Page 8 of Head Over Skis

‘Well, as long as they don’t have skis in them either, lead the way, Rory.’

He gives me a funny look before lifting me clean off the countertop as he takes me towards one of the doors off the hallway. I giggle as his hands grip my ass where he holds me up, happy to forget my already dried tears as he kicks open the door.

Maybe this night can be salvaged after all.

4

‘So did you start to think it was a bad idea before or after you stuck your tongue down her throat?’ I ask, taking a sip from my too-sweet airport coffee and raising my eyebrows at him over the rim.

‘Stuck your tongue down whose throat?’ Tilly asks, as she rejoins us after taking a trip to the bathroom. Her eyes dart from mine to David’s, lingering on the latter’s.

‘Polly’s, of course,’ David replies, like it’s a silly question. But given Tilly’s hangover this morning, I wouldn’t be surprised if she’d forgotten.

‘And definitely before,’ he says, returning to my question. ‘I knew it was a bad idea the moment I didn’t leave the club as soon as I saw her.’ Then he goes on to give me all the details of the kiss with his ex that I’m still bummed I missed out on.

Only semi-bummed though. My night had its perks too.

‘But less about David and Polly because that is seriously old news and none of us liked her anyway,’ Tilly huffs, one hand massaging her temples as if it’ll make her hangover go away faster.

She hasn’t told me yet the details of how her night progressed after I’d left, but I can assume it was a late one from her dark eyebags and how her usually bouncy ginger curls are thrown into a chaotic bun.

‘Um, I did,’ I cut in, continuing the conversation about Polly, because it’s true.

She may have been a bit of an airhead, but Polly was sweet. Definitely better than the majority of other girls David dated while we were at uni, and that list is long.

‘And me, she was my girlfriend,’ David adds.

Tilly scoffs at the last word. ‘Girlfriend in the loosest sense of the word, you dated for a month.’

David scowls at her, his eyebrows dipping under the rim of his tortoise-shell glasses. ‘Says you, when’s the last time you even went on a date?’

‘I don’t know, David, when did you?’ she shoots back, adding extra emphasis to his name.

I zone out, too caught up in my own thoughts to care as two of them squabble over the technicalities of what constitutes a relationship. I’ve learnt through the years that it’s not worth getting involved when those two are going full throttle. Bickering is the foundation of their friendship, whether that makes sense to me or not.

‘Anyway,’ Tilly continues, pulling me back into the conversation with a pinch on my arm. ‘I want to hear all about your night, little miss secretive. I thought you were coming back to the club, then you text and tell me you’re at some other guy’s place!’

Tilly stares at me with her arms crossed, and fingers drumming against the fluffy blue fleece jacket she’s wearing. I can’t help being jealous of the fact she’s in what can only be described as a wearable duvet whilst she’s impatiently waiting for me to spill the details.

We’ve barely made it past the doors of Departures at Gatwick airport, but I know I need to fill her in quickly before a certain someone arrives. I would’ve filled her in this morning when I arrived back, but she was so tired she was worried she wouldn’t remember it and told me to wait until later.

‘Okay, do you want to hear the good news first or the bad news?’

‘Oh god, let me guess. Good news: big dick. Bad news: shit kisser?’

She winces, and I know we’re both thinking back to the last guy she slept with where that was the sad reality.

‘Not far off on the good news front,’ I reply. ‘In fact, he wasn’t the problem at all. He was seriously hot, body like the guys who make it onto magazine covers, zero inhibitions and also sort of a gentleman. He made me a cup of tea.’

‘Okay, weird, but we’ll roll with it,’ David says, brushing that last bit off. ‘I’m not catching onto the bad news here.’

‘It was me,’ I say, gesturing down at myself in my Primark matching tracksuit set. Airport comfort clothing at its finest. ‘I was the bad news.’

‘Babe, I know you haven’t slept with that many guys because of your saga with he-who-shall-not-be-named, but we kissed when we were drunk once and you were great! Don’t be insecure!’ Tilly pats me on the shoulder but I shrug her off.

‘Thank you, but no, it’s not that. The issue was, I may have ended up blabbering about Adam to him. And there may have been some… crying.’

‘You cried!’ David’s face bugs in disbelief, his head moving so suddenly some of his buttery blonde curls fall over his face.