Crystal (36 page)

‘Don’t think I’m going to run after you,’ he shouted.

‘I wouldn’t want you to,’ she called back, trying to ignore the burning tears filling her eyes.

Why couldn’t he see what Stella was trying to do?
she thought bitterly as she walked home. It seemed that each time she and Jake overcame one problem in their relationship, something else always got in the way. First it was his ex-girlfriend, then Max and now Stella. Back home even the flat seemed to mock her, as she saw all the ingredients painstakingly laid out for the romantic meal and the table set for dinner for two. Crystal poured herself a large vodka and tonic; she’d lost count of the number of drinks she’d had that night but was so angry that she felt oddly sober. She curled up on the sofa and picked up her mobile. She had a text message. It’s not going to be from Jake, she told herself, but all the same she couldn’t help feeling disappointed when she saw it was from Jez asking her how the meal had gone. She felt too miserable to reply.

Part of her wanted to call Jake and argue her case, but her pride wouldn’t allow her to. She’d done nothing wrong; it was Stella who had ruined everything. God she hated her. She sat there fuming, then picked up a pen and paper and wrote down the lyrics for a song called – ‘24-carat Bitch’. Writing down her feelings made her feel slightly better; she’d probably think the lyrics were crap in the morning but at
least she’d got some of the poison out of her system. She wandered into the kitchen, grabbed all the ingredients and chucked them into the bin. Then she ripped up the little menu cards she’d written out so carefully. She was just about to climb into bed when her doorbell went.

She opened the door to an extremely drunk Jake. ‘I didn’t realise you were cooking dinner for us,’ he slurred. ‘Just got a text from Jez asking me how dinner went. I didn’t realise.’ He staggered in and put his arms round her. ‘Sorry, Crystal, I didn’t know. I’ll have some now if you like.’

‘It’s in the bin,’ Crystal told him sharply. She couldn’t forgive him easily for his earlier treatment of her.

‘I’m sorry about Stella laying into you, as well. Gavin told me what she’d said and she was well out of order. And you’re right; she does have a thing for me, she just tried to kiss me as I was leaving. She even told me that she was in love with me. It was very embarrassing.’

He held Crystal tighter. ‘God, Crystal, it seems all I ever do is say sorry to you. And I want you to know that you’re really special to me.’

Crystal looked up at him. In spite of his apology, she was tempted to make him suffer a little longer. But her heart ruled over her head and she gave in and hugged him back. ‘Come to bed. You’re drunk.’

‘Not so drunk I can’t make love to the sexiest woman in the world.’

For the first time all night Crystal actually smiled. ‘Come on then,’ she said. ‘What are you waiting for?’

CRYSTAL WOKE UP
with a pounding headache. She opened her eyes, winced at the bright morning sunshine and quickly closed them again.
I didn’t drink that much, did I?
She tried to remember, then realised that the reason she felt so rough was that she had barely eaten anything the day before. She’d been saving herself for dinner, the dinner which had ended up in the bin. Beside her, Jake was still fast asleep. She snuggled up next to his warm body, replaying the events of last night in her hungover brain. She remembered the scene with Stella and marching back home in a fury. She remembered Jake coming over and apologising and they’d made love. Suddenly she sat up in bed. ‘Shit,’ she exclaimed out loud. In their drunken passion, they hadn’t used a condom. ‘Shit, shit, shit.’ She dragged herself out of bed intending to go straight round to her local chemist’s and get the morning after pill. But as she emerged from the bathroom, wrapped in a towel, her mobile rang. ‘Is that Crystal Hope?’ a male voice asked.

Great; surely it wasn’t another journalist hassling her.

‘Yes,’ she said wearily. ‘But I’ve got nothing to say, so just piss off.’

She was about to hang up when the man said quickly, ‘I’m not a journalist, I’m Sadie Park’s assistant, she wants to speak to you.’

That got Crystal’s attention. ‘Okay,’ she answered, instinctively pulling her towel round her more tightly to protect
herself. What the hell was Sadie Park doing calling her? She hadn’t seen or spoken to her since the end of
Band Ambition
last year.

‘Crystal, is this a good time to talk?’

‘This is fine,’ Crystal replied cautiously, wondering if it was a wind-up. But it definitely sounded like Sadie.

