Crystal (5 page)

This time when they’d finished Dallas actually looked at least a tiny bit pleased. A minor miracle, Crystal thought because he rarely cracked his face. The other mentors – Charlie and Sadie – were pussycats compared to him and didn’t seem to work their groups half as hard as Dallas pushed the girls.

‘Do that on Saturday night and you’ll be in with a chance of a place in the finals. Right, you can get off to the hotel now, but remember the golden rules – no drinking, no partying, no shagging, straight to bed.’

Crystal knew better than to answer back. ‘Okay, Dallas,’ she said sweetly, thinking longingly of the large glass of white wine she was planning to drink the minute she was in her hotel room. She was just walking out of the door when Dallas called her back.

‘Oh, I almost forgot, Crystal, we need to record a short film with your mum about you. Can you let Jenny have her number?’

Crystal’s face fell. ‘Do you have to, Dallas? My brother’s going to be in the audience this week with his girlfriend and lots of my mates. Isn’t that enough?’

‘No, it’s not,’ Dallas said firmly. ‘All the other acts have got family in the audience cheering them on and it will look odd if yours aren’t there as well. I know you don’t see your dad any more but I want your mum to give an emotional message of support for you, to say how much she loves you blah blah blah and how even though she can’t be in the audience she’ll be watching you and voting for you.’

Crystal sighed and muttered ‘Okay,’ hating the thought of her mum being involved. She did not have a good relationship with her mum and didn’t want to pretend that she did. Her parents had divorced when she was eight and Luke, her brother, was six. Her dad married a younger woman and had a new baby within a year. And the new wife made it very clear that she didn’t want stroppy little Crystal and Luke ruining
her new family life. And so gradually the weekend visits to his house stopped until Crystal and Luke weren’t seeing their dad at all, something which had devastated Crystal. For years she thought she must have done something wrong to drive him away and her mum was so bitter about the divorce she never tried to understand Crystal’s feelings. She focused only on herself and if she loved Crystal and her brother she kept it well hidden. Her dad eventually moved away and lost touch with his children. When Crystal was sixteen her mum announced that she’d met someone else and was moving to Spain with him to open a restaurant. She offered to take Luke but he didn’t want to leave his sister behind and she wasn’t included in the invitation. Suddenly Crystal found herself responsible for a thirteen-year-old. Her mum left her the flat and sent back a little bit of money each month, but it wasn’t enough and Crystal was forced to take on two jobs – one in a supermarket, and one in a bar – to support her brother and herself. It wasn’t easy. She and Luke were very close and he tried to help out as much as he could, doing a paper round, learning to cook, instead of hanging out with his mates, but Crystal could have done with someone else to share the responsibility of raising a teenage boy and someone to take care of her.

Never mind a glass of wine, she needed a bottle to get over this news! She trailed after Tahlia and Belle who had already raced out of the studio, desperate to be free after eight hours in there. Outside the chauffeur-driven Mercedes was waiting to take them to the hotel. One thing you couldn’t fault Dallas for, Crystal thought, was his generosity. He always made sure that his girls were well looked after. He’d put them up in a five-star hotel and he always provided chauffeur-driven cars to ferry them to and from the studio. Though he warned them not to get too used to the luxury: if they didn’t win they’d be straight back to using public transport.

‘I thought we did really well today,’ Belle said, flicking back her long blonde hair and examining her immaculate French polished nails. ‘What do you reckon?’

‘Yeah, we weren’t too bad,’ Tahlia answered. Crystal smiled to herself about her friend. Tahlia was always the cautious one. ‘We were shit-hot,’ Crystal put in bluntly. The best we’ve been. If we do that on Saturday night we’re in with a really good chance.’

‘Yeah, but you know how it’s worked out before. The women are the ones who vote so the lads are always safe. Plus Sadie doesn’t like us,’ Tahlia answered.

Crystal sighed. Tahlia was right, for some reason Sadie didn’t like the girls. Crystal was convinced that she had taken against them because of the Dallas/Belle rumours, and she had been quoted as saying that she made a point of never having favourites among her acts – a direct dig at Dallas. She also seemed to prefer the good-looking, ‘bit of rough’ lads who she could mother, or the older singers who, let’s face it, were never going to make it. Crystal and the girls had struggled to get where they were. Only Belle had been fortunate enough to come from a comfortable background. But Sadie seemed to think they were overconfident, good-looking girls who had it all and didn’t need the public’s vote.

