Sunlight and the sound of the coffee machine woke me. I sat up, woolly-headed, squinting and wincing as the throbbing hangover headache hit.
“Ugh,” I groaned.
“That you, Ari?” Charley called from somewhere.
“Mm,” I protested.
“Want some coffee?”
“Mmmr.”
“On its way.”
I forced my eyes open, scowling at the hateful light. Then I levered myself up and stared balefully out at the world.
She appeared at the door, steaming mug clasped in one hand and a tall glass of water in the other. She put them down for me. “You okay?” she asked.
“No,” I whined.
“We did drink a lot.”
I fumbled for the water and downed it, shuddering. Then I curled my hand, claw-like, around the cup of coffee she’d made me. “Thank you. How long have you been awake?” I managed.
“Not long. And I lay for a bit, enjoying having you draped over me.”
“Oh. Sorry. Was I still there?”
“Yeah. You were drooling. It was very sweet, I should have taken a selfie of us.”
“Told you I’d find it nice,” I muttered.
I sipped my coffee and squinted up at her. “You okay?”
“Yeah, I’m fine. Hanging like a badger’s nadger, but otherwise I’m good. I’m glad I stayed over.”
“So am I. What are your plans for today?”
“They’re… fluid,” she said softly. “I’ll fall in with whatever you feel like. I…”
“What is it?” I said, watching as her expression changed.
“I’ve only got a little bit of time left here with you. I don’t want to spend any of that time elsewhere. I don’t want to miss out any more.”
I reached out and took her hand. “You’ll see me again, you know. Far sooner than I suspect you realise.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. I’m totally going to go and stalk you in Lincoln when we’re home. Now you’re back in my life, and you will never be free of me.”
She gave me a strange little smile. “That would be nice. I’d quite enjoy being forever chained to you. Right. Finish your coffee and lets see about breakfast. I had a quick look, there’s not much.”
“We could always go invade the buffet.”
“I wonder if we’re still banned from the sausages.”
I laughed, remembering the day we’d depleted the kitchen’s stocks and spent the rest of the day groaning over our overfull bellies. “Probably not,” I said. “I think it was a soft ban rather than a hard one.”
“Let’s test that theory, then. I am rather partial to a nice bit of meat,” she said with a wicked grin.
“Oh you,” I groaned in disgust.
“So shall we get dressed and stumble over there?”
“What time is it?”
“A little after nine.”
“OK.”
I slid off the bed and stretched, then shuffled forward and wrapped my arms around her. She squeaked, then relaxed in against me with a sigh.
“Good morning,” I mumbled.
“Good morning,” she replied, as softly.
I released her and, yawning, began to rummage in my bag for clothes. She leaned against the wall, watching me with an amused smirk as I stripped and pulled on my bikini bottoms.
“Enjoying the show?” I asked as I struggled into the top, a pair of linens and a thin baby-blue tee shirt to finish it off.
“Oh yes. Thoroughly.”
I straightened, stretched my back out again, and ran my fingers through my unruly mane. “Ready,” I announced. “What about you?”
“I’ll make do with yesterday’s clothes and my costume. Make us another coffee while I get changed?”
“Sure.”
We shared our second coffee on the deck, and then made our way down to the dining hall. I drew the line at muesli and yoghurt; Charley of course made directly for the delicatessen. The scent of her sky-high-stack of various meats turned my stomach, but a glass of orange juice sorted me out and perked me up. She, meanwhile, seemed to be in heaven with her plate of fried heart-attack and egg. She was groaning by the time she was done; I’d topped off on some toast and had tried (abortively) one of her sausages; my stomach rejected the idea very quickly.
We ambled down to the pool, found a cool shady section, and claimed two loungers for ourselves. She pushed them together and then placed her bum on one.
“Come down here, I’ll get a crick in my neck if you don’t,” she said.
I eased down beside her with a groan.
She found my hand and held it loosely in hers.
“So,” she said softly.
“Mm?”
“What should we do today?”
“Swim? Then sailing?”
“OK,” she said. “And then?”
“Sundowners and dinner?”
“That sounds nice. Would you like me to spend the night again? Because if so I’m going to need some clean clothes.”
I watched her for a heartbeat.
“Yes,” I said softly. “I’d like you to stay again. I… I liked waking up with you there this morning. It was… nice.”
“OK then,” she said, as softly.
“Charley?”
“Yeah?”
“Can I ask you a question?”
“You just did.”
“Ugh. You know what I mean.”
She grinned. “Go ahead.”
“Um… how did you work out that you were… bi?”
“That’s a very direct question, Ariadne.”
“I was just curious,” I said softly.
“Well… if it’s in the spirit of scientific enquiry…”
“It is.”
“I… guess I never really made a conscious decision.”
“Oh. Really?”
