"Maybe you should stay longer than just one week," Tessa says at the bar of her favourite pub in Moncks Bay, a south-eastern suburb of Christchurch.

Aimee has arrived two days ago in New Zealand, with a suitcase in one hand, and her heart on the other.

Tessa and Aimee met when Tessa was exploring England with her backpack and a one-year visa. Aimee was starting her career, one gig at a time, and desperately needed extra income. Her bedroom, in a shared house, accommodated another bed, and after a desperate trip to Argos to get a half-decent and cheap single bed and mattress, Aimee put an advert to rent out her bedroom and share it with a stranger. Her advert gifted her a short-temper, blonde-haired, Kiwi that became one of her best friends. They forged a companionship through many late-night talks and Maggi noodle dinners, that not even eleven thousand miles could break apart.

"Or stay for a few months."

Aimee snorts with laughter at the preposterous idea.

"I'm just saying things are so shitty right now that you should consider not going back for some time."

"Your solution is a tad drastic," Aimee responds.

"I'm just saying... Men, suck." The blonde-haired woman states over beers while stealing a sideways glance at Josie.

Aimee takes a sip of her beer and ponders Tessa's words. Maybe staying back in New Zealand for a few weeks or months is not a completely preposterous idea.

Moncks Bay water was colder, clearer, and deadlier than Byron's Bay crystal blue lagoon. Tessa kept encouraging Aimee to go back on the board. But it sank her heart at the idea of surfing without him.

Instead, for the last two days since their arrival and while Josie spent her mornings at the beach sunbathing and surfing, Aimee took refuge in the mountainous trails surrounding her.

"Another!" Tessa bangs her hand on the table, calling for the bartender's attention.

Aimee smiles and remembers Tessa's binge drinking habits back in London.

"Are you going to be doing the talkin' the whole night, or are they mute?" the bartender asks.

Aimee's eyes shot up at the bartender and his audacity. "No, she's not, and you can mind your own business," she replies.

He places the beers in front of them. "Leave them alone, Scott," Tessa says pointedly.

He extends his hand. "Nice to meet you, London town."

Aimee shakes his hand with a frown.

"Tessa told me all 'bout you," he smirks.

"She needs to shut her mouth once in a while." Aimee glares at her friend.

"It's only Scott," Tessa says, as if that is a valid excuse.

"Hi, I'm Josie, not that anyone cares for it." Josie waves at Scott.

"Hi Josie." He smiles and wipes the counter. "Can I get you, ladies, any supper?"

"Where are you from?" Josie asks.

"He's Geordie," Aimee responds and sips from her beer.

"Geordie?" Josie raises her eyebrows.

"I'm from Newcastle." he responds. "I would recommend that you try the Kiwi Burger to soak all the alcohol."

"Kiwi burger?" Aimee frowns.

Tessa gulps her beer. "Yeah, the best burger in the world. Hey, and bring another round of cold ones!"

Scott waves without turning around.

"You're going to love it." Tessa frowns at the almost intact beer in front of Aimee. "You've barely touched your beer," she grumbles.

Aimee laughs, "That's because I cannot soak all the alcohol as you do."

Scott places three more beers on the counter. "Take it easy now. Don't want to end up taking you back to your house like last time."

Tessa rolls her eyes at him and clinks her glass with Aimee and Josie. "To Kiwi burgers!"

Aimee and Josie laugh uncontrollably.

Aimee's phone buzzes from her pocket, and she retrieves it and sees Callum's name flashing. She has been calling him but he had returned none of her calls until now.

"It's Callum, I'm going outside quickly."

Josie nods, while Aimee flees outside while sliding her thumb up to accept the video call.

"Hey" she greets her brother as casually as possible.

"Hey" he returns.

She could see he was outside, near the beach, but couldn't make out where.

"Where are you?" she asks.

Callum walks further away from the voices in the background. "The Gold Coast. I took off the day after you left and have been here with some people. I just need to clear my head. Listen, I'm sorry. I know I was an asshole to you." He takes a deep breath and stares at the ocean in front of him. "I don't want to fight with you. You're my sister and the one that is with me every step of the way for everything else in my life. I just need you to be with me on this, too."

