Splintered Memory - By Natascha Holloway Page 0,84
she’d gone on back in London were truly awful. The men were dull, self obsessed, or worse both. They talked about their exercise regimes or their careers, and whilst Charlie had feigned interest she just hadn’t been able to bring herself to accept second dates with any of them.
“You’re over thinking it,” Claire said.
“How am I over thinking it?” Charlie asked as she squeezed into Claire’s skin tight light blue jeans, and then grabbed Claire’s favourite boots and held them up for Claire’s approval that she could borrow them.
Claire nodded distractedly at the gesture with the boots and said; “you know that if the date’s going well and he comes back here, then it’s likely that it’s going to lead to something more. You also know that you haven’t had sex with anyone other than Matt in what, twenty years? So you’re scared, and you’re completely over thinking the whole dating thing as a result.”
Charlie knew there was an element of truth in this, but she refused to acknowledge it and said instead; “twenty years? I think you know that I wasn’t having sex at eleven!”
“Just give it a go Charlie. If he’s half decent invite him back,” Claire said; “then just see what happens.”
Charlie decided to take Claire’s advice, and she went out on her date optimistically. She was confident that she could play it by ear, and not over think things. Yet the date turned out to be a disaster. The guy was rude to everyone they encountered, and he all but called her over the hill when she admitted that she had previously been married.
To escape the date she called Claire for a rescue, knowing that she was at dinner in the same area with Adam and one of his work colleagues, and Claire invited her straight over to join them.
Charlie was going to go back and tell her date that she wasn’t feeling well and had to leave, but as she approached where they’d been sitting she saw him shouting at the waitress and decided not to disturb him. Instead she asked the hostess for her coat.
“Good decision,” the hostess said smiling and passing Charlie her coat. Charlie returned her smile and headed out into the night.
When Charlie arrived at the club that Claire was in, she gave her a call so that Adam could come down and collect her. It was a private members club and she knew that he needed to sign her in.
“Sorry to gate crash,” Charlie said when she saw Adam.
“Not at all,” Adam replied smiling; “another shocking date by all accounts?”
“I really know how to pick them from these internet dating sites,” she said smiling wryly.
“Let’s get you a drink” Adam said.
Charlie nodded.
They walked inside, and Charlie could see Claire sat at a table talking to a man next to her. She assumed that this was Adam’s work colleague.
He was older than Adam, maybe about forty. He had dark hair that was peppered with grey, a round face, straight nose, green coloured eyes, and a nice smile. He wasn’t what she considered to be attractive, but there was something endearing about him she thought as she sat down next to Claire and put her head on her shoulder.
“Let’s get you drunk and high,” Claire said to Charlie.
Adam ordered champagne and tequila, and Claire took out a little black tube and emptied a small pile of white powder onto the table. Charlie looked at Claire aghast, and then looked positively stunned when Claire split the powder into four even lines with the edge of one of Adam’s credit cards.
“Claire we’re in a public place,” Charlie said; “and cocaine is actually illegal.”
“It’s okay Charlie. This is a private members club and they’ll turn a blind eye,” Adam said. “Well, they will with enough of a tip.”
He then leant forward and snorted his line with a rolled up fifty pound note, which he then passed to Claire who followed suit. Claire passed the note to Charlie, but she shook her head.
“Stop over thinking things,” Claire whispered.
Charlie looked at Claire, took the note, and then stopped thinking.
***
Charlie’s head was banging when she woke up, and she had to sit up quickly when she felt the violent urge to vomit. Yet it was then, as she sat up, that she felt something heavy move from across her chest to over her lap. She looked down at the weight and saw that it was a man’s arm. Lying next to her, completely naked, was Adam’s work colleague.