Thirty-two ~ Surprise

"Why didn't you warn me?" I said down the phone to Mia, glancing over my shoulder towards the men's toilets.

"It was supposed to be a surprise. If I'd warned you, it wouldn't have been a surprise."

I groaned, rubbing at my head to soothe the painful ache, undoubtedly brought on by the stress of the situation.

"I thought you'd be happy," Mia said, sounding sad.

I sighed and took a couple of deep breaths. "I am happy. It's just a shock. It's caught me completely off-guard."

"I know, I'm sorry. You've just seemed so miserable lately that I didn't have the heart to tell you I couldn't come. I promise to visit at Christmas, though, when I'm back from college."

Guilt coated her rushed words, and I worried that my panic was presenting itself as ungratefulness. I reassured Mia that I truly did appreciate the gesture, and we wrapped up the call as Brent emerged from the toilets.

If being back in London had felt strange, it paled in comparison to being back in London alongside Brent, my biggest association with North Carolina. An overwhelming awkwardness accompanied us as we left the airport, and I hoped conversation would ease it.

"How was your flight?" I asked.

"It was good." He shot me a tight-lipped smile. "Thank you for, you know, paying."

I'd noticed our driver further along the drop-off zone and was mentally preparing a speech to explain the presence of a boy and not a girl, so Brent's sentence didn't register until seconds later.

"Paying?" I repeated, coming to a halt at the car and glancing up at him.

"Yeah, for the flight."

His eyes remained on me, that same fearless stare I'd grown so accustomed to. For a moment, we could have been back on the sunny, warm beach, not outside a chilly Heathrow Airport underneath a veil of black clouds.

"I paid for Mia's flight," I replied, confused.

"No, that was mine. I was sitting out of view in case she needed any information that wasn't on my passport."

Horror trickled through every vein in my body. It wasn't embarrassment from being so easily tricked, but mortification at realising Brent had witnessed every word of our candid conversation.

We didn't talk much on the journey into London. He stared out of the window for most of the ride, but his eyes glinted with interest rather than boredom. When we walked into the hotel's best suite, however, the silence spoke volumes. It reminded me of when he'd seen my Camberley house for the first time, and he'd made a resentful comment about how the other half live.

"So, whose idea was it?" I asked, perching on the edge of the bed.

No doubt he wanted to rest after the long flight, but leaving so soon after his arrival seemed heartless on my part—especially when I'd already given off ungrateful vibes to Mia.

"So you know who to be pissed at?" Brent didn't turn around from where he stood at the window, admiring the view.

"Not at all," I replied, my tone clipped. "I'm just shocked. That was the point of your surprise, wasn't it? To surprise me?"

"Jesus, you've only been back in London a week and you're already as bitchy as you were when we first met."

I narrowed my eyes at his back. "I'm not being bitchy. I'm trying to think of how this is going to work. Everyone is expecting Mia. People believe Alastair and I are still together. When they realise you're here—surprising me, no less—it's going to raise suspicions."

"I came here for two reasons," he said, turning around and folding his arms. "Firstly, I felt like we had unfinished business. Secondly, I wanted to get away from lifeguarding, try something different in an unfamiliar environment. I've got to say, I'm certainly feeling the latter."

I sighed. "Sorry. It's courageous of you to come here. Honestly. I'm more annoyed at myself because my reasons for worrying are selfish."

Tension drained from his shoulders as he came to sit beside me. The mattress sunk beneath his weight and my heart jolted at his sudden proximity. Heat from his bare knee burnt through the denim of my jeans to warm my skin, surging up my legs and settling between my thighs.

"I know it's weird," he said. "I was only supposed to be part of your summer. But I haven't stopped thinking about you, and I needed to do something crazy. You were brave enough to try my life. Now I want to try yours."

I couldn't help but smile at that, but he continued before I had a chance to reply.

"And I know we didn't have anything serious, and we never put a label on it... But I don't think we're finished yet. And I've not flown eight fucking hours just to be sent back."

