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‘Then there was the whole Connex server failure and we lost contact. In fact, I think Helen still has a pair of my Havaianas!’
Elle bit her lower lip and smiled conspiratorially.
‘Perhaps I should just take your number now to stop that from happening again?’ Brody turned to face her, she could see the definition of his chest underneath his waistcoat.
‘Sure.’ Helen handed over her phone hoping her hands weren’t sweating again.
‘So we’ve got a little posse going over there …’ Brody gestured to what Helen could vaguely make out to be his group of friends sitting on some rugs and cushions, ‘… if you’d like to join. If you don’t have other plans of course?’
‘We were just going to meet some friends, but we got a minute.’ Thank God Elle had fielded that one.
They sat down with Brody’s group of friends on the rug. Their features were all more defined by the campfire: warm cheeks, and glowing eyes. Helen took a long satisfying sip from Alice’s flask, and then alcohol burned down the back of her throat. Helen felt like she was in a movie, one that was so much more beautiful and vibrant than her real life. She didn’t want time to slip by, she wanted this to be her forever.
Alice was sitting next to Elle and soon Helen could overhear ‘babe you are not serious!’, ‘you are making me laugh!’, ‘that is so true!’ They would be best friends by the end of the night if Elle had anything to do with it.
Brody and Helen sat side by side on a rug slightly away from the group. The glow of the bonfire backlit Brody in orange light, and cast his features into heavy shadow. Helen’s heart rate quickened, being with him at night like this, it felt like anything could happen.
‘You’re shivering …’ Brody gently touched Helen’s arm. ‘Would you like my jumper?’
‘Are you always trying to give me your items of clothing?’ Wow, where did this new confident Helen come from? It must be that drink she’d been sharing with Alice. She felt a warm buzz as she spoke, she was barely even registering the cold.
Brody pulled his jumper off, revealing a flash of toned abs as it went over his head. ‘Okay I’m just going to be a gentleman and give it to you …’ Brody handed the jumper to Helen, who hesitated. ‘Don’t worry I don’t feel the cold …’
Helen snuggled into Brody’s jumper, bathing in his scent, their eyes met, and wandered over each other’s faces. Brody inched closer to her on the mat, and his arm fell behind her, like he was about to embrace her. Like she was his girlfriend. Helen was taking him all in, she wouldn’t forget a detail this time.
‘So what have you been up to since we last met?’ Please don’t say you’ve met someone, or left the country, or turned into a monk, Helen prayed.
‘Everything the same and nothing the same, I guess. I told you I run a company, right?’
Yes, I went to your office party and can absolutely never meet your CMO again, thought Helen.
‘Well, it’s called True Materials and is in a really good space, we closed off a round of investment just before we met actually, so that means we can stay focused on the mission a few years longer, and there’s a bit of interest to buy the company already. The team in London has been great, incredible …’ Brody was lovely, Nicky was just a bit bitter …
‘So I’ve been able to take a step back. The team is so experienced, honestly they’re better than me at running it. So I’ve been to a few new places. Took a quick holiday in Tulum, have you been?’ No, but I saw your picture there on Alice’s Instagram, thought Helen, feeling slightly guilty, like she’d just rummaged through Brody’s sock drawer.
‘I haven’t but my friend Sophie just got engaged there …’ Helen waited to see if the information would register with Brody; did he see himself getting married one day?
‘Oh good for her. Well, you should definitely go sometime. It’s beautiful, and such a cool community there.’
The word ‘you’ stung though Helen knew it shouldn’t. What was she expecting – it wasn’t like he would propose to her after meeting her twice in his lifetime? Or suggest they go together sometime, that would just be weird. But who was this ‘cool community’? Had he even thought about her?
‘Did you ever try to find me?’ Oh god why was Helen always so intense? As soon as the words left her mouth, she felt her cheeks burn. She tucked her face into her shoulder, maybe he wouldn’t notice.
‘I guess not … I mean, don’t get me wrong, Ireallyliked our date, but I didn’t have your contact details, and when Connex went down, I just took it as a sign that it wasn’t meant to be.’ Brody’s eyes lapped over Helen’s face. ‘Iwasgoing to message you though, so we could plan our second date.’
Did he sound sincere? Helen wasn’t sure. The alcohol had morphed inside her and the balance shifted again. The warm buzz had faded and left a slanting feeling in her stomach, like the world had tilted a little on its axis. Did she feel nauseous?
‘Why? Did you try to find me?’ Brody smiled, and took a long swig from his hip flask as he now watched her intensely.
Helen’s mind raced, was this the part where she was supposed to be authentic and honest. ‘Tell him the truth! Just be yourself! It’s okay to be vulnerable!’ she heard Marty’s voice egg her on. ‘Absolutely do NOT mention you thought of him once since that dayamiga!’ she imagined Elle saying. Her eyes drifted over to Elle who gave her a quick look of ‘are you okay?’ Yes of course, nodded Helen. Of course I am.
‘I wouldn’t exactly say that …’ Helen shrugged trying to pull herself around to being flirty and light and not ‘so when are we getting married again?’ serious.
‘Babe!’ Elle moved to sit down next to Helen thankfully breaking the awkwardness of the moment. ‘I’m just gonna go backstage with Alice real quick, you’ll never guess, she’s currently writing for Long Foolish Summer.’
‘You love that band!’
‘I know, so I’m gassed I get to meet them. Is that all right?’ Elle dropped her voice slightly.