"Yeah, I know. I'm sorry too."

"How's New Zealand?"

"Pretty awesome, actually. You want to say hello to Tessa and Josie?"

Callum chuckles, "Would love nothing more than to say hello to that knucklehead and my cousin, but you need to do something also for me."

Aimee raises her eyebrows curiously.

"I've met someone. Obviously, you'll get to know her when you're here, but I wanted you to talk to her."

"You met someone? When?" Aimee asks.

"BlueFest..." Callum responds.

Aimee recalls the moment she caught him making out with a brunette. "Is that the person you've been with, hey?"

Callum laughs and waves at someone. "Among others. Just humour me, okay?"

A beautiful, tanned girl comes into view, with light brown hair and hazelnut eyes. "Hi! Tudo bom?" (How are you?)

"Hi, sim tudo bem. Brazilian?" (Yes, all good.)

"Ana, meet my sister, Aimee." Callum says to the brunette. "You'll get to hang out when she's back. When are you back again?"

Aimee ponders Tessa's words. "In a few days. Look forward to hanging out with you, Ana."

Ana waves with a broad smile and disappears.

"Let me get Josie and Tessa. By the way, I think they are into each other." Aimee gets up from where she's sitting outside the pub, "And Ana seems nice."

Callum starts also walking in a different direction. "She is. Wait, is Josie...?"

Aimee enters the pub and walks over to Tessa. "I guess so. Hey, look who's here to see you."

She turns her phone to Tessa. "Hey, shithead!" Tessa waves.

"Hey, smart mouth!" he replies.

Tessa waves enthusiastically.

Josie comes into view. "Hey, stranger!"

"Hey, don't let her drown you in beer! She is a dangerous woman." Callum retorts.

Unexpectedly, a familiar face comes into view in the call's background. Aimee's face falters when Callum turns around and frames him on the camera.

"Oh yeah, Liam wants to speak with you. One minute."

Aimee freezes.

"Liam?" Tessa shoots a glance at Josie, who is also stunned.

Liam takes the phone from Callum and walks a few steps away from them, similar to what her own brother had done minutes before. "Hey."

Aimee gulps, "Hey"

Tessa frowns and gets up, but Josie places her hand on her shoulder and calms her down.

"You haven't returned my calls, and Callum told me about what happened..." Liam looks down embarrassedly. "We need to talk."

Aimee takes her eyes from the screen, momentarily avoiding looking into his blue eyes.

"You need to allow me to explain."

"Explain what? It was pretty clear from where I was standing."

"Aimee, please let me talk to you about it. Give me a chance to explain everything to you. I wanted to talk to you, but then you said you were going to New Zealand..."

Aimee's face turns red. "You didn't find a moment to tell me you're engaged during the day? Or the night before? Or any other time before that?"

"We're not engaged."

"Or almost engaged! Whatever!" she scoffs.

"Listen, I understand you're angry, but I'm begging you to allow me to explain everything..."

"Did you tell my brother? You two seem very chummy, but I'm pretty sure you didn't tell him anything about us. Am I right?"

Liam stays silent. Aimee hears a burst of laughter near him.

"Listen, I'll call you in one hour. Please pick it up. Let me talk to you."

A female voice calls out Liam's name.

"Please pick up the phone when I call you. Please, I beg you."

And at that moment her face comes into view, holding him by his neck and planting a kiss on his cheek. "Oh, hi. I remember you from the party. Are you Callum's sister?"

Aimee nods, and Liam shakes Grace from him.

"What happened?" The girl stares at Liam, puzzled at his abrupt gesture. "We're ready to go back to the hotel."

"I'm coming. Just give me one minute."

Grace frowns, "Ok, bye." She barely glances at the screen and disappears from view.

A single tear falls from Aimee's face.

"One hour. I'll call you and talk to you. Please," he repeats.

"She's there with you?"

"Aimee...it's complicated," he says, while rubbing the back of his neck.

Tessa gets up angrily, listening to his pleads. "Complicated my ass." Assertively she presses the red button, takes the phone from Aimee's hands, and shuts the phone off. "Let him call you now."

Josie embraces Aimee, "Are you ok?"

