The Overnight Fame of Steffi McBride

Chapter Seven

     ‘Not only that. They’ve splashed it across the front page. Do you want to come round here, they’re all going to be on your doorstep within an hour or two, looking for a follow-up.’

     If it was across the front page Mum probably had seen it first, and must have known that she had no option but to give him the paper because if he didn’t get it he would know there was something wrong and would create a real stink. That must have been a truly scary moment for her, and bloody humiliating to know everyone would be talking about it.

     ‘It’s okay,’ I said. ‘I’m at Luke’s; they don’t know where I am.’

     ‘ I’m surprised none of them phoned you last night.’

     ‘I switched my phone off until about one in the morning.’

     I checked my missed calls the moment I hung up on her and sure enough there were dozens of them, none of them from numbers I recognised. How come these bastards always seemed to be able to find my number when they wanted it? By the time Luke woke up and came looking for me I’d been crying for an hour solid. Him sitting down and putting his arm around me just set me off again. I don’t think I’ve ever cried so much for so long, shaking with sobs. It was f***ing exhausting. There were so many reasons but mainly I felt so bad for having hurt Mum and Dad like that. What happened between them was their own business. I might not always like it, but it was nothing to do with me if that was what their relationship was like. I couldn’t blame Tanya for talking to the papers; she’d only done the same thing I had when I used them as raw material for my monologue. I should never have talked about private family matters in front of strangers. I’d used my mum and dad to entertain a crowd, to show off my acting skills. Dad was right, it was unforgivable and there was no way now I could undo the damage I’d done. Now everyone on the estate would be looking at them in a different way. It didn’t matter that most of the men in most of the families we knew were just as handy with their fists as Dad was, some of them much worse. What mattered was that they’d been shown up in public by their daughter, one of the people who should have been protecting their privacy at all costs. Betraying your family was a far worse sin than throwing a few punches.

     ‘What about your mum?’ Luke asked. ‘How will she feel?’

     ‘She’ll be gutted.’ I sobbed. ‘She will be so embarrassed.’

     ‘Okay,’ he held me tight as he talked. ‘First thing, you need to send her a quick text, saying you’re so sorry and asking her to ring you.’

     ‘What if she doesn’t ring?’

     ‘We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it. I’m going to go out and get the papers so we know exactly the extent of the damage. Will you be all right for a few minutes?’

     ‘I’m not going to top myself or anything if that’s what you mean.’ I managed a feeble smile and he kissed the top of my head as he got up.

     ‘Very pleased to hear it.’

     By the time he came back with his arms full of newspapers, I hadn’t moved an inch, although I had sent the text to Mum like he suggested. He laid them out on the table, made a pot of coffee, and started reading. After a few minutes I mustered my courage and came to sit next to him. He gave me a grin of encouragement and passed over a Sunday Mirror. The front page carried a picture of him and me in a clinch at a club. It was a nice picture and a nice story, talking about how we’d fallen for each other on the programme. 

     ‘Not all bad news, you see,’ he said and I nodded, still not feeling strong enough to read the News of the World story.

    I thumbed my way half-heartedly through the other papers, finding pictures of Luke and me together in virtually all of them. It was like we were the nation’s sweethearts, everyone happy for us that we’d found each other. I could almost hear ‘Summer Wine’ playing, sickly sweet in the background to our terrifyingly public romance.