“Morning,” Colin said appearing in my doorway after knocking it and waking me up. “Can we have a chat?”
He didn’t wait for a reply, he walked in and sat on the end of the bed.
“James is still at the airport, there were no spaces on the flights so he has been waiting on a cancellation. The weather back home is terrible so now all the flights are cancelled. I know he won’t come back unless you agree so can you please call him and say it is ok?”
I shook my head.
“Look at the flight board,” he said showing me his tablet. All cancelled. “He’s been there all night. If he comes back I will keep him out of your hair. The sofa pulls out into a bed. I will make that up and sleep with him on it. I am not leaving a mate on airport chairs again tonight.”
I was waking up more and realising what he was saying. I couldn’t leave him at the airport, I’d been raised better than that.
“So can I go get him?” he asked like he was asking if he could go pick up a stray from the pound.
I nodded.
He dialled the number, “Damn his battery is gone. I will go fetch him. A little bit of boy advice. Be wearing a skimpy bikini and lots of shimmering sun tan lotion when we get back. It will make his balls ache worse than a kick in them.”
“Probably if it was his ex, not me, but thanks.”
“No way, she is history. You are the future,” he said making my stupid heart spring alive with hope until my brain strangled it with a reality check.
He went off to fetch his playmate as I got dressed.
“No way, you are not wearing that,” Lauren said as I put on a pair of shorts and tshirt. “Bikini, sarong and sandals. We are going out to play.”
I was dressed in what was effectively my underwear as we headed off to the beach. There was a strip of bars and restaurants.
“Two drinks in each should do it,” she said.
The men had used Adrians hire car to go get James. I was going to find me a new man. Yep I wasn’t going back to that Villa without at least snogging someone.
The more I drank the looser my lips became and I told them about our conversation... all except the ‘fake couple bit’. They were all fuming and told me I had done right. I was to get over him by kissing a man in each bar. Not a hard task as with a bunch of rowdy girls, I had some how turned into the girl from my first night here who propositioned James. I was that drunk I determined to sleep with someone else not just kiss them but my period would put pay to that, the only thing I was getting intimate with tonight was another tampon. So much for being a drunken predator.
I still had fun though, it didn’t take too long before I was photographed kissing enough men to break world a record. It was only a ‘Mwah’ not a snog but still fun and very much needed male attention to boost my ego after everything I’d been through.
I took to carrying my shoes and danced on the beach wall with some lads from Liverpool. One was called ‘Frankie boy’ as his surname was Franklin. He was gorgeous, cheeky and funny. Lauren and the others went back to the villa as they were tired. I was left with Michelle to go back to the hotel with the lads. Their hotel was no way near as nice as ours and reminded me of Uni.
Frankie and I made no secret of our attraction towards each other and shared a few stole pecks on the lips but I kept pushed him away calling him ‘kiss stealer’ and demanding more booze. They really were a great bunch of lads and not trying to get in your pants all the time but loved to flirt, which was a welcome change.
The only downside was I fell and hurt my leg during a game of people jenga. The pain was enough to sober me up and I ended up being taken to A&E by Frankie. I was told it was a sprain and to stay off it for a few days! The insurance company were going to love me this holiday!
Frankie took me back to the Villa with crutches and a bandaged ankle. I snuck in trying not wake everyone but Colin and James were still awake.
“What have you done?” James asked rushing over. Great the first time I see him since the fight and I wearing a bikini, sarong, and crutches... not to mention the state of my hair and make up. I should have stuck with Colin’s bikini plan, at least I wouldn’t look like a complete twat.
“People Jenga Casualty,” Frankie said. “The doc said it’s a sprain. She is lucky she didn’t break it, the way it twisted.”
“Are you ok?” James asked.
I nodded and glared at him. Frankie had given me some advice during our A&E stay. He told me not to be too hard on the guy. He was hurt by his ex, it would have bruised his ego not only to be cheated on but for it to be his best mate. That is double the loss and he had to prove he could get her back, as an alpha male thing. His friend slept with her because he could and was probably feeling pretty big in the balls department. James winning her back would be like walking into his mates cave and dragging her back to his by the hair. ‘Me, Man’ Frankie had said banging his chest all caveman like.
He had said he understood James wanting to keep his option open and leading her on the way she had with him. Getting her to jump through ‘guilty hoops’ in the hope of reconciling, only to meet me and realise that it wasn’t worth playing the circus tricks with her anymore. He liked me. It was difficult to cut the ties with him being away. He said maybe when we got back I might see it from a different point of view and realise that James is not as into her as he thought. I told him that was not going to happen, I’d been fucked over enough, by men, to last me a life time.
Now here we were, he was handing James the insurance paper work and I felt like a prat.
“Right I’m gonna get off, I just wanted to make sure she got back ok and had someone to look after her. She is supposed to be resting it. No Riverdancing,” he joked.
He was such a sweetie.
“I’ll see you later gorgeous,” he said pecking me on the lips again.
“Heeyyy,” I said scowling.
“I know I’m a kiss stealer but you have very kissable lips,” he said hurrying back out the door to the waiting taxi.
I couldn’t have planned that better if I tried.
“Who was that?” James asked.
“Frankie,” I replied as I walked to my room with crutches that were killing my armpits.
