Ruby Parker Hits the Small Time (15 page)

And I was going to kiss Justin, under studio lights, in front of cast and crew, next to a hydrangea, without any practice and without the faintest idea of what I was doing—and there was nothing,
nothing
I could do about it. I didn't know what waited for me at the top of those escalators, but I thought it was probably a very, very long drop.

When I got back from Anne-Marie's house that night it was way past nine; in fact, it was nearly ten. We'd had a long lecture from Nydia's dad on the way back in the car for not calling him to pick us up until late. I knew I was going to get another talk from my mum the moment I got in, especially considering the way we had parted earlier in the evening. And I was right, except it wasn't about being late.

Mum was standing at the bottom of the stairs when I opened the front door. I wasn't sure if she'd just been passing by or if she'd actually been standing there waiting for me to open it. She crossed her arms and pressed her lips together.

“Sorry I'm late,” I said quickly. “We got talking and …”

“I've just spoken to Nydia's dad, Rube, so I don't need to hear it.”

I shrugged and took off my coat. “OK, I'm sorry. But this girl Anne-Marie, she's got about three hundred DVDs and we were watching this really good film and I forgot what time it was …” That was more or less true. I decided to skip the part about me, Nydia, and Anne-Marie screaming and shouting at one another before we finally seemed to become friends. That part I was still trying to understand. I still didn't quite believe it myself.

Mum gave one of her cross shrugs and walked into the living room. I stood stock-still in the hallway. Normally her lectures went on for much longer than this and involved me being grounded. I was confused. Eventually I decided to head to my room and hope she'd forget all about it.

“I spoke to Liz this evening,” she called out as I started up the stairs. I stopped. I walked back down and into the living room.

“Oh?” I said. I yawned conspicuously. “Gosh, I'm tired. Silly me for staying out so late. Good night, Mu—”

“Ruby, sit down.” Mum's voice was stern but not really angry. I sat down, hoping I'd be allowed out again before I turned sixteen. Sometimes Mum has a way of making me feel in the wrong even when I haven't done anything. “She said she'd been meaning to call me for a couple of weeks now, but after she heard about me and your dad she just had to ring. I'm glad you told her. She's been very supportive of you since you joined the show.”

I shrugged and dropped my chin onto my chest. “I know,” I said into the neck of my T-shirt. “But I didn't exactly tell her. She just heard. I thought maybe things might change and, well, things at work were a bit up and down and I just didn't say anything …” I trailed off.

“Liz was worried about you. She said she'd meant to discuss your new story line with me. Imagine how I felt, Ruby. I had no idea you had a big new story line coming up! She thought you would have told me straightaway; she assumed that if I'd had any questions or worries, I'd have been in touch. She thought we'd have gone through the script together like we always do.” Mum looked worried. She brushed a strand of hair away from my face and tucked it behind my ear. “She told me about their plans for you, Ruby. They sound exciting! Why didn't you tell me? Is it because of everything that's being going on here? I understand if it is, but I couldn't bear the thought of you not talking to me anymore. I always thought we could talk about anything. I thought that you told me everything.”

I looked up at her. She wasn't angry, I realized. She was hurt and worried once again that somehow she was letting me down.

“I got all worked up about it,” I said, “even before I knew about you and Dad. Everything seemed to come at once. I thought they were going to drop me from the show and it seemed like the end of the world, and then Dad moved out and it
was
the end of the world, and then Liz and Trudy came up with this new story line and …did Liz tell you about the kissing scene?”

I looked at Mum warily. She was so keen that I shouldn't grow up one second faster than she wanted me to that I thought she'd hate the idea. But, instead, she just laughed.

“Well, yes, but it's not really a kissing scene, is it?” she said, ruffling my hair. “It's more of a scene with a kiss in it.”

For some reason her reaction disappointed me. “Well, I suppose,” I said, glumly. “If you put it like that.”

She looked closely at me. “Has that been worrying you?” she asked me. “Because if
you
feel you're too young …”

“Mum! No,” I said, picking up a cushion and hugging it over my tummy. “It's not that I'm too young. I just didn't talk to you about it because I thought you had too much other stuff to worry about.”

Mum put her arm around me.

