Tears pricked my eyes as I wiped my mouth and flushed, leaning back against the wall. Had it happened again? Had I let some pretty-boy player make a complete idiot of me,again?
I couldn’t find Noelle and I was starting to get concerned. She hadn’t been down in the cabin or in the toilets, although her hat was still on the sofa, so I picked it up as I went to find her.
She wasn’t on the lower deck where we’d been before and we were almost back to the pier. Dark had closed in and I was going to have to go to the upper deck now. In general, being on a boat didn’t set off my fear of heights. Something about water seeming less harmful to land on than the ground, even though I knew it wasn’t strictly true, but I still didn’t want to get too close to the railing on the top deck. I wouldn’t land in the water if I fell from there. Unless I bounced.
I made my way up carefully, trying to keep hold of the water and the blasted hat, ascending the staircase without looking down or to the side. I spotted her almost straight away and my head went as light as if I’d been knocking back the Moët too, seeing her stood right at the edge, leaning her elbows on the railing.
She looked pale and sad but somewhat steadier. Perhaps she grew maudlin when she’d had too much to drink. I took a deep breath and gripped the rail hard, concentrating on her and not looking down,don’t look down, as I walked over to her.
‘I got you some water,’ I said, embarrassed by the breathlessness in my voice. ‘Why didn’t you wait downstairs? Why did you come up here?’
She glanced at me, and rubbed at the goose bumps over her bare arms, averting her eyes back to the grey and white outline of the pier as we moved towards it. ‘Because I thought you wouldn’t.’
‘I find I’m braver when there’s the possibility you’ll offer kisses to distract me from the height,’ I joked and then my adrenalin-riddled brain caught up with what she’d said. ‘Hang on. Why are you trying to avoid me? What have I done?’
She spared me another glance, eyes glittering with annoyance. ‘Did you make a bet with Logan that night at the bar?’
‘What?’
‘When he came over, pestering me and Kaylee and you stepped in, acting all gallant. Was that because you were having some stupid frat-boy competition? Was rescuing us and then leaving us alone your tactic to give us a false sense of security before you made a move?’ Her voice rose. ‘Am I here because you’ve been playing a game with me?’
‘Logan? Logan told you that?’ That utter dickhead. She’d bumped into him and he’d decided to upset her. And get at me.
‘Oh my God, you’re not even denying it. I can’t believe I’ve been so dumb.’ She shook her head and pushed away from the railing, skirting around me in a fast but weaving semi-circle.
‘I’m not playing a game with you. I did not make a bet with Logan.’ I struggled to coordinate myself, engage my brain, put down the glass and follow her. She was moving so quickly back down the steps and I tried to keep up with her, but the stairs were so steep going down, the lower deck too far below. I couldn’t make my legs move any quicker. My head was swimming as I followed her to the aft of the boat. ‘Noelle. Stop. He wanted to make a bet, but I just humoured him to shut him up. I was never going to try and ask you or your friend out.’
‘You weren’t interested in us? In me? At all.’
‘No.’
‘Is that somehow supposed to make me feel better?’
I rubbed my temples. I wasn’t just struggling to keep up with her physically; the mental leaps were too far for me. ‘Yes, it was supposed to, but I can see it hasn’t. Can we go and sit down to talk please?’
‘I want to go home.’ She covered her face with her hand. ‘I knew this was a bad idea.’
That brought me up short. ‘What was a bad idea? Us dating? Or coming to the party? Or both?’
She didn’t say anything, and the engine cut as the yacht came to a stop at its mooring.
‘Noelle, answer me.’ I reached out for her arm as she moved closer to the gate, waiting for the gangplank.
She moved to tug her arm free, and her coordination was still heavy and exaggerated after overindulging in the champagne, so she ended up dragging me closer rather than freeing herself. In irritation, she pushed me away. Hard. I wasn’t expecting it. My balance was still shaky and as I hit the railing, I tipped back too far over it. Sheer panic seized me with the shock of being airborne, of falling.
I heard her scream as I hit the water, a slap on my back that drove the air out of my lungs, and then I was underneath. I needed to breathe in, and I couldn’t do that under the water. I kicked my legs and arms, fighting the force of gravity that was still trying to drag me down as water rushed to soak into the weave of my clothes and fill up my shoes.
I broke the surface, gasping for air, hearing some cheers and relieved laughter. The yacht was enormous from down in the dark water and I floated, regulating my breathing, getting my strength back before scanning for the best way to get to dry land. The jetty was too high. There was a ladder at the other end of the boat though, leading to the lower deck.
When I pulled myself out, Noelle’s blasted hat still in my hand and my soaked clothes clinging to me, I was shivering. The person at the top of the ladder was not the one I wanted to see either. Georgina was there, waiting. Noelle was nowhere to be seen.
‘Jesus, what was that girl thinking, Stephen? Thank goodness you’re a strong swimmer.’ She slid her hand across my back, the wet material of my shirt meaning she could feel my body directly underneath. ‘C’mon to my room. I’ve got towels; we’ll get you dried up.’
Oh God. Was she going to try and strip me under the pretext of towelling me off?
‘I should find Noelle.’ I tried to pull away, but she was shepherding me now towards a door and a narrow set of steps that headed down to a cabin.
‘I’m not sure that’s a good idea. You need to get warm. Can’t have a member of my team getting hypothermia.’
