Chapter 1 #2
here on an early Saturday morning, and her boyfriend Finn, bright-eyed behind his glasses and the source of the sound. Then
there’s Max bringing up the rear, at least half a head taller than the others. Significantly taller than me, even.
Almost-black hair peeks out from the hood of his baggy heather-grey jumper, a giant backpack hangs from his shoulder, and
charcoal sweatpants meet the dirty Converse on his feet. He lifts his chin when he spots me, locking me in place with deep
blue eyes and a sly smile that pulls at one side of his face. Alarm bells go off in my head at the sight of him.
‘Sorry we’re late,’ Finn says with a grimace and an unsubtle glance at the Monroe siblings.
‘No worries,’ I reply, though I have, notably, been worrying for the past half-hour. But I’ve spent years working in the service
industry, so if there’s one thing I know how to do, it’s greet people with a smile. ‘Nice to properly meet you, Max.’
He drops his hood to reveal a sharp-angled face and rakes his fingers through hair that sticks up in all directions but somehow
looks intentional. He strikes me as the kind of man who never went through an awkward phase. The worst of his teen years probably
came from a rapid growth spurt that made him lankier than his friends. Now, amidst the slow-moving foot traffic of the station,
he’s an unlikely combination of perfectly straight-backed and impossibly relaxed. Not an ounce of poor posture. This man has
never hunched his shoulders in his life. I might resent him for that alone.
‘Hey roomie,’ he says, voice low. He reaches out his hand for me to shake, and his grip is strong, warm skin rougher than
I would’ve expected.
I’m very distracted by the way his eyes are sweeping over me. He’s not even being discreet about it, and it sends heat to my cheeks. When he releases my hand, his mouth twitches.
‘What’s the plan for the journey?’ Finn asks, and I suddenly remember there are other people around.
‘We’ll get this train to Pembroke,’ Max says, sliding his backpack off his shoulder to drop it on the floor next to my shiny
new suitcase. Which, now I’m looking at it, doesn’t feel very world traveller of me. But I guess Wales isn’t exactly a typical world-traveller destination, so that can be my excuse. ‘Then there’s a shuttle
to the resort.’
I know this, of course. I could recite the brochure word for word. After a week of radio silence following me asking for it,
Max finally sent it, accompanied by a voice note instead of a text, which felt weirdly intimate, and I’ve gone over it at least twenty
times since.
‘You two really didn’t need to send us off,’ Max says. ‘I’m sure Dylan and I could’ve handled this alone.’
‘We wanted to,’ Finn says with a shrug, a curl flopping on to his forehead with the movement.
Ava peers at him, brow furrowed, her messy ponytail skewed to one side. ‘Did we? I don’t even remember discussing it–you just
woke me up and told me we had to leave.’
‘We did discuss it,’ Finn says easily. ‘I believe you said something along the lines of, “I would rather gouge my eyes out
with a spoon than go to Paddington fucking Station early in the morning on one of my days off to wave goodbye like he’s leaving
forever and not just spending six weeks in the middle of a fucking forest learning what it’s like to be at one with nature
and figuring out how to turn shit into bird feed.”’
‘That joie de vivre does sound like you, to be fair,’ Max reasons, and I let out a quiet laugh. His eyes find mine in a flash, and I lower my
gaze immediately. ‘And it’s the coast, not a forest.’
‘Whatever. It’s still far too much time outside for my liking.’
‘Which is why I didn’t even think about asking you to be my plus-one,’ Max says.
‘If it means anything, Dyl,’ Ava says, looking at me, ‘he’s actually a pretty good travel companion.
If our childhood camping trips are anything to go by, he’ll just sleep on the way.
No endless chatting in your ear while you’re quietly trying to play solitaire on your eleven-hour flight.
’ Her eyes flick to Finn. ‘Solitaire. A card game for one person. Not two. Hence the name.’
Finn blows Ava a kiss and she pretends to dodge it. When he barks out a laugh in response, she bites down a grin. Something
behind my sternum aches at the interaction.
Ever since they got together at the end of last year, and even before that, Ava and Finn have had this ease about them. That’s what I need, I think. Something easy and simple and comfortable, where the love is loud in everything we
do, even when we’re bickering.
Ava retreats a few steps to peer up at the departure board. ‘You’ve still got about fifteen minutes. Does anyone want a coffee?
I’m only going to ask once, so don’t be polite.’
