Chapter 16
16
The villa is quiet – almost too quiet, suspiciously quiet even, but it’s the kind of peaceful stillness that you can only really experience at this late hour on a hot summer’s eve.
I step outside to the pool area (keeping my wits about me, because I’ve seen too many horror movies). The cool tiles beneath my bare feet send a small shiver up my spine – not that they’re all that cold, I think my body was just expecting them to be hot, like they were earlier. It’s strange how much worse something can feel when you’re not braced for it – like, you know, cold tiles, or the man you thought you were going to spend the rest of your life with dumping you.
The air feels softer, cleaner even, for not carrying that faint scent of chlorine that comes from the water being heated up by the midday sun. I think without the boys here too, it just feels less suffocating. Less intense. Being out here at night is like a snapshot of what this villa could be like if the boys weren’t here, and if that isn’t motivation to win this silly competition then nothing is.
The space has transformed into something serene, something almost magical. I could be tempted to sit out here for a bit.
The pool glimmers under the dim outdoor lights, its surface smooth and perfectly flat, like a mirror, reflecting the starry sky above.
I’m here to look for my book; I think I left it out here earlier. Well, initially I’d tried to get some work done out here, but there’s no bloody wi-fi which made it impossible, so then I tried to relax instead, by reading my book, but the boys were too loud, shouting at each other over whatever game they were playing in the pool. This time I don’t think they were doing it to be dicks, I think boys are just boys sometimes, and they were having fun. My kind of fun just happens to have a much lower volume, so I gave up.
I weave between the sun loungers, scanning the area for my book. It’s still a bit messy out here. Abandoned bottles and cans clutter the tables, their contents long since drunk or evaporated, and a few damp towels are still draped half-heartedly over the chairs. I wonder if we might need to agree on some sort of cleaning schedule, or to just really drive home that if this is going to work everyone needs to clean up after themselves. Perhaps we’ll see how the first round of the competition goes, before we start trying to be ‘reasonable’ again.
It’s funny, really, how quickly things change. One minute, we’re all excited about our girls-only getaway, lounging by the pool, drinking cocktails, and having a chilled-out time. And the next, we’re having to work out how to share the villa with them, a bunch of guys – and a really annoying bunch of guys at that.
I just… I didn’t sign up for this. I mean, I did, but not like this. Suddenly I feel more like I’m on an adventure holiday, like sharing the villa with four boys is some kind of adrenaline junkie sport – it certainly feels that way.
I’m trying to stay calm about it. I mean, it’s only for a week, right? We can survive a week. I’ll just pretend I’m in prison, or something, serving a sentence (although God knows what I would have done to have this as a punishment), one that will soon be over. And then I can get back to my life, rehabilitated, careful to never land myself in a situation like this again.
Finally, I clap eyes on it, on the floor, next to where I was sitting. I really did just give up and abandon it. At least now I can take it to the peace and quiet of my bedroom, and get lost in a few chapters before a sleep.
I’m currently reading (or trying to read, at least) the latest Mia Valentina romcom – although it’s optimistic of me to think I can take my mind off my current situation, which is a lot like one of Mia’s plots, by reading a book called Love at First Fight . Still, a bit of good, light-hearted fun is just what I need right now. Nothing stressful, nothing scary, nothing that’s going to send me into an existential crisis. Just good, clean?—
‘Hi.’
A man’s voice snaps me from my thoughts, making me jump.
‘Shit, sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you,’ he says.
It’s Owen. He’s lying on one of the sun loungers, alone, in total silence.
‘No, sorry, it’s not your fault,’ I insist. ‘I didn’t realise anyone was out here.’
‘I didn’t realise you were here either – until I did,’ he adds with a smile. ‘Looking for something?’
‘Just my book,’ I tell him, holding it up as evidence.
He pulls a face.
‘I didn’t think you would have been the type for girly romantic comedies,’ he says, like he knows me.
‘What are you doing out here, alone, at this time?’ I ask, ignoring him.
I don’t mean it to sound as accusatory as it does, I’m just curious really, why he would be out here, in the dark, doing nothing.
