Read Winner Takes It All for Free Online

him. Despite calling himself a feminist, Alex couldn’t help
but guess there was just the slightest hint of a chauvinist pig
lurking in him that hated the thought of his girlfriend having had
more sexual partners than him. When the gig finished, he jumped
down from the stage and headed straight for her, putting his arm
around her waist and kissing her.
    ‘ What did you
think?’ he asked.
    ‘ Superb,’ she
lied. ‘As always.’
    They were joined by the
rest of the band and the men went off to get drinks, leaving Alex
alone with Annika and her partner Jolene, a South African girl who
worked as a lecturer at Goldsmiths. They looked like twins rather
than lovers, with their matching auburn bobs, black cardigans and
flowery frocks.
    ‘ I do think
Toby’s lyrics have such depth and meaning,’ Jolene nodded solemnly.
‘He’s a poet for this generation.’
    Alex could only stifle
her giggles at their pretentiousness and walked away, pretending to
need the toilet. Her love affair with the intelligentsia was coming
to an end and she couldn’t help but wonder how long her love affair
with Tim would last too.
     
    ***
     
    Alex met Mel outside
Selfridges the next day and laughed to see her friend looking like
a doctor in her white coat. She explained she had a franchise with
Confirmation Cosmetics, whereby she went from store to store
selling their products. Alex admired Mel so much. She was an
ordinary girl from a council estate in Liverpool and yet she was
determined to better herself and was willing to do it any way she
could. It made Alex feel all the more angry towards her brother;
Michael had been born into such privilege and had just pissed it up
the wall.
    They found a cheap
restaurant off South Molten Street called Greens. It was empty
enough for them to be able to hear each other speak. Alex was
conscious that she’d put on a stone over the past couple of months
and ordered a green salad. The enviably thin Mel asked for a
burger, fries and a coke. Alex recalled how, at university, Mel had
lived on McDonalds and fry ups from the local greasy spoon and
never put an ounce, whereas Alex only had to look at a cream cake
to gain half a stone.
    ‘ So how many
jobs do you have exactly?’ Alex laughed, sipping her iced mineral
water.
    ‘ Well let me
see,’ Mel giggled, rolling her eyes to the ceiling to keep count.
‘There’s the franchise with Confirmation. I work at the Amersham
Arms two nights a week; I do a bit of hairdressing from home. Oh
and I also walk me next door neighbour’s dog three days a
week.’
    ‘ My God.
Wouldn’t it be easier for you to get a full-time job?’
    ‘ Nah, you know
me Al I’m a free spirit. Anyway, I can increase me work load any
time I like, so I can save money quicker.’
    ‘ Why have you
chosen Ibiza?’
    ‘ I spent six
months there last year. I fookin’ love it Al, it’s a wicked Island.
You ever been?’
    ‘ No, Tim and I
usually holiday in England. He doesn’t like flying.’
    ‘ Prick,’ Mel
laughed, suddenly realising how rude she’d been. ‘Sorry la, it’s
just that you used to pull some seriously hot fellas back at
Colchester. I want to know how you ended up with him.’
    ‘ Opposites
attract I suppose. It’s a running joke that the Cusacks are thick.
Daddy’s fantastic at running Sheridans but get him to do the Times crossword and he’s stumped. We’ve got good heads for
business but none of us are academics. Even my Aunt Paula who is
probably the brainiest person I know, dropped out of Oxford. I
think Jo might prove us all wrong though. She’s studying Literature
at Exeter and shows no signs of faltering.’
    ‘ Your little
sister Jo?’ Mel exclaimed. ‘Bloody hell, when I last saw you, she
was only eleven.’
    ‘ Time moves
on. Anyway, back when I was at Essex it was a puzzle how I’d even
managed to get into university, so when Tim showed an interest in
me, I was flattered.’
    ‘ You
flattered! He should have been knocked out, a cracking lass