Wags To Riches (2 page)

“Sure” he says and we go over to the shelf.  He’s stood so close to me, I can smell his aftershave and now my heart is pounding nineteen to the dozen.  He lifts a packet of pasta down and passes it to me.  “Is this the one?” he asks.

“That’s it thanks” I say and put it carefully in my basket as though it was a precious gemstone.  I’m trying desperately to think of something to say.  “Are you – hope you don’t mind me asking, but are you Adam Finchley, the footballer?”  Okay, it wasn’t brilliant, but at least I didn’t shout ‘I love you!  Let’s get married!’ at the top of my voice.

“That’s me.”

“I saw you today” I blurt out and then cringe.  What a thing to say!  Now he’s going to think I’m a mad stalker type who’s been secretly following him all day and he’ll have to ring for his bodyguards who have been hiding behind the special offer on packs of Hula Hoops who will usher him out of the shop after issuing me with a restraining order.  “No – what I mean is – I saw a photo of you in a magazine I was reading” I hastily explain.

“Oh right” Adam replies, looking slightly nonplussed.  Then he smiles at me again.  “What’s your name?” he asks.

“Gail” I croak like a wheezy little frog.

“Nice to meet you Gail” Adam says and holds out his hand.  As we shake hands, I can feel the silver ring he is wearing pressing gently against my fingers.  His hand is all nice and warm, not like my clammy paw.  A few seconds of mad fantasies about where I would l like him to put his hands flash through my mind and now I think I’m going to faint.

“It’s nice to meet you too” I say, my mouth dry.  “What are you doing here?” I say suddenly find myself saying and blush.  What did I ask that for?  It’s none of my bloody business what he’s doing!

Adam looks slightly taken aback.  “Erm – I’m just getting some food” he replies, looking puzzled.  “Why?”

“Well” I say, desperately trying to get myself out of this conversational hole I have fallen into, “I would have thought that someone like you would have had all your food delivered from Harrods or something in a silk lined hamper.”  Now I’m so far down the hole, I can’t even see daylight.  How to mess up an encounter with the most gorgeous man you’ve ever met - just watch me.  Watch and learn sisters.

To my surprise, Adam doesn’t start backing away quickly.  Instead he smiles and laughs!  “I only do that on special occasions” he replies.  I laugh too, but very nervously and God it sounds horrible.

“Well, nice to meet you Gail” Adam says and smiles at me again as he starts to walk away.

“Yes – nice to meet you too!” I reply and watch as he goes to the end of the aisle and disappears from view.  I’m so tempted to run after him!  Why oh why couldn’t I have met him when I was dressed up and why the hell couldn’t I think of anything sparkling and witty to say?  He is so gorgeous!  And - oh my God!  He’s come back!!!

“Hello!” I say surprised.

“Hi!” he replies and then rubs his hand across the back of his neck in an awkward fashion.  Okay – what’s going on? I wonder.  I bet he’s going to tell me that I’m not allowed within 50 yards of him because I completely freak him out, I know it.

“I don’t suppose you would like to go out for dinner with me, would you Gail?”

I’m so shocked, I can’t speak for a few seconds.  “Me?” I say finally, looking round to see if there is someone else that Adam could be addressing.  “You mean me?  You and me?”

“Yes” Adam says smiling, a faint blush creeping up round his neck and face.  “What do you think?”

Oh.  My.  God.  “Erm – yes that would be great!” I say, completely stunned.

Adam smiles more widely at me and I have to fight the urge to swoon.  “Great!”  What’s your number Gail?” he asks, taking his mobile phone out of his pocket.

“Oh – erm...” I mumble as my brain has gone mushy and it’s hard to remember my name, let alone my phone number.  I eventually remember it and tell it to Adam, who types it carefully into his phone and then repeats it back to me.

“I’ll phone you and we’ll sort out a date and time then yeah?” he says.

“Okay!” I say grinning.

“Great!” Adam says “See you soon Gail” and he walks away.  I stare after him, not quite believing what has just happened.  Has one of the most handsome and eligible footballers around just asked me – Gail Auden
out to dinner??!!
  I must be dreaming.  Either that or I’ve eaten too much sugar, that’s what it is.  I’m having visions.  I must not eat so many biscuits at work.

