Calling All Dentists (Calling All... Book 2), page 5
“I would much rather have physical copies. They look nice in the bookcases around the room. They’re like wallpaper aren’t they,” she’d said, smiling widely. “And they’re nice and colourful.”
Emma hadn’t replied and had then decided it was best left at that.
“Right, let’s go then, I could do with a nap before we start getting ready,” said Emma, apathetically. Her heart just wasn’t in it anymore.
“Ok.” Ruby looked deeply at Emma for a moment, “Are you feeling better today?”
“I didn’t sleep well last night. I’ll be ok if I get an hour this afternoon.” Linking arms with her little friend, Emma dragged her back through the arcade, filled with frantically, stressed-out Christmas shoppers and hastily headed back to the car park. If their return to the car had been commanded by Ruby it would have taken two hours to do the five minute walk back. Ruby’s too kind, too thoughtful and too generous character would have let every passer-by pass by, with a guided hand to help show them the way, before she’d managed to take two steps forward. Emma’s ethos however was to charge through the crowds, gently nudging everyone out of the way, to get to where she wanted to go – and fast.
After a peaceful, afternoon sleep, Emma woke feeling far more refreshed and slightly more confident than she had earlier in the day. She couldn’t be that bad surely, she thought as she went to run a bubble bath.
Having read almost half of her new book in the time that Emma was asleep – which was only an hour and a half – Ruby was sat on her bed chewing her finger nails.
“I’ve got some false ones Rue, shall we put some on for tonight?”
“Will I be able to get them off again?” asked Ruby, looking anxious.
“Yes of course, don’t worry. You might like them anyway and decide to keep them on over Christmas.” Sensing Ruby’s nervousness, Emma continued, “Are you really worrying about tonight?”
“I’ve never worn a dress like that before,” she said, pointing to the luxurious red piece hanging from the wardrobe door.
“Exactly! You’re going to turn everyone’s head when you walk in that door and Pete will be completely gob smacked.”
“I’m not sure Em, I’m shy. I don’t like to stand out.”
“You won’t stand out as everyone will be dressed up, but you will look totally different from the usual Ruby that they’re used to.” Emma smiled, “Have a drink with me to calm your nerves before we go. I’ve got some Baileys. You’ve had one of those before, I know you liked it,”
“Um,” she replied. “Alright I’ll have just a very small one.”
It was a logistical nightmare, trying to coordinate the bathing, hair styling, make-up, nails and accessories of one person – let alone two. Emma didn’t have a plan and rushed around from one bedroom to the other, looking for this and searching for that, letting this dry while applying that, waiting for this to heat up while re-dampening that bit and so on and so forth. She desperately needed a drink – it was very hard work creating two beauties. “Fancy a Baileys now Rue?” she called from the kitchen.
“No thank you,” said Ruby as she sat at Emma’s dressing table, peering into the lit ‘Diva’ mirror. “When will these be dry?”
“Give it another five minutes then I can do a top coat,” said Emma, returning to her room in a dressing gown and towel turban. Placing a tall glass of Baileys on the table she looked at Ruby’s nails, “We should have started them earlier really but at least you haven’t got anything to do apart from get dressed.”
Studying her new nails Ruby blew on the bright red varnish and then held her hands out in front of her, “They do look nice. I feel like I’m quite grown up.”
“At twenty four, I would hope that you are grown up by now,” laughed Emma, switching on the hair dryer and tipping her head upside down to blow more volume into it. Flicking her head back up, Emma stood upright and looked through the mirror at Ruby, “What do you think then?”
“You’re not going out like that are you?” asked Ruby, her big blue eyes widening with worry.
“Yeah, this is my new hairstyle. Don’t you like it then?”
“It’s a bit… big.”
Laughing out loud, Emma shook her head and her mane of fluffed up mousey brown locks settled back down on her head. “Don’t worry, it won’t look like this by the time I’ve finished with it. Here have a little slurp of this,” she said, sticking the large glass of Baileys under Ruby’s nose.
“Do you want your own one this time?” called Emma from the kitchen.
