Almost everyone went to a vineyard for a wine tasting but Alex and I went on a date. We were just kind of exploring and shopping but we did go to the vineyard to have lunch with everyone.
After a few minutes, Francis tapped his glass with his knife and stood up. "I think I'm going to just say a few words to all of you. So there is a lot of wine and I do encourage you to indulge. And as the 13th century great Persian poet once said: give me more wine or leave me alone." He raised his glass.
"Hear, hear!" Jamie also raised his glass and we all followed suit.
"What's wrong?" Alex asked me quietly.
I shrugged. "I don't know, I think I'm just kinda missing home, I guess."
"What do you mean?"
"I don't know." I chuckled a little. "I guess I'm just missing home a little bit, which is weird but everything has just been so different out here."
"So what are you missing?"
"Just being at home with you and Benji. Like, I don't wanna scare you off at all but I've definitely gotten quite settled, I guess you could say." I explained to him. "It's weird. I think there's just part of me that would prefer being at home just us. Like, obviously still going out and stuff but then going back home and, I don't know."
"I love hearing you referring to it as our home." He smiled and kissed me. "You know I don't mind staying in with you if that's what you want to do. I know you always say you want me to want to do it but all I want to do is spend time with you so it doesn't really matter to me where it is that that happens."
"You're so cute." I kissed him again.
After a while, it was just Alex, me, Jamie, Frankie, Binky, Sam and Tiff.
"More wine?" Jamie offered Alex and I.
"Yes." Alex accepted but I shook my head.
"I'd like some more please." Tiff pushed her glass forward.
"You want some more?"
"I'm actually alright, thank you, J." Binky declined the wine. "I'm on the water."
"Hello." Sam waved his arm.
"You didn't pour Sam any." Tiff stated.
"Why me?"
"Mate, you've probably had enough wine, I think." Jamie said and instantly, the tension shot up.
"Why are you looking at me like that?"
"I think he's trying to restrict your drinking because you've been..."
Same cut Alex off. "Are you pissed off with me?"
"A little bit, yeah." Jamie confirmed. "I probably wasn't going to talk to you around the table."
"Why?"
"Massively." Jamie somehow managed to find the middle ground between calm and fucking raging. "I'm fucking pissed off because I said something to you on the beach that was private between me and you and then you went and told all the girls who were obviously going to tell Frankie."
"I told Liv." Sam corrected before raising his arms in surrender. "Look, mate, I shouldn't have done it. I understand. Gossiping."
"If you hear a rumour about something, it's completely different to me telling you a private conversation about my emotions." Jamie made a good point.
"Mate, I understand. I felt quite bad and it was just emotion that I shouldn't have said." Sam kind of apologised. "I get that I shouldn't. But, mate, you shouldn't go so big. You should literally say: mate, I'm pissed off."
"Why not?" Jamie asked. "Why can't I talk to you?"
"Because you've done it to me about a thousand times and I've forgiven you every single time." Sam reminded him.
"It kind of makes me realise that I can't trust you at all and I won't."
"I've done nothing that bad."
"Sam's been a good friend to you." Tiff defended her boyfriend.
"Of course you can." Sam said in reference to Jamie's trust comment. "I am such a good friend to you. I don't understand how you can say you don't trust me and how I'm such a bad friend."
"Because I sat with you and told you secrets and you went and told them."
"Mate, you're sitting next to a man who tried it on with your girlfriend." Sam blurted out.
"Huh?"
"Yeah. But I'm the arsehole."
"What?" Jamie questioned.
"Yeah." Sam raised his arms in surrender. "Not me. I'm the fucking nice guy. Goodbye."
"Say that again." Alex told him. "Stop drinking your wine. Say that again."
"Apparently you tried it on with Frankie."
"Somebody needs to tell me what the fuck Sammy is on about." I looked around at all of them. "I'm not kidding."
Alex tried to hold my hand but I moved away. "Frankie, did I try it on with you?"
"I said you were fucked. And I said it was funny." Frankie explained. "But the next morning when I woke up and people asked if I got with you, I was like, it was obviously bad for people to say that."
"I think if people see two people close they're gonna..." Alex kinda trailed off.
"No, I get that." Frankie agreed.
"I kind of wanna clear it up because I don't want you thinking I would do that." Alex looked at Jamie and then at me. "I especially don't want you thinking that I've done anything because I haven't."
"Sammy, why are you saying this?" I asked him.
"Because that's what I heard." He looked at my sympathetically because I was caught in the crossfire of their drama.
"Who said it though?" I asked.
"What do you mean, heard?" Jamie also questioned. "Who said this?"
"Frankie." Tiffany admitted.
"In what way?" Alex queried.
"What happened?" Jamie asked.
"The things you said to her."
"Like what?" Alex half shrugged.
"Like: we'd make such a good couple." Tiff said.
"What?" Alex almost scoffed.
"And apparently you said: I wish Jamie wasn't coming back."
"No, that's not..." Frankie intervened. "He said: oh, Jamie might as well not come back."
"As a fucking joke, obviously." Alex defended himself. "Like, seriously."
"That's not a fucking joke." I muttered.
"You guys talk amongst yourselves. I can't be bothered with this." Jamie walked off.
"Fuck you. Like, I actually can't do this again..." I shook my head and followed after Jamie.