just sat there for a while, watching the world go by. She loved catching snippets of people’s conversations as they walked past; it gave her a sneaky peak into the lives of others. She loved to guess what people did for a living, where they were heading as they rushed by, where they lived, if they were married or single … Sharon and Holly always used to sit in Bewley’s overlooking Grafton Street and they would do their people spotting. They would create little scenarios in their heads to pass the time, although Holly seemed to be doing this very regularly these days – just another demonstration of how her mind was caught up in other people’s lives instead of focusing on her own.
For example, the new little scenario she was creating involved the man walking down the path holding hands with his wife. Holly decided that he was secretly gay and the man headed toward them was his lover. Holly watched their faces as they approached each other, wondering if they would make eye contact. They went one better than that, and Holly tried not to giggle as the three of them stopped just in front of her table.
‘Excuse me? Have you got the time?’ lover asked secretly gay man and wife.
‘Yes, it’s a quarter past ten,’ secretly gay man answered him, looking at his watch.
‘Thanks a lot,’ lover said, touching his arm, and walked on.
Now it was as clear as day to Holly that that had been secret code for a rendezvous later. She continued her people spotting for a little while longer until she eventually got bored and decided to live her own life for a change.
Holly flicked through the pages of the tabloids and came to a small article in the review section that caught her eye.
Girls and the City a Hit in the Ratings
by Tricia Coleman
For any of you unfortunate people who missed out on the outrageously funny TV documentary Girls and the City last Wednesday, do not despair because it will be back on our screens soon.
The hilarious fly-on-the-wall documentary, directed by Irishman Declan Kennedy, follows five Dublin girls out for a night on the town. They lift the lid on the mysterious world of celebrity life in trendy club Boudoir and provide us with thirty minutes of stomach-aching laughter.
The show proved to be a success when first aired on Channel 4, the latest TAM ratings revealing 4 million people tuned in in the UK. The show is to be repeated again Sunday night at 11p.m. on Channel 4. This is must-see TV, so don’t miss it!
Holly tried to keep her cool as she read through the article. It was obviously great news for Declan but disastrous for her. Having that documentary aired once was bad enough, never mind a second time. She really needed to have a serious talk with him about this. She had let him off lightly the other night because he had been so excited and she didn’t want to make a scene, but at this stage she had enough problems on her plate without having to worry about this too.
She flicked through the rest of the papers and saw what it was Sharon was ranting about. Every single tabloid had an article about the documentary and one had even printed a photograph of Denise, Sharon and Holly from a few years ago. How they got their hands on it she did not know. Thank God the broadsheets contained some real news or Holly would have really worried about the world. She wasn’t too happy with the use of the words, ‘mad girls’, ‘drunken girls’, and the description from one of the papers that they were ‘well up for it’. What did that even mean?
Holly’s food finally arrived and she stared at it in shock, wondering how on earth she was going to get through it all.
‘That’ll fatten you up, love,’ the plump lady said, placing it on the table. ‘You need a bit of meat on your bones; you’re far too skinny,’ she warned her, waddling off again. Holly felt pleased at the compliment.
The plate was piled high with sausages, bacon, eggs, hash browns, black and white pudding, baked beans, fried potatoes, mushrooms, tomatoes and five slices of toast. Holly looked around her with embarrassment, hoping no one would think she was a complete pig. She saw that annoying teenager heading towards her with his gang of friends again and she picked up her plate and ran inside. She hadn’t much of an appetite lately; but she finally felt ready to eat and she wasn’t going to let some stupid spotty teenager ruin her breakfast for her.
Holly must have stayed in The Greasy Spoon much longer than she thought, because by the time she reached her parents’ house in Portmarnock it was almost two o’clock. Against her prediction, the sun was still sitting high in the cloudless blue sky. She looked across at the crowded beach in front of the house and found it difficult to tell where the sky ended and the sea began. Busfuls of people where continuously being unloaded across the road, and there was a lovely smell of sun-tan lotion in the air. There were gangs of teenagers hanging around the grassy area with CD players blaring out the latest tunes. The sound and the smell brought back every happy childhood memory for Holly.
Holly rang the doorbell for the fourth time and still no one answered. She knew somebody had to be home because the bedroom windows were wide open upstairs. Her mum and dad would never leave them open if they weren’t home, especially with throngs of strangers wandering around the area. Holly walked across the grass and pressed her face against the living-room window to see if there was any sign of life. She was just about to give up and wander over to the beach when she heard the screaming match between Declan and Ciara.
‘CIARA, GET THE DAMN DOOR!’
‘NO, I SAID! I … AM … BUSY!’
‘WELL, SO AM I!’
Holly rang the doorbell again, just to add fuel to the fire.
‘DECLAN!’ Ouch, that was a bloodcurdling scream.
‘GET IT YOURSELF, YOU LAZY COW!’
‘HA! I’M LAZY?’
Holly took out her mobile phone and rang the house.
‘CIARA, ANSWER THE PHONE!’
‘NO!’
‘Oh, for Christsake,’ Holly snapped loudly, and hung up the phone. She dialled Declan’s mobile number.
‘Yeah?’
‘Declan, open the goddamn fucking door now or I’ll kick it in,’ Holly growled.
‘Oh sorry, Holly, I thought Ciara had answered it,’ he lied.
He opened the door in his boxer shorts and Holly stormed in. ‘Jesus Christ! I hope you two don’t carry on like that every time the doorbell rings.’
He shrugged his shoulders noncommittally, ‘Mum and Dad are out,’ he said lazily, and headed up the stairs.
‘Hey, where are you going?’
‘Back to bed.’
‘No you are not,’ Holly said calmly, ‘you are going to sit down here with me,’ she patted the couch, ‘and we’re gonna have a nice long chat about Girls and the City.’
‘No,’ Declan moaned. ‘Do we have to do this now? I’m really, really tired.’ He rubbed his eyes with his fists.
Holly had no sympathy for him, ‘Declan, it’s