“Ruby, whatever is happening in my life, there will never be a day that I won't be here when you want to talk to me about anything. When you're ninety-five and I'm a decrepit old lady you can
still
tell me everything. OK?”

I had to admit I felt better now that she knew about everything. Well, nearly everything. Talking to a parent or teacher
did
help, after all. Of course, I'd always known that; I'd just forgotten it recently.

Mum kissed the top of my head. “Liz told me Justin was taking you to lunch tomorrow. Is that right?”

I sighed inwardly. She really
did
know everything.

“Yes, but it's only for work—just so we can talk over the scene and everything. It's not as if it's a date!” I rolled my eyes. Mum suppressed a smile.

“Do you have a crush on Justin?” she asked me gently.

I sat up with a start. “No! Anyway, he's got a girlfriend. And I don't fancy him, so I don't even care. It's only work.”

Mum nodded.

“OK. Well, if Liz has arranged it, I'm sure it will be fine. You can go.”

I headed quickly for the stairs, thanking my lucky stars.

“And on Sunday, you can start being grounded for coming home so late tonight, OK?”

“OK,” I answered wearily. I should have known Mum would never let me get away with that.

Chapter Eighteen

I
never thought in a million years that Anne-Marie Chance would ever be sitting on my bed putting her glitter gel on my eyelids. It was so strange that if I hadn't been about to go to lunch with the love of my life, and if my stomach hadn't been invaded by a flock of butterflies, I probably would have been quite freaked out by it. Strangely, Everest—who never got excited about anything that wasn't edible—seemed to love Anne-Marie and continuously rubbed his head against her leg. If Everest liked her, she couldn't be all that bad.

“Now, all you need is a touch here and there.” She dabbed my closed eyelids. “Just on the inner corner of your eyes. This makes them look bigger and wider apart and also eliminates all those dark shadows.” She smiled at me when I opened my eyes. “Not bad,” she said, regarding her handiwork.

“How do you know all this stuff?” I asked her. “I know nothing about makeup. I mean, I've read articles and seen what other girls do, but when
I
try to put any on, I end up looking like a clown.”

Anne-Marie smiled and shrugged. “I don't know, really; I just seem to pick it up. I have a lot of time to myself, after all.” She unzipped her makeup bag. “Now for some lip gloss …”

Nydia leaned over Anne-Marie's shoulder and examined me. “You look really nice, Ruby,” she said, sounding slightly surprised. Anne-Marie and I laughed.

“Oh, thanks!” I said.

“No, I mean, when Anne-Marie suggested she come over and do your face, I wasn't exactly sure what she meant. Only a week ago it would have meant giving you two black eyes. But you do look really nice.” Nydia knelt down on the floor next to my bed. “Will you do my eyes next?” she asked Anne-Marie. “I haven't got a date with the hunkiest bloke in Britain, but I'd like to know about eyeliner all the same.”

Anne-Marie laughed. “Sure,” she said. Nydia and I exchanged glances. It was so strange. Here she was, being nice to us, doing our makeup and having a laugh, and as far as I could tell she wasn't doing it because of some evil-genius master plan to stop us from thwarting her bid for world domination. This Anne-Marie was a completely different person from the one I'd always known. As usual it was Nydia who put into words what I was thinking.

“Anne-Marie,” Nydia said uncertainly, “when we go back to school …well, will you still talk to us or will it be back to normal?”

Anne-Marie paused mid–lip gloss and looked at her. “Have you ever seen those wildlife documentaries about dangerous animals, like tigers and stuff?”

Nydia and I exchanged glances.

“Um, yeah,” I said, trying to keep my lips from sticking together.

“Well, you know when they tell you if you're ever confronted with an angry tiger you mustn't ever show it you're afraid? That the moment it knows you're scared it'll just rip you to shreds?” She finished glossing my lips.

“Um, yes?” Nydia answered.

“Well, being friends with Jade and Menakshi is a bit like being confronted with an angry tiger. You never know when they're going to sense your insecurities and turn on you. Anyway, I could never talk to them the way I talk to you two.” She smiled at us. “So, yes, I know it will be weird and everyone will think I'm a nutter, but I
will
still be talking to you when we go back to school—if you're still talking to me, that is. What Jade and Menakshi will do—who knows. I don't care anymore.”

