Page 35 of More Than Just Friends

That summer we spent together before I moved away to uni.

Me washing her hair over the bath when she’d hurt her shoulder.

And that time she’d been so exhausted that she’d fallen asleep on my chest.

Now I was in danger of adding another reel to the memory bank: the time she accidently slept on me during our trip to Oia in Santorini.

A stray curl fell onto her cheek and instinctively I quickly brushed it away before gently tucking it behind her ear.

‘Is everything okay, here?’

My head bolted up and I saw Petros standing in the aisle. His eyebrow raised with curiosity.

Out of context, this didn’t look great.

‘Yeah, all good. Ali has a fear of sitting at window seats in a moving vehicle and Adonis preferred the aisle seat, so Kayleigh swapped. That way Ali and Adonis both got the aisle seat. Problem solved!’

‘I see,’ Petros said in a tone that suggested he didn’t get it at all.

I could see how it would be easy to assume that there was more to this then there actually was. I’d been matched with Kayleigh, yet here I was with Ali looking cosy with her head on my shoulder and now I’d just brushed some hair off her cheek, which might be considered a romantic gesture.

But in this case, it wasn’t. It was just a purely practical action. Who wanted hair on their face when they were trying to sleep? I was being helpful, that was all.

‘She fell asleep and I felt bad about waking her up, y’know?’

‘Uh-huh.’ He nodded slowly before continuing down the aisle then chatting to another couple.

Something told me he didn’t believe me.

Shit.

As much as I wanted to be there as a friend for Ali, I’d have to find another solution for helping her tomorrow.

We couldn’t keep sitting together on coach journeys. Not just because the optics weren’t good. Mainly because… well, because of a million reasons.

Most importantly because it wasn’t fair on Kayleigh.

She deserved not just my respect but also my presence.

As her match I needed to give her my full, undivided attention.

I’d speak to Adonis. It wasn’t my place to tell him about Ali’s past and why where she sat on the coach was so critical, but I’d find a way to make him see reason.

It made me angry that I even had to explain that he should show some compassion to his match, but if that was what was needed, I’d do it.

That one small action would solve all of our problems.

It was the only option.

13

ALICIA

As I took in the sight of the whitewashed buildings with the famous blue-domed churches, I gasped.

I couldn’t believe that I was really in Oia, the stunning village I’d seen so many times online and splashed across the pages of glossy magazines.

It was like I was living inside an Instagram post.