting to know all about how the group was doing, telling her his younger sister had voted for them when they were on
Band Ambition.
Then Jez insisted on interrogating Gavin about his boss and within a few minutes had established that Jake was single, having split up with his long-term girlfriend three months earlier. Along with directing videos for bands he was a photographer and had just returned from a month in Malawi where he’d been working for a charity, photographing orphans whose parents had died from AIDS.

‘Eye candy with a social conscience? He sounds too good to be true, eh Crystal,’ Jez winked at her and Crystal rolled her eyes. He was always trying to set her up with men, not realising that she was in no mood for seeing anyone after her experience with Max.

They were halfway through their starters when Jake himself arrived and sat in the empty seat opposite Crystal. He
said a general hello to everyone, ordered a beer and drained it in practically one go.

‘You look like you needed that,’ Jez said, impressed.

‘God, yeah,’ Jake said ordering another.

‘I was just telling everyone about your trip to Malawi,’ Gavin said.

‘Yeah, it’s a bit of a culture shock to be back. Last week I was meeting children who had no family and now here I am—’

‘Telling spoilt pop stars what dresses to wear,’ Crystal put in dryly.

Jake shrugged. ‘Sorry if I was rude today.’

‘No problem,’ Crystal lied and concentrated on eating her noodles, but she couldn’t resist looking up and checking out whether Jez was right in his appraisal of Jake.

Um, beautiful eyes, handsome face, strong features, yes, I suppose he is good-looking. Very good-looking.

She quickly looked away when Jake caught her eye and felt an unexpected flash of desire. Jez was bang on the money – he really was gorgeous.

‘So do you forgive me for making you wear pink?’ Jake asked her and Crystal couldn’t help thinking that he was taking the piss.

‘I suppose so,’ she answered. ‘Just don’t make me do it again.’

‘I don’t imagine it’s usually that easy to persuade you to do something you don’t want to.’

‘Oh, I’m a pussy cat really,’ Crystal answered.

Jake looked at her consideringly. ‘Yeah, right. I bet you have a whole list of diva demands – I’m guessing your dressing room has to be full of Diptyque candles, you can only sleep on the purest Egyptian cotton sheets, in restaurants you always order off the menu, you only drink vintage champagne, you have a
diamond-encrusted loo seat and people aren’t allowed to look you in the eye when they talk to you.’

Crystal laughed. ‘That is
so
not true. I draw the line at the diamond-encrusted loo seat.’
Did he really think she was a diva?

Jake shrugged. ‘I’ve been around performers and models for a long time and, believe me, nothing would surprise me.’

Jez had been listening to their conversation and said loyally, ‘Crystal’s the least diva-like person I’ve ever worked with. I’ve never known her ask for anything, except for a cup of coffee and a bacon sandwich.’

‘Yeah, but you came very close to freaking out about the black dress, didn’t you?’ Jake challenged Crystal.

‘Close,’ Crystal admitted. ‘But I saw reason, didn’t I?’

Jake smiled at her and Crystal felt another jolt of desire. ‘You did, and for that I thank you.’

For the rest of the meal he was caught up in conversation with Greta, who worked for Dallas and was overseeing the filming to make sure it stayed on budget. Crystal chatted to Gavin, Jez and Danni. But every now and then she found herself sneaking glances at Jake, drawn to his stunning blue eyes, and, she definitely had to admit it – his well fit body. He was pulled back into their conversation at the end of the meal when they were all discussing how to get home. Gavin had discovered that Crystal lived in Westbourne Park and said, ‘You could share a taxi with Jake, he lives in Notting Hill.’ Crystal wasn’t keen. She did find him very attractive, and suddenly felt awkward. It had been so long since she felt like this about a man and she was wary. It was unfamiliar territory.

‘Good idea,’ Jake said. ‘That way I know where you live, and if you’re late again, I know where to come and get you.’

Was it her imagination, Crystal wondered, or was he flirting with her?

