The Gospel According to Drew Barrymore by Pippa Wright

Author:Pippa Wright [Wright, Pippa]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781447238386
Publisher: Pan Books

15

Roland’s wine bar was full of men exactly like Malcolm, booming and confident and moneyed. They looked at Esther and Laura appraisingly, as if they had been brought there as the entertainment – roll up, roll up! Gaze in wonder at women decades younger than you! Brought here against their better judgement! There were few other women in the room, just a knot of expensively highlighted older ladies who gave tight smiles as cursory introductions were made. Their eyes were flinty with lack of interest, and they quickly turned back to continue their interrupted conversations. Malcolm immersed himself in a group of back-slapping chums, and left the girls standing awkwardly beside him. Next to Malcolm’s extreme tallness, Esther felt like they were children again, allowed to join their parents’ party for an hour before bed, admired for their youthful cuteness but somewhat getting in the way of grown-up business.

‘Champagne?’ asked a dark-haired waiter, holding up a tray in front of them. He looked their own age, and though his face was impassively professional, his eyebrows twitched a little as he looked from Esther to Laura, trying to work out why they might be there.

‘Is that a biro in your hair?’ asked Laura, as Esther reached forward for a glass.

She straightened up, and her hand flew to the back of her head, oh shit, probably. She’d never taken it out.

‘You nearly took my eye out,’ Laura said, taking a glass from the tray. She bent her head and put her whole nose inside the rim like she was going to inhale the champagne instead of drink it. As Esther watched she made a really loud sniffing noise.

‘Sorry.’ Esther shrugged. Why was Laura being so embarrassing? No-one else even seemed to notice, in fact, loads of them were doing it. Exclaiming over the champagne and tipping their heads back to get the full flavour. Idiots. She turned back to get a drink herself, but the waiter had been swallowed up by the crowd already, leaving her thirsty.

‘A biro in your hair! Just because Dreamy David’s gone off with some other woman doesn’t mean you should stop making an effort, you know.’

Esther stopped searching for the waiter and glared at Laura. ‘Stop making an effort? Well, excuse me, Cindy Crawford’s House of Style.’

Laura laughed gaily, and flicked her fringe out of her eyes. Esther was reminded of Ricko Struthers’s party back when they’d just left school. This was a laugh for the benefit of the people around them, it wasn’t for her. She’d seen the change steal over Laura in the taxi on the way here, as if the moment she had agreed to come, to relinquish her own evening for Malcolm’s, she’d had to adopt a different personality. One that was harder, and sharper.

This laugh of Laura’s was dangerous. It meant a reckless sort of gaiety that never ended well.

‘Oh, come on, darling,’ Laura said. ‘I don’t understand why you don’t fight for David if you really like him that much. Put on a tight dress, rub up against him by the photocopier, make him see what he’s missing.

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