‘That’s lovely of you both, but, actually, I do have a plan.’
‘Oh, really? Do share.’
‘I’ve decided I’m going to go away for a bit.’
‘Great idea, a holiday would do you the world of good,’ Robert nodded, slapping him on the back in encouragement before turning his attention back to the food on his plate.
‘Not quite a holiday, mate. I’m going to be away longer than that.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘I’m going to go travelling.’
‘As in backpacking?’ I squeaked in surprise.
‘Ha, yes.’
‘But why?’ asked Robert, a frown forming as he looked back up at him.
‘Why not? You said it yourself, some time away will do me good.’
‘I meant a week in Tenerife, or somewhere slutty like Magaluf.’
‘How long will you be gone for?’
‘I don’t know. A year, two years, maybe.’
‘Two years? What? Why that long?’ demanded Robert, unable to hide the disappointment of losing his friend for that long.
‘Because there’s a whole world to see.’
‘And you want to go on your own?’ I asked, trying to ask a few sensible questions seeing as Robert was working himself up into some sort of hysteria.
‘It’ll be good for me,’ he shrugged. ‘Do a bit of soul searching.’
‘Soul searching? Ben, what’s really going on? You suddenly got engaged, then broke it off and dumped the loveliest girl you’ve ever met for no apparent reason and now you’re going off? Leaving us? Why?’
‘Robert,’ I warned, worried that he was being too hard on Ben after everything he’d been through.
‘No, Maddy, I mean it,’ he said gruffly. ‘What’s going on?’
‘I need a change. Things weren’t right with Alice, even though, yes – thank you for pointing it out – she was great,’ he sighed, casually picking up another taco from the table and filling it with sauce, as though he hadn’t just dropped a massive bombshell on his two best friends and told us he was about to move thousands of miles away.
Robert looked at him as though he’d gone mad. I must admit that even I found the whole thing to be a rather dramatic way of getting over whatever had happened between him and Alice, but it wasn’t for us to dictate what he did or where he went. We were only meant to be there for him – something that Robert, in his shock, had forgotten.
‘I’m going to say this, and I don’t want you to freak out on me,’ Robert said slowly, looking concerned. ‘Is it because of your dad?’
‘What?’
‘Are you worried that you’re like him? That you’d wake up one day and decide to leave?’ he asked, his hands to the heavens as he looked at Ben imploringly. ‘Because you’re so far from ever being the coward he was. You’re flipping amazing, Ben. You’ve got nothing to worry about.’
‘Thanks for the text-book analogy. But that’s really not it. I know I’m nothing like him,’ he assured him, his spirits luckily not dampened by his words. ‘This is something I’ve always thought about doing at some point, I just wasn’t sure when.’
‘You never told me,’ Robert shrugged.
‘Because I was in a relationship and I guess it seemed like an unrealistic thing to do. After finishing things, it dawned on me that if I don’t do it now then I never will.’
‘You can’t just up and leave, you’ve got a good thing going here.’
‘Have I?’ he questioned, pulling Robert up on his words.
‘Yes, with work. Think about all the contacts you’ve worked hard to make.’
‘True, but I’m also twenty-four and still acting like a student.’
‘You’re an artist,’ Robert declared passionately. ‘Aren’t you meant to be all floppy-haired, wearing baggy clothes and eating Pot Noodles?’
‘Thanks. You’re forgetting that, right now, I’m also homeless.’
‘You can just stay here,’ Robert pleaded, his arms waving in the air at the space around us.
‘No, I can’t do that.’
‘Why not?’
‘Because it wouldn’t be fair. Besides, it’s something I really want to do,’ he insisted.
‘When are you thinking of going?’ I asked, interrupting them, having sat quietly listening to Ben continuously rebuke Robert’s attempts at changing his mind for long enough. His rough approach wasn’t working. Ben was set on his plan to travel; there was no way his decision was going to be swayed.
‘Soon. In a few weeks. I’ve got to finish some bits on the film I’m working on and then I’ll set off.’