This is the second excerpt in our series of (as yet) unpublished chick lit writers! Please do read, comment, review, critique the piece and get some discussion going!
Should Have Known Better by Nadine Matheson
About The Book
This is the story of Lauren, Rianna and Maxine who endure a typical British summer where deceit and truth is brought into the light.
Lauren has devoted the past seven years to her Clayton but has trying to convince her family and friends that she’s in the perfect relationship finally taken it’s toll? She’s supported him through his all his failed business ventures and infidelities; so why is she with him?
Rianna’s motto has always been it’s just me myself and I but has she finally gone to far? Rianna is suddenly confronted with the repercussions of her ‘free spirited’ ways. what exactly is her problem? Because there must be something wrong. Has her bi-polar disorder affected her life more than she thought? However, the revelations of family secrets finally help Rianna see her life with clear eyes.
Maxine has finally reached the top of her ladder. She is now a professional woman. She’s done everything that’s been expected of her. She’s got the right job, the the riverside apartment, the car and she’s even got the man; much to her mother’s relief. So what’s the problem? Will Maxine discover, before it’s too late, that doing what is expected of her will mean that she walks away from being truly happy.
Excerpt
“Rianna! Rianna.”
The incessant banging on the front door and the shouts for Rianna had been growing increasingly louder over the last ten minutes. Nathan was not happy. Rianna sat in her bedroom, the room furthest away from the drama that was unfolding at her front door. She had been laying face down on her bed with the pillow over her head trying to block out the shouts of a man whose boyfriend status had been relegated from current to ex in world record time. Twenty minutes earlier Nathan had caught Rianna in a rather compromising position in the back of her Renault Megane with a man who was clearly not from the AA. Rianna got up and closed her bedroom door. Shit, she thought to herself. How could she let this happen? She was normally so careful; how could she get caught like that, in the back of her car in Burgess fucking park of all places.
Rianna studied herself in the full-length mirror and tried to block out the mental image she had of Nathan making a scene at her front door. There were some strange women out there who would have been flattered she thought to herself. Then again most women would have had the sense not to get caught having sex with their boyfriend’s stepbrother in the back of a car.
“Rianna! I’m not leaving! Rianna! How could you do this me? You know how I feel about you. You Promised.” Nathan shouted whilst simultaneously kicking the front door.
“For God’s sake” Rianna said to herself.
She didn’t think that she could take much more of this and she was sure that the neighbour’s curtains were already twitching and that their fingers were poised to dial 999. Once again Rianna Dominique Williams was going to be the centre of neighbourhood gossip. Everyone always seemed to be interested in the coming and goings of her house. She didn’t need this; in fact she didn’t need Nathan having a breakdown at one o’clock in the morning outside her front door in the middle of New Cross. This was it, she had had enough and she had to go to work in the morning. Rianna left the bedroom and walked through the hallway to the front door. She put her hand on the lock; should she? Should she open the door because let’s face it the man would not be pleased to see her, but then again she didn’t think that Nathan had any intention of going home. She looked through the peephole in the door. She could see Nathan standing there; hand on hips, staring intently at the ground between his feet. Or was he staring lovingly at his brand new Gucci loafers, his most prized possession? Probably the latter Rianna thought to herself.
Rianna opened the front door. You know that moment, that moment when time appears to stands still, when all around you the world has stopped and you are the only one who appears to be breathing, living. Well, that was one of those moments. Nathan looked up. His dark eyes could do nothing to hide the hurt and betrayal that he was feeling once again. For the first time Rianna felt sick. She had never really thought about the consequences of her actions but now she could see the consequences and even though she hadn’t eaten since 7pm there was no mistaking the nausea that was slowly creeping up her throat.
“I’m sorry” Rianna said.
She could barely look at him. If anyone had walked past they would have sworn that she was apologising to a pair of shoes standing defiantly at her front door. Nathan looked at her and studied her face looking for a sign that this was a genuine apology.
“What! You’re sorry for fucking my brother or you’re sorry for getting caught?”
“Nathan please”
“What do you mean Nathan please? What are you asking me? Because I tell you one thing you ain’t got any right to ask me a damn thing.”
“What do you want me to say? What can I say?”
“Fucking hell Rianna. How could you?”
“You should go. It’s late”
“My own brother”
“Step Brother” Rianna corrected.
As soon as the words left her mouth she wished that she could grab them and stuff them back in.
“Excuse me. What the raas! It doesn’t make a firkin” difference. He’s my brother, plain and simple” Nathan shouted. “Shit Rianna! I don’t understand you. I don’t know what the hell is wrong is with you. Why do you do these things?”
Rianna couldn’t think of a thing to say. It would be easy to offer Nathan a little sob story, she was feeling vulnerable, and she wasn’t ready for commitment, all the normal stuff that you were guaranteed to get in an episode of Trisha or even worse Jeremy Kyle. She couldn’t think of a single thing to say. For the first time she was actually feeling guilt and it was stopping her from speaking, stopping her from thinking straight. There was only one thing that she could say.
“You should go” she eventually said.
Nathan stared at her and then shook his head “Is that it? Is that all you can say?”
“Just go. I don’t know what you want me to say; I don’t know what to say. You should just go. It’s late and, and….”
She hesitated as she struggled to find the words “please, I have no right to ask you anything but please Nathan, just go.”
“Fine. Fine, just know that this isn’t over. You can’t treat people this way. I just never thought that you would turn into such a cold bitch.”
Rianna looked at Nathan, searching in his eyes for the hurt that was there a few moments ago but now she saw nothing but anger and resentment.
Lauren stared at the red digits on her clock radio. 2.17 a.m. and he wasn’t back. She rolled over in the bed and looked at the empty space where Clayton should have been laying. 2.18 a.m. and Lauren was still waiting for those familiar sounds. The sound of his car as he pulled into the driveway, the sound of the key getting stuck in the keyhole; the opening of the front door, the subtle creak of the third step as he made his way up the stairs and into the bathroom and then leaving the bathroom without flushing the toilet. Lauren waited and waited for all these sounds. 2.23 a.m. Nothing. Not a thing, nothing. Lauren rolled over again and reached for the telephone that was on the bedside table.
“Where the fuck is you?” Lauren said out loud to no one. She dialled the first five digits of Clayton’s mobile number and then put the phone down. I’m not one of those stupid women who need to check up on their man every five minutes she thought to herself and it’s not even like he has a reason to get up early in the morning; he’s not working. Lauren sat up quickly as she heard the sound of a car outside; she waited for the sound of the car driving across the gravel as it pulled into the driveway. But nothing, this car was pulling away. Lauren jumped out of the bed and walked over to the window, 2.38 a.m. and nothing. Lauren didn’t see anything except for a fox lurking by the wheelie bin. She picked up her mobile phone. Maybe he had sent her a text message or had left something on voicemail. She checked the screen of her mobile for the little envelope. There was nothing. There wasn’t even a missed call. This is ridiculous, she thought to herself. Why was she waiting up for him? Clayton was a grown man, he knew his way home and after seven years together he should also know his way back to her.
