Free Any Way You Want Me by Lucy Diamond

interesting.’
    ‘You don’t have to ask, babe, of course I will,’ she’d agreed. ‘That goes for gory details of the birth, too. If I so much as hear the word “stitches”, our friendship is officially terminated.’
    Since I’d crossed the line into parenthood, though, that conversation had never been referred to by either one of us. I didn’t know if she was too kind to remind me of it, or if she thought I was in too deep to drag back to sanity. I did know that I’d mutated into one of those very women we used to scoff at. I’d moved to the other side, changed teams. While I could talk in encyclopaedic detail about breastfeeding and potty training and language development, Becca still talked about hot dates, nightclub binges, and holidays in Third World countries. We were like different species.
    Becca shuddered at my descriptions of Julia and Matthew. ‘Ugh! She sounds like some sort of power-dressed ogress,’ she grimaced.
    ‘She was,’ I said. ‘The sort of woman who kisses you on the cheek, then doesn’t bother telling you she’s left an enormous lipstick print there.’
    Becca nodded. ‘I know exactly what you mean.’ She pulled out a compact mirror and checked her own lipstick. ‘ He sounds rather nice, though,’ she added.
    ‘Who, Matthew?’ I said incredulously. Maybe I’d been too generous when I was describing him. Maybe I should have spelled him out in more obvious terms. Read my lips: Womanizing, booze-mottled, lecherous old piss-head . . .
    ‘No, he sounded hideous – Mark. Mark sounded nice.’
    I was silent for a second. Mark. ‘Yeah. He was, actually. He was lovely.’
    ‘Fifteen pounds forty please, gels,’ the cab driver said, pulling up outside a glass-fronted building.
    I tried to pay for it, but Becca pushed my pound coins away. ‘I’ll get it. No, honestly. I’ll put it on expenses. Could I have a receipt, please?’
    ‘Now,’ she said, as we walked up to the door. Swanks, it was called, and it certainly looked incredibly swanky inside, all immaculate white and bleached wood. ‘This is meant to be a bit special, so I hope you’ve got your celeb-spotting goggles on. Did you see the review it got in Time Out ?’
    I shook my head, not bothering to add that there wasn’t really much point in my buying Time Out these days.
    She made a circle with her thumb and first finger and held it up. ‘Top-notch.’ She grinned. ‘Oh, Cat, hi! We were just about to go in.’
    Cat hugged me and kissed Becca on the cheeks. ‘Let’s do it, then,’ she said.
    Over our food – top-notch indeed – we got down to the business in hand. Gossip.
    ‘How’s your love-life then, Bec?’ Cat asked.
    A smirk slid over Becca’s face. Her mouth twitched. ‘Pretty shag-tastic, thanks for asking,’ she said.
    ‘Tell us!’ Cat demanded.
    ‘Who?’ I asked. ‘Since when?’
    ‘Star sign, job, sex-factor rating,’ Cat added, all in one breath. ‘Now.’
    Becca spluttered. ‘Easy, girls,’ she said. ‘He’s called Nick. He was what you might call a sperm-of-the-moment decision.’
    Now it was my turn to choke on my drink. ‘Becca!’
    Cat’s eyes had lit up and she had put down her fork in anticipation. ‘Tell. Us. More,’ she insisted. ‘Where did you meet him?’
    ‘Browns,’ Becca said. ‘Work leaving do on Monday. I came, I saw, I conquered.’
    ‘And then you came again,’ Cat giggled.
    ‘Exactly.’The smugness was practically visible; it was coming off her like steam. ‘It was a bit embarrassing, actually. I was quite drunk and eyeing up the talent with my mate Polly. I spotted Nick and said to her, “Right, I’m having him.” Only thing was, I said it a bit loudly.’
    We rocked with laughter. ‘Oh, no!’
    She grinned. ‘Oh, yes. He winked at me and said, “I heard that,” very pointedly. I thought I was going to die on the spot, and there’s Polly absolutely wetting herself laughing at me. But . . .’ She shrugged. ‘It worked. I did have him. And