She scrapped that idea on the taxi ride home when he didn’t say a word to her, instead staring moodily out of the window.
Fine by me
, she thought, relieved that she hadn’t given any hint that she found him attractive. She was first to be dropped off and, as the taxi pulled over, she reached for her wallet to pay, but Jake refused, saying that he would settle it.

‘See you in the morning,’ Crystal said getting out of the cab. ‘And don’t worry: I won’t be late tomorrow.’

Now Jake smiled at her. ‘Goodnight, Crystal. Sleep well on those Egyptian cotton sheets of yours.’

‘I just hope the maid has tidied up,’ Crystal bantered back, wondering again whether he was flirting or not?

The following day Crystal arrived on set early. Secretly, she wanted to see Jake and she was disappointed when he seemed too busy to say hello. In fact he barely acknowledged her. For day two the girls were to be dressed as the seventies TV stars Charlie’s Angels. Jez had gone to town on their hair, giving them Farrah flicks. All the girls were wearing white trouser suits, with nothing on under their jackets, and Danni spent ages trying to ensure they wouldn’t have a wardrobe malfunction by sticking on plenty of tit tape. The routine was slightly easier than the day before and there were fewer retakes. It meant that they were done by four.

Tahlia rushed off to see Leticia and Hadley, and Belle went off for one of her oxygen facials. Danni and Jez had plans and Crystal realised that she was facing an evening on her own, not something she was looking forward to. She would have no excuse but to sort out the money for Max.

As she wandered past the studio, on her way out, Gavin called out, ‘See you later, Crystal.’

‘Yeah, bye,’ Crystal answered. Jake stopped chatting to the crew for a minute and turned round. ‘Thanks, Crystal, that was good work today.’

Crystal was not impressed. He sounded patronising and since she had found out about his recent photography for charity she couldn’t help thinking that he probably didn’t take this work as seriously. So she simply gave a brief smile and carried on walking out of the building, angry with herself for finding him so damned hot. Back home, Max called, demanding to know if she had the money for him.

‘I’m in the neighbourhood. I can drop by and collect it.’

Hating the sound of his voice, Crystal snapped, ‘No way am I getting twenty grand out in cash. You give me your
bank details and I’ll transfer it by the end of the week.’

‘Okay, that’s a deal, babe, I’ll text them through in a bit.’

Crystal ended the call and threw her mobile on the sofa in disgust. Then she poured herself a very large vodka. Worried as she was about Max, she found her thoughts returning to Jake and two vodkas down she was on her laptop Googling him.

He’d photographed scores of famous people – film stars, models, musicians: you name them, he’d taken them and the pictures were stunning. He really seemed to capture his subjects in a way they weren’t usually seen. But she found her attention focusing more on his private life. There were few details given, but she discovered that he was twenty-nine, his mother was Swedish and his father English. His studio was in London, and he’d dated Eve, the Swedish supermodel, for three years. The only picture of him was one with Eve at some awards function. He was in black tie and looked incredibly handsome, while Eve was in a red silk dress and was breathtakingly beautiful. But according to Gavin they were no longer an item.
Oh, shut up
, she told herself.
He’s too serious, not my type
. However, she couldn’t deny that he was the sexiest man she’d seen in a
very
long time.

The following day they’d reached the eighties and Madonna was their chosen icon. The girls were paying homage to her
Desperately Seeking Susan
look – short black rara skirts, lace gloves, corsets and footless tights, lots of bangles and beads and wild hair, decorated with ribbons and lace. Tahlia had brought Leticia to the studio as her school was closed and Rosie was at work. Unusually for her, Leticia was playing up, whining that she was bored.

‘She’s doing my head in,’ Tahlia whispered in exasperation as Leticia demanded sweets for the tenth time. Danni was trying to do her make-up but Leticia kept distracting her mum and it was taking Danni much longer than usual.

Seeing how wound up everyone was getting, Crystal stepped in. ‘Come on Leticia, we’ll go to the café and I’ll buy
you a treat; but you can only have sweets if you eat an apple as well.’

‘Yesss!’ Leticia shot out of her chair and grabbed Crystal’s hand.

‘Thanks, Crystal,’ Tahlia said gratefully.

