17 #3
When I’m ready, or as ready as I’ll ever be, I head to the front door and peek through, listening out for the sounds of my friends.
I walk into the kitchen, trying to avoid their notice, but as soon as my toes step across the threshold I look up to find four pairs of unblinking eyes staring at me.
Thankfully none of which are Adam’s. Tilly is the first to break the silence as she leaps to her feet and rushes towards me.
‘Ahhhh I knew it, I knew it! I knew he would come over once I’d told him about your accident,’ she squeals, grabbing the tops of my arms and squeezing tight.
‘Careful, it’ll smudge,’ I yelp, which makes her acutely aware of what is written on my arm.
‘You can thank me now,’ she says, flicking her ponytail behind her as I try and free myself from her vice-like grip.
‘Fine. Thank you for the day, but also no thank you for the mess the end of the day has now created.’
She crosses her arms, eyes narrowed. ‘Well, it’s hardly my fault it took you all day to get into bed with him. It wouldn’t have been an issue if you’d shagged a little earlier. What were you doing all day?’
I match her body language and give her an equally sassy-toned response. ‘Talking, getting to know each other, you know, the typical things you do before sleeping with someone.’
‘You didn’t care much about knowing him before you shagged him the first time,’ she says back, and I can’t deny she has a point.
But that was different. That was a whim, a one-time thing. An ‘I’m never going to see this person again so what’s the point in knowing the deep stuff’ situation.
But now I have seen him again, and I’m being presented with even more chances to see him. Although who knows what will happen at the end of this holiday when I’m on a plane and he’s still here.
‘Hold on.’ Lucas steps out from the clump the others have made and rubs a hand over his forehead. ‘What does she mean “the first time”? Have you and this ski guy met before?’
The rest of us stand awkwardly as Lucas swings his gaze from one of us, to the other. ‘Tilly?’
‘Okay, fine. I was out with her that night, and so I’ve known since we heard his name and saw him in his sexy ski suit,’ she says.
‘Woah, back-track a second,’ David chimes in. ‘Are we talking about the night I think we are? Is he the hunk you cry-shagged?’
I cover my face with my hands and groan, trying to burn out that memory. ‘Can we not revisit that, please? But yes, it’s the same guy.’
David’s mouth hangs open like he’s trying to catch a hundred flies, while Lucas continues walking around in endless circles.
‘Okay now I’m really confused. David, did you know about this or not?’
‘Half of it,’ he concedes. ‘I knew about the guy, but I didn’t know he was the same guy that’s been teaching these three to ski for the last four days.’
I hear the sofa squeak as Meghan readjusts herself, and then all eyes are on her. She’s trying to look innocent, but her foot is bouncing and she’s fiddling with her nails like she’s going to pull them off. She doesn’t say a word, but she doesn’t need to.
‘Meg? Seriously, you knew too?’ Lucas asks, both hands pushing through his hair.
She fidgets with the sleeve of her fleece, biting at her lip as she nods. ‘I found out at our first lesson when Lottie froze like she’d seen a ghost. I texted you about it, but she wanted to keep it on the down-low, so I deleted the message before you read it.’
I watch as something clicks on Lucas’s face, clearly remembering the mysterious deleted message that must’ve been on his phone.
‘You told me that you’d butt-messaged me on the chairlift,’ he says, betrayal in his eyes.
‘Yeah, that may have been a lie…’ she says, lips pressed together as she looks down at the rug.
‘That’s great, anyone else have any secrets they’ve kept that they’d like to get out in the open while we’re at it?’
I catch Tilly and David looking at each other for the briefest moment, so brief that Lucas and Meghan both fail to notice it. I’m taken back to this morning and the strange energy between them. Neither of them says anything before Tilly quickly changes the subject.
‘My legs feel like bricks and my fingers nearly froze clean off today, so I propose another spa evening. I’m in urgent need of Jean-Luc’s firm hands. Any takers?’
I picture the two of us in the hot tub and know going will give me the opportunity to get to the bottom of this once and for all. Plus, an evening rotating again between saunas, steam rooms and hot tubs sounds like exactly what I need to decompress.
‘I’m down,’ I say, and Meghan chimes in enthusiastically too.
‘I promised Adam a couple of games of pool down at Sommet de la Montagne later, so I’ll bow out,’ Lucas says, and we agree to split into two halves for the night.
I hate that we’re not all going to be hanging out together, but I’m also grateful not to have to spend the evening with Adam.
I think it’s best for everyone if we have the rest of the day apart to cool off, and I promise myself that as much as I might not want to, I’ll finally get around to having a proper talk with him soon.
Tilly claps her hands together before throwing her arms around my shoulders from behind.
‘Go get my skimpy bikini again, looks like we’re going to the spa!’