“Oh, all right but just a small one please.”
This time Emma carried through two large glasses of the creamy Irish whiskey and put them on the dresser. “That’s not a small one,” exclaimed Ruby, picking it up and sipping the contents, “It’s delicious though.”
“Be careful you don’t get drunk before we get there.”
“I wouldn’t get drunk,” giggled Ruby who was feeling quite relaxed and happy – or maybe slightly drunk already and after only a couple of sips.
“Keep still,” whispered Emma, staring right in to the tiny, unblemished face of her friend. The little black wand hovered in close proximity to Ruby’s eye-lashes.
“I can’t you’re tickling me. It makes my eyes water.”
“Just try and keep looking up, I’ve nearly done the bottom.” The whole process of applying professional looking eye-shadow to the outer corners of Ruby’s eyelids and the eyeliner had rendered her a tearful, blubbering wreck as she squinted and squirmed, laughed and cried, moaned and blinked her way through the process. “There, just the tops to do now.”
“Then I’m finished am I?” asked Ruby, sniffing and blinking away the welling tears.
“A bit more blusher, some lipstick and you’re done.”
“Lipstick! I’m not wearing that stuff.” Ruby chuckled, already feeling the toxic effects of almost a whole, large glass of Baileys.
“Try it and see what you think. You can easily remove it if you don’t like it.” Applying the finishing touches to Ruby’s surprisingly long and thick top lashes, Emma stood back and stared in amazement. “Wow! Your eyes look stunning.” The colour of sea blue, stood out like never before in her eyes and the make-up had created an illusion of enormous eyes, which gave Ruby an irresistibly charming elf-like image. Her platinum blonde hair added the finishing touches to a truly magical look of innocent beauty. The expertly crafted soft peaks on the top of her head and strands of hair falling on to her forehead finished the look with an almost impish appeal. “I can’t believe how fantastic you look Rue,” said Emma, unable to avert her gaze from Ruby’s super-size eyes, “You’re truly amazing!”
The taxi had been booked for six thirty, allowing plenty of time to get to the venue and meet up with everyone before they all went to sit down for their meal.
“Rue, five minutes and the taxi will be here,” called Emma, taking one last look at herself in the long mirror. She was pleased with the image in the reflection. Her black, figure-hugging dress appeared to knock a few pounds off her weight and accentuate her average sized breasts. Pre-fluffed hair had been tamed with a brush and curling tongs to create tumbling, twisted ringlets which ended just above the slopes of her chest. Emma smiled her usual closed lips smile and winked a false lash into the mirror. Not bad, she thought, tugging the hem of the dress down just above her stocking caressed knees. Turning around to the sound of tottering footsteps, Emma’s jaw dropped as Ruby appeared. Holding onto the walls and wobbling on her high heels, Ruby was a picture of magnificent beauty.
“I can’t walk in these things Em.”
“Just hold on to me until you get used to them.” The perfectly matched red shoes accentuated Ruby’s curves and her long legs that seemed to start right up and under her armpits. “You look so lovely Rue, I’m jealous.”
“You do too,” she giggled, under the influence of one drink. “I don’t think I should drink anymore tonight though, I’m wobbly enough now.”
“You’ll be fine once you’ve eaten.”
The door bell rang, signaling the arrival of their taxi and the two gorgeous young ladies grabbed their jackets (Ruby had borrowed one of Emma’s more fashionable ones) and left for the Christmas party.
Chapter 5
The stream of taxis stretched the whole length of the road and Emma and Ruby watched patiently from the back seat as each one pulled up to the complex and emptied its contents of well dressed, cheerfully babbling people. As the cab crawled along at a snail’s pace, the girls scoured the pavements and the large paved frontage of the complex in the distance. “Can’t see anyone we know,” said Emma peering out at the people passing by.
“You wanna git out ere luv?” asked the burly unshaven driver, tapping his thick, hairy fingers on the top of the steering wheel.
“Shall we Rue?”