I pick up a mini garlic bread and then go to the checkout.  A few of the female staff are clustered round one of the windows looking outside and talking excitedly.  “What’s going on?” I ask the woman on the checkout.

“We’ve just had Adam Finchley the footballer in here!” she says smiling.

“Really?” I say.  I’m not having visions then because she saw him too.  He’s real!  It happened!  Oh my God!  I can’t breathe.

“Oh yes” she replies, turning round to look through the windows.  “Look!  There he is!”  I leave my shopping for a minute and walk over to the windows.  Peering through the glass, I can see a tall guy in jeans, jumper and funky trainers getting into the expensive looking car I saw earlier.  Oh my goodness.  As he drives off, I turn away and go back to the checkout.

“Did you see him?” the woman on the till asks.

“Yes, I did” I say as I put my shopping into a bag and pay.

“You ought to have come through the till earlier – you would have been able to say hello to him then.  It is a shame you missed him” she says, giving me my receipt and change.

“Yes isn’t it?  Never mind!” I say and smile as I walk towards the exit, my mind in a whirl.

On the way home, I feel like I’m walking on air.  I can’t believe that Adam Finchley, gorgeous man and number one on the list of most eligible blokes in sport or whatever it was has asked me out for dinner!  I’m amazed!  I’m euphoric!  The smile on my face is so wide, it hurts.  Wow!  Oh God, I’ve no idea at all what to wear – I’ll have to have a look through my wardrobe, as I don’t think my finances will stretch to me buying a new dress.  Oh God, I can’t believe this is happening!

But why, I wonder as I arrive home, has he asked
me
out anyway?  I’m nothing like your typical footballer’s girlfriend (or wife for that matter).  I don’t have hair extensions or fake breasts – I concede I do use fake tan and have been known to wear the occasional pair of false eyelashes, but that’s all.  All I can presume is he must have had a moment of madness – a temporary aberration and he will realise his mistake, smile, shake his head and hastily delete my number from his phone.  It would be great if he did phone though.  No – mustn’t think like this.  It will not do for me to get my hopes up.  I will get on with cooking my tea and try very hard not to think about Adam in his navy blue jumper and his gorgeous smile.

After tea, I curl up on the sofa with a large glass of wine. 
EastEnders
is on and even though it’s miserable as usual, I’m smiling.  I keep thinking about Adam, even though I promised myself I wouldn’t.  I can’t get him out of my head.  Wonder what he’s doing now?  Suddenly the phone starts ringing and I jump, almost spilling what’s left of my wine on the sofa.  My heart starts racing.  It can’t be him can it?  It can’t be.

“Hello?” I say cautiously as I pick up the phone.

“Hello Gail?” a voice says and I can’t help but gasp.  It’s him!  He’s actually phoned!  Oh God!

“Yes –speaking” I trill like a budgie on helium when I finally manage to get some words out.

“Hi Gail – it’s Adam.”

“Hi!” I manage to say.

“Is this a good time to arrange dinner?”

“Yes” I say.  I think I can see my heart beating in my chest, it’s thumping that hard.

“Well, how about Saturday?” Adam suggests, “We are playing at home so I should be able to pick you up about seven thirty?”

“Great!” I say, grinning like an idiot down the telephone.  I’m
so
glad he can’t see me.

“This restaurant is really nice Gail that I’m going to take you to – it’s one of my favourites” Adam adds, “It’s an Italian restaurant and the seafood specials they do are just fantastic.”

“Sounds great – I love seafood” I reply.  I love eating full stop, hence the reason I find it so hard to lose weight.  “Is it quite a formal place?” I ask, “I’m just thinking about what to wear.”  The last thing I want to do is dress in a funky casual number and everyone else is in silk ball gowns.

“It is a little formal,” Adam concedes, “But it is very nice – it’s not stuffy or anything.”

“Oh no – I’m sure it’s not” I say quickly, “I just want to make sure I wear the right thing that’s all – I just wondered if I needed to dig my tiara out.”  Not that I have a tiara.

