Cathy Hopkins - [Mates, Dates 05] by Dates Mates, Sole Survivors (Html)

quite happy to do
things that I wanted as well as things he wanted. So Nesta was wrong. He wasn’t
a total control freak, and I guess it
can
be a bit annoying when
someone’s mobile is going off every other minute.
    As we sat sipping our
drinks and gazing out the window, a stunning-looking boy with shoulder-length
curly hair walked past. He was wearing a cool pair of sunglasses and looked
Spanish.
    ‘Now, he’s got style,’
I said.
    ‘Why? Do you fancy
him?’
    ‘No,’ I said. ‘I was
only saying I thought he looked good.’ Last week, Daniel had commented on loads
of girls and what they were wearing. It didn’t mean anything.
    Daniel snuggled up to
me and nuzzled my neck. ‘I don’t want you looking at
anyone
except
me,’ he whispered.
    Gerroff, said a voice
in my head. I ignored it and took Daniel’s hand. We were running out of holiday
and I was determined to not let my inner arguments spoil our time together.
Izzie says I have them because I’m a Gemini, the sign of the twins; hence the
split personality. She’s so right. Some days the twins get along just fine, but
other times one of them is pre-menstrual and gets a bit stroppy.
     
    But when I invited him
to my house later that day, more cracks began to appear in my dreamboy. On
opening the door, Ben and Jerry did their usual ‘Oh my long lost friend’
routine, leaping up with their tails wagging and trying to lick Daniel’s face.
I could see he didn’t like it, so I had to take them away and shut them in the
kitchen. They sloped under the table with their tails between their legs. As I
closed the door, I glanced back at them and I swear Ben gave me the Nesta/Izzie
disapproval ‘look’. Like,‘Get rid of the killjoy, Lucy.’ It didn’t bode well.
    I took him upstairs
where I’d laid out my designs on the bed to be ready for him to look at. I’d
even dressed the dummy that Mum had found for me in a secondhand shop. I
thought it made my work look really professional.
    ‘So, what do you
think?’ I asked as he picked up the outfits and studied them. I was really
proud of some of them, particularly a couple of the tops I’d made from velvet
trimmed with lace.
    ‘Yeah, nice,’ he said.
‘Very nice. But… well, I can’t see your voice coming through. You know, like a
singer or a writer has a voice. It’s the same with designers. Their clothes
should make a statement and be instantly recognisable when you see them. Like
me — as you know, I only do designs in black or white. And I only wear black.
Yours are too varied not focused enough.’
    ‘Oh,’ I said, feeling
gutted. I knew what he meant about designs having a voice or a signature, but I
honestly thought that mine did. I always mixed old and new fabrics and my style
was romantic but modern.
    ‘You’ll get there,’ he
said. ‘These are very good for a beginner. Do you mind me being so honest? I
feel that it’s important in a relationship and I really want it to work with
us. So no lies, no false praise.’
    ‘No, no, I’m into
honesty. I think it’s very important,’ I said, thinking, that it
was
one of the things that I’d written on my wish list, after all. But then I’d
also written ‘likes animals’ and Daniel had made it very clear downstairs that
he didn’t. Or maybe it was because he didn’t want the dogs’ muddy paws ruining
his clothes.
    Daniel stood back and
looked at me. ‘OK then, since we’re being honest, 1 think you should grow your
hair longer. That urchin style is, well, a bit passe now.’
    I felt hurt. I liked
my hair short. So did everyone. Nesta said it suited my shape of face and made
my cheekbones stand out. And no one’s ever said anything negative about my
designs. But I knew that part of learning is being able to take criticism, so I
decided to be open-minded and listen to what he had to say. He had been doing
it longer than me, after all.
    He moved the clothes
off the bed and slung them across the back of a chair. Then he-chose a CD from
my