“Alright, hope I can walk ok,” Ruby giggled. She’d been doing a lot of tittering in the cab and Emma could see that the driver had grown a little fed up with listening to a giggly girl who couldn’t handle her drink, at such an early hour of the evening. Rudely, he’d turned the radio up to listen to the golden oldies, while beating the dashboard and steering wheel with his giant hands, like they were drum sticks playing on a set of drums.
“Yes please, here will be just fine. Thank you,” said Emma, apologetically.
“Six quid luv,” the man grunted, coarsely.
After paying the fare and a tip of one pound – not that the driver had deserved it – Emma climbed out of the cab and hobbled round to the pavement where Ruby stood waiting and wobbling, with a huge, silly grin on her face.
“Come on, it’s freezing, hold on to me and we’ll get through this lot,” said Emma, linking arms with her friend and proceeding to drag her through the crowds, while supporting her in an upright position.
Stepping down into the huge hall, Emma and Ruby stopped and looked around in amazement. Hundreds of people milled around long dining tables, laid out in some twenty or more rows, stretching the whole length of the carpeted hall. At the far end was a long stage, set out with microphones, giant speakers, guitars and a sparkly drum set. Below the stage, a wooden dance floor lay empty of pounding feet. To the right and also to the far left of them, the girls could see two bars, both of which were lined with queues of people, waiting to be served. Music gently filtered down from the high ceiling above and countless glistening glitter balls turned slowly, creating speckles of dancing light across the entire hall. The babble of voices, laughter and shouting filled the building with merriment. An atmosphere of fun and excitement flowed out from every corner. Emma’s heart skipped a beat in anticipation of the glamourous evening that lay ahead.
“Here’s the table plan Rue,” said Emma feeling optimistic about the work’s Christmas do, “Let’s see where we are first and then we can go and get a drink.”
The display board showed the seating plan for every company and Emma soon found the tables designated for their superstore. “Here we are,” she pointed to the centre of the diagram. “That’s the twelfth row, around the middle, somewhere over there,” she said, pointing in the direction of the dance floor.
“Hello Emma, where are we then?” asked Colin, appearing from behind her.
Turning sharply, Emma smiled, “Colin, hi!”
Looking decidedly smart in his grey pinstripe trousers, pink shirt and a silver tie, Colin grinned as he surveyed the grand hall.
“Bloody hell. I didn’t recognise you!” he gasped, staring Ruby up and down while she was hanging on to the free standing display board like a calendar girl. Colin’s mouth dropped open, “You look great!” he said and then snapped his mouth closed again.
Ruby smiled coyly, “Thank you… err… you look very smart too Colin.”
Glancing at the seating plan, Colin nodded and then pointed to the bar on the left side, “Can I get you two a drink?”
“Thank you,” said Emma, scooping Ruby up in an arm link and pulling her along behind Colin, to the bar.
Several groups of men were dotted around the hall, holding on to glasses of different sizes, chatting, laughing and generally eyeing all the women passing by them, as the trio made their way towards the queues.
The bar staff – and there must have been at least ten of them – busily went about their business of pouring drinks, pulling pints, talking to and serving customers. They moved swiftly and effortlessly, dodging each other in an obviously rehearsed way, in the confines of the small area behind the bar.
“What are you girls drinking?” asked Colin, still looking astonished by Ruby’s dramatic change of appearance and trying desperately not to stare at her open mouthed.
“Two Baileys please Col,” said Emma, nodding at Ruby for an agreement.
“Yes thank you,” replied Ruby shyly, as she focused on Emma constantly. It meant that she didn’t have to acknowledge where she was or how she was dressed. Having the blinkers on was a safe option and hopefully would carry her through the night. Either that or several more Baileys would aid her in conquering her fears and in-built inadequacies, at least temporarily anyway.
A throng of men and women still poured into the hall, down the steps from the complex above. After five minutes of patiently waiting, Colin was served and handed two glasses, filled with Baileys and ice, to the girls. Many passing admirers had smiled or eyed Emma and Ruby as they stood waiting with Colin but Ruby had remained transfixed on Emma and noticed nothing at all.