She grinned at us and I realized that not only was Anne-Marie actually nice, she was also really brave. It was much easier to stay on the right side of the tigers than it was just to be yourself.

“Just be yourself,” Nydia told me as I stood by the front door. My mum hovered in the kitchen trying really hard not to interfere. “If you're yourself, he can't help but love you.”

I widened my eyes and nodded back toward the direction of the kitchen, shaking my head. “Don't be silly, Nydia. I'm only meeting him for work. It isn't a date or anything!” I said loudly for Mum's benefit. “And, anyway,” I added, lowering my voice, “I've been myself for the last seven years and he barely even knows who I am.”

“He'll notice you today,” Anne-Marie said, clapping a hand on my shoulder. “You look great!”

Finally Mum came out of the kitchen.

“You look nice, Ruby,” she said. I waited for her to complain about the glitter gel, but she didn't. She just stood there looking at me like I was some stranger who had replaced her daughter. “Are you sure you don't want me to give you a lift there?” she asked.

I really didn't.

“It's OK, Mum, we're only going to the Italian place down the road. I can walk it in five minutes.”

She furrowed her brow, and I knew she was thinking of things to be worried about.

“Don't worry, Mum,” I told her. “It's only Justin from work. It's no big deal.”

Mum nodded. “OK, well. You're going to see your dad afterward, aren't you?”

I hesitated. Dad had phoned me last night and asked me round to his new place. It felt strange and wrong, but I had agreed to go anyway because at least he was trying.

“Yeah,” I said, dropping my chin a little.

“Ruby, be nice to him, OK?” I nodded. “And call me when you've finished lunch, and call me when you get to your dad's, and call me when you're on your way home.” I rolled my eyes and opened the door. “Mum, you really worry too much.”

“Only because I love you,” Mum said, and she watched Nydia, Anne-Marie, and me walk down the garden path.

“Well, good luck, old chap,” Nydia said in her mock posh voice. She held out her hand and shook mine firmly, as if I were off to battle.

“Yes, jolly good luck,” Anne-Marie said, joining in the game. She gave me a little salute.

“Thanks awfully,” I said. “Well, time to go.” I smiled at them, gave another little wave over my shoulder. Then we were walking in opposite directions.

They headed to Nydia's for lunch and I went to meet my destiny.

“Hi, Ruby!” Cassie smiled at me as I walked into the restaurant. “You look nice today. Are your mum and dad on the way in?”

I shook my head nervously. “No, I'm meeting Justin de Souza here.” Cassie looked blank. “From the show? He plays Caspian.” Cassie seemed a bit nonplussed, and I realized that she probably hardly ever saw the show, since she was almost always working whenever it was on.

“Ohhh, is he famous, then?” she asked.

“A bit,” I said with a smile. “So if you could put us somewhere out of the way, that would be great. He really values his privacy.”

“So is this a date?” Cassie teased me.

“Oh, no,” I said quickly. “We just have some scenes coming up that we want to talk over.” Cassie looked like she didn't believe a word of it. She seated me in a booth against the far wall of the restaurant. I looked around; it was early—and there weren't many people in yet. Justin had said I should meet him at twelve, but I didn't mind that he was late. It gave me a chance to practice how my face would look when I saw him. I practiced a calm, sophisticated hello as I waited.

After twenty minutes or so, I was really good at it. I looked at my watch.

“Do you want a Coke?” Cassie asked me as she passed.

I shook my head. “No, I'll wait,” I said. I'd had visions of us sharing a chilled bottle of champagne, even though I knew that Cassie would never serve us alcohol in a million years. (And, anyway, I'd tried champagne once at an after-show party and it made me gag). But, even so, I didn't want to start without him.

And so I waited for another thirty minutes. Then I pulled out my mobile phone and looked at it. I hadn't had any missed calls. I didn't have Justin's number and I realized he probably didn't have mine either. He'd never asked me for it on Friday when we'd settled on the time—twelve—and this restaurant.
Maybe he said
one
, I thought.
Maybe he'll come at one.
So I waited.