Aimee wipes the stubborn tear that fell from her face. "Let's get drunk."

The sun shines from the window and Aimee's eyes squint at the invasive light that disturbs her. She rolls over slowly, her body is in pain, her head is throbbing, and her throat is as dry as the desert. Slowly she puts the puzzle of the night before and the shenanigans that Tessa and Josie were up to in a drunken state. She also pieces her own actions, the binge drinking, the queasiness, someone's arms around her, holding her up. Her surroundings are more familiar than ever, and she realises this is not Tessa's place. Her heart skips a beat. She's not the one-night-stand type of girl. She turns her body slowly around and sees a chest rising and falling in cadence.

"Morning," she recognises the Geordie accent immediately.

She scans her body for evidence of any signs of nakedness beneath the sheets, and apart from her shoes that lay on the side of the bed, she is fully clothed.

"Don't worry, I didn't peek at anything." Scott grunts and rolls out of bed. "I'll make us some English breakfast, good for a hangover. Feel free to use the loo, first door on the right."

Aimee slides out of the bed and searches for her phone frantically. Then it dawns on her. Tessa has her phone.

Outside, the sound of pans banging denounces that Scott is intent on fulfilling his promise. Aimee grabs her shoes and purse and darts to the bathroom. She washes her face and tries to piece the events from the night before. She places her flat shoes on her feet, rinses her mouth, tangles her hair in a messy bun, puts on her denim jacket, and walks out.

"Hey," she announces softly.

Scott looks up from his frying pan. "Hey, yourself, feeling a bit more human?"

"I suppose."

He slides off two fried eggs onto a plate and some sausages. "I hope you are not one of those vegetarian people."

"I had the Kiwi burger yesterday. There's meat in it."

"Actually, I had your Kiwi burger yesterday. You were more into the beer." He places two mushroom halves on the plates and some baked beans. "I love a good English breakfast after a night out." Scott places the plates on the small dining table in front of the oven and nods for Aimee to sit down.

Aimee clutches at her purse. "I think I should head out."

Scott sits down. "Eat something. Then you can go. Besides, I need to give you directions back to Tessa's."

Aimee slides to the chair. "Where's Tessa?"

Scott stabs one sausage and gobbles it. "Back at hers with Josie. She carried her. I took care of you."

Aimee stares at the eggs, her mouth waters. "About that..."

Scott gulps his black tea. "Nothing happened. Tessa is a handful when drunk, but you two combined. Wow, it's hurricane season. Josie took Tessa, but you were slumpin' all over the place, so I told her I would allow you to crash with me."

Aimee takes a bite of the eggs. "But we slept on the same bed."

Scott laughs, "Well, I only have one bed in this place, and as you can see, no sofa. I'm not sleeping on the floor. Besides, you made it irresistible when you kissed me."

Aimee's eyes widen. "I what?"

"You kissed me, asked me to have sex with you, and then you threw up all over me. It was a very sexy moment."

"I'm sorry..." Aimee lowers her eyes to the plate of food.

His eyes glisten with mischief. "Don't be. If you were a tad soberer, I would have taken you on your offer." He takes another gulp from his tea. "And if you weren't so hung up on another bloke."

Aimee's eyes shot up again and look at his hazelnut eyes.

"You called his name after you kissed me, so I guess you were not really kissing me."

"I called you Liam?"

Scott lowers his gaze to the plate and takes a bite from the half-burnt toast, and nods, trying to hide the wounded pride of having a beautiful woman you've just kissed call someone else's name.

"I'm sorry" is all she can say.

The walk of shame is something new to Aimee, and here she is in a small town in the world's corner, walking the streets, avoiding returning the gaze to anyone on the street.

Once she makes it to the green wooden house with a white roof, she opens the door as quietly as possible, avoiding running into Josie or Tessa until she has showered. She takes the spare key from the vase on the front porch and opens the door slowly. She's greeted with giggles coming from inside and realises both of them are awake.

Aimee takes a deep breath before entering the room, preparing herself for the mockery on the other end by her best friend and newly found cousin. Instead, she finds both of them on the green sofa in a compromising position.

