Practically Perfect (16 page)

‘God, he was gorgeous. He just had to open his mouth and I practically had an orgasm,’ said Zara. ‘He had the most wonderfully sexy voice.’

Anna couldn’t openly agree because she’d pretended not to know him, but inside she nodded. ‘I’d better check in,’ she said out loud. ‘What’s the plan?’

‘Well, we thought we’d get ready quite early and go out for a few drinks beforehand, in case there isn’t anything much to drink when we get there,’ said Zara, who was obviously up for a night of uproarious fun.

‘But we’ll be in posh dresses!’ said Crystal.

‘I know, but we’ll go to a nice cocktail bar or somewhere,’ said Zara. ‘Meet some nice men.’

‘I thought you fancied Max Gordon,’ said a girl whose name Anna couldn’t remember.

‘Well, yes, but he might have got fat and old. You know how men do. I’d like a fall-back position.’

‘So, what did you say you were up to, Anna?’ said Crystal, sensing a person less successful than she was.

‘I’m doing up a house in the Cotswolds,’ Anna said.

‘Oh my God! You must be practically the only one who’s actually doing what we trained for,’ said the girl-whose-name-Anna-couldn’t-remember.

‘I’m terribly sorry,’ Anna said boldly, ‘but I’ve forgotten your name.’

‘Amanda. I’m in IT now.’

‘So you’re not doing anything to do with design, then?’

‘Well, I do make the websites appealing, but it’s not really what I do.’

‘Well,’ said Anna after a pause for more conversation that didn’t happen. ‘I really had better check in now.’ She was feeling a bit depressed. ‘I’ll see you all down here – when?’

‘About six,’ said Crystal, ‘that should give you plenty of time to shower and change.’ The look she gave Anna implied that she sorely needed to do both.

But I had a shower at Chloe’s this morning, she thought indignantly as she went up in the lift to her room, and I’ve got make-up on.

Her room was small but cosy, and Anna unpacked her bag, as per Laura’s strict instructions. Chloe’s dress, which looked fine to Anna, was to be hung in the bathroom while Anna had a bath or shower and she might as well make the most of the hot water. She could lie back and read the magazine, with cream on her face, like a proper girl.

She enjoyed her bath. It had been nice to feel that no one was likely to want to come in, or talk to her through the door about a really cool new game. However, now came the time for the nerve-racking business of getting ready.

On Laura’s advice, she’d started with the dress, in case putting it on disrupted her hair. Putting it on was not as much fun on her own as it had been in Chloe’s bedroom, and then again, at home, for Laura. But she was determined to hold her own among her friends, even if she wouldn’t have much of a chance with Max if Zara – confident, attractive, and very sexy – also wanted him. At least
the
dress still fitted. She hadn’t suddenly sprouted love-handles because of the crisps she’d eaten on the train, or because she’d had more of her share of prawn crackers the night before. And the new black bra she wore underneath it definitely gave her more bosom.

‘Right,’ she said to the mirror, which was quite flattering, because the light wasn’t very good, ‘my hair.’

They’d had a trial run with that, too. Laura had wailed that Anna shouldn’t have washed it, because it made it far too slippery to put up easily. Having said this, she had twisted it up into a neat French pleat with no trouble at all. ‘There you are, Audrey Hepburn to the life. Why haven’t I got cheekbones?’

‘Who?’ said Anna, who was hypnotised by the sight of herself looking so different.

‘Never mind. You look gorgeous.’ Brutally, Laura pulled out the pins. ‘Now you try.’

The effect had been definitely more bird’s nest than Audrey Hepburn. Even Anna, who wasn’t completely sure which Hollywood star Audrey Hepburn was, could tell that. They had just pulled all the grips out again (and Anna had used the whole packet), when Chloe and Mike came to collect them, to take them to the Chinese.

Will had given Mike a beer while Chloe had a go with Anna’s hair. Her efforts resulted in something more relaxed and modern and, for Anna, more achievable.

‘You’ve got very nice hair,’ Chloe had said as Anna brushed it. ‘It’s so shiny, and a lovely colour.’

‘My mother calls it Rich Mouse,’ said Anna. ‘So let’s go, I’m starving.’

Now, alone in her hotel room without her assistants, Anna twisted up the bundle of hair, which had got quite long without her noticing. It took about three attempts, but at last it looked more or less as Chloe had had it. She
was
reluctant to spray it because she knew that when she pulled out the pins and let it loose, in the middle of the party, it would look odd. She’d said as much to Laura, who had told her that she mustn’t pull out the pins until she went to bed. Anna, suspecting this was a counsel of perfection, didn’t use the travel-sized can of spray that Laura had so thoughtfully bought for her. She now had to put on her make-up, and just the thought was making her hands sweat.

