Chapter 22
The barman places the drinks in front of us. ‘Cash or card?’ He asks.
‘Card,’ Soumia responds.
‘I can’t believe he’s here,’ I say to Soumia.
Soumia hasn’t seen him yet; she’s still facing the bar. She taps her card on the reader.’
‘What do you think he’s doing here?’ I ask Soumia.
She’s concentrating hard on paying. ‘Who? What? Just a second.’
‘I’m sorry ma’am, but your card’s declined. Do you have another?’ The barman huffs.
‘Ermmm, yes. Sorry, hold on.’ Soumia digs through her handbag trying to find her purse. ‘It’s in here somewhere.’
The barman lets out a sigh, letting us know we’re a huge inconvenience, delaying him from pretending to be busy.
‘Try this one.’ Soumia taps the screen again.
‘Declined.’ The barman says a little too loudly, clearly taking pleasure from the situation.
‘I’ve got one more.’ Soumia dives back into her bag.
‘I’ll get it, don’t worry,’ I say as I tap my phone on the reader.
‘I’m so sorry, I’ll give you the money back,’ Soumia says flustered. ‘My bank must have put a block on them because I’m always abroad.’
‘Don’t worry about it. Forget it, can we concentrate on that?’ I point at the man who is stood over at our table.
Soumia grabs the drinks and we head to the crew as Skerrow is introducing Olly.
Skerrow has one hand on Olly’s back. ‘This is Olly, our new engineer. He’ll be flying with us from now on.’
I don’t know whether I want to lick him or slap him. Either way I can’t take my eyes off his…
‘Hello again.’ Olly lifts his hand to his forehead to give the table a friendly salute.
‘Don’t worry, I’m not spying. I’m just here in case anything goes wrong with the aircraft.
It’s Tiny World’s way of making sure there’s always someone available after last month’s cockup with all the delays down route. ’ He’s smiling at me.
Soumia walks around the table to an empty seat, forcing me and Olly to sit next to each other on the two remaining chairs. Sensing my death glare, she avoids my eye and immediately jumps into a conversation with McBride and Skerrow.
Olly puts his phone down on the table and picks up a pint that McBride has pushed in front of him. ‘Fancy seeing you here.’
The first sip of vodka hits the back of my throat. I take another to help the first one down. ‘Why didn’t you say you’re part of the crew?’
‘You didn’t give me chance; you went off to serve your nuts to someone else.’
Olly tucks his head into his pint. He’s holding back a smirk from his own joke.
I decide to match his banter. ‘My salted nuts are why you pay extra for a premium seat.’
‘Technically, I didn’t pay any money for the seat.’
‘This is your new job then?’ I take another sip.
‘Yes, I was at Thunder Aviation until it went bankrupt last month. Tiny World was the only place recruiting. One door closes, another one opens, and all that. At least it’s a bit different here and I get to travel rather than being stuck at the airport working three on three off.’
As much as I could fall right into his biceps that are stretching the material of his long-sleeved jumper, I can’t shake the feeling of being let down.
‘You’re still the wanker who stood me up.’ I take hold of my drink and go to stand up.
Olly grabs my arm. ‘Give me a chance, Callum.’
Soumia, who’s clearly been listening, interjects, ‘Yes, give him a chance. Sit your arse back down,’ then turns back to Danielle.
I do as I’m told and lower myself back onto the chair. ‘I’m listening.’
‘I know what it looked like, but I didn’t leave you waiting on purpose, and I was there. I tried to catch you before you got into the cab.’
I take a sip of my drink, ready to listen to more of what Olly’s got to say.
‘I was late because I couldn’t leave my brother.’
‘What, you were babysitting you forty-year-old brother?’ The sarcasm flows out of my mouth like a running tap.
‘My brother has Down’s Syndrome, Callum.’
Oh god, I feel such a twat.
‘I’m so sorry,’ I say.
‘Don’t be. He’s amazing, and so much cooler than me.
You should see him Callum, he defies everyone’s expectations.
’ Olly’s eyes sparkle. ‘You’ll never meet anyone as loving as he is.
