Thirty
They’d had something to eat, and Charlie was on his first beer, when Lisa said, ‘It’s a shame we’re heading in different directions tomorrow.’
‘Yeah, it is,’ Charlie said. ‘But it’s been great seeing you.’
‘I can’t persuade you to go to Cairns?’ Beth was pleased at Lisa’s persistence, she hated the thought of setting off alone again.
‘Not really, I’ve got everything planned out.’
‘Maybe I should come down south with you?’ Both Beth and Lisa knew it was a stupid suggestion, but neither wanted to let their friend go.
‘I’m heading to Adelaide first. I want to see where they have the motor racing.’
Beth knew her face must be showing hers and Lisa’s lack of interest.
‘Not your kind of thing, is it?’
Lisa shook Beth’s head.
‘Better not come with me, then. It’s hundreds of miles out of your way.’
Reluctantly, Lisa agreed. ‘You’re right. I guess I’ll just go to Cairns, as I planned.’
‘We’ll always have The Great Barrier Reef.’ Charlie raised his beer, for a toast.
Lisa chinked his glass. She’d allowed herself only one shandy.
‘Make the most of that. I’m cutting off your supply. I can’t cope with the tears,’ he teased.
Beth knew why Lisa was being frugal. She feared a takeover as much as Beth would in her situation.
She heard Lisa say, ‘There won’t be any tears tonight. I promise.’
‘I hope not. I mean, I know you were crying for me. But I don’t need your sympathy. I’m fine. Look at me?’
‘I know you are. You’re more than fine.’ Beth hated to hear Lisa’s tone switch to flirtatious.
It was a humid evening, they walked back to their room, and stood briefly outside the hostel to admire the dark sky.
‘Please tell him I’m going to miss him?’ Beth hated to have to ask.
A second later, she heard her own voice say, ‘I’m going to miss you, Charlie.’
‘I’m going to miss you too.’
‘How weird … I mean … this time together, it’s like …’
‘That’s the magic of this place. You see things, you do things, things you thought weren’t possible. If you’d have asked me a few days ago, who I thought I’d try scuba diving with, I wouldn’t have imagined in a thousand years that my answer would be Beth Campbell.’
Beth wanted to scream out – you didn’t go with me, though. Not in reality. But she had to sit quietly and listen as Lisa said, ‘Those girls on the boat seemed to like you.’
Charlie flexed his arms. ‘Girls can’t resist the Morris muscles.’
Lisa asked, ‘You know what those girls wanted to do to you today, don’t you?’
Charlie replied, ‘No. What?’
‘This.’ She cupped Beth’s hands around his face and pulled him towards her. Staring into his eyes, she moved Beth’s face closer to his, until their lips were touching.
They kissed. Gently at first, but with growing passion.
Beth could feel Lisa’s excitement. It was unnerving. She wondered if this was how Lisa had experienced every sexual encounter Beth had ever had. It was all wrong. Intrusive and horribly voyeuristic. Beth felt more trapped than she had done when Lisa and Charlie had stood on the sea bed a few hours earlier. ‘Please, swap back now. It’s what we agreed.’
Lisa took no notice. Merely kissing Charlie with more force.
‘I said you could go scuba diving. I never agreed to this.’ Beth was shouting. Trying her hardest to put Lisa off. But it would seem nothing was going to deter her sister.
As Lisa buried Beth’s head in Charlie’s warm neck, planting tiny teasing kisses down the length of it, Beth got a vague smell of his aftershave. It was wonderfully masculine. His arms around her were solid. She wanted to feel them for real. She wished she could become lost in those kisses. If only she could have him to herself and touch him for real. She knew to kiss him right now would be comforting and passionate, it would be home! Just to be back in control would mean the world.
When she thought she could stand it no more, Charlie abruptly called a stop to the kissing. Raising his eyebrows, questioningly, he asked ‘Shall we go back to our room?’
Beth felt Lisa nod her head. ‘I’m sorry about last night. I promise you ‒’
He cut in, ‘Forget it. I’m sorry as well. I was too eager. I should’ve …well, anyway, tonight will be different.’
They were so desperate to get to it, they burst through the door. Charlie flicked the light switch on urgently, it wouldn’t do for them to trip over a rucksack or something at this crucial point in time.
As the room was flooded with a bright artificial light, they both realised the awful truth.
‘Who’s there?’
‘Sorry, we didn’t know there was anyone in here.’ Charlie apologised to the new arrival who, up until a second before, had been fast asleep in the other bunk. ‘The room was empty when we went out for dinner.’
Their new room-mate gave them a cheerful wave. ‘I just got here. Long coach trip.’
‘Right well, we’ll try not to disturb you,’ Charlie replied, politely.
‘No worries. I figured I’d better sleep. I’m seeing the reef tomorrow. Waking up at seven.’
‘We’d better … um …’ Charlie indicated they ought to get into their separate bunks, fully clothed. Then, reaching out, he switched the light off.
‘Cheers. I hope my alarm doesn’t bother you in the morning.’
‘Please don’t worry about it. We’ve got to be up early too. We’re heading off tomorrow.’ Charlie remained polite.
‘Fucking hell. Who invited him to the party?’ Beth could tell Lisa was very annoyed by the turn of events. They lay in the dark, waited to see if he would suggest somewhere else for them to go. But it wasn’t like Bondi, there was no convenient old laundry room.
Beth silently willed him to stay in his own bed. Whilst Lisa did the opposite.
Eventually, the sisters came to the same conclusion. He wasn’t going to appear next to Beth’s bed, and whisper tenderly that he had to have her. He wasn’t going to seductively suggest they should get out of bed and go some place where they could be alone. In fact, he wasn’t going to say anything. They could both hear him breathing deeply.
Thank goodness, he’s fallen asleep.
‘Bollocks. The bastard’s nodded off. Well, Beth. That just shows what he thinks of you. He couldn’t even be bothered to come up with a plan B.’ Lisa sounded extremely frustrated.
Beth said nothing. On the one hand, she was incredibly relieved Charlie had not pursued Lisa any further. But on the other, Lisa was right, his giving up so readily, surely proved he hadn’t thought that much of her in the first place. ‘Can we swap back now?’
‘I don’t know. What was the other bloke like? Any good?’
‘Lisa, I did not swap with you, so you could have sex with a random man who just happened to be put in the same room as us.’
‘All right, all right, keep your hair on. You want to swap now?’
‘Yes.’ Beth began to feel excited. It was how she imagined prisoners felt when they were granted parole.
‘Right now?’
‘Yes.’
‘OK. Fair enough. Here I come.’
Beth was propelled forwards. With a rush, she emerged back inside her own body. Her limbs were hers once more. She was free to move, free to breathe, free to say whatever she liked. ‘Thanks for swapping back.’
‘No worries.’
It was only a few minutes later, as she began to drop off to sleep, that Beth realised her mistake. She’d forgotten to obtain the facts about James’s departure. Crap. How could I have forgotten him?