He makes himself comfortable, leaning back on his hands again, gazing upward.
‘I was just looking at this,’ he says.
‘At what?’ I reply. ‘There’s nothing here.’
‘Yes, there is,’ he insists. ‘Lie down, have a look.’
My curiosity gets the better of me so I lie down on the sun lounger next to him and stare up at the sky. It takes my eyes a second or two to adjust but then…
‘Wow,’ I blurt.
‘See,’ he replies.
I’d noticed that there were stars in the clear sky, sure, but it’s only when you take a moment to look up that you realise that you almost can’t even focus on the black of night, you can’t find a space without stars in it, the sky is full.
‘So, you’re just out here admiring the sky?’ I say – I don’t know why, I don’t have him for the type.
‘Yeah,’ he says. ‘Don’t sound so surprised. I’m fascinated by it. Okay, I don’t know much about it. I can’t point out any constellations or planets or owt like that, but I love to see it. I like to think about what’s out there, what’s going on that’s bigger than us?—’
‘If your real parents might come back for you, to take you back to your home planet,’ I add, daring to tease him.
Owen laughs.
‘Make fun of me all you want, I love this stuff,’ he replies.
I exhale slowly and deeply for a moment, trying to make sense of the layers and layers of stars.
‘You know, I do get it,’ I tell him. ‘A few months ago I was at my parents’ house, in the back garden, letting their dog out one night after dinner, and I saw this thing…’
‘Was it a UFO?’ he says in a silly voice. ‘Come on, you can quit mocking me.’
‘No, I’m being serious,’ I insist. ‘I saw this thing – at first I thought it was a firework, but it was silent, and it wasn’t going in any sort of direction that made sense for a firework. It burned through the sky, so brightly, leaving a trail for a few seconds and then it was gone. I went in and told my dad and he told me I’d seen a meteorite. He went on social media and searched it – loads of people had seen it all over the UK.’
‘That’s incredible,’ Owen replies. ‘I’m so jealous.’
‘It was incredible,’ I admit. ‘It was beautiful and remarkable and fascinating but, more than anything, it made me think. Not about space or aliens or anything like that. More about, I don’t know, fate maybe, or luck, even? I just couldn’t believe that I was outside, looking up, at that exact part of the sky, at that exact moment in time. It was just a thin line, over a few seconds, and I happened to be in the right place at the right time to get to experience something so magical.’
I catch myself for a moment. Why am I telling him this? Why am I chatting with the enemy not only generally, but almost intimately?
‘See, it makes you think,’ he replies. ‘Not only that there’s so much out there, so much beyond us, but also that sometimes life finds a way to put us in the right place, at the right time, for the right thing to happen to us when we need it the most. Everything happens for a reason, right?’
‘Oh, what, like us turning up here at the same time?’ I ask, pulling a face at him.
‘Maybe,’ he suggests. ‘You guys are from, where? Yorkshire?’
‘Leeds,’ I tell him – that seems broad enough that it’s not like he’ll be able to pop over the Pennines and find me. ‘You?’
‘Manchester,’ he says, confirming my suspicions. To anyone much further north or south from us, we probably sound exactly the same, but a Yorkshire lass knows a Lancashire lad when she hears one. We’re practically in Romeo and Juliet territory.
‘We live about an hour’s drive from each other,’ he points out. ‘And yet we met here, in Spain, at this villa, through some booking error. What if we were supposed to meet?’
‘If we were supposed to meet, and we weren’t supposed to kill each other, I imagine it would have been in better circumstances?’
‘Better circumstances and being in a swimming pool when a bunch of naked women jumped in?’ he jokes. ‘I notice you didn’t join in, which kind of ruins the sexy magic of the whole situation…’
‘Well, I needed a wee,’ I tell him, playfully but purposefully trying to well and truly murder the ‘sexy magic’.
All of a sudden it feels like the air has changed between us. It feels harder to breathe, like it’s thick with something.
‘Think about it like it’s your meteor,’ he suggests. ‘If you hadn’t been looking up, you would have missed it. You could have missed having one of those romantic comedy interactions with your dream man, the kind that always happens in the books you read, because you were having a wee.’
