We’re locked in a battle of smiles again. The tension so overwhelming that I just want to run into his arms, to tell him that he’s won over every part of me.
But yet again, we are interrupted by a scream from the top of the house. ‘MUM! IS THAT A DILDO?’
‘BELLA! PUT THAT DOWN!’
‘I CAN’T BELIEVE YOU! OH MY GOOOOOOD!’
32
BEN
My mum always said that when God gave her Phoebe, he created a woman in her own image; feisty, strong-willed: her nemesis in fact. It’s all I can see in Bella too. Bella who made my heart drop out of my arse when she broke into this place to find her mother, and who reminds me so much of my little sister, of her stubborn, unyielding female energy. I don’t think we will ever be friends. Over dinner, she told me that she had been ready to take me down when she got here. I’m not sure how she planned to do that, but I laughed. She didn’t. She sipped on the glass of wine her mother allowed her to have and eyeballed me, still full of mistrust. I secretly liked her reaction because it only showed how much she cared.
I lie down now in my cottage, looking up at the ceiling, my arms folded behind my head.Maybe I should lock the door? Get a dog?I remember how I felt when Miguel had told me someone had broken into the villa. The idea that someone had trespassed and might trash the place or steal something made me unfeasibly angry. Maybe I need new locks, better protection. I need to look after this place properly.
A knock at the door grabs my attention. I sit up as the door opens and Chloe furtively peers in. She’s wearing a strappy slip dress, no make-up, bare feet. I’m hit with sudden nerves and excitement that she’s here.
‘I didn’t tell you to come in. I could have been naked here. It could have been a very inopportune moment,’ I say.
‘Nudity doesn’t faze me anymore. I’ve seen it all,’ she says, looking at my bare chest.
‘All OK?’ I ask. ‘No Renata at the gate with a gun? No teenagers breaking in? You have enough towels?’
‘Everything’s great.’ Chloe comes and sits on the edge of my bed, looking around the cottage. It’s actually a pool house that I converted into another room thinking it would be best to give the guests privacy. The converted bathroom at the back used to be a sauna; it was the one room in the whole place that Miguel advised I demolish completely. I didn’t ask why.
‘I just thought I would come and say good night. We haven’t really had much chance to chat today. It’s been eventful,’ she says.
‘It has,’ I say, remembering that when we got interrupted in the market before, I was mid-speech, telling her everything I liked about her. I still like all those things very much and I’m curious as to where this could go.
‘I just wanted to clarify, maybe take a moment to…I mean, we hardly know each other…and things have gone from zero to eighty in a matter of days.’ There’s a tone to her voice which makes me think she’s here to tell me differently. ‘I’m not usually like this,’ she says.
‘You’re not usually hilarious and adorable?’ I say and she grins, a blush rising in her cheeks.
‘I’m not normally so impulsive or sexually?—’
‘Active?’ I suggest.
‘Adventurous,’ she says, her smile broadening further.
I feel pangs of excitement because she’s here, wearing a tiny dress. I’m not sure she’s crept in here to just talk.
‘I’m usually a bit more measured with everything. I don’t normally jump into things so quickly. I’d never had sex outside before two days ago,’ Chloe continues.
‘Really?’ I ask.
‘I’m a mattress girl. Maybe once on a chair, the floor,’ she declares giddily.
I shouldn’t laugh. ‘Maybe it’s the effect of the sun, the sangria, being on holiday. Perhaps it’s given you a bit more courage?’
‘Or maybe it’s you,’ she says, whispering, unable to even look at me. I pause as I take that in, my chest skipping with emotion. ‘I have no idea what to do with all these feelings. With you.’
‘I have some ideas,’ I say, trying to lighten the mood, the intensity of the moment, but I can see that like me, maybe she’s starting to overthink things.Where could this go? What could it be?
‘Two more days,’ she whispers.
Two days before I put her back on a plane. Do I get on that plane with her? Do I ask her to stay?At the moment, I’m pulled in so many different directions with no clue what the right thing to do is.Would it be madness to ask someone I’ve known for days to just stay in this bubble with me? Additionally, how could I leave this all behind?It feels like it’d be going in the opposite direction.
‘I like you,’ Chloe says, continuing to whisper, still avoiding my gaze.
