tradition, that
he "longed for him and Melodie to be together properly", "wished he could
introduce her to all his family and friends" and "no longer slept with his
wife". His wife got pregnant at about the same time that Melodie started seriously
pushing him to get her a recording contract, and he disappeared without trace.
Upset and humiliated, Melodie returned to the warm bosom of her family in
Fennington St Mary, leaving Ariel high and dry and with no-one to pay the other
half of the rent.
Luck was on her side, though; just a week later,
she met and fell utterly and completely in love with a bass guitarist called
Frankie. Frankie moved in with her within a fortnight and, blissfully happy
together, they decided to take time out to go and see the world. Once these
new plans were made, Ariel's career aims took a back seat. She stopped chasing
after gigs, just playing the odd one here and there. When she and Frankie were
not working their two jobs each, they stayed at home, cosy, in love, saving
every penny they could. After a year, with twenty thousand pounds saved up,
they were ready to go.
As she walked along in the rain, Ariel thought
about Frankie and the good times they'd had together. The happiest of her
life. It made her feel sad, and she wondered where he was, who he was with. If she would ever be that happy, ever again.
Her phone bleeped. A text. Melodie.
Wot time ya finish hun fancy a drink lol.
Ariel made a 'pffft' noise, and put the phone back
in her pocket. She didn't really feel like seeing her friend right now. Somewhere along the line Melodie had changed; or maybe she'd always been the
same, and it was she, Ariel, who'd changed, broadened her outlook.
She'd never been the sharpest tool in the box,
Melodie, but the illiterate nature of her text message annoyed Ariel more than
usual. The woman was twenty-seven; why did she have to text like a fourteen
year old?
Ariel had imagined Melodie's ambition to be a
singer would end with the affair with the alleged record producer, but
apparently this was not the case. Well, not quite.
Melodie didn't just want to be a singer, now; she wanted
to be a celebrity.
She was unashamed about this. She didn't want to
go down the 'glamour' modelling route, though, and she didn't want to try to
marry (or have an illicit affair with) a footballer. Every pretty girl in the
country was aiming for that, she said ( really? Ariel had thought). No,
Melodie Waters was determined to become a reality TV star. Reality TV stars were
the household names of the present and maybe the success stories of the future,
weren't they?
She'd already auditioned and failed to be accepted
for Big Brother and Britain's Next Top Model. Well, she said, she was tall,
slim and pretty enough to be a model, and she'd actually got down to the last
fifty for the latter. Maybe she was too old. She put her lack of success with
the producers of Big Brother down to the fact that she wasn't prepared to have
sex on live TV, even if it was under the bed covers, and that she was
too intelligent; the sex kittens in The House were always pretty dumb, weren't
they?
She wasn't going to get married in order to go on
Wife Swap. She couldn't cook, so Come Dine With Me was out of the question,
and she was certainly not prepared to gain seven stone just to get on The
Biggest Loser. Thus, singing was her only option.
It was her attitude towards this that really annoyed
Ariel.
Melodie thought they were the same. Melodie, who
couldn't read music, couldn't play an instrument, couldn't write lyrics (unless
they included the words 'lol' and 'hun', Ariel presumed), and had no feel for
harmony or melody, which was a joke in itself. She had a nice enough voice,
and had taken singing lessons to improve her presentation, but that was all.
Then she had the cheek to talk to Ariel about music, as if she knew what she was
talking about, as if they were both in it together.
"I just know we've got what it takes to make
he "longed for him and Melodie to be together properly", "wished he could
introduce her to all his family and friends" and "no longer slept with his
wife". His wife got pregnant at about the same time that Melodie started seriously
pushing him to get her a recording contract, and he disappeared without trace.
Upset and humiliated, Melodie returned to the warm bosom of her family in
Fennington St Mary, leaving Ariel high and dry and with no-one to pay the other
half of the rent.
Luck was on her side, though; just a week later,
she met and fell utterly and completely in love with a bass guitarist called
Frankie. Frankie moved in with her within a fortnight and, blissfully happy
together, they decided to take time out to go and see the world. Once these
new plans were made, Ariel's career aims took a back seat. She stopped chasing
after gigs, just playing the odd one here and there. When she and Frankie were
not working their two jobs each, they stayed at home, cosy, in love, saving
every penny they could. After a year, with twenty thousand pounds saved up,
they were ready to go.
As she walked along in the rain, Ariel thought
about Frankie and the good times they'd had together. The happiest of her
life. It made her feel sad, and she wondered where he was, who he was with. If she would ever be that happy, ever again.
Her phone bleeped. A text. Melodie.
Wot time ya finish hun fancy a drink lol.
Ariel made a 'pffft' noise, and put the phone back
in her pocket. She didn't really feel like seeing her friend right now. Somewhere along the line Melodie had changed; or maybe she'd always been the
same, and it was she, Ariel, who'd changed, broadened her outlook.
She'd never been the sharpest tool in the box,
Melodie, but the illiterate nature of her text message annoyed Ariel more than
usual. The woman was twenty-seven; why did she have to text like a fourteen
year old?
Ariel had imagined Melodie's ambition to be a
singer would end with the affair with the alleged record producer, but
apparently this was not the case. Well, not quite.
Melodie didn't just want to be a singer, now; she wanted
to be a celebrity.
She was unashamed about this. She didn't want to
go down the 'glamour' modelling route, though, and she didn't want to try to
marry (or have an illicit affair with) a footballer. Every pretty girl in the
country was aiming for that, she said ( really? Ariel had thought). No,
Melodie Waters was determined to become a reality TV star. Reality TV stars were
the household names of the present and maybe the success stories of the future,
weren't they?
She'd already auditioned and failed to be accepted
for Big Brother and Britain's Next Top Model. Well, she said, she was tall,
slim and pretty enough to be a model, and she'd actually got down to the last
fifty for the latter. Maybe she was too old. She put her lack of success with
the producers of Big Brother down to the fact that she wasn't prepared to have
sex on live TV, even if it was under the bed covers, and that she was
too intelligent; the sex kittens in The House were always pretty dumb, weren't
they?
She wasn't going to get married in order to go on
Wife Swap. She couldn't cook, so Come Dine With Me was out of the question,
and she was certainly not prepared to gain seven stone just to get on The
Biggest Loser. Thus, singing was her only option.
It was her attitude towards this that really annoyed
Ariel.
Melodie thought they were the same. Melodie, who
couldn't read music, couldn't play an instrument, couldn't write lyrics (unless
they included the words 'lol' and 'hun', Ariel presumed), and had no feel for
harmony or melody, which was a joke in itself. She had a nice enough voice,
and had taken singing lessons to improve her presentation, but that was all.
Then she had the cheek to talk to Ariel about music, as if she knew what she was
talking about, as if they were both in it together.
"I just know we've got what it takes to make
Similar Books