‘Somehow I seriously doubt my dream man is the kind of guy who would lock me out of a villa, in a foreign country, with nowhere else to go,’ I point out.
‘And yet somehow, I doubt any girl who would take time to rub glitter into hers and her friends’ bodies, just to prove a point to us, would be doing so if she wasn’t at least a little bit interested in… getting a rise out of us,’ he replies, oh-so slowly and breathy.
‘I have no interest in getting a rise out of any of you,’ I tell him – mirroring his almost flirtatious tone. I’m not even sure why, it just feels… competitive? Competitive flirting, that’s a first. ‘You think the universe has a plan for me. I know that plan doesn’t involve anything but kicking your arse in this competition.’
‘I don’t think the universe works like that,’ he replies.
‘Are you always this philosophical?’ I ask.
‘Only when I’m trying to impress someone,’ he replies. ‘Or push their buttons. Or both.’
I notice the corners of his mouth being tugged at. He’s trying to fight it, to keep himself from smiling, but he’s fighting in vain. He’s enjoying this. Our little back and forth.
‘I’m not that easily impressed,’ I tell him.
‘I like a challenge,’ he replies.
‘Then save it for the competition,’ I insist. ‘I’m telling you, you’re going to need it.’
‘Then may the best man win,’ he says simply.
‘The best woman will win,’ I correct him.
‘That second week belongs to the boys,’ he tells me. ‘The sooner you accept that, the easier it will be for you.’
‘Sorry, am I supposed to feel threatened by the boys who threw tampons around like grenades?’ I ask in disbelief. Okay, I’ll admit it, I’m enjoying this a bit too much. ‘That doesn’t exactly scream “winners” to me.’
‘Don’t underestimate us,’ he replies. ‘We won’t be the ones at a Spanish shop, with no signal to use an online translator, desperately trying to mime what tampons are because we wasted ours trying to upset a bunch of grown men, who have all had girlfriends, who all know what periods are, with them.’
Shit. He might have won that one.
‘Well, then you’ll know how much fun it will be to share a villa with us, when that happens, won’t you?’ I reply. ‘All those hormones flying around.’
‘They’ll keep the pheromones company,’ he jokes. ‘I’m starting to think there’s a lot of those in the air…’
Before I can say anything in reply to that, a voice calls out from above.
‘Molly!’ Nita’s sharp tone breaks the tension.
I look up to see her leaning over her balcony railing slightly. Her room is next to mine, so we both share the balcony that looks over the pool area.
‘Hi,’ I blurt, trying not to sound like I’ve just been caught out doing something I shouldn’t. I wasn’t doing anything, just talking, so I don’t know why I sound so guilty.
‘Have you got a minute?’ she asks me. It doesn’t sound optional.
‘Sounds like your friend needs you,’ Owen says with a smile, looking at me briefly before turning his attention back to the sky. ‘Good night.’
‘Night,’ I reply simply before getting up and heading back indoors.
I head upstairs, trying to shake off my conversation with Owen. I’m not usually so competitive but, I don’t know, something about his tone, it makes me want to win.
By the time I get to Nita’s room, it’s clear she isn’t messing around. Lou and Willow are already here too, sitting cross-legged on the bed in their pyjamas. Willow looks like she’s just woken up. Why do I feel like I’ve been summoned?
‘Emergency girls’ meeting,’ Nita announces as I sit down on the bed with the others. Okay, so I have been summoned.
Nita is pacing back and forth, her hands on her hips, like she’s clearly worked up about something.
‘What’s going on?’ I ask, setting my book to one side, making myself more comfortable.
Nita narrows her eyes at me.
‘What were you doing out there with Owen?’ she asks suspiciously.
I blink, part taken aback, part feeling like I’ve been caught red-handed. But I wasn’t actually doing anything. I haven’t been caught doing a single thing wrong.
‘What? I wasn’t… I just went to grab my book,’ I insist. ‘He was out there, looking at the stars, and we got talking. That’s it.’
Her arms fold tighter across her chest, squashing her boobs so hard one almost pops out of her vest.
