Competition

Two

I sat at my Sony VAIO laptop and thought for my next sentence. I was all dried out of my writing juice and couldn't find a way to start the final chapter of my latest novel.

My tabby cat Wiley brushed his slinky soft coat past my bare legs as I thought and thought. I reopened another page and looked at the plan of the story I had written up a few weeks ago. I read over and over the page hoping for some inspiration to magically come to me.

Sighing I gave up and stared out of the window in front of me before turning round to look at my four poster king size bed. Thoughts of the night before replayed over and over in my bed as Wiley jumped onto the white sheets and lay outstretched.

Shaking my head, I got up from my chair, left the bedroom and went into the kitchen to fix myself a drink. As I opened the cupboard and took down a wine glass I poured myself some white wine and thought to myself "it's my birthday and I'm at home drinking by myself". Picking up the wine bottle and the wine glass, I sauntered lazily into the living room and slumped into the saggy couch then placed the bottle and glass on the floor by my feet. I sighed exasperated then rested my feet on the wooden coffee table.

As soon as I closed my eyes, the house phone started ringing and I grumbled annoyed as I answered the phone.

'Yes,' I snapped.

'Happy birthday Cilla. How are you?'

'Uninspired,' I replied dryly. 'You seem pretty upbeat. What happened to you?'

'I had a great night last night.'

'That's wonderful Ava, but really is this call necessary?'

'What time are we meeting tonight?' Ava asked cheerfully. 'I have an appointment at the hairdressers at two.'

'Nine,' I replied taking a large sip of wine. 'You wouldn't be able to make a trip to florist would you? My dahlias are looking bland.'

'Anything for you birthday girl,' she replied. 'I shall come round a little earlier then.'

'Thank you Ava,' I said swishing the wine at the bottom of my glass. 'And get some wine.'

'Okay then,' Ava said. 'I'll do that.'

'Then you can tell me about your interesting night that has you in a good mood,' I laughed. 'See you.'

'Wait one second,' Ava shouted eagerly. 'Wait.'

'Yes,' I replied patiently. 'Are you okay?'

'I just want to say one thing,' Ava grinned.

'Okay,' I sighed. I refilled my wine glass and wriggled my toes.

'Well basically, last night I went out with my cousin Lucy because she was in London for a week and was going back to Brighton in the morning,' Ava gabbled. 'We went about town really. So we started out at Nobu then headed over to Boujis and Mo*vida, then to Brinkley's. Anyway, when we were in Boujis these guys came over to us and bought us a round of drinks, then we all danced together and they came with us when we were trawling around town half drunk. Then afterwards, we all came back to my place.' Ava sighed as she grew more and more excited retelling the events of the night before. 'Oh,' she breathed catching her breath. 'What did you do last night?'

I stared down at the bottom of my glass. 'Nothing really. I went out for a pre-birthday dinner with Rob. It didn't really end so well.'

'Oh,' Ava replied interested; I heard as she sat up and readjusted herself. 'What happened?'

'We broke up,' I replied quickly as I took another large gulp of wine. 'But you know how these things go. It was inevitable.'

'That is awful,' said Ava sympathetically, as she felt bad for gloating about her fun night. 'It wasn't at dinner though was it?'