‘Stop being so negative!’ Crystal said in exasperation and asked the driver to put on some music. She didn’t want to be sent on a downer now; the session had gone well and there was no point worrying about Sadie.

Back at the hotel Belle said she was going to crash out straightaway.

‘D’you want to come to my room, Crystal? We can watch a DVD and get something to eat?’ Tahlia asked after they’d said goodnight to Belle.

‘Sure, and I’ll order some wine.’

‘Don’t let Dallas find out!’ Tahlia said anxiously.

‘Don’t worry, Tahlia,’ Crystal replied, ‘I’ve already got a separate tab running at the hotel for emergency alcohol. Dallas need never know.’

Chilling out with Tahlia was just what Crystal needed. The two girls were so close and Tahlia was one of the few people she felt she could really be herself with and let down her
guard. Tahlia had been the one who insisted she change her name. Her real name was Christina. As soon as they formed the group Tahlia was on her case. ‘There’s already one famous Christina in the pop world and when we make it we don’t want there to be any confusion.’

Crystal had laughed at her friend, telling her that she had a long way to go before she was in Christina Aguilera’s league but Tahlia kept on at her and every day came up with yet more suggestions, none of which felt right. But one day when Crystal was working behind the bar, bored out of her mind and longing to be somewhere else, the name Crystal came to her. She had grabbed a pen and written it down on her hand and Crystal was born. Tahlia loved the name, but Belle hadn’t been at all happy, saying she didn’t think it sounded right. Crystal was sure it was because she worried it might upstage her – Belle loved being the centre of attention, she really didn’t like sharing the limelight with anyone else.

When Belle was with them, Crystal never felt quite as relaxed – the way she had behaved with Dallas had increased the distance between them and of course there was Max . . . Over the last three months Crystal had done her best to resist him, however much he came on to her. She was always cool with him and she’d even gone out on a couple of dates with other men, desperate to break the hold he had over her. True, she wasn’t that close to Belle but they were still supposed to be friends and while they might not always see eye to eye she didn’t want to hurt her. After all, there was the unwritten rule that you didn’t shag your friend’s boyfriend . . . The trouble was, Max was getting to her, wearing down her defences.

Recently she’d bumped into him when she was shopping in Covent Garden and he’d insisted they have a drink together to discuss business. When she refused to go to his club he suggested a nearby pub. It was Friday afternoon and already packed, but if she thought that would make their meeting less intimate she was wrong as she and Max had to stand dangerously close together.

‘Why have you been avoiding me, Crystal?’ he demanded, gazing at her, making her feel as if he could read her mind, that he could sense the desire that pumped through her body like a drug, and left her feeling reckless.

‘I haven’t.’ She tried to act dismissive and ignore the battle raging inside her.

He smiled at her, his sexy, big bad, very good-looking wolf smile, that said he didn’t believe her for a second.

‘Well, I’ve got some news. I’ve been talking to several labels and there’s definitely interest in you.’

So this is just about business
, Crystal thought, disappointed.

‘Great,’ she replied, not very enthusiastically.

‘And my other news is more personal.’

Christ please don’t let him say that he’s moving in with Belle.

‘You probably know that Belle and me haven’t been getting on so well lately – bit of a rough patch.’

Crystal shook her head. She hadn’t known.

‘I just wondered if you knew anyone who might be interested in that information?’

Crystal’s body screamed yes but her head tried to take control and to avoid answering she took a sip of her drink.
Play it cool
, she told herself, even though she felt on fire
. Of course she was interested! If Max was going to be single soon that put a whole different perspective on things.
Max moved still closer to her, ducking his head down to her face, so his skin grazed hers as he whispered, ‘I was hoping
you
would be.’

Crystal stared at him and knew she didn’t need to answer. Her eyes said it all. Max smiled, ‘Anyway, back to business. I know if I manage you I can get you a really great deal – much better than any that Dallas is going to come up with.’

Crystal struggled with the change of subject. She couldn’t concentrate.

