Chapter 15
NOAH
‘You sure I can’t tempt you to come in for a nightcap?’ Kayleigh said as she stood at her room door and gently slid her dress strap down her shoulder.
We’d just finished dinner and I’d offered to walk her to her room. She’d laid the flirting on extra thick tonight, but for some reason my dick hadn’t shown the slightest bit of interest.
‘Not tonight,’ I said. ‘We should get some rest for tomorrow’s excursion.’
‘But the message said we’re not leaving until the afternoon!’ She crossed her arms under her chest, pushing her tits up higher.
Nope.
Still nothing.
What the hell was wrong with me?
‘Er, yeah, but it’s been a long day,’ I said. I almost added maybe tomorrow, but luckily stopped myself in time. I already felt shitty about the fact that I wasn’t feeling as drawn to her as I should and I didn’t want to make promises that I couldn’t keep. ‘I should go. Have a good sleep.’
Kayleigh gave me a tight smile, then I turned and left.
Once I was back in my room, I flopped on my bed.
My phone buzzed and when I checked the screen, I saw that it was Colin. He’d replied to the message I’d sent him earlier to update him on how everything was going.
Colin
Love the photos! Your match is a babe. Even Shania agrees.
So… Is she the one?
I was about to start typing a reply, but decided to call him instead. I needed to talk to someone.
‘Hey!’ He answered on the second ring. ‘I wasn’t expecting to hear from you tonight. I thought you’d be having relations with your match.’
‘Relations?’ I repeated. ‘How old are you? Eighty?’
‘What? I have my darling wife beside me so I need to speak in a respectful manner.’
‘Have you fucked yet?’ Shania called out.
‘Yeah, I can see why you’d need to be respectful around Shania.’ I laughed. ‘She’s got such a way with words.’
‘Thanks!’ She giggled in the background. ‘So?’
‘I’ve only been here three nights!’ I protested.
‘From what Colin tells me, before we stepped in and tried to find you some proper dates, you didn’t even need three hours to wet your willy.’
‘Oh my God.’ I dragged my hand over my face. ‘Where do you two come up with these sayings. And seriously, mate. What happened to the bro code? Do you really have to tell your wife everything about my sex life?’
‘Sorry. We have no secrets in this relationship. In all seriousness though, how is it going?’ Colin’s voice turned sombre.
‘Honestly?’ I said. ‘I’m confused. Kayleigh’s sweet and obviously pretty, but I just don’t feel that spark. She made it clear from the first night that she was up for taking things further, if you catch my drift, but for some reason I just couldn’t bring myself to do it.’
‘Shit. That’s weird.’
‘Thanks.’
‘Sorry, I’m just saying.’
I knew he didn’t mean any harm. I also knew he was right. Kayleigh was the kind of woman that men had posters of and fantasised about. So why the hell wasn’t I feeling the urge?
‘How’s Alicia?’ Shania asked.
‘She’s okay,’ I said.
Judging by how well she seemed to be getting on with Adonis earlier, I’d say she was more than okay.
I was surprised she’d forgiven him after he caused her to miss that stunning sunset at the Agios Nikolaos Castle ruins, because he’d gone shopping.
Who even comes to a beautiful village like Oia for less than a day and spends the majority of the time buying T-shirts?
And he didn’t even offer to buy a single thing for Ali. Twat.
At least he’d finally seen sense and given Ali the aisle seat.
‘What’s her match like?’ Shania replied.
‘I think he’s a dick, but she seems to like him. He’s called Adonis.’
‘You’re joking?’ Colin laughed.
‘Nope.’
‘Is he sexy?’ Shania asked.
‘Hello? I’m right here,’ Colin said.
‘What? If you can call Kayleigh a babe, I can ask if Adonis is sexy!’
‘If muscle men who use cheesy chat-up lines and are more slippery than a car salesman covered in gallons of baby oil are your thing, then maybe.’
I explained to Colin and Shania about the coach seat situation, gave examples of some of the cringey lines I’d heard him use and told them how he kept picking flowers from the hotel grounds to give to Ali, but would pretend that he’d walked miles to source them.
‘Sounds like a right wanker,’ Colin said.
‘Exactly! He’s not right for her,’ I agreed.
‘It was sweet of you to look out for her when she was scared and spend time with her during the excursions,’ Shania said.
‘It’s just what best friends do,’ I replied.
‘Friends, eh?’ she said.
‘Not you as well!’ I rolled my eyes. ‘I get enough of this bollocks from your husband.’