Thanking Colin, Emma turned around and looked across the hall to the area where they would be seated. “Shall we go over and see if anyone else is here yet?” she asked, as she grabbed Ruby’s arm and beckoned to Colin, “Follow me.”
Every table was identically laid out with white, oval shaped dinner sets on maroon coloured table cloths with white and silver patterned table runners. The cutlery was abundant and confusing, thought Emma – she always wondered which ones to use first and struggled to remember whether she should start from the inside-out or the outside-in. Alternate white and maroon candle decorations stood in the centre of each section of table, which comfortably seated six people on each side. Each set of tables had been joined together to form one long table in varying lengths to house each company’s number of guests.
It was a mammoth event which qualified the one hundred or more staff of waiters, waitresses, bar staff and chefs who’d been hired for the whole month leading up to Christmas, to pull off such a grand multi-company, multi-functioning dinner/dance event.
“It’s lovely here,” said Ruby, bravely viewing the hall, “Isn’t it?” Her false courage supported by the alcoholic drink.
“Yes. It should be a good night Rue. Try and enjoy yourself… and relax.” Emma winked at her, excited by the thought of Pete seeing how beautiful she looked.
“Where is everyone?” asked Colin, still slightly taken aback by Ruby’s new look.
“I’m sure they’ll be here soon,” replied Emma, scanning the hall.
“Over there,” pointed Ruby, “Are those the girls from the shop floor?” Colin and Emma peered through the crowds to a group of girls dressed in short dresses and skirts and bright sparkly tops. They looked like they were going to a night club rave rather than a posh dinner/dance.
“Yeah, that’s Jade, Chloe and the others,” said Colin, his eyeballs almost protruding on stalks as he weighed the young girls up. As soon as he had spoken, the young women turned and looked over in their direction and waved, having just worked out the seating plan between them.
Returning the friendly gesture, Emma felt slightly peeved that the five girls did indeed look highly glamorous in their sparkly outfits, as they made their way over. What with Ruby – the gorgeous nymph like creature – and the young ‘‘giggle-girls’’ (Emma liked to refer to them as ‘air-heads’ or ‘‘giggle-girls’’ because they were always chortling on about something or other that was usually totally pointless and they giggled a lot as well), with hem lines practically up to their waists, Emma wondered for a moment just what her chances were of pulling Darren this evening. Well, he did wink at her, she supposed, didn’t he? And she did look pretty good herself, just slightly more mature looking, as long as she didn’t smile too widely – didn’t she?
The girls waved again and pointed in the direction of the bar on the right and then made a signal that they were getting a drink by holding an invisible glass and tipping it to their mouths. Then they were lost in the ever increasing crowds at the foot of the entrance steps.
“Ruby, Ruby, Ruby, in a red dress. Wow!” Turning round, Emma, Ruby and Colin were surprised to see Dave, Jeff and Pete standing behind them.
“Is it really you?” asked Dave, “I mean, hey girl, you look totally fab…u…lous!”
The three men stared at Ruby, open mouthed, eyeing every detail of her curves and long legs. Dave’s admiration was more jealousy than wanton longing and Pete’s frozen expression was unreadable but Emma assumed there would be a hint of fear in there somewhere.
“What do you think guys? Doesn’t she look stunning?” said Emma, looking directly at Pete.
“Hot lady,” squealed Dave doing a little jig around Ruby.
Nodding his appreciation of the effort made to get Ruby looking like a goddess, Jeff smiled warmly, “Suppose you set her up for this Em,” he said.
Sipping her Baileys in nanosecond intervals, Ruby’s cheeks had almost reached the point of closely matching the colour of her dress.
“Yes I helped her get ready, but I’ve just brought out the hidden inner-Ruby that we don’t usually see. Isn’t that right Rue?” said Emma, feeling more peeved that no one had actually commented on her own hard earned appearance.
“Um,” replied Ruby through gulps and giggles.
Pete stood mesmerised and said nothing as he watched Ruby nervously resting her top lip on the rim of the glass and tilting it constantly to take yet another small sip.