Adam laughs.  “Wear whatever you want Gail, I’m sure you will look great” he says in a really sexy voice and I laugh in that horrible, nervous, high way I did in the supermarket earlier.  Oh I wish I could stop it.  “What’s your address Gail?” Adam asks and I tell him where I live.  “Oh – and have you got a mobile number?”

Oh God I knew he would ask that.  “No – I need to get a new one” I reply quickly.  “I dropped my old one.”

“Oh no!”

“Yeah, ‘fraid so” I say.  Yes, in the toilet at the Three Feathers pub last weekend.  What a night.  I can only remember bits of it and those I don’t really want to, like Alex and I getting on the karaoke and belting out
I Will Survive
.  I’m not going to share that particular reminiscence with Adam.  I would like to remain a figure of sophistication and elegance in his eyes for as long as possible, although wearing the electric blue honey monster coat has probably knocked that on the head already.

“Well – let me give you my mobile number” Adam says and I carefully write it down.  I’m going to copy this number onto several pieces of paper so I can’t lose it.  “And I’ll give you my landline number as well.”

“Okay” I gulp.  I might ring his answer phone just so I can hear his voice.  Or is that a bit sad?

“Well, I’ll see you on Saturday then Gail” Adam says.  “I’m looking forward to it.”

“Yes me too” I gabble.  That is the understatement of the year.

After we say goodbye and hang up, I run into the living room and squeal.  “YES!” I shout before doing a mad little dance round.  “I’m going out for dinner with Adam Finchley on Saturday!  Wooooo!”  Oh happy day!

It will be even better when I’ve figured out what to wear.

*****

“So – who’s the lucky man?” Alex asks me when I tell her I’ve got a date on Saturday night.  “You aren’t going out with that guy from the pub again are you?”

“Most definitely not!  Man from the pub indeed!” I scoff.

“Who is it then?”  Alex asks.  “Do I know him?”

“I think you do” I say grinning.  “His name is Adam Finchley.  Plays football” I add casually.  I’m enjoying this.

Alex looks at me frowning. “Adam Finchley?  What – THE Adam Finchley?  Who plays for Grandmere United?”

“That’s the one!” I say, beaming at her.

“Oh – yeah in your dreams girlfriend!”  Alex says, shaking her head.  “I’ve told you not to take drugs at work.”

I laugh delightedly.  “Honestly Alex – it’s true!  I went to Supersavers last night – as you do - and he was there!  I asked him to pass me a packet of pasta, we got talking and he asked me out for dinner.”

Alex stares at me in disbelief.  “Really?” she asks.

“Yes!  Really!” I say.  “Look,” I say as I get my diary out of my bag and open it, “This is his mobile number – ring him if you don’t believe me.  Go on – ring him and ask him!”

Alex looks at the number and then looks at me again.  “You’re not joking are you?” she says slowly.

“No!” I almost yelp.  “I’m serious!”

  Alex squeals and hugs me.  “Gail that’s great!  Gosh how exciting!” she says.

“I know!” I say.  I can hardly contain my glee.  “Don’t tell anyone though will you Alex?  I don’t want everyone at work knowing about it.”

“Oh of course!” Alex says.  “Cross my heart like totally Gail – I shan’t say a word.  I must confess though – I am a bit surprised.  I thought someone like that – please don’t take this the wrong way – would be out with someone, you know like...” she waves her hand round in the air as she tries to find the word.

“Pretty?” I supply.

“No!” Alex retorts.  “Don’t be daft Gail –
you’re
pretty.  I mean I thought he’d be out with a Page 3 type with bleached blonde hair extensions in and legs up to her armpits.”

“I did think that myself” I say.  “But I think he’s a bit different to your typical footballer.  At least I hope he is.”

“Oh I’m sure he is!”  Alex says earnestly.  “They can’t all be up themselves can they?  Hey!” she says suddenly with a smile on her face, “You’ve got an excuse to get those shoes now!”

I laugh.  “Seriously Alex, I haven’t got a clue what I am going to wear” I say.  “I need something that looks sexy but not slutty, comfy but not frumpy and makes me look a million dollars, but not as though I’ve tried too hard.  That’s not too much to ask is it?”

Alex smiles.  “Well – you know what I’ve always said” she replies, “If you get the shoes right with an outfit, you’re halfway there already.”