He’s awesome. When I dropped him off at my mums, he got a little upset when I said I was going to Richmond Tea Rooms. It’s his favourite place, when I said he couldn’t come, he thought I was being mean.
He takes things at face value. I couldn’t leave him when he was upset. ’
I think I love him. ‘Why didn’t you tell me?’
‘People aren’t always kind. They judge.’ Callum’s shoulder slump forward in disappointment from past experiences.
I’ve an overwhelming urge to protect him. ‘I wouldn’t judge.’
‘I couldn’t tell you anyway, you didn’t hang around long enough.’ Olly raises an eyebrow.
‘In my defence, it was cold and wet.’
I don’t tell him I thought my ex had set me up as a cruel trick.
He looks a little sheepish now, his shyness not matching this masculine exterior. ‘When I saw you onboard, I was hoping we could have a fresh start?’
‘I’d like that, if it’s not too late?’
‘Well, I’m still waiting for you to bring me your salted nuts.’ He winks; it destroys my defences.
‘They’re the best onboard.’
‘So they say.’ He licks the lager off his top lip.
‘What’s your brother called?’
‘Otto. He’s a great dancer.’
‘I’ll challenge him to dance-off.’
Olly moves in his chair, forcing his leg to touch mine. A current of electricity pulses through me, its voltage could power the national grid.
‘Apart from Otto, do you have any other family? A wife and kids I should know about?’ Because I’ve been stung before.’
Olly laughs. ‘No. I can assure you, I’m very, VERY gay.’
I imagine his eyes rolling round like a fruit machine and landing on the jackpot.
‘And what about you?’ He asks.
‘What do you want to know?’ I can feel the crew’s eyes on us. When I look up, they quickly turn away and continue a fake conversation.
‘Single?’
‘Very.’ I smile.
‘In that case, another drink?’
‘Go on then. But don’t think I’m taking my knickers off for you just because you’ve bought me a vodka.’
Olly leans in and his hot breath hits the weak spot on my neck, making the hairs on the back of my nape stand. ‘I wouldn’t expect you to. I’ll rip them off.’
He marches off to the bar as I feel myself sliding off my chair.
Soumia takes the opportunity to tease me. ‘Good job our rooms have queen size beds.’
I shoot a warning. ‘Don’t you be starting any fucking gossip.’
‘He is cute though, and kind,’ she says, leaning forward to her straw.
I can’t disagree with her. I turn around to watch him. Alex has made her way over to him at the bar. She’s laughing loudly and looking at him whilst clutching her imaginary pearls.
Nick stands up, Dave’s got his hand clawed around his wrist so tightly that his fingers are turning blue.
‘Shall we do shots?’ Nick shouts above the noise of Alex’s crew.
Dave’s looking up at him. ‘I don’t think it’s a good idea. Remember what happened last time.’
Soumia jumps in. ‘I think it’s a fabulous idea, use the kitty money.’
Danielle offers her opinion. ‘Agreed. But don’t get Sambuca, you can taste that shit for days. Tequila Rose?’
‘I’ll get them.’ Sandra’s opening her purse. ‘I’ll come with you.’ She says to Nick.
Dave sits in silence, his eyes locked onto Nick like missile detection, ready to blast anyone away who might approach his man. I want to slap him, tell him to get a grip. Nick’s one of the good ones, he’d never ask you to marry him and then go and shag the neighbour.
Captain Skerrow speaks over us. ‘I’m going to leave you all to it. Wife and a baby back home I need to face time. I’ll see you at breakfast.’
There’s a brief exchange as we all wish Skerrow good night. McBride jumps seats to fill the gap left by Skerrow and sits next to Soumia. They begin talking about the cost of living. I’m about to butt in when Olly returns.
‘I believe this belongs to you?’ Olly has a tray of drinks in one hand and is propping up Alex with the other.
I take the tray of drinks from him and place it on the table. ‘Thank you. Who are all these shots for?’
‘They’re off me.’ Alex is reaching over Olly, who’s sat back next to me and placed a solid hand on my knee. Alex passes a thimble of black poison to everyone at the table. My faces winces at the smell of aniseed.
‘Sambuca. Cheers everyone.’ Alex knocks her drink back and the rest of us follow her lead.
