33 #2
‘G’day, Beno,’ she says with a smile, looking more beautiful than ever. ‘Thought I’d pop over and say hi.’
‘Me too. Maybe we should have coordinated better.’
‘Yeah, maybe. It’s so cold here. I don’t think I’ve ever been this cold my entire life.’
‘It’s so hot here.’
‘I know! I was literally just there,’ she says, and I laugh.
‘Right, yeah.’
‘So, look, Beno—’
‘Sas, can I go first?’
‘Umm, yeah, go for it.’
‘Because I feel like this is all my fault. I told you we couldn’t FaceTime anymore, but the truth is, the moment I told you I knew it was wrong.
I regretted it from the moment I said it because the thing is, Saskia, I think you are the one for me, and I know we live ten thousand miles apart, but apparently, we’re both prepared to travel across the world for love.
I know we haven’t met in person yet, have a lot to figure out, practical things to discuss, and I don’t have all the answers, but you know once we sit down and go through all the—’
‘Beno?’
‘Yes.’
‘Please just say it, and I promise, if you do, I’ll say it back.’
I look at Saskia on my phone, in my bedroom, and she smiles at me, and I smile back. Ten thousand miles between us yet it feels like we’re closer than ever.
‘I love you, Sas.’
‘Love you too, Beno.’
We both fall into smiles, laughter and I’m sure I see tears in her eyes.
I suddenly feel so overwhelmed with emotion myself, and maybe it’s the jetlag, the craziness of the last forty-eight hours, but I start to cry too.
So, there we are, both crying with happiness, both jet lagged on opposite sides of the globe, but madly in love with each other.
Eventually, we stop crying, and after Saskia leaves to find a tissue – I don’t have any actual tissues so toilet paper it is – she returns, sits down on my bed and looks at me.
‘The question is, Beno, what do we do now?’
‘I think it’s obvious. Give me a day or two, and I’ll get back to London as soon as I can.’
‘Yeah? You don’t want me to come there?’
‘It’s all right, Sas. You stay put, enjoy Flatmate Simon’s great cups of tea—’
‘He does make great tea, eh?’
‘He does. Also, a more than passable spaghetti bolognaise if he offers to cook. Enjoy London, stay warm, and I’ll get back there as soon as I can.’
‘Okay.’
‘And Saskia?’
‘Yes?’
‘I know people will think this is crazy, but I do love you.’
‘I know, Beno. I love you too.’
‘When did you first know? When was the moment?’
Saskia looks at me, her beautiful face on the screen of my phone.
‘The first FaceTime. As soon as you smiled at me. What about you?’
‘You know, I don’t know whether I was in denial, whether I didn’t want to think about it because it was too crazy, but that first FaceTime too. I knew from our emails and messages that we had something, but the second I saw your face, it hit me.’
‘Are we crazy?’
‘Probably. But isn’t that what love is?’
‘You know you have Lou Sanders to thank for this.’
‘I heard about Lou. I’m sorry, Sas.’
‘It’s okay. Before he died, he gave me some money and told me to choose love. You can’t ignore a dying man’s last wish.’
‘No, you can’t,’ I say, and she smiles at me with a glint of something mischievous in her eyes. ‘What?’
‘I haven’t told anyone else about this, but it feels right telling you. Another of his last wishes was to see my tits. So, just before he closed his eyes for the last time, I flashed him.’
‘So, the last thing he saw before he died was your tits?’
‘That’s right.’
‘What a way to go!’ I say, and she laughs.
Saskia and I sit and talk for another half-an-hour before I start falling asleep.
The jetlag hits me hard, and I can barely keep my eyes open.
I still have no idea what day it is. We say goodbye and when she is gone, I lay back on her bed, waiting for sleep to come, but with a huge smile on my face.
However, before I get the chance to really fall asleep, the door opens, and Brian appears.
‘Sorry to interrupt, Ben, mate, but I thought you’d like to try my jetlag cure,’ says Brian, holding a glass of green liquid.
‘I discovered this little beauty a few years ago on a trip to Mozambique. It’s mainly spinach, but it also has some cherries, avocado, banana, capsicum, ginger, eggs, green tea and a few other secret ingredients, but I can’t tell you those, Ben, otherwise I’ll have to kill you, eh. Do you want to give it a go?’
I look at the green juice and I am either going to be cured of my jetlag, or I am going to rush to the toilet and throw it all up. Brian looks so excited for me to try it, I can’t say no.
‘Go on then, Brian. Thank you,’ I say, taking the glass.
I give it a quick sniff and it’s quite potent.
‘Smells weird, right?’
‘It does. Well, bottom’s up!’ I say, and I take a big sip of Brian’s patented jetlag recovery juice. It tastes better than it smells, which isn’t saying much.
‘What do you reckon?’ asks Brian.
‘That I’ll be awake for a while.’
‘Good on yer,’ says Brian, and with that I decide to start searching for flights home to see Saskia.
Fingers crossed I’ll be back in London within forty-eight hours, and finally Saskia and I can be together.
I’ll be able to kiss her, hold her in my arms and then we’ll have to figure out what to do next.
I always wondered how far I would go for true love and now I know the answer – across the world and back.