“Where’s Michelle?” he asked.
“I have no idea.”
“Shagging one of his mates no doubt,” Colin replied.
“No, last I saw of her, she was with some Scottish bloke asking him to do a Gerard Butler Impression,” I informed them.
“You’re back,” a sleepy Lauren said from the doorway as I turned around. “Oh my god what did you do?”
“People Jenga, one minute I was the top of the pyramid and the next at the bottom with everyone on top of me,” I said as I pulled off my sarong.
“You are covered in bruises,” she said rushing over as James and Colin watched from the door.
“I’m ok,” I said making light of it but knew when the booze and pain relief wore off I was in trouble!
“Wait you were in A&E, did you kiss someone there... otherwise you have to do the forfeit.”
“Yeah I kissed my doctor.”
“Where is the photo as proof?”
“Frankie has it and one of me kissing the taxi driver so ‘you’ have to do a forfeit not me,” I replied smugly.
“No way, I am waiting on photographic evidence I don’t believe you. If I see proof I will streak up and down the beach.”
She left the room to go check facebook, they had added each other earlier. I had reactivated my account and would probably regret it in the morning with the pictures on there.
I struggled to get out of my bikini and into a short PJ set as I was aching already. I was just finished when James came in. No knock, just barged in.
“You kissed all of those guys just to piss me off,” he fumed.
“No I kissed them all because I wanted to,” I replied.
“No you didn’t, you did it to get one up on me!”
“Believe what you like, goodnight.”
“Go on tell me you didn’t kiss them to spite me.”
“No I kissed them to get over you, a bit like you did with me and Hayley. How does it feel?”
“That is not the same thing.”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa you two come on now, she was dared to do it,” Lauren said coming in.
“You dared my girlfriend to kiss other guys,” he said glaring at her.
“She’s not your girlfriend; you split up because you were using her to get over your ex.”
“No I’m not!”
“If you tell your current girlfriend you ‘kinda’ still love your ex, it is deal breaker, James. Not forgetting that you still hook up every now.”
“I don’t hook up with her.”
“When was the last time you kissed her?” she asked.
“She kissed me a few weeks ago. I didn’t kiss her.”
“You fought her off?” Lauren said sarcastically. I was loving her at this precise moment.
“No, I was holding my niece. She kissed me as she was getting into the car. A quick peck like that guy just did to her, in front of me,” he said glaring at me.
“Did you think to say ‘don’t kiss me you cheating bitch’?” I double loved her now.
“No, I just ignored it.”
“Ignored it? Did you ignore her groping your bits or were you groping hers? When was the last time you were intimate?”
“Way before we got together,” he said looking at me.
“After she slept with your friend behind your back,” I said shaking my head in disgust.
“I know it was childish but I wanted to get her back so I could dump her. I didn’t like being used and when she showed signs of wanting to get back together I led her on.”
“By letting her suck your bits!” I said glaring at his crotch.
“She said I was crap in bed I wanted to prove I wasn’t.”
“I would have done that,” Colin interjected.
“Men!” Lauren said glaring at him. “Why is she calling you here all the time?” she asked James.
“Because she works at the builder merchants and I have people covering whilst I am on holiday, she is booking materials for their jobs and asking me to sign off on them.”
“Have you told her about Mel?”
“Yeah.”
“That you are together.”
He nodded.
“A couple. As in sleeping together.”
“No I said I’d met someone I liked and that was it.”
“That is not telling her then is it. What did she say? Was she jealous like you hoped?”
“She didn’t say anything.”
“So you still care for her and Mel is supposed to say ‘That’s ok, please carry on loving your cheating ex whilst fucking me’. Or ‘Thanks for telling me, I appreciate the honesty and will not overreact when you call her name out during sex?’... Or ‘Carry on taking calls from your ex, don’t mind me?’ How would you feel if that was her ex?”
“Hey come on, leave it now!” Colin said.
“Well it’s just ridiculous, she deserves better than that and he knows it. He is just being selfish. If anyone else did it to her he would go up the wall!”
“That is between them, get your interfering backside into our bed so I can smack it,” he said hustling her out the door.
Awkward silence followed.
“I’m going to bed, goodnight,” I said.
“Here,” he said passing me his phone. “You can keep it, I won’t answer another call. I’ll prove to you that I am serious about us...”
“I don’t want your phone or a relationship with you,” I said passing it back. “It is over. Accept it, move on. I have.”
“With Frankie, are you kidding me?”
“No, with myself. I have given myself permission to stop beating myself up for not living up to other peoples expectations. I have more fun that way.”
“We had fun.”
“No you used me. I was expecting a gentle lover, instead I got charged by a running bull on top of a dressing table and whilst it was great at the time, it was not what I was expecting of us. I would however expect it of Frankie and if I wasn’t on my period I wouldn’t be sat here I would be sat on his face. Now if you don’t mind I am trying to sleep!”
He walked off in a rage, I turned to climb on my bed when he came back in. Great round two! I turned ready to argue but was kissed before I had a chance to avoid it.
“He is not going to be the last person you kiss today and I am not going home. I am staying here and will prove that I didn’t use you. Goodnight,” he walked out.
“Dickhead,” I called after him but my heart was doing the salsa ... if my mind had a gun it would have shot it for betraying us!