TWO
Amber
Wake up in Paulās bed about eight, feeling like shit. Go to the toilet, turn the taps on full blast and puke my ring. In work at twelve, have to go home to shower and change. Anywhere else Iād pull a sicky, but Joās da got us the job. Thereās a cup of tea waiting for me in the kitchen when I come out. Paulās on his mobile ordering me a taxi. Have a sip and look at the two snoring bodies on the sofa.
āAlright, angel?ā
(She nods.)
But Iām not. Paul picks up a leg of chicken from a snack box he bought at half five this morning and starts chewing on it.
āDeadly night, wasnāt it?ā
āGreat.ā
Stee and Granite turned up about one oāclock with great intentions of getting their hole ā but forgot they were ugly bastards and ended up back here, watching Scarface and smoking doobies. When they all started banging on about going to Australia again I gave up waiting and went to bed. Jo says until someone else comes along, Iām āhandy holeā. Nearly five months later Iām beginning to think she has a point. She wasnāt impressed with me coming back here last night. Went a bit psycho on her, think it was the vodka. I was grabbing ice out of peopleās drinks and lashing them out of it on the dance floor. She nearly had me out the door when he turned up, said he was only outside smoking with the boys. She went off in a huff and I came back here. Taxi beeps outside. Paul tiptoes out with me cos heās no shoes or socks on. Taps at the window and slips the driver a score. Checking his ID, he says: āMake sure she gets home in one piece.ā He leans in the window and kisses me goodbye. Smile as he hops around, freezing in his tracky bottoms and T-shirt. āIāll text ye during the week, see what youāre up to.ā He says. Wave at him from the back window ātil he disappears. He doesnāt know it yet, but this time Iām not replying.
Meet Jo in the canteen before we start our shift. She says I look bollixed. She doesnāt look the Mae West herself. Feel myself heaving again and have to do a Sonia to the nearest jacks. Mandy from accounts is in the next toilet.
āYe alright?ā
āGrand.ā
Open the door; sheās waiting at the sink for me with a handful of tissues.
āWhat were you up to, you look wretched.ā
Donāt mention the coke I did with Jo, or the spliffs I had with Paul and his mates. She kind of looks on me and Jo like little sisters.
āMy hangovers are brutal lately.ā
Stick my head out the window. (She breathes in big mouthfuls of air.)
āHope itās not morning sickness.ā
(Pause.)
āAs if, have to stop mixing me drinks, is all.ā
āBuzzing off ya ā (Laughing like a sheep.) Mee-hea, mee-hea, meaaaaaaaaaa!ā
She could put ye through a window, the bleedinā width of her. She sounds like a sheep on speed. My head. She finally goes, passing Jo at the door.
āJaysus, and I thought the other one looked ropey.ā
Joās still huffy with me for legging it last night. Canāt be dealing with her humours right now. Ask her to cover for me while I run out to the chemist. When I get back sheās in the exact same spot, holding her hair back, swaying over the sink. She sees the brown paper bag.
āIād plugs with me.ā
Show her the test. Her eyes nearly drop out of her head. Sheās following me into the jacks. Iām like, āHello?ā She says when weāre out I always go the toilet in front of her. Push her out the door, telling her itās one in the afternoon and thereās no queue.
(Sheās sitting on the toilet now.)
In two minutes Iāll get an āaccurateā reading. Imagine me being pregnant? Like, a ma. Thereās no way. Imagine Paul being a da! Thatās mad. Like, I know Iāve nothing to worry about but Mandy has my head doing fucking overtime. My yokes are always all over the place butā¦ I actually canāt remember when I got my last one. If I wasā¦ Paulād have toā¦ (Looks at the strip.) Oh my God, my heart. Negative. I knew it. Open the door; show Jo. The fucking relief. I knew it, but you knowā¦ Jo checks the box, then checks it again. She says itās positive. Give over, an āXā means no. She turns it a bit and says: āPlus means positive.ā Bollix.
