Chapter 11
Z oe stepped out of the shower, sighing with relief.
It definitely helped with her hangover. Since when did the Belgians drink like this?
She couldn’t remember it being that bad from when she was a college student.
She walked back into her room and sat on her bed.
To be fair, she was pretty sure she had drunk more than the rest of them yesterday.
All that because of Julie.
Why was Julie acting like such a prick? What was wrong with her?
She’d acted like Zoe had the plague the entire night and wouldn’t even just make small talk with her.
The worst of it was that Zoe couldn’t even be mad at her.
She was just too happy to see Julie again.
Maybe today would go better, though Zoe wasn’t going to get her spirits up.
She looked at her phone. A message from Tom.
He was sending her the contact details of some wedding people he’d found.
Zoe rubbed her forehead. She really didn’t feel like looking at it now.
She’d save it for later. She quickly typed an answer to thank him.
The other hens had been all so curious about Tom at dinner last night.
They had asked her a million questions about what he was like and Zoe felt very proud in describing how nice Tom was at home.
How considerate he was. How in love he was.
She didn’t mention that all of this only happened when they were both home, which meant around a week every month.
But seeing all the hens fawn over him reminded her that she’d made a good choice.
Another message. From Nicki. She was asking Zoe how the first night of the hen do went. And if she’d talked it out with Julie. Even from far away Nicki could help Zoe feel better.
“ Thanks for asking, Nicki! First night went well. Julie is being weird and distant so we haven’t talked about anything yet… I hope today will be different. How’s Switzerland? Say hi to your girlfriend from me.”
Zoe got dressed and headed out of the room. She opened the front door and walked downstairs to the lower level of the duplex. She could hear clattering in the kitchen already. She moved through the main hall and poked her head into the kitchen area.
“Look at this fancy tea. Do you think the owner of the place will notice if I bring some home?” Julie was standing on a stool, holding a small tin in her hand.
“I won’t say anything if you don’t snitch about the fact that I’m taking the espresso machine home.”
“Oh come on Yas, you’re going to be married to a famous guy. You’ll probably be able to afford a thousand of these bad boys.”
“Not all famous people are made of money, Julie!”
Zoe cleared her throat. “As a famous person, I can confirm that I own the same espresso machine at home.”
Yasmine and Julie stopped in their tracks.
“Zoe! You’re awake!” Yasmine walked towards her and gave her a big hug. “I still can’t believe you’re here. I’m so excited for today!”
“Me too!” She hugged Yasmine back with all her strength.
Zoe shot a look at Julie, half expecting that she would excuse herself back to her room or pretend she’d lost the ability to speak.
Julie had a stupid grin on her face and was still holding her tin of fancy tea, frozen in time.
She blinked, then seemed to be resolved about something.
“Do… Do you want a coffee, Zoe?” Julie said, hesitantly.
Zoe was surprised. She had not thought Julie would be… nice? “Sure, I would love one.”
Julie jumped down the stool and walked towards the espresso machine. Loud clanking sounds echoed around the room.
“Oh shi-” A loud metallic noise. Julie dropped a piece of the machine.
Zoe stepped up to her. “Is everything alright?”
“Yes yes. I got it. No worries.” Julie flashed an “OK” sign at Zoe. “I just need to um… Tighten the thing around the other thing, I think.”
Zoe smiled. Classic Julie. “Do you know how to use this?”
Julie energetically shook her head. “I have no clue what I’m doing here.” She handed Zoe the piece she was holding. Smiling widely.
Zoe’s heart skipped a beat. Julie would always have this big dumb smile with an earnest answer every time she did something stupid.
And it was just impossible to be mad at her.
Worse, it made Zoe want to pinch her cheek.
Zoe took over and made herself a perfect coffee, while Julie peered over her shoulder.
“Guess I’m not famous enough to operate this thing.” Julie chuckled.
“That’s the first thing they teach you at celebrity school.”
Zoe looked at Julie. The blue of her eyes was just like she remembered. She did have some small wrinkles around her eyes. Zoe had a sudden urge to tousle Julie’s curls, like she used to back then.
“When are the others going to wake up?” Yasmine interjected.
Julie looked at her watch. “Soon. Don’t worry.”
Moments later, a group of hens barged into the kitchen, bottles in hand. Leila climbed on the sofa in the living room area.
“We’re going to start this day by having a cocktail brunch then you all need to pack your bags up, because we’re going to the beach!” Clatter and laughter ensued.
“To the beach?” Yasmine said confusedly.
Maria grinned at her. “We have a villa in Knokke waiting for you. We’re doing Brussels, the North Sea, and then the Ardennes for your wedding. That’s a whole tour of Belgium just for you!”
Yasmine squealed with joy. Zoe chuckled and shook her head.
She’d forgotten that Belgium was so small that just three locations could count as a whole tour.
She glanced over at Julie. She was leaning against one of the counters, her arms crossed, beaming because Yasmine was happy.
Zoe had missed that. The nice and wholesome friendship that she had with her Brussels friends was something she’d never quite found ever again.
She’d just thought that life had changed for everyone, but seeing this group still so tight-knit made her happy.
“We’re really going to the beach?”
Alice patted Yasmine on the back. “Yes. You seemed very indecisive about the location of your hen do, so we’re doing both Brussels and the North Sea!”
“And you’re lucky enough to have a celebrity chef prepare you cocktails right now.” Leila looked in Zoe’s direction.