‘What you really should have done,’ she told her reflection as she leant into the mirror in the hope that would make it all easier, ‘was to have a practice night out. All this dressing up, added to the whole Max thing, is just too much.’

But she knew she wouldn’t have arranged it. She couldn’t have explained to anyone that she needed to rehearse wearing elegant clothes and make-up. ‘You’ve only got one shot, girl,’ she said, and opened the tube of special cream guaranteed to make her look fresh as a daisy.

She might have had only one shot, but she took several. After the third time she found that the amount of kohl left round her eyes was just right, without putting any more on.

‘Right, now eye-shadow.’ She opened the little box and noticed the brand name for the first time. ‘Golly, Laura, you’ve got expensive tastes.’ It did glide on in a satisfactory manner, though, more easily than it had done that morning, with Laura breathing over her shoulder, giving instructions.

‘OK, now the eyebrows.’ She always talked to herself when she was doing something difficult; she found it helped her to concentrate. ‘Laura said not to leave them out, but to make sure you didn’t put on too much and look fierce.’ The surplus hairs had been plucked the night before; Anna had not enjoyed it.

‘Now lipstick.’ This was to be put on with a brush, too, when Anna had outlined her mouth with the pencil. For someone who could draw, Anna found this surprisingly difficult, and wiping off lipliner did not have the same beneficial effect that wiping off the kohl pencil had had. Still, her mouth only looked a little smudged by the time she had finished.

Then the powder. It was only after she had put it all over her face that she remembered Laura’s instructions about powdering her lips and then putting on another coat of lipstick. ‘It’s like preparing a surface for painting,’ she’d said, using a language she hoped Anna would understand. ‘The final layer of gloss will only stay on and look good if you’ve got a really smooth base.’

Remembering this, Anna dabbed some powder on her mouth and put another layer of lip-gloss on, convinced that whatever she did, it would all come off after the first drink. ‘Oh, to hell with it!’ she said fiercely, and then remembered not to look scary.

‘You’re a pretty girl when you’re all scrubbed up!’ Laura had said. ‘Remember that, tell yourself it, and everyone else will see it too!’

Eventually, when Anna could no longer bear to stare at her reflection and she was sure that she’d followed Laura’s and Chloe’s long menu of orders, she finally got out the gloves and put them on.

There was no doubt about it, they looked wonderful. Seeing herself in them did remind Anna of an old film,
Breakfast at Somewhere
, that might well have had Audrey Hepburn in it. But she just couldn’t go down in the lift, her coat over her arm, wearing them. She’d put them on later, after the cocktails, when she’d got used to the dress, the hair and the make-up.

She placed her gloves in Chloe’s evening bag and, a
couple
of twenty-pound notes in her bra, in case she lost the evening bag. Then she hid her return ticket, one credit card and anything else she’d really miss if she was robbed in her room, taking only her spare credit card and the rest of her money with her. She also had a plastic bag with the party shoes in it. She wouldn’t put them on until the last minute, either: sufficient unto the day was the pain thereof. Then she opened the door of her hotel room, which had become her home and her sanctuary over the past couple of hours, and went downstairs. She couldn’t tell if she was shivering with excitement or cold.

She wasn’t the last; they were all waiting for Crystal, but the girls who were there (the male alumni were staying at some club or other) were satisfyingly impressed by Anna’s appearance.

‘Great dress!’ said Zara.

‘It’s my neighbour’s. I’ve been living in dungarees or jeans ever since I started doing up my house and didn’t have anything remotely suitable. Fortunately my neighbour fancies herself as Trinny and Susannah and lent me the dress. And the shoes.’ She offered up the carrier bag. ‘But they kill me. I’m only going to put them on when I don’t have to walk anywhere.’ She was currently wearing Laura’s suede loafers, and if Laura had known about it, she would have arranged for them to spontaneously combust.

‘Well, let’s just see the effect with heels,’ said Zara, who probably had a lot in common with Laura. ‘Oh, fab! You have got a lovely figure. Has anyone ever told you you look like Audrey Hepburn?’

‘Only since I borrowed the dress.’

‘And that’s a gorgeous necklace. Is it real jet?’

Anna nodded. ‘My sister’s. But you look wonderful, too. In fact we all do.’