“Yeah. I lost my virginity to a girl. The presence of boobs or balls has never really bothered me either way.”
“Oh,” I said.
“What made you think about all this… now?”
“Just… wondered, I guess. After…”
“Oh. Right,” she said softly. “Well. It’s just always been me, I guess. I know some girls grow into it. One girl I know said that for her it was entirely dependent on who she was crushing on. She said she could see a girl one day and not want her and see her the next day and it would be different. So… I guess it varies.”
“Oh. Um… How was your first?”
She rolled her head towards me. “Bit early in the day for this, isn’t it?” she said, eyebrow arching upwards. “I’m going to have to cover myself.”
“What? Oh. Oh. Shit, sorry…”
She laughed at my expression. “It’s fine, I was just teasing you. You’re easy to fluster and I love it.”
“You whore,” I muttered, and she cackled as she squeezed my hand again.
“It was nice,” she said, almost under her breath. “It was slow, sweet, and so very, very hot. I think I fell for her a bit when I came the third time. But sadly I was just a toy to her – a plaything, something to amuse herself with when she was bored.”
“Oh. That’s… horrid.”
“Yeah, it wasn’t all that nice. So I tried guys after that. They’re fun. And cocks are nice, sometimes. But…”
She shrugged, sighed. “Sometimes men don’t take no very well.”
“What happened?”
“I got stalked a bit. Nothing too hectic, but still not all that much fun. But hey, it’s one of the perils of dating. It takes time to work out who the person is behind the mask.”
“I… always enjoyed the idea more than the act,” I confessed softly. “And then there’s the… leftovers.”
“The leftovers?”
“Semen,” I whispered, embarrassed. “It’s… not my thing at all. I get nearly frantic to get it out of me.”
“Most things don’t seem to be your thing,” she answered me gently. “What do you actually like, Ari?”
“To be… touched. It doesn’t matter where. Well. Obviously, it does, but… it doesn’t. I get so little of it. Fingers on my neck, along my jaw, my scalp, behind my ears… my shoulders, my back, my… well… you get the picture.”
“And you don’t get that from anyone? Not at all?”
“No. The guys I’ve… been with… wanted one thing only. And they left when they’d got it. Can’t blame them, really – nobody wants to cuddle a statue, after all.”
She sighed.
“It’s hard for me not to want to take you in my arms when you sound so… woebegone.”
I managed a smile for her. “I’ve got you. I’ve got nothing to feel sad over.”
“Yeah you do. I’m a salve for some of it but not all of it. You were pretty clear on that fact.”
I flushed; she looked away.
Then she sighed and let my hand go as she sat up straight. “I need a swim,” she said. “I’m distracted and… well, distracted. Some cold water will help. Come join me.”
“Is that an order?”
“Yes,” she said tartly. “You started it, so now it’s time for penance.”
“Being in the water is not penance.”
“Then stop objecting and come along.”
She stripped out of her top and then slid her linens down her legs. I watched several men in the area turn to watch her.
“You’ve got an audience,” I said softly.
“Fuck ’em. I’m performing for one person only.”
“Yourself?”
“Ari,” she said, levelly.
“Uh huh?”
“Drop those pants and come swim with me,” she said, sidestepping my question.
So I did.
.:.
We spent the day swimming and sailing and both ended up with far too much sun. We were tired and singed when we detoured past her room on the way back to the chalet – she selected some lightweight sleepwear and more linens, then closed the door firmly on her room.
“I might as well have checked out,” she said wryly, “given that I seem to have moved in with you.”
“Next time we should just share a bigger chalet.”
“I’d like that, I think,” she agreed. “It would certainly make sense. We seem to get on okay.”
“More than okay,” I smiled. “We just work, don’t we.”
“To an extent, yeah. If you’re okay with my lecherous perving…”
“It’s nice to be appreciated for once,” I retorted, drily.
“Oh, you are, you are. Ugh. I burned.”
“Ditto. But I think you’re worse. I’ll put lotion on for you.”
I fought my brief, routine battle with my chalet door, and she slipped through once I’d got it open.
“Mind doing it now?” she said softly. She shrugged her shoulders free from her vest. “Earlier is better.”
“Sure. Here, hold still.”
I quickly spread the thin white fluid over her neck and shoulders, and then made sure it was worked thoroughly into her skin. She let out a shaky little breath when I was done, then shot me a small smile over her bare shoulder. “Thanks, Ari,” she said softly. “I’ll do you if you like?”
“Please, just my neck and ears. Think my shoulders are okay.”
“Yeah, they are. Hold still.”
And I shivered as she slowly massaged the cool soothing gel onto me.
“Done,” she murmured. “Wine?”
“Yeah. Wine would be good.”
“So…”
“Mhmm?” I answered as I stripped out of my swimwear. I struggled into some cotton shorts.