Over the past week, I'd struggled to get Brent out of my head, despite trying to convince myself that what we'd had was only a fling—a way to help me discover myself. But I was as attracted to him now as one week, four weeks or even twelve weeks ago. And the fact he'd flown all this way to see me...?

"I know this is a shock. How about we meet up tomorrow to talk things over?"

"You're gonna be all right?" I asked.

"Sure."

He offered me a smile that didn't reach his eyes, and a surge of guilt washed through me again at how difficult I'd already managed to make this for him. By tomorrow, I'd have had time to let it sink in and assess a plan of action.

There was one thing I had to do first, though.

~~~

"I'm sorry to bother you at work," I said to Alastair as he let me into his office the following morning.

"No need to apologise." He smiled, leaning back in his leather chair. "What's up?"

I hovered at his desk, clasping my hands together as I fought to remember the speech I'd prepared. My mind drew a blank. I felt like a student in front of the teacher, in trouble and awaiting punishment.

"Brent's here."

Alastair's forehead wrinkled, his eyes becoming narrower. Resting his arms on the desk, he leaned forwards as if to get a closer look at me.

"Excuse me?"

"I didn't know he was coming. I was expecting Mia, but it turns out they were planning to surprise me and..."

"Surprise you?" he asked, unable to hide the bitterness lining his voice.

Sighing, he reclined in his chair and folded his arms, casting his gaze across the office towards an unknown point far from where I stood.

"I know how it looks—"

"Do you?" His eyes landed on me again and he rose to his feet. "Tell me, then, Rosa. How does it look?"

I swallowed the lump in my throat, stepping out of the way as Alastair strode towards his door and slammed it shut. If the whole office hadn't been aware of the argument, they'd notice it now.

"I'm sorry," I said. "I didn't plan this. That's why I came here. Obviously he won't come to your party. But I'll still be there. Like we arranged."

Alastair remained by the door, his body tense, prolonging the torturous silence. Not knowing what he was thinking always troubled me.

"Were you lying when you said nothing had happened?" he eventually asked.

"No. Nothing happened while you and I were together."

He nodded. "Right. So it happened afterwards. You were quick to move on."

"I haven't moved on. We're not in any kind of relationship. It was a total surprise."

"People don't take eight-hour flights and pay thousands of pounds just to surprise someone, Rosa." He threw his hands in the air, as if trying to expel the fury from his body. "You must think I'm an idiot."

"No—"

"I've tried to make this easy for you, and you do something like this. Now, I don't care whether you were in a relationship or whether it was casual, but having the guy show up to surprise you suggests it was more than just friendship."

"I realise that. But he's here now and we've got to deal with it."

Alastair sighed, tilted his head back and relaxed his body.

"Bring him along to the after party," he said.

"Oh, I don't—"

"Bring him along," he said, firmer. "Hiding him away is only going to look more suspicious, don't you think?"

"I just thought... You said yourself it doesn't look great."

"And if you've got nothing to hide, what's the problem? Remember, people's opinions are based almost entirely on appearance. If you appear to have a friendship, people will interpret it as a friendship. And if you appear to be in love with me, they won't suspect anything else."

At first, I assumed Alastair wanted Brent there as a punishment, to make me suffer and squirm over having both men nearby. But it wasn't about me. It was about Brent. He wanted him to watch the two of us together.

This wasn't only my reputation on the line, though. Alastair had just as much to lose, and he wasn't stupid enough to risk that.

"Fine," I said. "I'll invite him. And we'd better hope nothing suspicious happens because it'd be very embarrassing for you if it did."

"Don't play games with me, Rosa," he said in a warning tone.

"Don't punish me for something I had no control over, then. I've got no intention of playing games, Alastair. Let's be mature adults about this, okay?"

He stared at me for a long time before his eyes softened and resignation washed across his face. With a small nod, he sat back down.

"It's up to you," he said. "I stand by what I said, though. If you hide him away, it's going to look strange."

I understood his point, and whatever his potential ulterior motives, he was right. But we both wanted the same thing from this, and Alastair knew that outing me would only humiliate himself.

~~~

Thank you for reading :) xx

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