A Trick of the Light by Ali Carter (surface ebook reader txt) 📕

‘Has anyone done any drawing?’ I asked.

‘Jees Miss, you don’t really expect us to draw this?’

‘I can’t take my eyes off it,’ said Giles. ‘That last girl was a real corker.’

‘I’ve done a bit,’ said Minty, laying her sketchbook flat on the table.

‘And I’ve done this,’ said Lianne, showing us hers.

Minty had drawn a looming figure in a hooded cloak and Lianne had done one big scribble. It was of the strobe lighting, I think.

‘It isn’t the drawing type music I imagined,’ said Louis.

‘It’s nothing like what I imagined,’ squawked Jane. ‘I know,’ I reassured them. ‘It’s out there, that’s for sure, and don’t worry about drawing if you don’t want to. It’s not the subject I thought it was going to be.’

Fergus got up and leant over our table. ‘Everyone okay?’

Some of us smiled.

‘I take full responsibility for bringing you to this and I’m sorry. We could leave now if you want?’

‘I’m not leaving,’ said Shane.

‘Me neither,’ said Lianne.

The waitress arrived with a tray of drinks.

‘Looks like we’re here for the second half then,’ said Fergus. ‘Felicity, Jane, are you both all right?’

‘We’ll stick it out,’ said Jane.

Then, suddenly, the room turned bright purple and Britney Spears’s ‘Hit Me Baby One More Time’ came bursting down our ear drums.

The moment we had come for had arrived. Louis nudged my shoulder and I slipped my hand under the table and squeezed his knee.

‘It’s Cailey,’ shouted Shane.

In a PVC catsuit with a provocative zip right down the front, Cailey Baird stood proud at the centre of the stage. Swinging her hips to the beat of the intro she curled the tail of a whip at her platformed feet.

‘Oh baby, baby, I shouldn’t have let you go,’ she screamed at the top of her voice and then with a sudden crack of the whip, shocking us all, she shouted the words, ‘And now you’re out of sight, yeah.’

Cailey took the whip handle between her teeth and turned her back on the audience as the song got louder. Then with her behind on full display, black PVC straining, she flung her top half towards the floor. Bent double in front of us all, her arms, slowly, slowly, to the beat of the music, started to stretch through her straddled legs. Britney’s voice singing ‘Hit me baby one more time’ came out of the speakers and Cailey’s firm hands grasped hold of her buttocks.

The crowd roared, high voices and low, coaxing her on in her act. ‘Go girl!’ ‘That’s more like it!’ ‘Nice arse!’ ‘Show us your tits!’

I don’t know if it was part of the plan or if it was the hype from the audience that encouraged Cailey. But here she was, on stage, looking as if she might strip her kit off. Her right hand tugged at the zip on the front of her suit. Down it went, her unclad bosoms popping out, following which, with the most provocative shoulders I’ve ever seen, she wriggled the whole thing off her waist. I didn’t for the life of me think she wouldn’t have any knickers on but as the PVC was peeled to the floor, a bare naked Cailey was revealed.

The eruption of cheers, whoops, wolf-whistles and screams rose above the music as the onlookers lost control.

Louis prodded me and nodded his head at the stag’s table. There was a chap, with pink Y-fronts over his jeans, being pushed towards the stage by one of his friends. Cailey, catching what was happening, thrust her pelvis towards him as he began to stagger.

Jane shot up to standing, quickly followed by Felicity. ‘We’ll be waiting in the bus. I can’t bear this any longer.’

For some reason I felt responsible and found myself getting up with them. But when the lights went down and the music stopped all three of us waited to see what everyone else had to say.

Rupert leant in between Lianne and Shane. ‘If you’re going, Jane, I think I’ll come too.’

‘I’m afraid,’ said Fergus, ‘I think we should all leave, it’s too cold to keep people waiting in the bus.’

Not even Shane objected and to be honest I think all of us were embarrassed to be watching this together. It’d be different with friends, you could laugh no matter what, but here we were all sitting rigid in our chairs.

Toby stood up to say goodbye. It was a nice touch from a man who’s ignored me for the most part of the last seven months. The woman on the door was no longer there and Donald, wrapped up in hat and gloves, looked so pleased to see us at last.

Fergus insisted I had the front seat, which meant I ended up next to him and not in the back with everyone else.

‘Youse had a good time did youse?’ said Donald to Fergus.

‘Yes, such fun.’

‘Looked an awfully lot of people.’

‘It was full. Funny we hadn’t heard about it till the model told us.’

‘I heard something about it but dinee think to mention it. Youse not been out locally afore and I dinee really get the gist of the advert in the pub, said something I could nee read, the word began with b and had a q in it, wee a twist.’

‘Do you and Mhàiri ever go to local shows?’

‘We take the grandkids to the pantomime at Christmas but that’s aboot it.’

Fergus turned to me and full of enthusiasm he said, ‘I liked your friend. A lot.’

‘Toby?’

‘Yes. He loves Scotland, doesn’t he?’

‘I never knew. We know each other from the south.’

‘Which makes it all the more amusing you bumping into each other tonight.’

‘Yes,’ I said, trying to sound cheerful.

‘I hope you’ll be pleased to hear, I invited him to join our ceilidh tomorrow.’

I gave a massive grin. I’m a pretty good liar when I have to be.

‘I knew you’d be happy. He was delighted.’

I stared straight out the windscreen feeling absolutely wretched. The last person in the world I want to spend a night with is Toby. The headlights