Sitting at my desk waiting for calls to come through. Iām on directory enquiries today for an English phone company. This fella rings in, looking for a cab firm in Hackney. He doesnāt know the name of the place or the road itās on but itās definitely somewhere in Hackney, yeahā¦ Do I not know it? How would I bleedinā know it? Iām about to start a search, but it feels too much like work and heās been real ignorant so I cut him off. Trying to remember when the fuck it couldāve happened cos in fairness weāre always real careful. Iāve done three pregnancy tests and they all say the same thing.
There was this one night, when we got back to his gaff and I was wrecked. Was lying there waiting for the bed to stop spinning so I could climb aboard the night train. He was off somewhere ā probably playing that fucking Xbox with Stee ā then he comes in and starts nudging me.
āYou awake? You awake? You awake?ā
āWell, I am now.ā
Was so knackered, did the starfish ā you know ā (She stretches out her arms and legs and flails about a bit.) decked out, no energy. Heās going at it like a mad thing and I donāt knowā¦ Mustāve nodded off ā only for a minute, mind ā cos then I heard ā āOh shite, Amber, itās split! Amber! Amber! Amber!ā
Iām like, āWhat, what, what?ā
āWere you asleep?ā He says, disgusted.
āNooo, I had me eyes closed cos I was getting really into it.ā
āI might as well be into necrophilia.ā
At that stage I could feel my headache starting so I just said: āFuck off.ā
But the next day I said to me ma: āHere, what does necrophilia mean?ā
The look on her face was pure horror.
āWhat weird shit are you getting up?ā
āAh, nothing,ā says I. āHeard it on the telly.ā
It must be really bad ā like when they poo on ye or something. Maybe itās his posh way of saying Iām shite in the sack. He does that sometimes, uses big words I donāt understand, bet the cunt doesnāt know what it means either. We hardly made a baby outta that, did we?
Lorraine
Debbie and Katarina have bullied me into going salsa dancing tonight. They gave me plenty of notice so I couldnāt make up any excuses. Iām not really one for going out. For the last six nights I couldnāt sleep, thinking about it. Told āthe ladyā about it at our meeting. She said even if I didnāt go to salsa, I had do one nice thing for myself this week. Was hoping at the end of it sheād say:
āAh, youāre grand,ā but she didnāt.
Must be a bit of a mentaller because she gave me a prescription for tablets. Theyāre supposed to calm me down. Iāve to go back and see her on Monday. So with two days left, decide the one nice thing Iāll do for myself this week is go to salsa class ā even though it doesnāt feel nice, it feels like torture, but I wonāt tell her that.
The girls drag me to a basement nightclub in a hotel in Temple Bar. The full lights are on and I never realised how manky nightclubs are. The carpet is worn down, the dance floor scuffed by shoes and there are gobs of chewing gum everywhere. The smell of feet in the place is rotten. The teacher walks to the middle of the dance floor and claps his hands to start the class. Heās curly black hair in a ponytail and big white teeth that were only made for smiling. His tight black trousers make his bum look like Leroyās from Fame: high and muscley. Carlos ā is fucking gorgeous. Pressing play on a portable CD player, he shows us a basic step. Katarina and I try and follow. Debbie has a bloke partner cos sheās a bit of a pro and thereās only five blokes compared to about thirty women. For an hour we shuffle around a bit, stand on each otherās toes, and by the end of it we have something that looks like a dance routine.
āZas all for dis week.ā
We all clap, like this ā (She claps like a flamenco dancer.) because now we all have rhythm. The main lights go off and the disco lights come on. A small black fella appears behind the DJ box and Jennifer Lopez blares from the speakers. Some couples spin out onto the middle of the dance floor but most of them dive on the now open bar. Katarina wants me to hang around for one and legs it to the bar before I can stop her. Watching Debbie throw shapes with yer man and donāt know whether it looks sexy or gagging, when Carlos appears by my side, takes me by the hand and pulls me towards the dance floor. Know this should be the whole ānobody puts Baby in a cornerā moment, but I wish he would fuck off. Try and wriggle my hand out of his, s...