Zara was wearing a short scarlet dress with a plunging neckline, which somehow looked endearing, not predatory. Amanda was in pale blue with bugle beads, and Crystal, when she appeared, was in Armani. The classic black did put Anna’s less classic – or certainly less expensive – black into the shade a bit, but Anna didn’t mind. She wasn’t expecting to be the belle of the ball. She just didn’t want to be the stick insect among a flock of butterflies.

‘Right, girls,’ said Zara, ‘let’s get a taxi. I’ve found a nice-sounding bar quite near the venue. The chaps are meeting up with us there later, if they’re not too stuck into drinking themselves stupid.’

‘I thought that was what you had in mind,’ said Crystal.

‘No, no! Just a couple of shots to get us in the mood! Do lighten up, Crys, you’re only young once.’

‘I am a married woman.’

‘Then put your rock in your handbag and have a good time!’ Zara was not going to let Crystal spoil the evening.

She’s so nice, thought Anna, sipping her margarita and looking at Zara’s bubbly, friendly face – she’d already convinced the barman that they were a hen party, and therefore should be given cheap drinks. If Max fancies her even remotely, I haven’t got a chance. Unless, of course, Max Gordon’s got fat and old. That would put Zara off him. It wouldn’t affect her feelings, she knew that, but it would knock out the competition.

‘Cheer up, Anna!’ said Amanda. ‘Have another drink! We’re here to enjoy ourselves!’

‘I am cheerful,’ said Anna, trying to look it, in spite of her nerves. ‘I’m just a slow drinker.’

‘Well, thank goodness you’re not all intent on drinking yourselves silly,’ said Crystal, who was nursing a spritzer. ‘Apart from anything else, alcohol is so bad for your skin.’

Anna drained her glass. ‘On the other hand, another drink might be a good idea.’

She put her bag on the bar and tried to attract the attention of the waiter. ‘Do we all want another?’ she asked.

‘My dear girl,’ said Crystal, in a low voice. ‘Look at your hands!’

To her credit, Crystal had tried to be discreet, but her words had fallen into a brief silence, and the whole group now looked at Anna’s hands. Crystal took hold of one and opened out Anna’s fingers.

‘I’ve got nail varnish on,’ said Anna, defensively.

‘On what nails you’ve got left!’ Crystal was appalled.

‘I told you, I’m doing up a house. It does ruin your nails, rather.’

‘When you said doing up a house,’ said Amanda, ‘I thought you meant getting builders in. I didn’t think you meant you were doing it up personally, your own self.’

‘That is impressive,’ said Zara. ‘You mean you wield hammer and nails, stuff like that?’

‘Yup.’

‘But, sweetie, your hands!’ said Crystal. ‘They look like you’ve been clawing stone out of the cliff face with them.’

Anna regarded them once more. They didn’t look too bad to her, but then she was used to them. Hands were for doing things with, after all. ‘I have got gloves,’ she said.

‘Gloves?’ said Amanda. ‘What kind of gloves?’

‘This kind.’ Anna retrieved them from her bag and put them on, smoothing them up her arms until they covered her elbows.

‘Oh wow,’ said Zara. ‘They’re fab. They make the rest of us – well, except Crystal, of course – look so damned dull.’

‘Won’t you find them difficult to eat in?’ said Crystal.

‘I’ll probably take them off quite soon,’ said Anna, embarrassed by the attention her accessories were receiving. ‘Isn’t it time we were going?’

‘Didn’t you want another drink first?’ said Zara.

‘Darling, she can hardly walk in those heels sober. She won’t have a cat in hell’s chance drunk,’ said Crystal.

Zara frowned. ‘Shall we go, then?’

Anna recognised Max Gordon’s back the moment they got in the door. He was surrounded by young men, Anna’s contemporaries, and yet he stood out as being more attractive than them, even before she’d heard his voice, or seen his sexy eyes, or anything. He happened to turn as the girls came in. ‘Wow!’ murmured Zara. ‘He hasn’t got old and fat, then.’

Anna wished he had. In fact, he seemed to have got even more attractive in the three years since she’d last seen him.

‘He might have turned into a prune close to,’ said Amanda.

‘Rubbish! He’s heaven on legs. Let’s go over.’

Anna didn’t dare take off on her own, so she followed the girls up to the boys, beginning to wish she hadn’t come. She hadn’t been thinking about him so much since she’d been so busy, but here he was, in the flesh, just as sensational as before. Now she would have to concentrate really, really hard on getting her house done, because her brain was going to wander off the point at every chance she gave it.