‘I wouldn’t say no,’ Max says, stretching his arms with a groan. He tilts his head and catches my eye. ‘Yeah, definitely wouldn’t
say no.’
His mouth twitches again, like he can somehow see the flip of my stomach.
‘I’ll come too. My order’s kind of weird,’ I say in a hurry.
Ava and I worked in the same coffee shop for months, and she definitely knows my order isn’t weird at all and has only ever
been an Americano, but she seems too tired to question it, and I’m glad. I just need to leave her brother’s overwhelming presence
and clear my head.
‘I’ve asked Max to behave,’ Ava says through a yawn as we step into the queue at Caffè Nero, ‘I know what he’s like.’ She
eyes me carefully. ‘I don’t want to overstep, but as your friend, I want to warn you that he can be kind of an asshole. Especially
with . . . certain types of relationships.’
I don’t need the warning, because not only am I smarter than to do anything with, one: my friend’s brother, and two: a man I will not be able to escape for six weeks, but I also have no desire to be someone’s temporary plaything, now or ever.
I shrug with an ease I definitely don’t feel. ‘I honestly don’t even think we’ll be spending that much time together. We’ll
have our own bedrooms and it seems like there’ll be plenty to do at the resort, so we’ll probably be like,’ I wave my hand
vaguely in front of me, ‘ships passing in the night.’
‘Good. I really don’t want you to end up feeling like agreeing to this was a mistake, that’s all. This trip is for you. Not
for my brother, or your sister, or for your ex. Remember that.’
‘I’ll try.’
We’re quiet for a bit, until Ava says softly, ‘As your friend, I’ve warned you, but as his sister, I want to defend him.’
We move forward with the queue. ‘I know it doesn’t seem like it, but he’s not who he seems at first glance. That might be
worth remembering, too.’
When we return with the coffees, a woman who looks around Tahlia’s age is standing with Max and Finn. I briefly wonder if
she’s one of the other people on the trip, until she lifts her phone to take a selfie with Max. Oh my god, does he have fans?
‘Thank you so much,’ she says, touching his forearm. ‘I can’t wait to see everything from your trip. It was great to meet
you too, Finn.’
She looks at him from under her lashes with a smile, and I catch the narrowing of Ava’s eyes. She strides over, almost poking
Finn’s eye out with the straw as she pushes his drink into his chest.
‘Got your coffee,’ she says to him, before engaging in an extremely brief but very unusual public display of affection, which is enough of a hint for the girl to walk away without another word. It lasts all
of two seconds, and Ava has the grace to look a little embarrassed when she pulls away. Finn, meanwhile, could’ve just thrown
back a shot of espresso, and I have to avert my gaze. It’s almost painful how he looks at her. It’s a feat she doesn’t melt
under it.
‘Really?’ Max asks, arms folded. ‘You’d better hope she doesn’t start talking shit online about her experience meeting me. I’ll be blaming you if anything negative comes out.’
‘Please, by the looks of it she had a great time meeting you. Both of you.’ She jabs Finn in the shoulder. ‘Stop being so friendly. You need to be more of a dick.’
‘You’re gonna have to make the punishment a little less appealing if you want that.’
When I pass Max his iced Americano, his answering smile does something to my insides–though that could easily be the coffee
I’m drinking on an almost-empty stomach.
‘—right?’ Ava’s voice says.
I pull my gaze away from how tiny Max’s cup looks in his hand. ‘Sorry?’
‘I said, you’ll let me know if he causes trouble, right?’
Before I get the chance to answer, Max asks, ‘Would you tell on me, Dylan?’ He shoots me a grin, straw between his teeth.
My cheeks heat again and I briefly consider running away.
‘Never.’ This is a lie. I am a law-abiding citizen. ‘You can do what you want. I’m chill.’
I’m so chill, in fact, that I don’t say anything at all about the fact that we are cutting it extremely fine to get on the
train in time. Super chill. The chillest.
Finn, though, smoothly cuts in as he glances up at the departure board. ‘Okay, well I’m not chill–shouldn’t you be going? Just because the Monroes don’t understand how time works doesn’t mean Dylan should suffer too.’
While Ava and Max roll their eyes in tandem, a weight lifts from my chest. Thank you, Finn O’Callaghan, my comrade in punctuality
woes. Our goodbyes are a distraction from the nerves swirling into a maelstrom in my stomach and clamming up my skin.
Before I have time to overthink it, Max picks up his rucksack as I extend my suitcase handle, and we say goodbye and head
towards the ticket barriers. No turning back now.