Chapter 5
The room is beautiful and immaculate, with crisp white bed sheets and the sun pouring in through the balcony door. The view shows an unbelievable landscape of Santorini, in all its glory. Nora wolf whistles.
“This room is sweet”
Nora says, elongating ‘sweet”.
“Tell me about it. I mean, look at that view. It’s almost worth it for this ugly cut on my face.”
I walk over to the mirror opposite my bed and stare at the raised red bump around the white bandage plastered on my face.
“Doesn’t change the fact you’re still beautiful.”
I turn and face Nora, who is not looking at the view but me.
“You’re intense, you know that, right?”
I ask, tilting my head. Nora walks a couple steps towards me, breaking the gap between us.
“Is that a bad thing?”
Shaking my head, Nora holds eye contact, her frost kissed eyes making me nervous. I feel the tension between us grow. Is she flirting with me? I mean, during university, all she’d ever do was say hello, and that was it. She probably just feels bad for me and wants to make this trip more enjoyable. I clear my throat.
“I might have a sleep.Try to distract myself from the throbbing of my cheek.”
And throbbing elsewhere.
“No, sure, do you need anything? Medicine? Water?”
“No, I’ll be okay.”
Nora walks towards the door and I follow, waving her goodbye as she walks down the steps from my door. I get into an oversized
BEYOND THE BLUES
t-shirt and my comfy pants, tie my hair up and lie down in bed browsing through the channels till I find one I can understand. Finally I find an episode of ‘Friends’ where all the pitches of the voices are ridiculously high. My thoughts drifting between Coco, like usual and then to Nora and the moment between us earlier, my eyes feeling heavy. The voices on the TV get quieter, and I feel myself drifting out of consciousness. I hear a subtle knock on my door, unsure if it’s a dream or not. I continue to lie there, then the knock is louder, waking me up.The room has fallen dark. How long have I been asleep for? I stand up out of bed, the cold tiles cooling my feet after a sweaty sleep. I open the door and Nora is standing there, carrier bag in hand. I pull my shirt down, attempting to cover my horrendous underwear.
“I just came to drop these bits round. You missed dinner, so I got a bit worried.”
Nora lifts the carrier bag and hands it to me. I peek inside and see crisps, ibuprofen, antiseptic cream, two bottles of water and a pot of noodles.
“You didn’t have to. What even is the time?”
“It’s 9pm.”
Wow, I must’ve really needed that sleep. To be fair, the pain of my injuries has really mellowed out. Nora stands there, shifting between her feet.
“Do you want to come in? It’s not much fun but, you’re free to”
I offer. “Your company is fun enough for me.”
Nora smiles and walks past me into
the room. I close the door and follow her in. I open the carrier bag before opening the cold bottle of water, gulping it, soothing my dry mouth. Sitting back on my bed, I lean up against the headboard. I pat my side, inviting Nora to lie back with me rather than perch on the edge of the bed.
“Mind if I check your cheek?”
Nora asks.
“Sure. Are you a doctor today?”I joke.Nora carefully removes the bandage from my face, the air hitting the wound.
“No, just making sure you don’t need stitches, but I think…”
Nora grabs my chin with her thumb and index finger and moves my head slightly to the side, inspecting it further. Her eyebrows furrowed with concentration.
“I think you are all good. I’ll just put some cream on it and you should be good to go.”
Nora leans to the edge of the bed where the carrier bag was, her shorts slightly revealing her Calvin Klein boxers. She leans back and gets a
*
smudge of cream on her finger and carefully pats it on my cut. I wince loudly.
“You okay?”
Nora pulls her hand away quickly. I smile.
“Just kidding.”
I chuckle, Nora rolls her eyes and continues to rub it on my cut. We lay down on the bed together, Nora rolling over to face me and me to face her.
“So…” I say.
“So, how’s your life?”
“I’m in Greece, so it’s pretty alright.”
“And at home?”
“Apart from my dead best friend, overbearing parents and dead-end job, not too bad, you?”
I answer bluntly. I can’t tell if she keeps digging to find out more about Coco or if she’s genuinely interested in my life.
“Well, after this trip, I’m flying out to America and supporting a band over there for the year.”
I also knew Nora was musical. Even during university, most student nights would start off with watching her and her band play. She plays guitar, and very well, watching her is like watching Bob Ross with a paintbrush, effortless.
“What’s your band called again?”
“Lez be honest.”
“Of course it is,”
I snicker. Nora prods my leg playfully.
“But back to your ‘dead-end job’”
Nora puts into quotation marks.
“I mean, I work at a cafe, wiping tables and making coffees all day. Nothing special.”
“But is that what you want to do?”
I shake my head at her. Nora stares at me, waiting for more of an answer, but people always doubt me when I mention being a writer and wanting to be an author.
“I want to be an author.”
“And what do you write?”
“Anything.”
“Anything?”
“I love all forms of literature. usually spending my days cuddled up with a book, forgetting about reality.”
I get flustered, fidgeting a bit, laying down on my pillow.
**
BEYOND THE BLUES
“It’s a silly dream, but-”
“I don’t believe in silly dreams. If you want it hard enough, it will happen.”
Nora says with confidence, before propping herself up on her elbow, looking down at me. She looks at my lips, her tongue gliding over her bottom lip before she looks at me with intense eye contact. We remain looking at each other in silence for a moment.
“Why are you hanging out with me?”
I blurt out.
“Huh?”
“Are you doing it because you feel bad? Because I don’t need someone to do that. I’ve already had enough of that for the past six months.”
“I know Ophelia.”
“You know what, Nora?”
“I know you don’t need that, that’s not why I’m here, I’m here because until I sat on the plane next to you I didn’t realise how easy to talk to and funny you were.”
Nora sighs.
“I also feel a bit like a dick for not talking to you sooner, especially since I always thought you were gorgeous.”
“You thought I was gorgeous?”
I question. I feel my cheeks tug my mouth into a smile.
“Always. It’s hard to deny, really.”
Nora lifts her spare hand and tucks a small curl behind my ear, sliding her hand through to the back of my head before leaning in and placing her soft lips gently on mine. At first it’s hesitant, the kisses small, but the more heat I feel from her lips, the more I lean into it. I feel Nora grin in the kiss. I pull away.
“What, am I worse than you imagined?”
I breathlessly mutter.
“Better.”
Nora crashes her lips back onto mine, this time with much more lust. I grab the collar of her shirt and pull her closer to me. First year university student me is screaming with excitement right now, running to tell Coco about me kissing the hot girl in that band. Coco. I try to push the thoughts to the back of my mind, but the heaviness of the absence snatches the enjoyment right from my hands. I pull away abruptly.
“Sorry.”
“Did I do something wrong?”
**
“No, it’s just, I would’ve loved to tell Coco this.”
“What? That we kissed?”
“Yeah, I used to have a small crush on you at university.”
I blush, pinching my fingers together.
“I see… well.”
Nora stands up and walks over to the balcony door, sliding it open. She waves me over. I limp over to the door. Nora stood confidently on the balcony, chest puffed out.
“You see that Coco! I just kissed your best friend! Fuck yeah!”
Nora shouts up at the sky. I laugh out loud and put my hand over Nora’s mouth as she muffles more words in my hand.
“An-d she was gr-eat”
“Stop!”
I say through fits of laughter. Nora turns to me and pulls me in by my waist.
“Now she knows.”
I look up at the sky, and as if she did, the moon gets brighter. I look back at Nora and admire her features before our lips meet again.