Chapter 10

The next day they did a bit of shopping and visited the Glasgow School of Art, part of which was sadly destroyed in a blaze a couple of years ago. Steve spent an hour or so looking at the students’ exhibits and chatting to staff, Lucy and Gabbie left him to it and wandered off to the shops.

“Hey Lucy, I’ve got a bit of a headache coming on, I’m going to slip back to the hotel and have a lie down for a while.”

“Oh dear Gabbie, let me come back with you.”

“No need, you carry on shopping, I’ll be fine in a couple of hours, I’ll give you a call and we can meet up for dinner later.”

“Ok sweetie, do you have tablets?”

“No, but I’m sure I’ll pass a chemist on the way. Here, let me take some of your bags back with me.”

“Thanks Gabbie, get well quickly.”

“I will just need a lie down in the dark for a bit is all.”

Gabbie took Lucy’s bags and set off back to the hotel. Lucy walked in the opposite direction back to the School of Art.

Steve and Lucy had lunch at the Willow Tea Rooms, a café designed by the Glaswegian architect Charles Rennie Mackintosh.

“We’ve not had chance to speak with Gabbie around,” Steve opened, “you seem to have adjusted to the news remarkably well.”

“Only because I haven’t a fucking clue how to react,” Lucy whispered, not wishing to use profanities out loud in such a genteel establishment, “I mean, it’s a huge surprise, because you read about people where this has happened and they say things like ‘I always felt I was different to... ‘ you know, and I’m thinking, are they just bullshitting to make themselves feel better, because honestly Steve, I always felt part of the family, I never suspected you weren’t my real brother. So this thing, this news from mum and dad, it poleaxed me, but I also understand what happened, why they did it. Did you hear mum talk about Judy?”

“Yeah.”

“But did you really hear, did you listen to what she was saying?”

“I don’t understand what you mean...”

“Mum loved Judy, she really loved her, like I love you, she worshipped Judy and would do anything for her. I bet she loved Judy more than she loves Dad.”

“Oh. I see what you mean.”

“So I think mum took it as her sacred duty to look after me, before and after Judy died. Mum and dad brought me up as their own child, so at no point have I ever felt like an outsider. Now I’ve found out who I really am, it doesn’t feel real somehow. You’re Steve my brother, not Steve my cousin.”

“But being your cousin does have some legal benefits.”

“Indeed, it does, but doing it all illegally is so much more exciting.”

“It’s still illegal for a few months if that helps.”

“What do you mean?”

“You’re still underage until March.”

“Oh yeah. Gabbie’s all legal next week, so you’d better make the most of the thrill, it’ll be dead boring doing it with her once she’s legal.”

“Oh I doubt it, she sure knows how to blow a guy’s mind.”

“And a girl’s, she’s totally amazing ... and I’ve just realised I’ve not bought her a birthday present yet, come on, we’ll get something while we’re alone.”

“Sounds like a sensible idea. What are you thinking of getting her?”

“I am thinking something we could all enjoy, some sexy clothes and then some time with dad in the studio, let her make some professional recordings.”

“That’s a genius idea Lucy, Jerry will love recording with Gabbie.”

Steve paid for the food and they left the tea rooms in search of somewhere to buy sexy clothing, they found a suitable shop in an arcade off Sauchiehall Street.

“You didn’t react well to lingerie shopping before Steve, you can stay outside if you like.”

“I think I’ll be ok this time, we’re not shopping for you, so this is much less awkward.”

“Ok then, but don’t worry if you have to dash away.”

Steve was fine, Lucy knew the sort of things she wanted and scanned the shop with a skilled eye.

“Do you know Gabbie’s sizes?” Steve asked.

“Do you even know me? Of course I know her sizes, even without sneaking a look at her labels I know her sizes. Dress size 8, bra 32b, panties small, shoes 3½.”

“Is there anything you don’t know?”

“I’m a bit vague on computational fluid dynamics but seeing as I’m not looking for a job in F1 car design I don’t stress about it.”

Lucy chose a pretty lace bra and pantie set, a teddy and a very sexy basque with padded cups that would give Gabbie a nice cleavage, something Gabbie often says she’s most jealous about is Lucy’s cleavage.

The shop assistant placed each item in individual pink boxes packed with matching pink tissue paper.

“Look, we don’t even need to wrap them,” Lucy said as they left the shop.

They stopped at a card shop and spent longer looking for a birthday card than they’d spent in the lingerie shop, then they walked back to the hotel.

“Ahh, Steve, do you have the car keys? We’d be better stashing these in the car so Gabbie doesn’t see them.”

Steve patted his packets, “yep, got them.”

So they walked down to the parking garage and loaded the boxes in the boot. Lucy’s phone rang as they were walking to the lift, “hey Gabbie, how are you feeling?”

“Much better thanks, I was just wondering where you are.”

“We’re in the hotel, just about to get in the lift.”

“Oh great, I missed you both, sitting up here on my own.”

“Oh sweetie, we’ll be there in a minute.”

When they got back to the room Gabbie was on the sofa watching Shaun The Sheep, Lucy looked at the TV and raised her eyebrows at Gabbie.

“You won’t believe how shit the TV is during the day; I’ve had to watch baby cartoons on Cbeebies all afternoon. Shaun the Sheep is ace though.”

“How are you honey?” Lucy asked, hugging Gabbie so hard she almost squashed her.

“I’m fine, really, just a little headache, probably from the traffic fumes and cigarette smoke everywhere.”

“I can understand that, will you be OK going out later? It’s Thursday, open mic at Stella’s.”

“Oh gosh, I’d forgotten all about that, yeah I’ll be fine, Nessa said she’d be coming didn’t she?”

“She did, I’ve got her on Twitter, I’ll DM her, see what she’s doing first, we could take her out for dinner.”

“Oh wow, that would be great. I bet she’s so much fun tonight.”

Lucy pulled out her iPhone and was soon tapping out a message to Nessa, who replied straight away.

“Aye, I’ve been really looking forward to seeing you out tonight hun. I’d love to join you for dinner, there’s a really great Indian diner on Union Street, up from the KFC, it’s not far from there to Stella’s. Meet you there at 7, is that OK?”

Lucy told Nessa that would be just fine then looked up the diner on her phone, it looked great, a cool industrial looking venue, all bare brick and exposed steel ducting, and it seemed good value, but cash only, so she’d better take some cash out on the way.

They had a couple of hours to kill before they needed to go out, so they took their time getting ready. Lucy noticed Gabbie was really nervous, taking special care preparing her outfit, getting out all her best make-up, then she realised that Gabbie liked Nessa a lot and wanted to impress her and she was subconsciously competing with Lucy for Nessa’s attention. She didn’t need to compete with Gabbie, she had Steve, and next week she’d have Gabbie back, tonight Gabbie needed to shine, and she’d give her a bit of a lift to shine just that bit brighter.