Eternity (15 page)

I glance back at Blair, puzzled, “You hit a rock and came over the handlebars, landed on your head, they are worried you may have broken your neck” she says, a little calmer now, but I think she is just trying not to panic me.

I take the time to actually feel myself, carefully moving every part, one limb at a time, “Nope, it’s just my head that hurts” I reassure them. But they take no chances and make me stay horizontal until the resident GP arrives and does a thorough check of me on the roadside.

He seems happy enough by the end, directing his diagnosis to Blair, being the best multi-lingual person present. She visibly relaxes as he talks, before turning to me, “Nothing broken, possible concussion, you need to take pain relief and get some rest.” She instructs, “Oh and your not to be left on your own tonight, so you’ll be staying with John and I” she states, slipping her arm under mine and gently easing me up to standing; my head hurts too much to argue with her.

They escort me, slowly, back to their apartment, I’m gob-smacked; they have a double bedroom with an en-suite, a separate living room with a huge crystal chandelier and another bathroom off of it. I thought my room was impressive, but this is something else.

The sofa pulls out into a king size futon bed, which they set up, with minimal effort and lay me down, it’s by far the comfiest thing I have ever laid on!

“Right you get some shut eye, John and me will be in the next room if you need anything ok?” Blair says as she tucks me in.

“Oh!” my eyes fly open just as she is pulling the door closed, causing her to leap back into the room dramatically, “What? What’s wrong?” she gasps.

“Sorry, no nothing, it’s just, Carlos will be ringing me tonight, but if I’m here he won’t be able to get hold of me?” I ask, flushing now at the insignificance of my concern.

“That’s fine” she looks at me knowingly, “I’ll just ring reception and get them to direct the call here instead” she suggests.

“Thanks Blair, I feel like I’m really inconveniencing you, it’s your second honeymoon and your stuck looking after an invalid.” I pout, sincerely apologetic.

“It’s the least I can do, considering it was my fault. And anyway I’m hoping if you feel well enough tomorrow, you might fill me in on whatever was bothering you earlier?” she asks, with a wink.

“Oh yeah, I’d almost forgotten about that, and it was not your fault Blair, it was that stupid rocks fault!” she just shakes her head in disagreement, then leaves me to rest.

After two strong painkillers sleep comes quickly, but dreams filled with Jake plague my rest.

It’s some time later that the phone rings, breaking Jakes hold on my subconscious. I wake drenched in sweat, the pain starting to increase; there are a few bruises forming on my arms and legs and a couple of grazes, but other than that, the only problem I have is this relentless headache.

Blair eases the door open silently in case I’m not awake. Even when it’s apparent that I am awake, she still speaks in a whisper, “Hey, how are you feeling?” she asks.

“I’m OK, a little sore, but I’ll survive” I smile up at her.

“Carlos is on the phone, do you want to take it in here?” she suggests, nodding towards the phone next to the makeshift bed I’m in.

“Yes that would be great, thank you. What time is it?” I’m hoping it’s time for another dose of pain killers.

“It’s nine. If you just pick up the phone and press the flashing button you’ll pick him up off hold” she explains.

I thank her as she leaves the room, closing the door behind her.

“Hey” I say once I’ve followed her instructions with the phone.

“Hey sweet, what happened to you? Are you OK?” he asks, his voice etched with concern.

“I had a fight with a rock, I’m a little sore, but you should see the rock!” I try and make light of my misfortune.

“Blair told me what happened, it’s no where near that casual, you were knocked out! I’m coming straight back as soon as the weddings over tomorrow!” jeeze, he really is worried.

“You don’t have to do that, really I’m fine, just a couple of grazes, it’s nothing, Blair is taking excellent care of me” I endeavour to re-assure him.

“No I’m doing it, you’re not even allowed to stay in your own room! Just because you’re not in hospital right now doesn’t mean it’s not serious. The wedding service is at 14.00, so I should be out of the church by 15.00 half past at the latest, I’ve looked at flights the earliest one I can make will have me back there by 18.00. Stay with Blair till then, I will collect you from her room.”