Crystal and Leticia made their way slowly to the café; Crystal wanted to give Danni as much time as possible to finish Tahlia’s make-up. Now that sweets had been mentioned Leticia’s mood had improved and she was back to her old sunny self. Crystal bought her some chocolate buttons and an apple and for herself a mineral water. They’d just sat down, Leticia had got out her Tamagotchi toy to show Crystal and was explaining how it worked, when Jake walked into the café. He looked sexily rough in faded jeans and a blue T-shirt the colour of his eyes, day-old stubble on his face. Crystal prepared herself for him to ignore her but, to her surprise, he ordered a coffee and asked if he could join them. Leticia immediately asked him if he wanted to see her Tamogotchi and bombarded him with information about how it worked.

‘I didn’t know you had a daughter,’ Jake said, when Leticia finally let him get a word in.

‘I haven’t,’ Crystal answered. ‘She’s Tahlia’s.’ She lowered her voice, and whispered, ‘I just needed to get her out of the dressing room so Tahlia could get ready, which has
totally
interrupted my diva routine – usually my personal masseuse would have arrived and be giving me a full body massage before I could even set foot on set.’

Jake smiled. ‘Okay, I got you wrong; you’re an exception.’ His eyes lingered on Crystal and she found herself hoping that he liked her, because she was really starting to like him. She liked him even more when she saw how kind he was to Leticia. She compared his behaviour with Max’s, who had never paid Leticia any attention all the times he’d met her – unless he was trying to suck up to everyone. In fact, she doubted that Max even knew what Leticia’s name was. Inwardly she shuddered at the thought of Max. Being involved with him had knocked her confidence on so many
levels; she used to know when men liked her; now she wasn’t so sure of herself.

‘You look miles away,’ Jake said, pulling her back to the present.

‘Sorry, I’ve got a lot on my mind,’ she replied, trying to shake off the unwelcome thoughts of Max.

‘What does this say?’ Leticia piped up, pointing at a small black tattoo on the inside of Jake’s wrist.

Jake frowned and replied. ‘It says Eve in Sanskrit.’

‘Who’s Eve?’ Leticia persisted.

‘My girlfriend. I mean, my ex-girlfriend. I’m supposed to be getting rid of it.’ He didn’t look at all comfortable with the direction the conversation was taking.

‘Oh well, at least she has a really short name,’ Crystal said, trying to keep it light.

‘Yes, that’s one positive to come out of the whole heap of shit,’ Jake said in a voice edged with bitterness.

For a few minutes they were both silent, then Leticia declared, in a voice loud enough to be heard at the other side of the canteen, ‘Crystal’s got a tattoo of a love heart on her la-la.’

‘Leticia!’ Crystal exclaimed, her face burning with embarrassment. ‘That’s
way
too much information.’

‘Oh, I don’t know,’ Jake said, his frown gone. ‘It’s cheered me up, so that’s got to be a good thing. And,’ – he added, his tone definitely on the flirtatious side, ‘maybe Crystal can show it to me later.’

Leticia giggled while Crystal could hardly bring herself to meet his eye; the old Crystal would have shot back
‘I’ll show you mine if you show me yours’
, but now she could only look at her watch and mutter something about needing to get back to the dressing room.

‘See you later then,’ Jake said, giving Crystal a very cheeky grin.

Filming did not get off to a good start. The set – a New York subway station – was proving too small for the number of dancers, and the girls were fighting for space. Several
retakes later they were no closer to getting it right and everyone was fed up and hot.

‘Okay, let’s take a break,’ Jake called out, but as Crystal, Belle and Tahlia walked past him, he said, ‘can I have a word?’

‘I don’t think this is working. What do you reckon?’ he asked as the girls gathered round him. He looked at Crystal as he spoke, and she replied, ‘There’s too many people. I think it should just be the three of us on set.’

Jake considered her comment then said, ‘Okay, good idea. Could you be ready to film again in half an hour?’

The girls nodded and just as Crystal was about to wander back to the dressing room, Jake lightly touched her arm, and said, ‘Thanks, Crystal, that was really helpful.’