Aimee closes her eyes. "I'm so sorry!" for the eleventh time that morning, and runs outside.

Outside, she can hear the girls getting dressed.

Tessa walks outside in a t-shirt and shorts. "Hey, you're back early."

Aimee stares at her best friend, avoiding returning her gaze. "I didn't mean to interrupt..."

Tessa chuckles, "Well, that's life. Are you coming in or what?"

Aimee follows Tessa.

However, Josie's face is pale, and she looks terrified. "Please, don't tell my father."

Aimee realises Josie is not out to her father. "I won't" is all she can say, but she eyes Tessa's reaction.

Tessa is a woman that is not only open about her sexuality, but is also confident about it too.

Tessa's face hardens with Josie's request, but she keeps quiet and directs her attention to Aimee. "Had a good night?"

Aimee smacks Tessa in her arm. "He could have been a serial killer!"

Tessa rolls her eyes at Aimee. "He's from Newcastle." As if that was a rational explanation. "I'm starving. Who's hungry?"

Aimee doesn't want to disclose that she shared breakfast with Scott, so nods eagerly as not to raise more questions, but she can also feel the shift in the atmosphere in that house.

"Yeah, sure. Josie?" she smiles reassuringly to her cousin, and Josie nods.

"Great, see you, nerds, in 20 minutes. Going to hit the shower." Tessa announces and leaves the room without even glancing at Josie. Clearly, her ego was bruised, and it was showing.

Josie stares momentarily at Aimee. "You can use the bathroom first. I need to call home, anyway." Josie says.

Aimee nods and starts walking to the bedroom they are sharing. "Jos?" she turns to her cousin. "I have your back, no matter what. Just thought you should know."

Josie smiles and takes her phone from her pocket and dials a number.

The following two nights are awkward. Tessa kept herself busy during the day with the vet clinic, but at night would try as much as possible to avoid Josie. Since that morning, they barely exchanged two words, and they constantly sought Aimee as a buffer between them. They also canceled the nightly trips to the pub, since Aimee was too embarrassed to face Scott.

On the morning of the fifth day, Aimee visits Tessa in her clinic by herself.

Once she enters the clinic, this woman in her mid-forties with a beautiful, friendly smile greeted her. "Hello there."

"Hi. I'm friends with Tessa, and..."

The woman's face lights up. "Are you, Aimee? She talks about you all the time. So happy you are visiting her here. Are you planning to stay for how long?"

Aimee takes a strand of her hair and tucks it behind her ear nervously. "Only a few days more."

"What are you doing here, nerd?" Tessa calls out.

"Came to see you in action. Can't actually believe they think you have a vet degree!"

Tessa smiles and signals Aimee to join her in the backroom.

Once Aimee enters, she sees a Border Collie laying down on the table.

Tessa walks around the table and gestures to Aimee to approach. "Make yourself useful. Hold his mouth like this," she shows it to Aimee. "I need to give him a shot, and he has a bad habit of biting."

Aimee chuckles and closes the dog's mouth. "How are you?" she eyes Tessa, who is taking a needle out of a draw.

"Fine," she responds mechanically and places a small vial with a transparent liquid next to the needle.

"I didn't know."

Tessa rubs the dog's leg with alcohol. "Know what?"

Aimee pats the animal to calm him down. "That she's not out."

Tessa sighs and slowly injects the animal that jerks slightly on the table but is kept steady by Aimee's grip on his mouth. "It happens."

She removes the needle and wipes the area with a cotton ball.

"Tess, I know how you respond to these situations. I remember Amanda."

Tessa pats the dog affably. "You can let go now. So what?"

Aimee strokes the dog. "Not everything is black and white. I don't know my cousin that well. Only when I saw you two, I realised that she's into you... I'm saying that you know my family is messed up, and I'm guessing this is just another part of the mess I still haven't figured out. All I'm asking is for you to go easy on her. I can see clearly that you like her."

Tessa sighs, "I don't know if I can."

The receptionist enters the room. "Tessa, Mr Wilson called, she's about to burst."

"Do you want to help me deliver a foal?"

Aimee's face lights up. "Absolutely."

Author's Note:

Photo by Michael on Unsplash