One of the Girls(32)

Lexi looked at her. Waited.

Bella stared back. Said nothing.

‘You know what?’ Lexi said. ‘I’m tired.’ She left the table, her footsteps barely making a sound as she crossed the terrace and disappeared inside the villa.

Bella carried the bottle of ouzo to a corner of the terrace and slumped down on the edge of the wall. Her dress had ridden up around the tops of her thighs and she didn’t bother to adjust it. She drank straight from the bottle, her lipstick marking the glass neck.

She was aware of the lethal drop at her back. Didn’t care.

She wriggled her right toes and felt the hot throb of the scorpion sting. She knew she should ice it again but couldn’t face going into the kitchen where the others were washing up – and probably bitching about her.

A speaker still played a low pulse of reggae. She took another swig of ouzo, then stood, swaying in time to the beat. She wasn’t going to end the party. Fuck them all and their stony judgements. She moved her hips, hair swinging.

Robyn strode from the villa with an empty tray, refusing to look in her direction. Bella danced on. Robyn began stacking the tray with used glasses and empty bottles, her movements neat, precise.

See? Surgeon.

When the table was cleared, she moved off. As she passed, Bella found herself calling out, ‘We didn’t even finish the quiz.’

Robyn stopped. ‘It was a shitty quiz. You humiliated Lexi.’

She’d forgotten how punchy Robyn could get with a few drinks under her belt. It was either that, or she’d start swaying against your shoulder, telling you she loved the whole world. ‘It was supposed to be fun.’

‘Guess I’m too boring to know what fun means.’

Oh. So Robyn had heard. ‘Sorry,’ Bella said sheepishly. ‘I was venting. I didn’t mean it.’

‘Well, it hurt,’ she said.

Bella moved towards Robyn. ‘Really, I’m sorry,’ she said, feeling terrible. ‘Forgive me for being an arsehole?’

Robyn looked at her, then rolled her eyes. ‘Fine. Forgiven.’

‘Thank God for that. I can’t handle everyone being pissed off with me. You know I’d never have done the drinking games if Lexi had told me she was pregnant?’

‘I know.’ She set down the tray on the low stone wall, then pressed a hand into her lower back, as if it were causing her pain.

‘Why didn’t Lexi tell us?’

‘Like she said – she wanted to tell Ed first. She probably needs some time to get her head around things.’

‘I don’t think she wants this baby.’

‘She does. She said—’ Robyn cut herself short.

Bella blinked. ‘Wait. You knew, didn’t you? Lexi told you she was pregnant.’

‘She called because she was upset—’

‘When?’

‘Last Sunday.’

‘Last Sunday? That’s over a week ago! She’s known all this time and not told me? I’m her maid of honour!’

‘Maybe she wasn’t sure she’d get the reaction she wanted from you.’

‘What does that mean?’

‘You didn’t even say congratulations.’

‘It was a shock.’

‘Is it? Lexi’s getting married. Everything’s different now. She’s not the same Lexi you were partying with in your twenties. She’s in love with Ed—’

Bella rolled her eyes.

‘What does’ – Robyn mirrored Bella’s eye-rolling, making her look deranged – ‘mean?’

‘It means Ed. She’s in love with Ed?’ She was saying his name in that way again, like it was a question.

Robyn folded her arms. ‘Let me guess, you don’t like him?’

She shrugged.

‘Name one boyfriend of Lexi’s you’ve actually liked.’

Bella went to the tray of drinks and poured two shots into used glasses. ‘The guy with the eagle tattoo,’ she said, passing a shot to Robyn.

‘Him? That’s the one you liked?’

She clinked her glass against Robyn’s and tipped back her drink in one swallow. ‘I liked that he was from Australia and his visa was running out.’

‘See! You’re impossible!’ Robyn swallowed her drink, then grimaced.

‘I just want Lexi to be with someone as amazing as her.’

‘No, what you want is for Lexi to be single. You’re scared that she’ll love someone else more than she loves you.’

‘Ow,’ Bella said. ‘Easy there with the truth bullets.’

Robyn pursed her lips. ‘Look, I’m only saying maybe this isn’t about Ed—’

‘Course it is! I don’t trust him!’ Bella shot.

‘Why not?’ Robyn asked, her voice piqued with curiosity.

Bella glanced up at Lexi’s room. The shutters were closed, a faint glow of light spilling from the slats. She took a step closer to Robyn. Maybe she shouldn’t be saying this. If anything, it was Lexi she should speak to. ‘You remember the engagement drinks?’

Robyn nodded.

‘I was at the bar with Ed and we bumped into a friend of mine, Cynthia. She used to work as a lap-dancer to pay for her nursing training. When she clocked Ed, she had this look on her face.’ She tried to replicate it, but Robyn just stared at her blankly. ‘She gets it whenever she’s out and bumps into a punter. You know, like how a teacher looks when they spot one of their pupils on holiday while they’re getting their money’s worth at the all-inclusive bar. Like, Quick! Hide me! Well, Cynthia did that face. Turns out he used to be one of her clients. Had been a regular a while back. For, like, two years.’