‘Howard-Lang,’ she corrects, ‘and we’re off to the Maldives tomorrow night. Two weeks of sun, sex and drinks with umbrellas. So excited.’
‘Sounds amazing, Greta. You deserve it,’ I say, leaning in to kiss her cheek. ‘I’m so happy for you.’
She hugs me back. ‘Thanks, Nick. You’re such a lovely man. Whoever you choose is a lucky woman.’ She breaks away, smiling at me. ‘Oh, Shondra, take a pic of us, will you?’
Greta motions for me to hand over my phone as we all huddle together and say cheese for the camera, me in the middle and Sarah’s arm wrapped around my back.
‘Aww, that’s lovely,’ Greta remarks as we look at our photograph. ‘You look so pretty, Sarah, Matt will be kicking himself when he sees this.’
‘Thanks,’ she replies, ‘but there’s only one beauty in this photograph.’
‘Nice of you to say,’ I respond. ‘It’s about time my magnificence was recognised.’
Greta laughs before announcing that she needs to pee.
‘I’ve been holding it forever. These Spanx are too much hassle to whip up and down willy-nilly.’
‘Ugh, just go,’ I reply, scrunching my face up. ‘I really don’t want to hear about your willy-nilly.’
‘Have fun, guys. Remember, grab some more cake and find me before you leave, OK?’
We nod as she legs it to the bathrooms. I forward the photo to Greta, Matt and Harriet.
‘Will you send me that pic too?’ Sarah asks. ‘It’s great. I need more pictures of my friends.’
Yuck. Friends. Fuck the friend-zone, I want to be in the sex-zone. Or even the fully clothed-spooning-zone. Anything but the friend-zone.
Sarah suddenly springs to her feet. ‘I love this song. Get your arse on the dance floor immediately.’
I happily follow her to the sound of ‘Crazy in Love’, prepared to spend the rest of the evening sweating it up on the dance floor with the rest of the well-dressed drunkards. We dance for a solid two hours, only stopping to make emergency trips to the bar for water and another tequila shot.
‘I had fun tonight,’ she yells into my ear, as I bite into my lime. ‘A really great time. Thank you.’
‘We still have two hours left!’ I laugh, dragging her back to the dance floor.
‘I know,’ she replies. ‘I just wanted to let you know. I’m sorry you got stuck with me and couldn’t bring someone special.’
‘Don’t be daft,’ I reply, grinning. She’s doing the robot. I can’t keep a straight face.
Fuck. The urge to tell her that Ididbring someone special is almost overwhelming. That I’m here with the only woman in the world that I want.
‘We’re mates. I’m very happy you’re here.’
Three songs down and we take a seat. Sarah bypasses the champagne in favour of water.
‘I hear it’s your birthday in a couple of weeks,’ she says, fanning herself with a napkin. ‘Any plans?’
‘Matt’s trying to get me to have a party, but to be honest, I’m a bit done with crowds at the moment. I’d like to do something fun. Something silly. It’s not every year you turn thirty-one.’
‘Theme parks will be open again for the summer soon,’ she suggests. ‘They’re so much fun. An entire day screaming and eating food you’ll see again ten minutes later. . . Silly enough?’
‘I haven’t been to a theme park in years. That’s not a bad idea. Think Alfie would be up for that?’
‘Um, yes, but it’s your birthday, don’t feel obliged to—’
‘Perfect then. I’ll let Matt know.’
She grins broadly. ‘You sure you want us tagging along?’
