Never The Bride(42)

'But – '

'No buts, because there's a chance that he could really like you too, Georgie. A chance that you could have a relationship, a chance that I might have to put on bridesmaid dress number thirteen for you. Isn't that worth the risk?'

'Of you being a spinster for the rest of your life? Hell no!' she retorted.

'Take me out of the equation. There's no way Pippa's going to last a week in a convent, she'll change her mind and be getting married before we know it, and she'll put the curse on me. You said on the plane ride over here that you'd do anything to see a smile on my face again, didn't you?'

'Yes,' she replied cautiously.

'Well, I'm calling in that promise. I want you to smile back at him next time he jogs past, and to keep smiling every time he looks at you, and to say yes when he asks you to drinks or dinner, which I guarantee he's going to do. No,' I warned as she went to interrupt me. 'You promised, Georgie. This is what I want.'

'You're so mean to me, Abbie Carter,' she pouted. 'I'll only promise if you promise to open up to me before we get on that plane home. Deal?'

Bugger, she had me there, but I wanted to see her moving on from the disaster of Greg, to realise her self-worth again. Slicing open some fresh wounds was a small price to pay for my friend's happiness.

'Deal,' I confirmed.



Tuesday



'I can't do it,' I stated firmly, shaking my head as I stepped back from the cliff edge for about the fourth time.

'Oh come on, Abbie, it's not that high, and it's not like there isn't a beautiful lagoon to catch you at the bottom,' Georgie urged. 'Look, look, are you going to let a precocious twelve-year-old show you up?' She pointed at the young boy who'd been taunting me as he'd queued behind. He gave me a smug look as he jumped over the edge with a whoop of joy. 

'Cocky little bugger,' I muttered, craning my head to see if he'd made it safely, but secretly hoping he'd landed on the rocks and broken his leg. I sighed as I saw him swimming away on his back, then gasped as he stuck his thumb and index finger up to his forehead in a "Loser" gesture as he grinned up at me. 'Right, that's it, I'm jumping!' I announced as I pushed Georgie out of the way, needing to do it before I lost my nerve. I took a deep breath and told myself not to look down as I did a standing jump off the cliff.

'Don't forget to  … .' Georgie's voice was obliterated by my scream as my stomach remained up there with her, and I looked down to see the lagoon below racing towards me. Out of instinct, I started flailing my arms and legs, like that was going to suspend me in the air, Roadrunner style, and stop me from reaching my destination. I tipped forwards and could have sworn I heard a chorus of people hissing through their teeth as I slapped onto the water's surface, my chest, stomach and thighs taking the brunt of the impact, then rapidly sank below the surface. I came up spluttering and choking, my body stinging like I'd just been paddled to death with ping-pong bats. 'You ok?' yelled Georgie.

'Great,' I yelled back, trying to make myself look casually nonchalant about the whole thing, while that damn kid roared with laughter somewhere in the distance.

'You looked like you hit the water hard,' she called. 'You were supposed to tombstone, cross your arms in front of you and go feet first.'

'Never one for tradition, this way was far more exhilarating,' I called back. Bugger, my body was on fire. I managed to swim away from the landing zone and made it to a shallow part of the lagoon where I could stand up and try and catch my breath as I watched Georgie jump. Instead of my bloodcurdling scream of fear, she let out a 'Yippee' as she did exactly as we'd been instructed to do and disappeared into the water like a knife slicing through butter. She surfaced and swam over, then walked up towards me, looking annoyingly like a sexy Ursula Andress or Halle Berry, straight out of a Bond film.

'Wow, wasn't it amazing? I want to do it again,' she grinned.

'Feel free. I'm fancying a tour on the lazy river,' I shrugged. There was no way I was going up there again.

'I'll come back later, I'd rather be with you,' she smiled, grabbing my hand. 'Come on then, let's go and float around the resort. I'm so glad we came, it's amazing here.'

She was right. Although my body currently felt broken, this water park was just amazing. Calling it a water park made it sound like some kind of man-made theme park. It wasn't. This part of it was made up of natural coral reefs and saltwater lagoons, where fish swam alongside you, sea turtles flapped past, and brightly coloured parrots flew overhead. After lunch, we were heading to the section where there were some water slides, and we'd booked an intimate swim with the dolphins. Other than my water slap just now, I was feeling a lot less tense. Daily massages out in a private cabana above the ocean had helped to ease out a few kinks as well, as had the decision to leave my phone behind. I needed a complete break from Miller to think about what I really wanted, as this constant up and down with him wasn't working for me.



