The Grand Scheme of Things Ch. 01

Disgusted with him and with what she was about to do and with women in general, Gabby shrugged her shoulders, Well, I suppose I should get this over with, she thought to herself and lay back on the bed,

"Well, big boy, what are you waiting for?"

Marcus grinned and walked towards her, shrugging off his jacket and loosening his tie. She still hadn't decided what she was going to do, but part of her wanted to see just how far he would go. He got as far as leaning down over the bed and settling himself on top of her and kissing her gently (and very expertly she couldn't help but notice) on the lips when they were interrupted by an irate voice shouting,

"I don't fucking believe this!"

Gabby's eyes flew open in dismay realising that Delphine, Angelina's sister, had walked in.

Dephine wasn't Gabby's biggest fan at the best of times; she thought she was uppity, which Gabby couldn't help but feel was reminiscent of pots and kettles calling each other black. It also seemed that no matter how much Angelina had reassured Delphine in the past that Gabby wasn't really after Max, Delphine found it difficult to understand as to why anyone would find it funny to flirt with someone else's husband.

Unfortunately this present situation compounded Delphine's notions about Gabby, and Gabby realised that she was going to have a really hard time talking Delphine around. Delphine, however, was currently far too engrossed in railing at Marcus that it seemed for the moment that she had forgotten Gabby,

"You motherfucker, I welcome you into my home with my sister who you claim to love, and then find you in my baby's room trying to have sex with her uppity friend? What, Angelina not good enough for you? Not slutty enough for you? Not rich enough? You better get your gorgeous black backside away from that bitch and find yourself out of my house and away from my sister; I swear to God, if I hear that you have even breathed in the same direction as her, I will think nothing of hunting you down and cutting your balls off with my husband's rusty razor."

A smile lit Gabby's face as she regarded Delphine in a new light, she always knew that Delphine and Angelina had been close in the absence of the loving relationship that Angelina should have had with her mother, but she never realised that Angelina had such a support in her sister.

Gabby smiled at Delphine happy to know that Angelina was protected on all sides. But the smile was wiped off Gabby's face when Delphine turned on her,

"And as for you, you stupid bitch, you know how Angelina loves you, and this is how you treat her? I have warned her about you over and over again and she just wouldn't listen and now, although it pains me to be right, I'm going to have to tell her that I found her boyfriend kissing her best friend, and do you know what she's going to tell me? She's going to tell me that I'm lying; so to avoid an argument with my sister, although this is one argument that I am more than happy to have, I'm going to leave it to you to tell her."

Marcus, having fixed his tie and put his jacket back on amidst all the shouting, backed away to the door in horror saying,

"I'll just go and find Angelina." Delphine turned on him again and pointed her finger at him,

"Don't you fucking dare. I suggest that you have got food poisoning and you think that it might be time for you to go home. Don't worry about Lee, she can stay here tonight. Just piss off!"

Whilst Delphine was cutting Marcus to shreds, Gabby had curled up on the bed surrounded by the horror at the prospect of having to reveal such news. Her mind whirled ten to the dozen in the hope that she could find some sort of solution, which would see Delphine understanding the situation, and in turn would mean that she could avoid having to tell Angelina. "D?", Gabby implored.

"Delphine to you madam! Only my friends call me D and believe me my love, you are no friend of mine! I always knew it of you. You constantly need attention, you need to be told that you're loved and beautiful, when really you just buy people with your money and you let them fawn over you because of your looks. Well Angelina loves you for you and will not hear a word said against you and this is the way you repay her? Oh for God's sake, switch off the tears love, no one's paying you any attention, it's just me and you right now."

The two women faced each other down until finally Gabby burst out in frustration,

"I have never in my life met someone who is so fond of their voice as you are, given the fact that Angelina and I are so close, and yes thank you very much, I am more than aware of what people say about me so you can imagine how much I appreciate and love Lee so don't you think that this is a bit strange that should I honestly have chosen to have sex with Marcus, I wouldn't do it in his girlfriend's sister's baby's bedroom? Especially a sister who hates me as much as you?! Use your fucking brain for a second."

Delphine opened her mouth to respond and shut it again promptly. She sat heavily on the opposite side of the bed from where Gabby was sitting and furrowed her brow. Gabby regarded her watchfully hoping and praying that Delphine was using her brain and coming to the correct conclusion. Gabby bit her lip and curled her toes, a habit she had retained from childhood and waited for Delphine's next explosion. It didn't come.

"So if you didn't want him, what were you doing in here and why were you kissing him?" Gabby relayed the story of the pink thong saga in the hope that Delphine would understand. Once finished, Delphine said, "Well that was an awfully dumb thing to do, I'm sure your intentions were good, but what would you have done if I had been Angelina? You have to think these things through."

She sighed heavily, "Well at least we know now. At least this is a good way to get rid of Marcus."

Gabby widened her eyes, "What do you mean?" Delphine stared at Gabby as though she were stupid,

"Well, it means that we tell Angelina what happened and then she'll get rid of Marcus and then we can find her someone lovely!"

Gabby shook her head violently; Delphine narrowed her eyes at such an action

"Gabriella, what's the matter with you? You have nits or something?"

Gabby shook her head a further time to emphasise the point,

"Don't you see? If we tell her that he wants me, then her self confidence will plummet even further and she won't be able to look me in the face. I don't think I could bear that. Surely you must understand that? No, I think the best thing we can do is to keep shtum, he's not going to hang around for long anyway not after this kafuffle and when it all goes tits up then we can be there to support her and to make sure that all goes well!"