‘I’ll get straight to the point. One of my assistants showed me a MySpace site yesterday of someone called Pearl and I listened to the songs. It’s you, isn’t it?’

‘Why do you want to know?’ Crystal couldn’t help being defensive. Sadie Park was a force to be reckoned with.

‘I want to know because I want to sign up whoever is behind the music. I want to offer them a record deal and make them a star.’

Now Crystal felt stupid. ‘Yeah, it is me,’ she mumbled.

‘So are you interested in what I’m saying?’ Sadie demanded.

‘Of course I am,’ Crystal replied. It was the understatement of the decade.

‘Good. Well, next we need to meet, but I don’t want anyone to know about this yet, Crystal. Certain things have happened in the past and I don’t think we need to go over them again. But I think those things would affect you so we should release your first single anonymously. That way we can build up your fan base before people know it’s you.’

‘Because of the Max thing?’ Crystal asked, wondering when she would ever be allowed to forget.

‘The Max factor certainly plays a major part,’ agreed Sadie, laughing at her own pun. ‘I’m going to hand you back to Claude, my assistant, to fix a time for you to come in. In the meantime, don’t tell anyone about this, Crystal, not even that divine boyfriend of yours.’

In a daze Crystal arranged to meet Sadie the following day at the Dorchester. Was this for real? Was there a chance that her singing career could start again. She immediately called Jez’s salon and booked herself in for a cut and blow dry and a manicure. She hadn’t spent any money on herself in ages
and she wanted to look her best for her meeting with Sadie. As she raced round her flat getting ready her hangover was forgotten, as was her planned trip to the chemist. Jake was still fast asleep, so she left him a note telling him where she’d gone and saying she’d call later.

Jez was clearly expecting her to be down in the dumps after the failure of her romantic dinner for two. ‘You’re not too disappointed?’ he asked as she sat down in her usual chair in front of the mirror.

‘What about?’ she asked, thinking only of tomorrow’s meeting.

‘The dinner,’ Jez asked, obviously taken aback at her lack of concern.

‘Oh that,’ Crystal answered, trying to bring herself back down to earth. ‘I was but then Jake apologised and he said he was going to give Stella her notice too.’

‘Result!’ exclaimed Jez. ‘Stuck up Park Avenue Princess nil, Sexy Street Girl Crystal one.’

‘I’m not a street girl! That makes me sound like a prostitute!’ Crystal bantered back.

‘Oh, you know what I mean. I meant rough diamond, people’s champion, blah blah blah.’

They spent the rest of the appointment gossiping and giggling and all the while Crystal couldn’t stop thinking about Sadie’s offer.

It was torture not being able to tell anyone the news, especially Jake. She was almost dreading his call suggesting they meet up, as she didn’t think she’d be able to see him and not tell him, but when he rang it was to say he’d forgotten he had a shoot in Manchester and he’d be away overnight, so at least she didn’t have to lie. But she felt bad about not telling him. When they’d got back together they had both agreed to be 100 per cent honest with each other.

‘I’m here to see Pippa Scarlet,’ Crystal told the receptionist at the Dorchester, trying not to giggle as she gave the made-up name Sadie had insisted she use.

‘She’s in suite 505,’ the receptionist told her, after she’d called Sadie to let her know she had a guest. As Crystal made her way up, she tried to stay calm, but it was hard. After six long months, when she had thought there was no chance of turning her career around, Sadie was throwing her a lifeline.
This is just a meeting
, she told herself sternly;
until you’ve signed a contract with her, don’t expect anything
. She stood outside Sadie’s door for a few seconds, took a deep breath, then knocked.

An extremely good-looking young man, dressed in a sharp pin-striped suit, opened the door.

‘Crystal!’ Sadie called out from the huge sofa where she was sitting, drinking coffee. She was in her usual rock-chick uniform – tight black jeans, pointed suede stiletto ankle boots and a black D&G sequinned top. Her blonde hair was long and tousled and in the same style it had been twenty years ago. It was a look which would have had Trinny and Susanna screaming
mutton!
But, actually, Crystal thought, if anyone could carry it off, Sadie could.