I’ve never known anyone to be so worried about something so small, if he’s like this now, how’s he going to react to the news that Jake's here!?

“OK, OK but really I am fine, you’re overreacting, but if you insist on coming back so soon, I’m not going to stop you. I’ve missed you” I mumble the last bit, still not sure if I should really be baring my heart and soul to this man.

“I’ve missed you too” he says with decidedly more assurance than me, “and if I am overreacting it’s just because I’m looking for any excuse to get out of here and back to you!”

“Well in that case, overreact all you want!” I say giggling like a teenager in love.

“I’ve got to go now sweet, but I will pick you up at 18.00 tomorrow, alright?”

“OK” I say the disappointment clear in my voice.

“Get lots of rest, and do what the doctor told you” he gives one last instruction.

“Yeah I will” I promise, “bye you.”

“Bye sweet”

Blair comes in as soon as I put the phone down, itching to discuss our call, which I’m sure by her prompt appearance that she must have already heard all of.

I catch her up anyway; it’s still about forty minutes till I’m due my next tablets, so it’s nice to have a distraction from the pain in the mean time.

I ask if she wants to hear about my earlier trauma, to which she nods enthusiastically, but suggests ordering a pizza on room service first. It’s not until she mentions it that I realise I’m famished, I think all I’ve eaten today is an apple, it’s just been so hectic I haven’t even thought about food.

She shouts through to John who is more than happy to partake, so she orders two 18 inchers, piling on every extra topping they offer.

They arrive promptly twenty minutes later, the mouth watering smell filling the room as soon as the door is opened. John pops in taking his fair share of them before retreating back into their room, ‘leaving us gals to chatter’.

I down another couple of tablets and get stuck in, giving Blair the run down of the Jake fiasco between mouthfuls.

By the end of the first Pizza she is flabbergasted, desperate to know what I plan to do. All I can do is shrug, I’ve got nothing, no plan of action, no idea what the protocol is for such situations. “I can only hope that he has left and gone home, so I don’t have to deal with it!?” is all I have to offer her.

“Jeeeeesus” she exhales as she lies back on my futon, stuffed to the brim with melted cheese and dough.

“Yeah” I agree with her sentiment, as I sink down beside her.

We lay like this in comfortable silence until my eye lids get heavy and a yawn erupts from my lips, immediately being caught and replicated by Blair.

“Think it’s time we both got our beauty sleep” she says, easing herself up sleepily and exiting to her room, “night” I sigh before dissolving into more welcome dreams, of Carlos as a night in shining armour, just for me.

After a ridiculously long lie in I wake feeling better, I still have the headache but it’s not as severe, the individual bruises still smart a bit on contact with anything, but the generalised aching and stiffness is easing nicely.

Still, Blair and John insist I do not raise one finger today, instead ferrying me around in a wheelchair they got from reception; Blair shouting orders to John every five minutes to fetch us drinks, or food, or magazines, or anything we could possibly want for.

After lunch, Blair and I head to the Spa, she insists that a swim and a steam are just what I need to banish and residual muscle pain; I’m skeptical after my first experience, being leered at is anything but relaxing, but when we arrive I find Blair has booked out the whole pool area for an hour.

I had no idea you could even do that, but I’ve learned by now that when it comes to spending money, there is no point disagreeing with Blair, so instead we slip into the pool and float about enjoying the quiet space she has created.

We stay like this, moving occasionally from Sauna to Steam room, then back to pool, our limbs increasingly becoming heavy under the relaxing influence of each room, until our hour is up.

Once we are showered and changed back into our clothes I offer to walk back, knowing that Blair must feel as fatigued as I do after our lazy day, but she waves her hand dismissively towards me giving the seat a pat and telling me to sit myself down.