‘Okay, but Dallas mustn’t find out yet that you want to manage us.’

‘And that you want me to manage the group,’ Max prompted.

‘Yeah,’ Crystal answered, not really thinking about what
she was saying – she was too busy thinking about the prospect of Max being single . . .

‘I thought Belle sang better today,’ Tahlia said, dragging Crystal back to the present.

Crystal agreed. ‘But,’ Tahlia continued, ‘I’m getting so sick of the way she sucks up to Dallas.’

‘Yeah, but I often think I should suck up to him,’ Crystal said.

Tahlia laughed. ‘Crystal, I can’t imagine you sucking up to anyone, least of all Dallas. And anyway, if you started now he’d only think you were taking the piss. You’re way too honest for that kind of bullshit.’

Not that honest
, thought Crystal. She longed to confide in Tahlia about her feelings for Max but knew her friend wouldn’t approve one little bit.

The girls stayed up till eleven watching
Mr and Mrs Smith
. Crystal was too preoccupied with thoughts of Max to really pay attention to the film. She wondered what he was doing, who he was with, wondered if he was thinking about her. After the film and several glasses of wine she wandered back to her room. She was just falling asleep when her phone beeped. She had a text. Sleepily she reached for her mobile, thinking it might be from her brother. It was from Max. Suddenly she was wide awake.

Hi Gorgeous, can u come over 2morrow nite? I need to talk. Max x

Crystal bit her lip as she agonised about what to do.
It was probably about business; maybe he had news about one of the deals.
The trouble was that in her heart she didn’t want it to be just about business.

She was about to text back yes, when she decided to call him instead. That way, she wouldn’t have to see him; she could steer clear of temptation. But when she rang him Max insisted that he did need to see her. ‘Listen, Crystal, it’s not something I can talk about now, I really need to see you, please meet me.’ Just hearing his sexy voice weakened her resolve and she found herself agreeing. After that it took her
ages to get back to sleep and when she did she had the recurrent nightmare about her dad walking out on her. She could never remember exactly what happened in the dream when she woke up, she just knew that she was waiting for her dad to come and pick her up for the weekend and he never came. Then she’d be searching for him on a busy street, with people pushing past her, ignoring the lost little girl. And she was left thinking that she’d done something wrong to drive her dad away.

She felt like the bad dream was hanging over her for the rest of the morning. She wished she could talk to Tahlia about it – telling her friend always helped the nightmare go away – but they were meeting Jessica, the stylist, to go through their outfits for Saturday night’s show and there was no opportunity to talk in private.

‘So what have you got for us Jessica?’ Belle demanded, examining her nails. (Belle was obsessed with every bit of her appearance: her hair, skin, weight and, of course, her nails. Her personal grooming regime included weekly manicures, pedicures, blow dries and fortnightly facials and spray tans.) ‘Hope it’s better than last week’s. My tits nearly popped out of the top.’

‘That’s because you insisted on wearing one that was a size too small.’ Crystal put in bluntly. She was coming to hate the way Belle spoke to people she thought she was superior to – stylists, make-up artists, hairdressers, waiters, shop assistants, Belle treated them all as her servants, and it wasn’t pleasant to be around. Crystal tried to keep Belle in her place, taking the piss out of her and telling her that she was turning into a proper diva, that soon she’d be demanding she bathed only in mineral water and could only eat food prepared by her personal chef. But Belle had no sense of irony.

‘Don’t talk crap. Why would I want to have a bath in mineral water? You know I only ever use Space NK bath oil.’

Now Belle turned on Crystal. ‘Fuck off, I’m a size six.’

Crystal sighed. She couldn’t be bothered arguing with Belle, who was definitely a size eight. Jessica was busy getting
out various outfits and holding them up. This week she wanted the girls to wear fifties-style dresses and both Tahlia and Crystal were more than happy to go along with her ideas. As far as Crystal was concerned Jessica was a really good stylist who knew her stuff and she trusted her. As Crystal always wore black she chose a black satin dress, with a corset top that nipped in at the waist and had a full skirt with several layers of black tulle petticoats. Tahlia went for a similar design in green, which left Belle a choice of a red or pink dress.