the wrong kind of love

Chapter 2
“It’s Mandy isn’t it?”That is what interrupted Mandy from her thoughts. She snapped out of it and looked to her side. She saw him standing there grinning at her.“I’m sorry?” she asked, giving him confused looks. How the hell did he know her?He just stared at her and smiled, “You mean you don’t remember me? I am hurt!” he joked, shouting above the loud beat of the music.“I’m sorry, but who the hell are you?” she answered grumpily. She was not in the mood to be hit on. Whoever this guy was obviously had guessed her name, or she had her name written somewhere without her knowing. She felt for her chest. Nope, her chain with the pendant of her name was not on. She was confused. Anyway, she didn’t want to be hit on anyway. One man who ignored her was enough for her. She didn’t need another one. She looked at the stranger beside her, just smiling at her, and every now and then taking a drag from his cigarette. His blue orbs stared into her dark brown ones. She looked at him. She had definitely seen him before, but she could not work out where. She stared at him trying to work out where she had seen him before. She recognised those eyes from somewhere. That is when she looked further down south his face and met the dimple on his chin. She could not take her eyes off it. Now she was convinced she had met this man before. But where?“I’m sorry, do I have something on my chin?” he asked, wiping his hand over it.Mandy looked quickly into his eyes and blushed, “Only the sexiest chin dimple I have ever seen!” she thought. She quickly shook her head and blushed deeper, “No. Sorry, I just have a feeling I have seen you before somewhere, and I am trying to figure out where from!”“You mean you really do not recognise me?” he laughed heartily.“Erm, no, sorry! Should I?” she asked, taking a sip from her drink.He let out a throaty laugh, “Ok, think back to about 10 years ago. High school, 1998, Julian Smith’s 16th birthday party at the Ritz!”Mandy studied his face. She definitely remembered being at that party. But she definitely didn’t know who he was. She continued studying his face blankly as he smiled. He pouted at her to give her a clue. She tried to remember back to that party and who was there. Kris Mackintosh…nope it definitely wasn’t him. Larry Waterman. Nope, not him either. Dennis Jason…he bore a slight resemblance, but if memory served her correctly, Dennis had a mole above his lip. She looked at his lip and there was no mole there. That rules out Dennis. She continued thinking. Brian McFadden. He had a dimple, and the most gorgeous blue eyes ever. In fact, she went to that party as his date. She studied his face and started suspecting it was him. But she still wasn’t sure. “Goiz a Kiss luvvie!” he grinned, giving her another hint in his best Cockney accent. That was when she twigged. She remembered Brian being extremely drunk at that party and trying to copy her accent.“Brian? Brian McFadden?” she shrieked, “IS that really you?”He just stood there and grinned at her, nodding.“NO way!” she gasped.“In the flesh!” his grin got even bigger.“Oh my god, how much have you changed?” she gasped.“Am I even cuter than what I was back then?” he grinned cheekily.Mandy sighed, “I can still you’re still just as cocky though!”Brian laughed, “You haven’t changed a bit. You still look the same…and just as sexy, if not more!”Mandy smiled, “What are you doing here?”Brian grabbed a vacant stool and sat next to her, “I moved back here after I did my A’ Levels. I really missed my home town! What are YOU doing here? You’re not a Dub!”“Yeah, that is what I keep asking myself!” she sighed.“Oooh you don’t like it here then?” he winced.“It’s not that I don’t like it. It’s just that, well, I really miss all my friends and family!” she shrugged.“Awww wanna talk about it?” he offered to listen.“Not really!” she grimaced, shaking her head, “So tell me more about you. What have you been up to? Are you married? Any little Brians running around?”He smiled at her and ordered himself another vodka and coke. He offered her one, but she rejected, saying she still had hers to drink.“No, I am not married. No children either. I am single and working in an advertising agency!” he explained.“Wow!” she smiled, lighting up a cigarette. She offered him one which he accepted, “You’ve done well for yourself. Though I have to say, I ma very surprised you are single!”“Why does that surprise you so much?” he grinned.“Well, you were always the Casanova at school and the most popular at school if I remember correctly!” she smiled.He let out a modest laugh and shook his head, “For all the wrong reasons too. I suppose all the girls got sick of my immature attitude!”Mandy smiled and nodded, “Are you sure they didn’t just get fed up of the string of girls you had on the go all at the same time?”He laughed at her comment and put his hand on his chest, “Oooh ouch! That hurt!”Mandy giggled, “Yeah well. I was one of them girls, remember!”“Yeah!” he smiled, “though in my defence, I have matured a lot in the past 10 years and my attitude towards commitment has changed. I am not so negative anymore in that respect!”Mandy laughed, “That’s good to hear!”He stayed looking at her for a while, “What about you? What do you do? Are you married with children, or are you one of us unattached lot!”Mandy sighed, “Yeah, I am married!” she answered grimly.“Oooh, happily aswell, by the sounds of it!” he laughed sarcastically.Mandy smiled, wanting to change the subject quickly, “Are you here alone?”“Yeah. My mates are all too scared to leave their girlfriends/wives behind for just one night!” he rolled his eyes as he exhaled his smoke. Mandy sighed and smiled sadly. If only Nicky was like that, she thought. She was so deep in thought that she did not hear what Brian was saying. She just felt a nudge and she quickly snapped out of her thoughts. She shook her head quickly and looked at him, “huh?”“I said what are you doing here on your own? Where’s your head woman?” he laughed.