With the exception of that damn obnoxious kid taunting me with 'Hey look, it's the chicken,' as he hung over each of the wooden bridges we passed under in our giant inflated rings, the lazy river was gorgeous and relaxing. After lunch, we spent an hour sunbathing as people snorkelled past, then Georgie begged me to climb up the steps to the tallest water slide, which undulated in a straight line all the way down into another lagoon below. I gritted my teeth as we worked our way up. I was really aching from that cliff jump earlier, but wasn't going to moan about it all day. The member of staff at the top grinned widely as Georgie and I stepped up to the slides, checking us both out.



       
         
       
        

'You, chute one, sit and hold the rails until I tell you to let go,' he instructed Georgie, who did as she was told. She looked striking in a turquoise crochet bikini, which matched her eyes and the blue water that surrounded us.

'You, chute two, lie face down and hold the rails until I tell you to let go,' he ordered me.

'Face down? Are you sure?' I asked, not overly enthused at the prospect of putting my already tender front in the firing line.

'Face down,' he nodded, gesturing for the next couple to step forwards for chutes three and four. I groaned and rolled my eyes as my tormentor swaggered over and looked me up and down.

'Oi, you can knock that off for a start. You look about twelve, I'm old enough to be your mother,' I warned him as he cocked his head to check out my bottom. 'I'm going to sit down, like my friend,' I called over to the member of staff as he ordered another boy to sit for chute three, then told the irritating lad to lie down in the fourth chute.

'What's the matter, too chicken to go head first?' the little tyke called as he got into position. 'Too scared I'm gonna beat you?'

'What did I do to get him riding my arse today?' I asked Georgie, astounded, as I flicked my thumb over my shoulder at him. She giggled and shrugged.

'Didn't you know boys always pick on girls they fancy, Abbie? Go on, do it, wipe that smug smile off his face by beating him.'

'Fine,' I grated, shooting him a glare as I got into position, the glare turning to a fierce scowl as he winked at me.

I took a deep breath as they counted us down, my arms at full stretch as I gripped the rail tightly. The second the word "Go" was called, I propelled myself forwards and shot out of the flat starting area like a canon.

'Ha, take that!' I yelled as I went over the brow and tipped forwards. I gulped as I saw how much of a drop there was to the water out below and ahead of us, but there was no turning back now. I plummeted, then levelled off, then went over the edge again, picking up speed. By the third drop, I was going so fast I could hear the wind whistling past my ears and I lifted slightly, landing back down on the hard, wet surface below with a slight "Oomph." The slight "Oomph" became a loud one, then a forcefully ejected swear word. By the time I was approaching the last few undulations of the slide, I wasn't just lifting in the air, I was freakin' Superwoman, taking off and flying through the air before smacking back down and having the stuffing knocked out of me. I could hear Georgie whooping with glee somewhere behind me as I was launched again like a missile. 'Brace for impact,' I screamed as I landed with a heavy thud and took off again from the final hump, slicing through the air. 

Instead of just slapping the water for the second time today, like that wouldn't be enough torture, I skimmed across it a number of times like a bouncing bomb. I gasped for air just as I went under, swallowing a load of the salty water as well as something solid. I came up choking and struggling to breathe, with the horrible feeling of something wedged in the back of my throat. One of the lifeguards at the edge waded over to help me and escorted me to the side, encouraging me to spit it all out.

'Oh my God, Abbie, are you ok?' Georgie uttered as she came up beside me. She screamed and covered her face with her hands as I coughed up a load of water, and something light brown in colour spewed out with it as well.

'Is that  …  is that  …  a friggin' corn plaster?' I shrieked, then choked, hardly able to believe what I was seeing.

'I'm going to be sick,' Georgie moaned, her tanned and freckled face turning a light shade of green.

'Not in the water,' the lifeguard quickly replied.

'Oh no, we don't want puke in the water, do we? I mean, that would just up the gross factor even more than me swallowing someone's manky toe covering,' I coughed, fighting the urge to be sick myself. My stomach started roiling as I continued to gag, so I quickly turned around, not wanting to look at the offending item. Instead I was confronted by the kid, whose eyes ejected on stalks as his mouth gaped.