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We walked into my room and sat on the edge of the bed.
He turned his head to an angle so our eyes aligned, then said, ‘I don’t want things to end between us, baby. I love you and wantthings to go back to how they were the night when we first had sex.’
‘Yes, the sex was good, Seb, but I just get over the sleaze talk and you comparing me to other women. And more than anything, I just wish we could have more proper conversations and, I don’t know, some laughs.’
‘Babe. I promise to stop that. Can you please just give me another chance? I’ll try and change for you.’ His voice sounded sincere and his eyes looked it too.
I took a moment to respond and thought about whether I should or not. His arm muscles were tensed, and I caught myself admiring the definition.Hmm. I guess it’s always good to give people the benefit of the doubt and give them a second chance. Maybe this needed to happen in order for him to listen and change.
‘Okay, but you have topromiseto stop with the sleaze talk.’ I looked at him with dead-serious eyes.
‘Deal, babe.’ He put out his finger, and we shook pinkies.
20
Happy Birthday, Deb
Before I knew it, it was 26 October and Deb’s twenty-fourth birthday. I set my alarm for 7.30am and cooked Deb her favourite breakfast of eggs Benedict on a bed of spinach with smoked salmon and ciabatta toast. She ate her breakfast in bed with her eyes closed as she revelled in all the flavours. Warm sunshine flooded the room through her east-facing window.
‘Thanks, chicka. You’re honestly the best human.’ She smiled with deep satisfaction as she finished her last bite, then licked her plate. ‘Your hollandaise is always on point. What is your secret? Kelly is a breakfast master, and even she’s fucked up hollandaise multiple times and made it split, but no, not yours – yours is just bloody flawless.’
I let out a hearty laugh and clutched my chest. ‘It’s all about pacing. So, I make sure I have a steady hand when I slowly pour the melted butter into the mixture, bit by bit, and whisk it in. That’s the secret.’
She nodded. ‘And what’s that you got there?’ She eyed my hand tucked behind my back.
‘Happy birthday, Deb.’ I beamed as I passed her a sparkly red envelope with silver ribbons twirled around it.
She tore into the paper and opened it; her face lit up when she saw the sleek black Mecca gift card, which would buy her one hundred dollars’ worth of goodies.
‘Oh my God, Naomi, trust you to do this! Guess this calls for a shopping trip. Thanks, my girl.’ Her eyes were wide and happy.
My heart warmed at her facial expression and hoped it would stay that way for the day. ‘No worries. I truly hope your day is fabulous.’
‘Yeah, thanks for actually getting the day off.’ She nodded in appreciation and placed her gift card on her nightstand.
‘Well, Patrick is a ridiculously lenient boss, so you’ve got him to thank.’ I winked.
‘Mmm. Well, I guess he would’ve let you take more than one night off to go to the Versace hotel if I decided I wanted to do that.’
I was more than relieved that she changed her mind about that idea; a drinking binge in a luxurious hotel for a few nights was the last thing I’d want to be around.
I nodded my reply and glanced at the sunlight spilling through her window.
***
The evening was when her real party began. Deb’s mum had paid for an unlimited bar tab at the same restaurant we’d been at when my toilet paper incident occurred.Oh, memories. We even had the same table as last time too. Deb, Victor, me, Kelly, Martin, and Seb sat on the barstools with champagne buckets and bottles of pinot grigio spread across the table, while weighted, metallic-red helium balloons bobbed about at both ends of the table.
Deb, Victor, and Martin sat on one side, while me, Seb, and Kelly sat on the other side. Seb was situated behind the balloons with his chin on his palm, elbow on the table, and half-drunk beer in front of him while he tapped away at his phone. He seemed to be more interested in Facebook memes than socialising.
I couldn’t help but notice how close we were to Mon Amour and wondered why Deb had chosen this restaurant, of all places, for her birthday. Was she secretly hoping to run into Daniel?
‘Chyeahhhh boyyy,’ Deb said with the biggest smile I’d seen in weeks plastered on her face as she clinked her glass with Victor’s. She had her makeup done at Mecca that afternoon and looked gorgeous with her glowing skin and vampy red lipstick, and she smelt like her old patchouli and jasmine. I smiled as I observed her outfit of a V-neck black dress, which could barely contain her breasts, and her knee-high caramel boots. It was good to see Deb out of her pyjamas and back to her stylish self again.
‘Let’s all booze up. It’s my birthday, motherfuckers.’ Deb chugged her glass of wine. Some of the liquid missed her mouth and dripped down into her cleavage, and I watched as Victor licked it off and stuck out his tongue afterwards like he was at a rave in Ibiza instead of at an upscale bistro in Noosa. I blushed and looked around at the other diners, but thankfully no one seemed to be looking at our table.
No one reacted to Victor’s behaviour; they were too distracted by the drinks on the table. So distracted that most of them were drunk already after an hour and a half and were reaching for wine after wine. Martin was hammered. He was having gin on the rocks and sat there staring off into space, looking as though his head was spinning. Just the sight of him made me dizzy.
‘Happy birthday, Debra Ricci,’ everyone chanted in harmony and held up their glasses, except Martin, who did a Kelly andstumbled outside with his hand over his mouth. No one paid attention to his disappearance or even asked where he was.