“Is that true, Zoe? You’re going to work today?” Yasmine said in surprise.
Zoe grinned. “It’s not really work if I can drink as well.” She grabbed one bag full of bottles. Zoe almost jumped as Julie ran next to her to help her carry the rest of the groceries to the kitchen area.
The hen party didn’t want anything fancy for cocktails.
Most of them went for Zoe’s signature grapefruit gin and tonic or classic margaritas.
Her flair bartending skills were not amazing, but she knew enough to impress people.
The girls all clapped and wolf whistled when Zoe managed to balance the bottle of gin on her elbow.
All of them cheered, except one.
Julie.
But it was different from yesterday. Julie seemed to be nicer, more engaged.
She hadn’t clapped because she was too busy staring at Zoe with her mouth slightly agape.
Zoe was still standing behind the kitchen counter, looking pleased at the rest of the hens enjoying their drinks - with compliments streaming her way.
Her eye caught Julie, standing on the side, frowning at her cocktail.
That was unusual. Zoe’s cocktails were one of her catering’s strengths. She walked up to her.
“What’s wrong? You don’t like your drink?”
Julie blinked, absolutely taken aback. “What?”
Zoe crossed her arms. “I saw you make a face when you drank.”
“Oh.” Julie looked at Zoe then at her gin and tonic then back at Zoe. “No! It’s delicious. I love it. Thanks!” She sipped her drink and nodded intensely at Zoe without breaking eye contact.
“… Are you aware that this makes you even more suspicious?”
Julie sighed. “Sorry. It’s not about your cocktail at all.” She looked up. “It’s just… I remembered a very bad cocktail that I drank recently. Just the memory of it still grosses me out. Your cocktail is like heaven compared to that.”
Zoe chuckled. “How bad could it be?”
Julie made a sorry face and sighed. “There was so much pineapple juice in it. Then vodka and gin. And champagne I think?”
“Ew. Why did you drink that?”
Julie sipped her cocktail. Zoe could see that she was blushing. “No reason. I was just trying out new things.”
“New gross things?”
“What can I say? I’m very open to new experiences.”
“Was it better or worse than gin, cider and Worcestershire sauce?”
Julie blinked at Zoe again. It was amazing how she hadn’t changed after all these years, Zoe thought. Julie’s surprised face brought her ten years back in time.
“It was worse actually.” Julie was looking in the distance. “So much worse. At least we had a good laugh about our dumb cocktail. Maybe I would have enjoyed it more with you?”
“What?” Zoe’s heart beat faster.
“What?”
“You said you would have enjoyed this pineapple cocktail more if you were with me? What do you mean?”
Julie’s face turned red. “I mean, maybe I would have enjoyed it more if you had made it?” She was sweating through her words. “You know, because you’re good at cocktails.”
After all this time, Julie was still the worst liar. “I see.” Zoe smirked. “I can fix you one right now if you want, I can run to the shop and get a pineapple…”
“No!” Julie shook her head energetically. “Please don’t. I think some things are best kept unknown.” She tripped over the last word.
“I agree.” Zoe slowly nodded.
* * *
The rumble of the train had made Zoe sleepy, even though the hens were being as noisy as they could be.
They had all decided to have an impromptu ABBA a capella sing-along, with sound effects and all.
The other passengers seemed to be annoyed, but not enough to tell them to shut up.
The hens were surprisingly pretty good singers.
Zoe awoke to find that she had fallen asleep on Julie’s shoulder. Some habits die hard.
“Oh sorry.” Zoe rubbed her eyes.
“It’s alright.” Julie smiled.
Zoe was thrilled and relieved that Julie had been so nice today.
It was exactly like she remembered things to be.
It was a slow start but eventually, they just clicked back into place.
They hadn’t left each other’s side since Zoe asked her what was wrong with her cocktail earlier this morning.
Zoe looked at Julie, sitting stiff as a plank.
Her bicep was slightly bulging under her hen t-shirt.
“Have you been working out?” Zoe squeezed at Julie’s upper arm, which made her jump. She looked confusedly at Zoe.
“Not really.” Julie flexed her arm. “I guess this is all from helping girls build IKEA furniture?” She seemed to be discovering her muscles for the first time.
“How many couches do you build in a week?” Zoe was somewhat terrified.
“If there’s pizza in it for me, I can build one every day.”
“Yes, I remember that was already your thing in college.”
Julie stared down at her own arm for a moment, then looked up at Zoe. “Do you remember that time I ate for free for a week because my new neighbours asked me to help build all their furniture?”
Zoe laughed. “Absolutely. You talked about it for months.”
“That was a great time.” Julie paused. “I think it’s in my top ten accomplishments.”
“Fair enough. I was proud of you.”
Julie looked at Zoe with surprise. “You were?”
“Of course I was. Eating for free is like every student’s dream. You were living the life.”
“It’s true. I think it’s still my dream as an actual working person.”
“You should become a celebrity chef.”
“No way. You eat for free?”
“There’s so much snacking on the set of my TV show.”
Julie nodded pensively. “I never thought of that. I should absolutely become a celebrity chef. How hard could it be?”
“It’s not harder than building IKEA stuff.
You can do it,” Zoe smiled. Julie was back and it was everything she wanted it to be.
Her heart was caught in a pinch when she thought about all these years they could’ve spent together but never did.
She still needed to get to the bottom of that.
But not right now. For the moment, she was just happy to be sitting next to Julie, talking about everything and nothing all at once.