The Curves Ahead - Wattpad Award Winner

Chapter 11

I let Heather read the email while we sat at the airport, ready to catch the afternoon flight back to Melbourne. I'd read it five times by then, and it still made me flinch and turn shaky.

"What are you going to do?" she asked calmly.

I loved her for that composure. "I don't know. I... This week has been so emotional anyway, I feel like crying for twenty-four hours non-stop. I want to call him, but I don't know what I'd say."

"Give it the weekend. You're upset and so is he." She eyed me keenly. "Now you know everything, how he liked you from the start... Would you still go there?"

"I still can't believe it. I mean, Matt's the best looking, sweetest guy I've ever known. Since I met him, I've wanted to be with him, but I thought it was just a fat girl's dream, not something that could actually happen. Now, I'm worried I've screwed it all up..."

Awash in self-pity, I dropped my face into my hands, letting my hair fall forward around me like a shield.

Heather put her lithe arm around my wide shoulders. "Look, I'm not saying it can't still happen between you two, but tell me; has anything changed?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, you came on this trip to discover yourself, to find some self-confidence, because you weren't ready to be loved yet. Have you?"

"Maybe... a little?" I considered it carefully, putting aside the bet drama. I'd held my own with models, and accepted the crush of a cute miner. Perhaps, I had changed enough. I could fly home to Sydney, appear on Matt's doorstep and throw myself into his arms.

But the vision turned to a slapstick skit as I saw myself toppling Matt to the floor and breaking his ribs with my superior weight. I guess I'm not ready yet... "But not enough," I conceded. "Anyway, you're right. We both need time to settle down. I'll call him Monday and hopefully we can just start working on being friends again."

"Sounds like a plan, lady."

Shouts echoed across the small terminal. "Heather! Evi!" Joel and Jake were running flat-out towards us, bright grins on both their faces.

"Sorry," explained Jake. "We had to wait for our lunch break to dash out!"

"That's fine," I said, hugging him fiercely. "That's so much for this week, mate."

"Thank you," he whispered in my ear. "For listening, for trying to help."

"Promise to call me if you're struggling?" I pulled back and stared intently into his sky-blue eyes. "I'll fly you out to Sydney, we'll have a fun weekend. The city girls would love you."

"I promise. I'll hold you to the offer, but I'll pay me own way." He hugged me again, and I felt hope unfurling between us that he would be on the road to mending soon.

Jake crossed to Heather to say bye, and Joel stepped in front of me.

With his beautiful dark face shining, he didn't speak. Instead, he simply pulled me into his arms and kissed me.

I hadn't expected it for a second, and I found myself too surprised to resist or even start up my internal critic, the annoying voice that listed everything I should be embarrassed or conscious of. I let my lips open as the younger man melded his mouth to mine, and a flurry of warmth kicked up inside me. My cheeks blazed and my nerves tingled, my whole body submitting to the ride.

He broke away, smiling so widely I wondered if his cheeks hurt. "Sorry, Evi, but if I'd let a beautiful woman like you fly away without at least one kiss, it would have been a dumb move on my part, hey?"