I do as I’m told and we slowly weave back through the winding paths around the gardens that surround each apartment block, pointing out exotic birds and stopping to sniff the most colourful flowers as we go.

There’s something inanely comfortable about Blair; she is beautiful and thin, but does not appear to put any effort into maintaining it, she is full of boundless excitement which in anyone else would become irritating after a while, but yet somehow she is so enchanting, you just couldn’t dislike her for a second, even if you were actively trying to.

She is generous without question and I have never had the slightest impression that she is judging me, which is a rare quality in any person.

I am starting to realise that it will be a sad day when I go home, but not just for leaving Carlos, I really feel like I’ve found a friend in Blair, but the duration of our friendship is inevitably limited.

We spend the rest of the afternoon back at Blair’s room, John quickly escaping to the bar away from our girly talk; she gives me a makeover, covering as best she can the bruise still visible on my cheek.

She then braids a French plait, starting from one ear and encircling my whole head, effectively taming my unruly mane, for the time being at least.

Dressing me in one of her own ankle length powder blue skirts and a simple v-neck white top with ¾ length sleeves, she succeeds in hiding the worst of my injuries.

Admiring my reflection once she is done, I actually feel graceful, makeovers are clearly just another string to Blair’s already impressive bow.

Now for the difficult bit, “Blair, when Carlos arrives, I really don’t want to be wheelchair bound”

“Don’t be silly, you’ve been hurt, he will understand” comes her no-nonsense reply.

“Why are you all so desperate to make me an invalid?” I laugh to downplay my growing frustration “I feel fine, really! And you’ve done such a good job prettying me up, I don’t want to look like a fool in that clumpy thing, when my legs work perfectly fine, please Blair?” I add a whiny please to the original flattery ploy, to try and persuade her. She cocks her head to one side eying me suspiciously; I do a little skip on the spot to hammer the point home.

“Oh alright, I guess if you can do that you can walk” she giggles at my efforts as she collapses the chair and props it against the far wall.

“Thank you Blair, you’ve been a star these last couple of days”

“It’s been my pleasure”

Just as we are hugging it out, there is a knock at the door; we break apart just far enough to monitor each others matching grins, before Blair gives my hair and clothes one final smooth down, followed by a thumbs up as she goes to open the door.

She opens it reservedly so I can’t see if it is him or not, his smooth voice gives the game away however. “Good evening, you must be Blair?”

She smiles and nods, opening the door wider and signalling him to come in.

As he steps into the room his eyes instantly find mine, his face lighting up as he takes me gently into his arms.

“How are you sweet?” he whispers into my ear as we embrace.

“Much better now” I reply, staring into his sparkling eyes.

He turns duly to Blair, “I can’t thank you enough for looking after her for me, if there is anything I can do to make your stay more comfortable, please let me know” his impeccable manners and charm leaving her all but speechless, this must be a first for her.

I suggest we all meet for dinner tomorrow evening which is met with plenty of nods and agreement, we then politely excuse ourselves and head back to my room.

On the walk back we can barely keep our hands off each other, stopping periodically to kiss passionately and let our fingers roam across each others bodies as much as we dare to in relatively crowded public places.

He’s holding a paper bag which keeps clumsily bumping against me when we kiss, the curiosity is killing me as to what’s inside, but he has not volunteered the information and I’m hoping it might be a present for me, so I hold my tongue.

Stumbling in through my door we barely stay standing as our tangled limbs inhibit our ability to walk. Carlos grabs the back of my thighs with a satisfying slap and lifts me into his arms, walking forward and laying me down on the bed, kissing my forehead he asks “are you sure your OK?” he seems so desperate to help I pity him “I’m fine, but my head is a little sore, I could do with a paracetamol, there’s some in the cabinet in the bathroom, would you mind fetching them for me?” I ask, playing the damsel in distress. He rises on queue heading straight to the bathroom, but subtly bending to pick up his paper bag on the way past, “What are you up to?” I ask him, the curiosity killing me.