One Greek Summer Wedding

Chapter 58

Cara knew she had had more than enough to drink already, but she just wanted the numb feeling that came when you slid from reality into something that was less bleak and more indistinguishable around the edges. She took another gulp of wine and put her glass back on the table. Seb hadn’t just ghosted her because he didn’t want her in his life, he had already decided he didn’t want her in his life when he’d started sleeping with Allie.

And Margot had known. Worse still, Margot had managed his departure.

‘Cara! Is that you?’

It was someone wearing a pink bonnet and glasses with fake googly eyes that were dangling from them. She tried to focus.

It was Horatio.

‘No,’ she answered. ‘That’s not me. Sorry.’

‘Hey,’ Horatio said. ‘Are you OK?’

‘Yes, thank you,’ Cara answered. ‘All good. Even better if you go away.’

‘O-K,’ Horatio said.

He seemed to be getting less close now, the goofy eyes retreating, the scent of overpowering aftershave lessening. Good. Just her and her friend Pinot. She made a grab for the glass but she overestimated the distance, her hand smacking the body of it. She watched as it tumbled to the ground and smashed.

‘Shit,’ she said, preparing to slide off the stool. Except the pavement wasn’t quite where she expected it to be either and before she knew it, she was on the ground herself realising exactly how uncoordinated she had become.

‘OK, do not touch the glass.’

Cara was currently on all fours wondering how to get up. And now someone else was talking to her. He didn’t have googly eyes. He had beautiful eyes…

‘Cara, come on, let’s get you up.’

‘I’m fine,’ she answered, finally feeling able to right herself a bit. Until a kind of vertigo kicked in and she had to lunge.

‘Hey, you’re OK. I’ve got you.’

She recognised the voice now. The calming deep tone that always wrapped her up like it was a sexy comfort blanket. Akis. And she was pawing at him, gripping his arms as her world revolved.

‘I’ve… had too much to drink,’ she said.

‘That’s what nights out are for,’ he replied.

‘I know but… I don’t usually… end up on my hands and knees.’

‘Really?’ Akis asked, still supporting her. ‘I seem to remember one ladies’ night where you ended up on your back on my stage.’

‘OK,’ Cara breathed. ‘But that was not my fault. That was… the priest.’

‘Right, well, The Deacon is taking you back to his apartment for coffee now.’

‘No,’ Cara said, letting him go with one hand. ‘You don’t have to do that. I’m fine.’

She quickly realised she was drifting back into the table but before she could slip or stagger, Akis had stopped her. And before she could say anything else, he had lifted her up in his arms and was walking down the street with her.

‘Akis, I don’t want coffee. I’ve… had too much wine but… then I usually move on to spirits and I’m fine.’

‘No,’ he answered. ‘No spirits.’

As the motion of being carried began to make her head spin it seemed it was easier to give in.

There were so many stairs, Cara felt this was what Rapunzel might have experienced being carried to her lifetime in the tower. The circling motion was not helping her head or her stomach that was swilling around the alcohol and all the food she’d consumed at the grill house. So many regrets right now…

‘You OK?’ Akis asked as the rotating stopped.

‘Can I answer later?’ Cara said, swallowing down an ugly flavour in her mouth.

‘OK, I just have to know if you need a bucket.’

‘Akis,’ she groaned, closing her eyes. ‘Put me down.’

He did as she asked and she realised then that they were outside his apartment and he was now opening the door.

‘Please ignore the mess. Horatio attempted to make a banner for Cosmos’s man party and it is everywhere and will be for weeks.’

Cara could barely see straight let alone pinpoint any type of mess. Carefully, wobbling, she made her way over to the sofa and sat down, glad to be off her feet and slightly grounded.

‘I will make coffee,’ Akis said, heading towards the kitchen area.

‘Please, I don’t need anything else in me right now…’ She stopped herself talking, her fuzzy brain still able to acknowledge she should have clarified that she meant food or drink. ‘I… just need to sit down for five minutes and get my bearings. And… you don’t need to stay. You should be with Cosmos on his special night… not babysitting me.’

‘Cosmos went home an hour ago,’ Akis said, filling the coffee maker.

‘Really?’

‘He wanted to go home five minutes after we arrived. The night out was always really going to be about his friends celebrating rather than him. He likes quiet.’

‘But you like a party,’ Cara said.

‘I also like to make sure my friends are OK.’

Friends. Yes, that’s what they were now. She had friend-zoned him. And now the gurgling of the coffee machine was the only sound apart from the faint street noise coming from the open windows. She scratched around in her uncooperative brain for conversation topics.

‘Margot and I are staying at the Arcadion Hotel for the rest of our time here.’

‘It is very nice there,’ Akis answered.

‘Yes.’

‘Very good views.’

‘Yes.’

‘And at Easter time, people throw pots filled with water from the balconies and they smash on the ground into a million pieces.’

This stilted conversation was horrible. Horrible. Next they would be talking about the weather. She shouldn’t be here. Why had she let him carry her to his apartment? She just needed to find Margot and get back to the hotel and go to bed. She put her hands on the sofa and attempted to propel herself upwards. But the swinging and the instability, coupled with the leg of the coffee table, had her sprawled out on the floorboards before she had even got fully upright.

‘Cara, please don’t try to move.’

He was there in two strides, helping to gather her up. She clawed at the sofa, determined to do it herself.

‘Akis, please don’t try to comfort me. And please, don’t… touch me.’

He stepped back immediately and she realised exactly how forceful that had sounded.

‘Sorry,’ she said. ‘I didn’t mean it to sound like that.’

‘It is OK.’

‘No, it’s not,’ she replied. ‘I’m a fucking mess tonight. I can’t even sit on a sofa. I’ve smashed a glass. I left Margot in a grill house she would never usually go into and now she’ll drink all the wine by herself and be a fucking mess too, not that she doesn’t deserve that and… I found out that not only did my ex-fiancé ghost me, it was actually strategically planned that way by Margot and really he had been cheating on me for some time before that.’

Now the tears came and she couldn’t seem to stop them. Still on her knees, she buried her face into the sofa and could do nothing but let it happen.