Free Divas by Rebecca Chance Page B

he’s in hospital here, he just overdosed, I need to go and visit him as well—’
    ‘Oh Lola . Honey. I don’t know what to say. He going to be OK?’
    ‘I don’t know – I have to ring the hospital—’
    ‘You got some good friends around you, honey?’ George sounded really worried. ‘Maybe you should call your mom—’
    ‘ No! ’ Lola looked at her four girlfriends, lounging on the sofas, listening avidly to her side of the conversation. India had already finished the edamame beans and had
started on the strawberries. God, that girl was such a pig . ‘I’ve got really good friends here, George. They’re taking great care of me.’
    Devon and Madison raised their champagne flutes to her. Georgia, who was sitting in the bay window, talking on her mobile, wiggled her fingers at Lola. And India gave her a lovely big smile, her
teeth only slightly stained by the strawberries.
    Going in search of Josefina, Lola tracked her down in the kitchen and handed her the phone so she could sort out the whole fax situation, something Lola couldn’t remotely have coped with
at the best of times. Then she returned to the living-room.
    ‘ So , ’ Madison said, her green eyes glinting. ‘Tell us all about Jean-Marc! Did you know? What kind of stuff did you guys do? I had no idea he was that
filthy!’
    ‘ What? ’ Lola stared at her, uncomprehending.
    ‘Well, you know, if he’s into trannies —’
    But Devon had already read Lola’s expression.
    ‘You didn’t know anything, did you?’ she exclaimed. ‘Oh my God, you must be in total shock right now!’
    ‘Oh Lola, poor you, ’ India whispered, her pretty round moon-face, framed by light-brown curls, genuinely sympathetic.
    ‘So did he just have totally vanilla sex with you?’ Madison continued, her perfectly shaped eyebrows raised.
    ‘Under the covers with the lights off?’ Georgia added.
    ‘ Missionary? ’ Devon capped it off, as the girls fell about in hysterics.
    ‘We didn’t actually have sex that much, ’ Lola said simply. She was halfway through her second glass of champagne, and, as Madison had said, the combination of fizz and Vicodin
on an empty stomach was making her feel increasingly dissociated from reality.
    The laughter stopped as if it had been turned off at the mains.
    ‘What?’ Devon said, baffled.
    ‘We didn’t actually have sex that much.’ Lola took another swig of champagne. ‘We sort of did at the beginning, but neither of us were that into it, so after a while, we
didn’t bother.’
    They were staring at her, speechless.
    ‘Frankly, I’ve always thought sex was really messy, ’ Lola continued. ‘All that humping and fussing and getting sweaty, and then you’re lying in a—’
    ‘Sticky, oozy mess, ’ India contributed, pulling a face.
    ‘Exactly, ’ Lola said gratefully. ‘I never really liked it, even before Jean-Marc. I hate when men caress you and look into your eyes and do slow kisses all over you for hours,
you know? Besides, sex messes up my hair. Actually, that’s why we stopped. We did it once and I’d had my hair put up for a charity auction we were going to afterwards and my hair got
pulled around, and honestly, I don’t know who was crosser about it, me or Jean-Marc. So after that we’d sort of joke, “Oh, no, careful of my hair!” and not bother any more.
We were really happy, ’ she added sadly. ‘I mean, we’d cuddle together and hold hands, and that was perfect.’
    The girls were gaping like groupers packed in ice on a fishmonger’s slab.
    ‘But what did you do to get off?’ Georgia asked.
    ‘Oh, I’ve got a vibrator, ’ Lola said cheerfully.
    ‘And I think we all know what Jean-Marc did!’ Devon said, tapping the cover of the Evening Standard . ‘Miss Patricia from Kennington!’
    ‘How could he?’ Lola shuddered.
    She jumped up.
    ‘I’m going to the hospital, ’ she announced. ‘I have to find out what’s going on with Jean-Marc.’
    ‘We’ll all go with