‘Hi, Sadie,’ Crystal replied, suddenly feeling shy. She was about to shake Sadie by the hand, but Sadie got up from the couch and hugged her as if she was an old friend. ‘That’s Claude, by the way, my assistant.’ Claude shook Crystal’s hand and as he walked away Sadie whispered, ‘He’ll do anything for me, but he won’t do
that
– he’s gay.’ She sighed wistfully as she watched Claude’s perfect body walking away. Then her tone switched to business mode. ‘Now, sit down. I want to know everything that you’ve been doing since you left Lost Angels. Dallas is such an arsehole for getting rid of you. But his loss is going to be my gain. I mean
our
gain,’ she quickly corrected herself.

Crystal had forgotten what a strong rivalry there was between Dallas and Sadie and she worried that Sadie was only using her to score points. As if reading her mind, Sadie reassured her. ‘This has got nothing to do with Dallas; it’s everything to do with you. I think you could be a big star.’

After a meeting which lasted two hours and then became
lunch, where the champagne flowed freely, Crystal pushed any worries out of her head. Sadie had everything mapped out. She wanted Crystal in the studio and recording her songs by the end of the month; she was having a contract drawn up that she’d be able to show Crystal the following day and she had booked Crystal a singing coach and a dance instructor to get her back to her best. In just four months time she wanted to release Crystal’s first single, closely followed by the album. It seemed too good to be true, but there was just one thing bothering her.

At the end of the meal, Crystal asked, ‘Are you sure I really can’t tell anyone?’

‘You’re thinking of Jake, right?’ Sadie asked.

Crystal nodded.

‘I know it’s a tough one but I want you to keep this between us. I’m sure you trust him but you just never know. He’s in the business as well; it’s too risky. He could say something to someone by mistake and then they tell someone else, and then before you know it, it’s all over the papers and we’ve lost our surprise – it would totally blow the deal. And, of course, it would give the press the chance to rake up all that crap about you. So that we know where we both stand, I’ve drawn up a confidentiality agreement, that I want you to sign, that stipulates you tell no one about our deal.’

Reluctantly, Crystal agreed. She didn’t want to have any secrets from Jake but surely he would understand when she was finally able to tell him the truth?

That aside, in the weeks that followed Crystal couldn’t have been happier. Every day she woke up with a feeling of energy and purpose she hadn’t had since she’d left Lost Angels. It felt like she was being given a second chance to prove herself and this time she was not going to blow it. Jake was away filming most of the time so fortunately she didn’t have to invent any excuses about what she was up to. When he asked, she admitted that she was writing songs again and had taken up singing lessons. He was so supportive that she couldn’t help feeling guilty that she hadn’t told him her big
news. She was also secretly over the moon that he’d given Stella her notice. She had taken it extremely badly and walked out there and then, and, despite Ingrid calling Jake to plead Stella’s case, Jake stood firm and refused to have her back. When he told Crystal she had to use all her willpower not to gloat.

‘Oh, right,’ she’d said, then quickly changed the subject. She didn’t want Jake to think she was being bitchy. However, as soon as she was on her own she called Tahlia and Jez to tell them the news and spent a very therapeutic half-hour bitching non-stop about Stella and celebrating her departure.

‘I feel like opening a bottle of champagne,’ Crystal told Tahlia. ‘To think I’ll never have to see her smug, spoilt face again, or have to watch her flirting so outrageously with Jake or see her skinny little arse parading around in those shorts.’

‘Hi, Jake it’s just me. I’ve left a message on your mobile but I’m leaving one here as well to let you know I’m going to be late. See you later. I’m out with Jez, by the way.’ The studio session was lasting much longer than she had anticipated; she should have remembered these things always overran. It was eleven at night and she had promised to go round to Jake’s. Now it looked as if she wouldn’t get there until well after midnight. She just hoped he wouldn’t ask any awkward questions. She’d finally had to ask Jez to be her alibi for any late nights.

‘You know I’ll do anything for you, Crystal, but I’m not lying for you if you’re having an affair,’ he’d said to her when she’d asked him, for once a serious expression on his face.

‘Jez, I swear on Jake’s life that I’m not having an affair. I’d never cheat on Jake,’ Crystal said passionately. ‘I just can’t tell anyone about this thing yet, but it’s nothing bad, I promise. But I understand if you feel you can’t cover for me.’

‘Okay,’ Jez said slowly. ‘Well, so long as it’s not an affair or you’ve become a crack whore, then I’ll do it.’

Crystal didn’t want Jez to have to lie for her, and hoped it wouldn’t come to that.