I sit at the airport, waiting for our flight, with my eyes fixed firmly on Joshua. I have hardly seen him alone this morning since the damning information came out. He packed in silence and the only words he said to me were when I asked why he had a suit in his bag and he replied, “Because we will be photographed when we get to LA.”
No anger, no animosity. No nothing. As if he didn’t know me. I know he has a lot going on in his head at the moment so I am just leaving him alone, but this is not exactly how I wanted to end our beautiful trip.
“Do you want coffee?” Abbie asks.
Abbie, Bridget and I are on the seats near the window. Adrian is deep in conversation with Cameron at the back of the airport, no doubt being filled in on this morning’s events and Joshua is sitting with the guards and Ben. He is still and silent. My eyes keep flicking to him.
“Yes please.” I smile. I am so very grateful my two best friends are in this with me. I would hate to be facing LA on my own.
Abbie rises and goes in search of coffee and my eyes flick to Bridget. Something is wrong with her.
“What’s wrong Didge?” I ask.
She smiles and takes my hand gently in hers as she looks around nervously. “Ben and I hooked up last night,” she whispers.
My eyes widen. “What, really!” I look around and see Ben watching us with a serious look on his face so I quickly look away. “Busted,” I whisper.
“What happened?” I ask. Ben’s hot, I can’t imagine he would be anything but amazing.
She shakes her head. “Christ, this is a nightmare,” she whispers.
“What do you mean?” I frown. “Oh shit, did you sleep with him?” I reply.
She screws up her face in disgust. “God no, what do you think I am?”
I wince. “Sorry, I didn’t mean… what’s the problem then?”
We are interrupted by Adrian. “We can board ladies.” He smiles down sympathetically at me and I know he knows and that Cameron has probably been whinging about me for the last hour.
I give him an awkward smile as Abbie returns without coffee. “What happened to our coffee?” I ask.
“Oh they told me we were boarding so I just went to the bathroom.”
“Oh ok,” I reply. I needed that damn caffeine fix.
Joshua comes over to us and holds out his hand. “Come on presh.” My heart skips a beat and I smile up at him. I don’t think I have ever in my life been so grateful for him calling me presh. I stand immediately and take his hand and he leads me onto the plane. We take our seats in silence and Joshua fusses about putting my handbag in the overhead bin. He then sits next to me and takes my hand in his. He is painfully quiet and I know he doesn’t want to talk. I just have to wait for him to open up to me. If I try to bring this up he is just going to close off-that’s Joshua’s way. What is going on in that head of his anyway? I put my hand over his and sit still, staring out the window as I go over this morning’s events in my head. What have you done Margaret?
Six hours into the flight Joshua goes to the bathroom and on his return slumps into the seat next to Cameron who is diagonally across the aisle from us. Adrian and Abbie are in the middle of the plane and Bridget is a couple of seats behind us on her own. Ben and the guards are at the back of the plane playing cards.
“What’s the next move?” I hear Cameron whisper to Joshua. Shit. I strain my ears to hear Joshua’s reply.
Bridget flops into the seat next to me. Oh damn it, I want to listen to what they are saying.
“So Ben and I kissed,” she whispers.
“Yes,” I answer but I am trying to strain my ears to hear what Joshua is saying to Cameron.
“So what’s the problem?” I ask. Oh god, Didge, not now, I need to hear what’s going on.
“He kissed me when we were dancing,” she replies.
I smile and grab her hand. “This is good,” I whisper.
She shakes her head in disgust. “So then we got carried away and started making out on the dance floor,” she whispers, mortified, and I bite my lip to stifle my smile… it must have been the night for public displays of affection. My cheeks heat at the thought that I had sex on a public beach last night. What was I thinking?
My eyes flick past her to the boys. What are they saying? “Ok, so what’s the problem?” I frown again as I strain to hear above her.
“He went to the bathroom and then didn’t come back for ten minutes and then when he did it was like a different person came back,” she replies.
I frown. “Huh, what do you mean?” I ask.
“I think you should ring her now and demand answers,” I hear Cameron assert.
Oh shit, are they going to call Margaret? What the hell is he going to say to her? Is he going to say he heard it from me? Will she deny it?
“He told me that he wasn’t interested and that he must have had a brain snap,” Bridget sighs.
I frown as I watch the boys. Joshua gets out his phone in slow motion and my eyes widen.
“Are you fucking listening to me at all?” Bridget whispers angrily.
“Huh?” My eyes flick to Bridget. “What did you say?” I ask.
“You’re incredible. Thanks for the advice,” she whispers furiously and gets up and goes back to her seat.
Oh crap, I rub my head in frustration. Now Bridget’s shitty with me too. Joshua dials the number and I sit still. Shit, shit, shit, this is a nightmare.
He hangs up. “Voicemail,” he snaps angrily. Cameron replies something that I can’t hear and then I hear Joshua. “No, I will wait till we get home.” I sigh in relief. Thank god. I sit still in a trance trying to imagine what story Margaret is going to spin. It seems more likely that Joshua and I are cousins but then Cam said that his blood is the same as his father’s… if that’s even his blood type. Mum’s not exactly an expert on this subject. Joshua continues to sit with Cameron for the next hour and I am earning a medal for ear straining. Feeling guilty for my selfishness with Bridget earlier I get up with my iPad and walk back to her seat and sit next to her.
“Sorry Didge.” I grab her hand and she frowns and snatches my iPad from me and starts to type. Ben is not far behind us and she doesn’t want him to hear.
She writes, “I know that your life is perfect now that you have Joshua but please remember that my life has been totally fucked in the process!”
I give her a sad face and take the iPad to write back. “Babe, I’m sorry for not listening. There is just some serious shit going on with the boys this morning and I was trying to listen to what they were saying. It wasn’t fair to you and I’m sorry. Tell me about Ben.”
She frowns as she reads the text and snatches the iPad from me and starts to type. “What’s going on?”
Should I tell Bridget? I type. “Promise me on your life that you can keep a secret.”
“I promise” she writes.
“There is a question over Joshua and Cameron’s paternity.”