“Sorry!” she shrugged, “My husband is at work and I have no mates. I only moved here a month ago. I don’t work so I have noone to go out with!”“That’s too bad!” he pouted, “But hey. At least you have me now!” he grinned.Mandy smiled and nodded, “Yeah. I am sure I will make more friends soon too!”“Am I not enough now?” he answered, trying to look hurt.Mandy snorted, “I have always had a big circle of friends Brian. Sorry to point this out to you, but you’re gonna have to share me with other friends!” she joked.“Bugger it!” he joked back, “And there was me thinking we were gonna be busum buddies!”“Whatum buddies?” she asked confused.“Have you never seen Anne of Green Gables?” he chuckled.Mandy shook her head confused.“Busum buddies…best friends!” he laughed.Mandy giggled. She then went on to explain how she had to leave London and move to Dublin withy Nicky after getting his promotion. Even though they both worked in the same firm, there was not a vacancy for her in Dublin, and after a lot of thought and consideration, she resigned and started afresh in Dublin.“So you’re currently looking for a job now, am I right?” he asked.Mandy nodded and swallowed her drink, “Yep. I get so bored at home, I think I might go mad! I would take anything. Even a job cleaning the floors at McDonalds seems appealing!” she joked.Brian laughed, “Well, there is a vacancy at my workplace, if you’re willing to apply. I can put in a good word for you!” he winked.Mandy looked at him interested in this offer, “Where?”“K&G advertising!” he smiled, taking a sip from his drink, “the position is for customer services, so you would be on the blower for the best part of the day> but I am sure you wouldn’t have a problem with that!” he grinned.Mandy almost spat out her drink, “K&G???”Brian nodded, “Yeah. Are you familiar with them?”“That’s where Nicky works!” she whispered.“Your husband?” he checked.Mandy nodded.“So you used to work for them before. That could work at your advantage.” He grinned, “And you could keep an eye on your husband!”“Why would I want to keep my eye on him?” she asked defensively.“I was only kidding!” he said, pulling a face, knowing this was a sore subject for her.Mandy shrugged, “At least it’ll mean I’ll actually get to see him every day!” she joked.Brian stared at her blankly. Mandy noticed this and smiled. That’s when she explained everything to him, and that was when he realised why she almost blew her top earlier.“Wow. That must be hard!” he sighed.Mandy nodded and lit up another cigarette which Brian had offered her, “I am slowly getting used to it!” she explained, “And it is also the reason I am out tonight. I am just so sick of being at home alone every night!”Brian noticed her glum look, “There’s more, isn’t there?”Mandy looked at him quickly, “no. What makes you say that?”Brian smiled sympathetically, “We might not have been dating for that long 10 years ago babe, but I do know you well enough to know there is something on your mind! I am here if you want to get it out of your system!”Mandy smiled and shook her head “You wouldn’t understand.”“Try me!” he smiled as he picked a crisp from his packet.Mandy looked at him hesitantly, “Well, I hardly ever see Nicky these days. Since he got promoted to assistant manager, he seems to be working late every night. He gets home in the early hours of the morning and sleeps for like 4 hours. Then he wakes up at the crack of dawn and goes back to work again. He also goes away on business a lot!” she sighed.“And you think he is not being a good boy, am I right?” he asked.She didn’t want to admit this. She wanted to trust her husband, but she just couldn’t. She decided not to give him a straight answer.“I just want to see my husband more, that’s all. I am sure he is working though!” she tried to convince herself more than anyone else.Brian looked at her and smiled, knowing she believed there was more than just work in his mind, “If you are in any doubt, there are signs to look out for!” he shrugged.“What kind of signs?” she asked, clearly interested.Brian sighed and shook his head, “Look, I don’t want to be a part of you trying to catch your husband out. I am not getting involved!” he sighed, wishing he had not brought that subject up.“Brian, what signs?” she insisted, “Come on. You’re a bloke. You know how blokes minds work better than I do!”He looked at her, sighed and stubbed his cigarette out in the ashtray, “Right, ok. First of all, there is the smell of perfume on his shirts. Lipstick on his shirt collars. Unexplained receipts in his pockets. Sudden expenses in the bank statements. Loss of…erm…I mean, change in libido.” He sighed.“You mean loss of interest in sex?” she questioned.“Yeah, that!” he sighed.Mandy sighed as she recognised that sign only too well. She could count he amount of times she and Nicky had made love this month on one hand.“What if I notice any of those signs?” she asked.“Well, then you confront him!” he shrugged.“Isn’t there an other way, instead of asking him?” she grimaced.“Well, there are private detectives, but those are very expensive.” He shrugged.Mandy bowed her head down, “What do you suggest?”“Well, from a blokes point of view, I would just suggest confronting him. Ask him straight out.” He shrugged.“But what if…what if…” she hesitated and sighed.“What if he is actually being good and it is actually only work he is interested in and gets angry with the accusations?” he questioned.Mandy bowed her head down and nodded with a heavy sigh.“Well, that’s just a risk you have to take. But it would be a lot less painful for him to confront him than going behind his back to find proof.” He explained.“But what if I do ask him straight out and he lies to me saying he is not having an affair?” she asked.“Well, you’re gonna have to figure out whether you can trust him or not. Look out for his body language. If he is all closed up and cannot look at you in the eye, it is a clear sign that he is lying. But he could very well be a brilliant liar though. You’re just gonna have to take his word for it!”