Delphine harrumphed and sighed heavily, "I just don't understand, he's so slimy and creepy and..."

"Gorgeous and fit and looks as though he'd be great in bed. I can't think what she sees in him!"

Both women looked at one another and started to laugh, and this was how Angelina found them when she entered the room to check on her nephew who was sleeping through the cackling.

Looking back, Gabby had to admit that although that situation was the worst thing that could have happened, it had created a sort of grudging friendship between herself and Delphine. Ok, if not a friendship then at least a sort of respect. But Angelina still hadn't got rid of Marcus and now, here she was, still mooning over him, and Gabby had promised herself she would die before any of her shoes or anything else from her wardrobe gave him any form of pleasure.

But then she did have to admit that no one was able to put such a smile on Angelina's face and it made Gabriella happy that he made Angelina cheerful regardless of the fact that he would probably try to fuck all her friends and probably even her mother on a good day; but as she had told Delphine all that time ago, this was a discovery that Angelina would have to make for herself without the interference of those who loved her. Gabby didn't have the heart to admit even to herself that it was because she didn't want to be responsible for her friend's unhappiness.

During Gabby's meditation, Angelina had come to terms with the fact that she wouldn't be able to borrow anything of Gabby's for her sluttish weekend in Paris and after noting the time and realising that she only had two hours to get home to Putney from Chiswick on the interminably slow District Line, pack, beautify and then get back on the tube to get to Waterloo in time to meet Marcus, she wailed loudly and scrambled off Gabby's bed, screaming goodbye to her friend and dashing out of the flat praying that the bloody train would be on time for once in her life.

An hour and a half later, a smug and beautified Angelina was descending the escalator from the Northern Line tube heading to Waterloo feeling incredibly proud of herself for making it to her destination with time to spare, something that happened fairly irregularly in her scattered life! As soon as she got into the open air, she checked her phone for any messages, (just in case), and looked around for Marcus.

Waterloo was packed, there were languid commuters returning to Paris for the weekend, harassed parents shouting into the cavernous space of the terminal searching for naughty missing children who were spending their money on the arcade machines with the driving games, the frothing of the cappuccino machine in the Italian café surrounded by the constant tannoy sounding in French and English alternatively giving information on departing trains and any delays which may be occurring. Angelina concentrated listening closely to make sure that hers and Marcus's train was on time, and upon hearing that it was, she decided to wait for him by the ticket desk. As he had the tickets, this was surely the best place to meet him. She checked her watch and saw that it was now bang on five o'clock. He wouldn't be surprised to see her as he was almost always late for their dates, but he had promised that this time, he would be on time so that they would be able to go for a drink before boarding the train.

When they had planned this trip in bed, Marcus had suggested a demi-bouteille of champagne to celebrate their departure, but as he was now officially running late and they wouldn't have time, Angelina thought it would be a good idea to be prepared and set off to the shop to get some train supplies. She reasoned that if he got there whilst she was gone, he would almost undoubtedly wait for her, but she figured she would run just to be on the safe side.

Angelina hadn't counted on the queue being quite so extensive in WH Smith, nor had she anticipated that the little girl in front of her would take such an interest in the reason that Angelina's skin was brown and did she taste of chocolate, and she didn't have the heart to tell the child to piss off and shut up. Fifteen minutes had passed and Angelina was very aware of the clip clop of her heels on the tiles wishing she had worn her trainers so she'd be able to reach their meeting point quicker, and then berating herself that people who went to Paris for the weekend and stayed at the George V did not show up at five star hotels in their battered trainers.

She knew how Marcus felt about it when she was dressed dreadfully but this was not going to be that kind of weekend. Gabriella wasn't to know that Angelina had borrowed her Gucci sandals because she would be giving them back and Gabby was always so nosy for information that Angelina felt that she could probably use them as a bargaining tool.

Angelina looked up at the large digital clock in the station and noted that it was now five-thirty. Where was he? She looked around and felt the beginnings of what felt like panic. It was unusual for him to be this late. She checked her watch in the hope that maybe the station's clock was incorrect, but unfortunately her watch seemed to be in agreement, something she wasn't quite so happy about. Maybe I'll just get a coffee and wait for him at the café; he'll probably find me and will call if he's running late.

At 7.30, Angelina had to admit that it seemed as though Marcus wouldn't be appearing this evening. They had missed their train, and the last train had pulled out of Waterloo, headed for the bright lights of romantic Paris. Angelina surveyed her surroundings; she was seated in the "Italian" café and noted with some surprise that in the time she had been waiting she had consumed four lattes, a chocolate éclair, 2 sausage rolls (It would have been four, but she thought that she wouldn't look as greedy is she ate two jumbo ones) and two Dairy Milk chocolate bars (to dip into the latte). She leaned back in her seat and looked apologetically at the waitresses who were waiting for her to leave so they could clear up and who she knew had been gossiping about her since her arrival, trying to guess as to what was going on in her life and who were now simply looking in her direction with a great deal of pity and whispering.

Angelina hated that more than anything; to know that people were talking about you. It was horrible. But she also knew that it was more than obvious that she had been stood up. She could just imagine it; let's take a look at our victim audience, she is dressed to the nines for a three-hour train journey, carrying a fake (albeit real looking) Louis Vuitton holdall and sporting an unopened demi-bouteille of champagne. Can you guess what happened here? If you find these clues weren't enough, please note the tears rolling gently down Angelina's face. They more than confirm this theory.