Read Online Venus Envy by Louise Bagshawe - Free Book Online

it was a fifty buck Hong Kong rip-off, but somehow I doubted it. Sngwy’s earlobes were groaning under two rocks of sparkling ice big enough to sink the Titanic. Her skin was buffed and tanned and she was so bloody thin she was in danger of disappearing down the plughole every time she took a bath.
    She probably bathed in asses’ milk or champagne. Or dissolved pearls
    ‘Gail, do introduce me to your friends,’ Snowy was purring. ‘I’m Olivia White.’ She held out one slender hand to Bronwen, who shook it almost mesmerised.
    ‘I’m Bronwen Thomas,’ Bronwen said, then blurted out, ‘I hear you can get backstage passes and that.’
    Snowy smiled graciously. ‘Mmm. What were you thinking of? Reading? No problem, I’ll get you some biked round tomorrow.’
    ‘And this is Keisha,’ Gail said triumphantly, shooting I told you so looks at me.
     
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    ‘What a gorgeous shirt,’ Snowy said. ‘Clements Ribeiro, isn’t it?’
    ‘It is,’ Keisha agreed with a small smile.
    ‘I can get you wholesale at Harvey Nicks. Or Harrods - Mohamed AloFayed’s such a dear sweet friend …”
    Keisha’s reserve evaporated. I felt a bit jealous, actually. Snowy was already bonding to her like Superglue.
    ‘And Alex.. ,’ She gave me a faint smile, but didn’t bother getting too close. She surveyed my dungarees and bin liner and scrunched-up hair and tired face.
    ‘You look just the same as ever,’ Snowy said.
    ‘I like your nose job,’ I retorted.
    Childish, but it made me feel better. Snowy stiffened a fraction, then gave us a grin so white you needed sunglasses. God, her teeth were bleached white as an American soap star’s.
    ‘Thank you,’ she said. ‘I see the body as a work of
    ar.’
    I looked down at my own squidgy midriff, thought about my beige teeth and pale skin and non-gleaming hair, and tried not to despair.
    Of course Seamus hadn’t meant it when he called me pretty! There were women like Snowy and Dolores in the world. Girls like me were just there to make up the numbers.
    Bronwen and Keisha were now looking at me, waiting for a snappy comeback, but my venom had deserted me. Dorothy Parker would have been ashamed.
    ‘I’m going to go and work on my sculptures,’ I said defiantly.
    ‘Oh, your sculptures,’ said Snowy pleasantly, ‘of course. You must have sold thousands by now and be really famous.’
    There was a dead quiet in the room.
     
    ‘Alex works in the City,’ Keisha said defensively. ‘Alex is a secretary’s assistant,’ Gail butted in.
    I seethed inside as Snowy digested this little tidbit. ‘Oh,’ she said sympathetically, ‘so that’s why you’ve got so many … laugh lines already, it must be the stress.’
    ‘And what do you do?’ Bronwen asked eagerly.
    The?’ Snowy gave a tinkling little laugh. ‘I party, darling, what does it look like?’ We spent a wonderful girly evening together. No really, it was marvellous. Snowy and Gail treated Keisha and Bronwen to fabulous stories of my happy schooldays. Like the way I would never get any letters tnless they were from my granny. Or the time I was attempting to serve a tennis ball and knocked myself out cold in the middle of the forehead.
    ‘And really, Alex was such a loner,’ Snowy laughed, ‘always hanging out in the pottery room, all her blouses always had mud on them.’
    ‘.True,’ Gail said eagerly, ‘and do you remember how she always hung out with Ellen Jones?’
    Ellen Jones! Ellen had been my only friend at St Mary’s, if you can call it that. Ellen and I didn’t have much in common. She wasn’t too bright and even plumper than me. But we were both Norman No mates, as the other girls would say, so we hung out together. I was always grateful for Ellen on Valentine’s Day.
    It’s funny, how people bang on about Christmas and the suicide rate and they never say a word about 4 February. Each year I dreaded it more and more..The red roses that flooded the lobby, beautifully wrapped in tissue and