‘Talking, eh?’ she replies. ‘Because it looked a lot more like flirting, from where I was standing.’
‘You were standing on the balcony,’ I remind her. ‘You can’t have seen or heard anything. We were out there in the dark, talking quietly while we looked up at the stars. That’s all.’
‘That’s flirting,’ she corrects me. ‘Talking quietly, in the dark, star gazing. That is so flirting. Dream flirting, even!’
I scoff.
‘We weren’t flirting,’ I insist. ‘Well, I definitely wasn’t.’
‘But you think he was?’ she asks, curiously, like she might be onto something.
Lou’s eyebrows shoot up, and even Willow perks up a bit.
‘You think Owen was flirting with you?’ Lou asks, her voice a mix of teasing and surprise.
‘No,’ I insist. ‘No, no. I don’t think so… no?’
‘Oh, because I was going to say we could use that to our advantage,’ Lou says.
‘And I was going to say perhaps that is what Owen is doing with Molly,’ Nita points out. ‘Maybe he’s flirting with her, to get her guard down, to give him an advantage in the competition.’
‘Ohhh, that does make more sense,’ Willow adds.
I shoot her a filthy look.
‘It was just silly banter,’ I tell them all firmly.
‘Banter is flirting, Molly,’ Nita points out. ‘I know you refuse to date, but you must remember that? Either way, we can’t afford it.’
‘We can’t afford it?’ I repeat back to her.
‘No, we can’t, not if we want to win,’ she replies. ‘These boys think they’ve got this competition in the bag, they’ll do anything to win, and we’re not having it. So, no fraternising with the boys. No getting along with them. No flirting. Absolutely no hooking up under any circumstances. We don’t know these boys – they’re strangers, we know next to nothing about them, apart from that they’re clearly playing to win. Any friendliness, any slip-up, gives them an advantage.’
‘Nita, I love you, but you’re taking this a little too seriously,’ I point out with a friendly giggle.
‘Or you’re not taking this seriously enough,’ she replies. ‘We’re doing this to win. We’re doing it for us, for feminism even. To wipe the smiles off those boys’ stupid faces. So are you all with me or not?’
Willow groans and rubs her face.
‘Nita, it’s late. Do we really need to make a whole thing out of this right now?’ she asks.
I don’t think she’s on my side, I think she’s just tired.
‘Yes,’ Nita says firmly, glaring at each of us in turn. ‘We’re making a pact, right now. No one fraternises with the boys. No talking, no flirting, and absolutely no hooking up. Deal?’
‘Hooking up?’ Lou repeats back to her, unable to hide her amusement. ‘You know I’m here to get married, right?’
‘I’m not worried about you, I’m worried about Sister Molly here,’ Nita points out. ‘It’s a been a minute since she had a man.’
‘Oi,’ I insist, laughing it off, because I know she’s joking. ‘You’re the one who pulls everywhere we go.’
‘Right, so I must be taking this seriously,’ she replies. ‘I just really, really want to win this holiday. We get fuck all holiday and we’re here and it’s amazing. So, please?’
‘Okay, fine, you have my word,’ I tell her.
‘Obviously mine too,’ Lou adds pointlessly.
‘Yeah, all right, if I can go back to bed,’ Willow moans.
‘Yeah, okay, meeting dismissed,’ Nita says. ‘I’m just thinking of us all.’
‘You must be, if you’re saying you won’t be flirting with a bunch of hotties like we’ve got downstairs,’ Lou jokes.
‘Well, we can where it’s strategic,’ she replies. ‘But only if we don’t mean it.’
‘Okay, Mum,’ I tease her. ‘Strategic flirting only. Good night, see you in the morning.’
Nita laughs. It’s all light-hearted and good fun but, wow, you can tell she really does want to win. But she’s right, we don’t get much holiday, especially not together, and it would be a shame to leave without getting to properly enjoy the place.
‘Glad we’re all on the same page,’ she calls after us as we all head back to our rooms.
Finally back in my room, I lie down on my bed, setting my book to one side again (it hardly seems worth the bother of going to find it), because I don’t really need to read now, not when my own imagination is running wild.
Tomorrow is going to be interesting…