‘I have an idea,’ Andrew said, pulling me up off the rock. ‘It’s the perfect cure for too much to drink.’
CHAPTER12
We sat on the bed together, our endless room-service bounty stretched out around us. And with every single bite of fatty, gooey, salty food, I felt the alcohol in my blood system dissipate. Andrew had beensoright: this was the only way to douse the alcohol in my stomach. I stuffed my face with many a marvellous food while we flipped back and forth through the stations, until we both exclaimed at once:
‘This is my favorite TV show!’
‘Me too!’ we said, again in unison, and laughed.
‘And this is my favorite episode too,’ I said, pointing to the screen. I was about to stuff a handful of fries into my face, when I stopped. ‘Maybe “favorite” is not a good word. It was very tragic, of course – many people lost their lives – so I don’t mean I like that part of it, but—’
‘I know exactly what you mean,’ Andrew said, reassuring me that ‘favorite’ had not been the most insensitive choice of word. The crash had happened in 2005 and I remember being glued to the news. I’d cut out all the newspaper clippings about it and put them all in my aviation scrapbook. A scrapbook that I’d started at an early age, when I’d decided that I was going to have a career in aviation.
‘Air Traffic Control couldn’t contact the plane for two hours,’ I said. ‘Can you imagine what that would have been like?’
‘You wouldn’t have panicked though,’ Andrew said casually.
‘No, I never panic,’ I stated. ‘They sent two fighter pilots up to see if the plane had been hijacked,’ I added to the story, even though I could tell that Andrew knew it well. Everyone in aviation knew this story. It was the story of the plane that had crashed into a hillside in Greece, sadly killing all souls onboard. Andrew and I watched transfixed as the re-enactments of the flight began. The passengers boarding the plane in a festive holiday mood, oblivious to what was about to happen next. After take-off, a loss of cabin pressure had incapacitated the entire crew, leaving the plane to fly unmanned and on autopilot until it simply ran out of fuel. It had flown in the air like a ghost plane for hours before crashing, making it one of the most mysterious airplane disasters in history. By the end of the episode, Andrew and I had consumed our entire room-service feast and I was feeling full and tired and, thankfully, no longer drunk. It was only at this stage, with less alcohol in me, that I became aware of my physical body in space and, as a consequence, Andrew’s too.
Our shoulders and outstretched legs were almost touching as we both rested our backs and heads against the headboard. He’d rolled up his sleeves and kicked his shoes off. This casualness made me feel incredibly attracted to him, for some inexplicable reason. His forearms were sculptural and, like this, with his trousers pulled tighter against him, a muscular thigh could be seen bulging through the fabric. I stole a sideways glance at his face. He had the perfect profile too. Sharp nose that was neither too big nor too small. A jawline that looked like it could cut through sheets of glass – nah, chisel down blocks of concrete. His face was perfect from every angle. This man would probably still look good if he was dangled upside down and all the blood rushed to his head and made his eyes bulge.
I felt warm again, as if the alcohol had gotten a second wind. But it wasn’t that. It was Andrew’s very obvious physical attractiveness and closeness that was making me feel like this. I shuffled right, trying to move as far away from him as possible without making it obvious. But in trying to move, my leg bumped his and a strange feeling settled in my stomach. I stole another glance and watched as his Adam’s apple bobbed up and down in a manner that told me he’d just swallowed hard. I bit the inside of my cheek.
Shit, I was being such a pervert!Side-eye gawking his face and legs and neck. Some less than flattering synonyms forpervertfloated through my mind:devious, weirdo. But Andrew was seriously the most attractive male I had ever laid eyes on, and being this close to him, I simply couldn’t help what was clearly some biological reaction to him. Perhaps he was giving off a pheromone that I was unable to resist. I felt him shuffle next to me and hoped he didn’t know what I was thinking. But what he said next led me to believe that maybe, just maybe, he did.
‘I’d better get back to my hotel,’ he said, and stood up more quickly than he needed to.
He knew!
‘Yes. Of course. Late.’ I fake-looked at my watch and wondered if I should attempt a fake yawn. I decided against it.
He started moving for the door. I stopped him.
‘About tomorrow, the air force museum and aquarium. You don’t have to come if you don’t want to. But I’m going,’ I said quickly, not wanting him to feel obliged or awkward.
‘Are you kidding? I’d love to come.’ He smiled, and I could see that he absolutely meant it. I smiled back. I couldn’t remember the last time someone had actually wanted to do anything like this with me. It wasn’t often that I met someone with such a shared passion for my narrow set of interests.
‘By the way, what did you think about my incorporation of fish into last night’s conversation?’ he asked, grinning even more.
‘I thought it was a little over the top, actually.’
‘A wedding on a glass-bottomed boat floating over a coral reef?’
‘Although I suppose it would be beautiful,’ I said, trying to imagine what it would be like, saying your vows under a bright blue sky, tropical, crystal-clear waters below, a coral reef teeming with color.
‘You’re more than welcome to use that idea for when you do get married.’
‘I doubt I’ll ever be getting married,’ I said matter-of-factly.
‘Me neither, probably. Not that I don’twantto get married one day, but it would have to be someone very understanding of my career. I’m already married to my career.’
‘Me too!’ I said, and quite liked the sound of that saying. It gave my career the kind of gravitas I think it deserved. It wasn’t just a job to me, it was a spouse and, as such, I invested a lot of time and energy into it.
‘My wife would need to be very understanding. Last year I flew over Easter, missed two of my sisters’ birthdays and Christmas Day.’
‘I also worked Christmas Day last year,’ I mused. We were both silent for a while, and I wondered if he was weighing up his chances of ever finding someone who would put up with that kind of an arrangement. But, for me, a husband that was away for long periods of time would be ideal. In fact, it would be perfect.
If I ever did find someone, I’d like to find someone exactly like that. Someone busy who had their own life, so I would get to pursue mine. Someone who wasn’t always there so I could still have alone time, something that was very, very important to me. I don’t think I could ever be in a relationship with someone who was always in my space, I needed a reprieve, a moment to breathe, and having a partner who travelled a lot would do just that. So, in many ways, Andrew was the ideal boyfriend for me. If this was real, of course.
