Broken Promises

Chapter 9

It took them longer to walk to the Martin Parr Foundation than they expected. Sophie's nose was pink from the cold, Will's cheeks glowed. Showing their tickets at the desk they then checked their coats, Sophie was grateful it was much warmer inside the building than outside. They walked into the first room and she scanned the crowd looking for Mya, a waiter came past them offering them champagne Sophie took one and gestured to Will,

'Hmm hair of the dog, sure' he took a glass too, and just as Sophie went for a sip of her champagne, she heard a very loud shriek of

'SOPHHIEEEEEEEEEEE' and a Mya shaped blur came hurtling towards her, Will just managed to grab the glass from her in time before Mya launched herself at Sophie pulling her into a hug,

'You came!!' she exclaimed,

'Of course I did! I said I would didn't I you lunatic!' she replied,

'I know but I'm just so happy to see you!' Mya was an explosion of colour as always, her hair was pillar-box red and clashed spectacularly with the bright sunny yellow dress that she was wearing with polka dot tights and red sparkly shoes.

'And who, do we have here?' Mya asked, making a beeline for Will with her hand out, Will took her hand and Mya made an almost curtsy at him as Sophie introduced him,

'Mya this is Will Melksham, Will this is my best friend Mya',

'Oh, fuck I thought you looked familiar!' Mya exclaimed, 'And how did this little frisson happen?' Mya asked with a wicked glint in her eye,

'We met on the train and got talking,' Will started to explain, 'I'm a big fan of your work' he added smiling at Mya,

'Really, well thank you, let me show you round' said Mya, she grabbed Will's free arm and started leading him around the room to show off her works, Sophie tagging behind, jealously gnawing at her edges, she wanted it to be her arm through Will's, not Mya's,

'You're married, you're married, you're happily-ish married' she repeated to herself again, as she followed the two of them like a lost puppy, Will stopped in front of a large black and white photograph, it was an extreme close up of a woman's face, barely any features were distinguishable except for a perfect cupid bow shaped top lip, the photo showed in minute detail all the tiny delicate hairs and lines of the lip, Will gazed at it, studying it intently,

'You like that one do you Will?' asked Mya puckering her lips,

'It's beautiful, the detail, the lighting, can I buy it?' Will asked suddenly, pulling himself away from the image,

'Well, this one will be on display for a few weeks yet, but I can make you a copy easily enough', Mya explained, 'Just don't tell my agent' she added,

'Our secret I promise, thank you' he replied happily, 'Who is the subject?' he asked her, Mya chanced a quick glance at Sophie who was stood behind Will, she shook her head wildly back at her,

'Oh, err she's a model I use from time to time' Mya replied, watching as Sophie sighed, looking relieved. At that moment, as if he had been eavesdropping on the conversation, Mya's agent Luther appeared and whisked her away,

'Sorry love, important people to meet apparently! Catch me before you go though' implored Mya as Luther guided her off towards a crowd,

'Of course!' Sophie hollered but she was gone,

'So that was Mya! A whirlwind as always!' Sophie told Will as they continued round the show,

'She's amazing! Wild dress sense, I wish I could live like that with so little fear,' he replied,