‘Alicia’s pretty too, right?’ Shania said, ignoring my previous statement.
‘Yeah, she’s beautiful,’ I said without thinking. Something told me I was going to regret using that adjective with them. That was clearly a trap. Shania had met Ali multiple times and knew exactly how she looked.
‘Beautiful, eh…?’ I could feel the smile in Shania’s voice. Shit. I’d played right into their hands. ‘And the spark thing you don’t feel for Kayleigh, do you feel it when you’re with Alicia?’
‘It’s not like that!’ I said quickly, determined not to say the wrong thing this time. ‘We’re friends.’
‘So you keep saying,’ Shania replied.
‘Oh, he feels the spark,’ Colin added unhelpfully. ‘Trouble is, it’s unrequited. Alicia’s had the poor bloke firmly in the friend zone for decades. He thinks she walks on water, but she still sees him as her dorky, nerdy mate.’
‘Wait. You haven’t seen her in ages though, right?’ Shania asked.
‘Correct,’ I said.
‘So how did she react when she saw your glow-up? Surely she must’ve reacted then?’
‘She mentioned it,’ I replied flatly. ‘Her sister, Sammie, had stuff to say about it too.’
I filled them in on everything Ali had said when we met at the restaurant on the first night, along with the fact that she’d mentioned I’d always been cute, then added the stuff Sammie had said earlier about me looking like a male model (which was obviously ridiculous) and being a stud muffin.
‘She definitely likes him!’ Shania declared excitedly.
‘No, Sammie’s got a boyfriend,’ I corrected.
‘Not Sammie, you plonker!’ Shania said. ‘Alicia! She likes you! I always thought she did, but Colin disagreed.’
‘Colin’s right to. She doesn’t see me like that.’
‘Don’t you get it?’ Shania added. ‘This is why your dick is limper than a wet lettuce leaf when you’re around Kayleigh. Because Alicia’s the one you want. And you feel like if you do anything with Kayleigh, somehow you’ll be cheating or ruining your chance to finally be together.’
‘That’s not…’ I was about to say it wasn’t true, but something stopped me. Could Shania be right? No. I was over Ali. My crush ended years ago. ‘It’s got nothing to do with Ali,’ I protested.
‘Annoyingly, my wife is probably right.’ Colin sighed. ‘I’ve always thought you were hung up on her. Deny it all you want, but you’re stuck. You need to sort this shit out, bro. I genuinely believe that you’re never going to have a proper relationship until you resolve this stuff with Alicia.’
‘What do you mean by resolve?’
‘You need to have a proper conversation,’ Shania said. ‘Find out whether she’s interested in you romantically or not. If she is, then decide what you want to do about it.’
‘And if she isn’t, I think you seriously need to consider whether or not you can continue being friends. Personally, I think you can’t handle it. It was obvious from the frustration in your voice when you were telling us about Adonis.’
‘That’s just because he’s a dick.’ I countered.
‘True, but be honest, it’s also because you’re jealous.’
My chest tightened.
Maybe a little.
But I’d like to hope that if Ali was with a guy who was really treating her well and deserved her, I’d be happy for her too.
It was normal to want the best for people who were important in your life.
‘I can’t have that kind of conversation with her. It wouldn’t be appropriate,’ I said, deliberately not addressing the jealously comment. ‘I’m with Kayleigh and Ali’s into Adonis.’
‘I doubt she is,’ Shania offered. ‘If a man made me miss a sunset I’d travelled hundreds of miles to see because he was too busy shopping for himself, I’d be pissed! She’s probably just tolerating him. And she’s only known him for a few days. You’ve known each other practically your whole lives.’
‘And as for Kayleigh,’ Colin said, ‘if you’re really not attracted to her, maybe it’s better that you come clean.’
He was right about that at least.
I didn’t want to lead her on. I could tell that she was getting frustrated that I hadn’t slept with her yet and although I could just do it to keep Kayleigh happy, fucking her would only make things worse.
I’d give it another day. If I still didn’t feel that strong pull towards her by the end of tomorrow’s excursion, I’d talk to her and be honest. At least that way she’d know where she stood.
As for Ali, I really had to have a serious think about whether there really was any truth in Colin and Shania’s assumptions that I was still into her.
I didn’t think that I was, but maybe I was too close to the situation to judge it objectively.
And if there was still an attraction there, maybe once we were back in London, I’d consider having a conversation with her like Colin and Shania had suggested.
It would be risky and could cost our friendship though.
Here’s hoping it wouldn’t have to come to that…