Taking Off
Chapter 16
Chapter 16
Aurélie stood outside Southopia and strained her neck to peer through the blacked out windows. She read once more the notice taped to the entrance and checked her mobile for messages.
“You have to pull the cord to get in,” a woman behind her said.
“That’s a bit strange so I wasn’t sure.”
“Yes, it’s strange.”
Aurélie stepped aside and unbuttoned her coat as the stranger tugged at the rope and rapped on the door.
“Pardon me if I’m rude but are you a friend of Katie’s?”
“Yes.” Aurélie smiled. “Are you too?”
“Yes, I’m Fiona.” Fiona held out her hand. “Katie is running a bit late but she should be here shortly.”
The cook let them in. Aurélie paid the one pound daily membership fee and Fiona hugged a few women already inside.
When Aurélie returned from the toilets, Katie had arrived and the group had linked four tables together. Aurélie sat between Fiona and Mel, a school friend of Katie’s. She gave her present to Katie, a copy of Le Tigre’s first CD and a pack of herbs of Provence, and Katie thanked her and embraced her. Aurélie breathed in the scent of Katie’s hair, coconut with a zest of lime grass, and sighed as Katie pulled away.
Aurélie tucked into her lamb roast and savoured the red wine served with it. She gasped as Fiona narrated how her girlfriend Jo had just dumped her and she laughed as Fiona recounted displays of machismo in the City law firm where she worked. Katie circulated a lot during the meal, catching up with various friends, and for dessert, she nudged her chair between Aurélie and Mel.
“Thanks so much for coming today, it feels like you were in France for ages.”
“Yes, I stayed for four weeks.”
Aurélie asked after Katie’s GCSEs and reassured her that she would succeed. Katie dropped her voice as she admitted her New Year Eve’s misadventures with Beth.
“And what about your colleague?” Aurélie asked.
“Helena? She’s gone back home for a month to buy her grandmother’s house.”
After lunch, a few of them created choreographies on eighties pop hits. On Venus, Fiona pretended that Aurélie was indeed Venus and danced around her for one minute. She slid her arm around Aurélie’s waist and twirled her around but Aurélie’s feet betrayed her, no doubt due to the amount of wine she had consumed, and she fell into the armchair behind her. Fiona jumped on her lap and lowered her mouth to Aurélie’s.
“I’m…I’m sorry,” Aurélie said as she turned away.
“It’s OK sweetie, it’s OK. No harm done.”
Fiona re-joined the dance floor and Aurélie went back to the table and settled in a seat next to Katie.
***
The antibiotics proved effective and after two weeks, Katie received the all clear from her doctor. She had tracked down Beth’s mobile number through Jay, a friend of Fiona’s who had attended Katie’s birthday party, and now that the disease had left her body, she called her.
Katie hung up. Maybe daytime wasn’t a good time to call, Beth would be at work, unable to have such a sensitive conversation. She put off ringing her again until the following evening, when she took her break in Mikael’s office as he had departed the premises for the day. She moved the fire extinguisher out of the way so the door closed. Quiet. Dark and with a mild smell of damp, but quiet.
“Hey Beth, it’s Katie, from New Year’s Eve. I’m not sure if you remember me.”
“Of course I do.”
Katie rubbed her forehead and scratched a spot on her left cheek. “I’m calling because I have something to tell you. Have you heard of trichomoniasis?”
“Yes, a friend of mine had it. Why?”
“I had it last month so you should probably get yourself checked. It’s an urine test, nothing complicated.”
“Right. Was it all you wanted to say?”
“Look, I understand if you’re angry with me but it’s nothing serious.” Katie sat on the desk and banged her feet against its side. “They gave me antibiotics and now I’m fine.”
“I know, I know. I’m not angry about that.”
“So what’s the problem? Is it because your boyfriend told you I called two weeks ago? I didn’t mean to get you into trouble but Fiona only had your home number.”
“Did you call? Tom never said.” Beth sighed.
“He sounded quite pissed off.”
“Never mind him. Do you fancy meeting up sometime?”
“I don’t think it’s a good idea.” Katie clenched her fist around her mobile.
“Never mind Tom, he’s on his way out. I’m bored with him.”
“But you’re still with him?”
“Yes. It’s not easy, we have a house together. I cannot just leave in one day.”
“Beth, I’m seeing someone.”
“Exclusively?”
“No. She’s away for a month. We’re just friends with advantages, if you know what I mean.”
“I can be that too. Or just friends even. Once, let’s meet up once, see how it goes.”
Defeated, Katie agreed to dinner with Beth on Friday, Katie’s only night off for the week.
***
Matt approached his boss Janet during their tea break and asked her if she had encountered a form called JAE. He explained that he had promised his sister to find out so she could complete her application paperwork for a pilot course.
“She’s going to be a pilot?”
“Well, she wants to,” Matt said. He swivelled his chair out of the sunlight as an ache in his temple threatened to turn into a headache.
“Good for her. You know, I wanted to do that when I was a little girl. I ended up in nurse school instead!”
“And you’ve done very well for yourself.” Matt split the last biscuit in two and handed out the bigger half to Janet.
“Flattery, flattery. Anyway, yes, I’ve seen that form before. She’s got to get it from her doctor. She might need a reference too, I can’t remember.”
“I could be her reference.” A destructive thought filled his mind. “I’m her brother after all.” He snapped himself out of his fantasy and pressed his hands against the side of his head, massaging the pain out.
***
Katie had ten busy days. She studied for her French and Maths GCSEs, worked overtime in the pub and met up with Beth on her off nights. For their first date, they shared a meal in Islington. For the second, they added clubbing and kissing. For the third, they topped it up with sex. Beth stayed over at Katie’s on Saturday night and her mobile phone woke them up at nine thirty seven. Beth switched it off.
“Who was that?” Katie asked. She rubbed the sleep out of her eyes and yawned.
Beth sighed. “Only Tom.”
“You should talk to him, it’s not fair on him.”
“Since when do you care?”
“I don’t like being the other woman.”
“Isn’t it what you wanted? Fun without the headache of a relationship?”
“I don’t want this with someone attached.” Katie propped herself up on her pillow and crossed her arms.
“What are you saying?”
“Maybe we shouldn’t see each other anymore. I’m not comfortable with this.”
“Which part are you not comfortable with? The partying? The fucking? Maybe you have too many orgasms, don’t you?”
“Stop this, I’m serious.”
“So am I. I can’t believe you can throw all of this away. We have such a connection.” Beth wiped a tear away with the back of her hand.
“A physical connection. But you have an emotional and committed connection with someone else.”
“Jeez, talk about being reactionary.”
“I don’t do what I wouldn’t like others to do to me.”
Beth kicked the front door shut as she left the flat and Katie rolled over and fell asleep across the bed.