‘Yuck,’ I say, and quickly take a mouthful of vodka to wash away the taste.
Olly brings his hand to my face and wipes away a trace of the sticky shot. ‘Mucky pup,’ he says and licks the alcohol from his finger. I really hope I get to feel that tongue on mine.
Alex throws herself down between us, ‘How long have you known each other for?’
‘We’ve just met,’ I offer.
‘Really?’ She screeches. ‘You look dead cosy to me.’
Olly jumps in, giving her a subtle hint to leave us be. ‘I’m working on it.’
She doesn’t take it.
‘Look after my Callum, won't you? He’s been through the mill. I love him to pieces. Here, will you take a picture of us?’ She pushes her phone at Olly and sits on my knee, points her head at Olly and pouts. The flash stuns me.
Olly looks at the phone. ‘Handsome.’
I know it’s cheesy, but I smile at him. He’s warming me from the inside out, or is that the Sambuca?
‘I love this song,’ Alex slurs. ‘Let’s dance.’
She doesn’t wait for our response and rushes to an empty space cleared of tables which becomes her dancefloor.
An orange figure from the table where her crew is sitting joins her.
They gyrate their hips to Dirty by Christina Aguilera.
The barman takes it as a cue to turn the music up and dim the lights.
Soumia stops her conversation with McBride and shouts across to me, ‘Where’s Jason gone?’
‘No idea babe, I didn’t see him leave.’
Olly leans into me and moves his hand up my thigh. It’s everything I can do to not pounce on him and taste his lips right in front of everyone.
Nick interrupts. ‘Shots have arrived. Two for one, we got a round each. Four for everyone.’
Sandra’s holding a tray whilst Nick offers out the shots. We’ve started a nice collection of black drinks trays which litter the two tables.
‘He’s already had two at the bar,’ Sandra reports Nick to Dave, who has a face like thunder.
Danielle leads a toast with the first shot. ‘This one’s for Trev. Hope he’s not in there long.’
We all follow with a cheer of Trev’s name.
‘To the love of my life,’ Nick says raising another shot and creeping his way back into Dave’s good books.
Soumia’s leading now. ‘To new colleagues.’ She raises her shot glass to Olly, the mischief on her face tells me it’s for my benefit.
Olly takes his last shot glass and raises his hand. ‘To new friends and new experiences.’
He knocks it back and winks at me, and for a moment, I let myself think that I’d quite like some new experiences with Olly.
The music changes and Boney M’s Rasputin beats out from the speaker. Nick’s already halfway to joining Alex on her makeshift dancefloor. ‘It’s my song,’ he shouts.
Dave’s still clinging on. ‘No Nick, it’s not a good…’
They get lost in the crowd of Alex’s crew, who have all joined in her inebriated dancing.
Soumia’s delight spreads across her face, she raises her arms in the air. ‘FUUUCCCKKKK ITTTT.’
With that, we’re all on our way to the dance floor.
Olly stands behind me and puts one arm around my waist and pulls me into him. He’s whispering into my neck, ‘I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor.’
I turn around and face him. ‘Don’t try and use an Arctic Monkey’s song on me to chat me up.’
Olly blushes. ‘I didn’t have you down as an Arctic Monkey’s fan.’
‘I’m not, Sugababes covered it.’
Olly laughs.
‘Can I kiss you?’ He asks.
I don’t know if it’s the Tequila, Sambuca, or if I’m just feeling really good because this hunk is stood opposite me asking me to kiss him. Me, who’s forgotten to keep breathing in.
I step closer and put both arms around him.
He does the same with his strong engineer’s arms. The Jean Paul Gautier he’s wearing hits my nose as his lips touch mine.
His stubble glides across my beard. It’s a subtle kiss, a gentle kiss.
I feel lighter. He’s not letting me go. Our lips part a fraction and he moves back in, this time with tongue.
This isn’t a normal kiss. This kiss has enough energy to light up Blackpool illuminations, enough to get me into trouble, and enough to… Blind me.
‘Jesus,’ I shout as I stand back shielding my eyes from the flash that’s just gone off.
Alex waves her phone in front of us. ‘Smile, you’ve been caught on camera!’