Eternity (25 page)

“What you guys doing?”

“Going out” comes Carlos’s standard short reply.

“Oh nice, I’ll come with you, let me just grab my shoes” Oh for Pete’s sake, is this man completely devoid of sense? He is seriously asking for trouble. If I have to take much more of this I’m going to snap, so I can’t even begin to think how Carlos is feeling right now. About ready to explode I’m betting.

Sneaking a look at his face I can see his jaw clenched and flexing. His arms are crossed, protectively across his chest, his hands balled into fists. Yep he’s seething alright.

Marcus re-appears downstairs, shoes on, looking all smug with himself.

“So, where are we going?” he asks. Carlos just rolls his eyes and stalks out into the sun. All I can do is shrug and follow his lead; with an undeterred Marcus bringing up the rear.

It’s overwhelmingly hot as usual, normally me and Carlos would not even be holding hands in this kind of heat, but because Marcus is present, he has pulled me in close and draped his arm round my shoulders. It would be cruel to remove him, but I’m sweltering under his added body heat; shifting my shoulders I guide his hand down to rest on my hip instead. At least this way I don’t feel half as trapped!

Marcus does not stop talking for even one minute; it makes no difference to him whether anyone is listening, let alone responding, he just keeps on jabbering away about everything and nothing. On very rare occasions he even says something mildly amusing, but god forbid I show even the slightest smile in his direction, so I remain, tight lipped, only having eyes for Carlos.

We continue like this, along the beach and all around the resort; my feet hurt, I can feel my shoulders burning because I forgot to put on sun-cream before we left, (my mum will be most disappointed in me) and more importantly still, this is not fun! This is my holiday that I want to make the most of, not play the middle man in a family feud.

I spot Blair and John at the bar and literally squeal with excitement, I have never been so happy to see them.

“Oh Carlos, look it’s Blair and John, do you mind if I go see them, I’ve barely had any time with Blair these last few days?” I am careful not to invite him along, as that would only leave it open for Marcus to gatecrash too; sorry Carlos, if I want rid of your brother, I’m afraid that means dumping you too!

Carlos looks at me dumbfounded and a little hurt. Leaning close to him I tell him that this needs to be sorted once and for all, either they can both forgive and forget, or Marcus needs to go stay with their parents, because I really can’t spend any more time like this. I can see he wants to argue with me, but he knows better than to do it in such a public place; instead I just shake my head and give him a gentle push, sending him on his way. Marcus following close behind.

As soon as they are out of earshot I explain to Blair and John what’s been going on. Blair is captivated by how much of a stud Marcus is, instantly crowning him Carlos’s hot older brother. Of course I protest, but I guess if I didn’t know what he was really like, I probably would be with her on this. At thirty three, he is much more my age range and unlike Carlos he seems more mainstream. Carlos has a real Mediterranean look about him, with his long dark hair and olive skin tone, even down to his casual linen based day clothes; whereas Marcus has a uniformed haircut, his skin is a more honey brown shade and you will more often find him in board-shorts and t-shirt than anything else.

If I had met them both at the same time, I have to admit I would probably have lent more towards Marcus; but saying that, I do have god awful taste in men, and I think that revelation just proves it.

Me and Blair quickly descend into banter about the two Johnson brothers, until John finally has enough and calls an end to it, by suggesting we go snorkelling.

This is another first for me, but it is a real holiday activity, which is what I’ve been pining for, so I jump straight on to the band wagon.

“Oh no! I don’t have my bikini on” I suddenly realise.

“That’s ok; we can just pop back with you to pick it up?” John suggests naively, both me and Blair looking at him disapprovingly, shaking our heads.

“I really don’t want to go back there right now, who knows what kind of war has broken out with those two, I’m just keeping my distance” I explain.

“Alright, well why don’t you just wear that” John tries again, motioning at the shorts and t-shirt I’m wearing. Looking down at myself, I suppose he has a good point, it certainly beats going back to the house.

We head down to the ocean, picking up snorkels and flippers on the way past, then sit on the sand to don our gear. Blair immediately strips down to her Bikini, a green and gold, string creation that compliments her tan. Every possible muscle is toned and defined and you would be hard pushed to locate even an inch of fat on her; I’m suddenly relieved I did not put my swim wear on this morning, even a supermodel would come off looking fat next to Blair.

We ease into the crystal waters together, us girls screeching at the temperature, while John dives straight in, maintaining his manly man image.

In comparison, it takes us quite some time, to take the plunge, teetering about on tip toe for the most part, trying to prevent the cold waves reaching any higher on our bodies.

Eventually John calls us over to a spot he has found with all sorts of beautiful fish, forcing us to submerge fully, at first it’s so cold it takes your breath away, but within two strokes you acclimatise; or become so numb that you no longer feel anything, I’m not sure which.

The fish are amazing, I caught glimpses of them when I went kayaking, but they are even more vibrant when you are under the surface with them.

John shows us how we can hold our breath to swim deeper until we are surrounded by colourful fish, flitting around us seemingly unconcerned by our presence. We swim around for ages, exploring the coral reefs and finding ever more impressive aquatic specimens.

Blair is the first to go, “Guys, I’m freezing, I’m going to head back to shore”.

John votes for staying in and I join him, still not tired of swimming just yet; so as Blair swims off, John and I continue searching the sea bed for exotic treasures.

After ten minutes or so of ducking and diving down through the crystal waters, I come across a large Conch shell. The pearly pink shade that seeps out from the inside curve, glints, catching my eye.

I break the surface to take a deep enough breath to allow me to get down to it and plunge back in; my fingers just reaching it before I have to shoot back up to replenish the dissipating air in my lungs.

Clinging onto my prize I swim in to the shore to show it off to Blair, who by now is sunning herself on the sand; as I collapse down next to her I flick my fingers, spraying her with cold droplets. She squeals, jumping up and slapping my arm away.

“Look what I found” I say, offering up my shiny shell.

“Wow” she marvels, turning it over in her hands, then bringing it to her ear, “I can hear the sea”

I turn exaggeratingly towards the sea, just a couple of meters from us, then back at her, “No, you don’t say?” I reply sarcastically, both of us giggling moronically.

By the time John resurfaces I have completely dried out in the sun and hunger is playing on my mind. As John is still wet and Blair could go all day without remembering to eat I offer to go to the buffet and bring us all back a picnic lunch; John says he’ll go to the pool bar in the meantime and get us all some cocktails and just like that, it’s turning into a wonderful day.

The staff are as accommodating as always, providing me with a huge wicker basket on request and even running round filling it with an array of sandwiches they knock up and bowls of fresh fruit and cream cakes; really anything they can fit in. By the time they return it to me they look exhausted, so I refuse their offer to carry it out to where we are sitting and instead struggle out the doors lugging the now insanely heavy basket with me.

I wait till I’m out of view of the bar before dropping it to the floor, man its heavy, my arms are aching. I start to rub the muscles to ease the pain when Marcus appears.

“Howdy, do ya need some help?” he asks, charming as ever.

“No, I’m fine”

“Ah come on, how far do you have to go? It looks real heavy” he smiles, reminding me of Carlos, I can’t help blushing under his gaze.

“It’s not all that bad, and plus I don’t think Carlos would like it.” I hold firm.

“Don’t worry about that, me and Carlos are fine now, we sorted it all out, it’s all water under the bridge now” he assures me.

“You’ve had a fight lasting seven years and in what, like three hours it’s all fixed, no worries?” I don’t believe him for a second.

“Yeah” he replies cockily. “Look that’s families, right? We never spoke about it before, it dragged on for a while and when we did finally speak, it turned out it wasn’t as bad as we thought.”

He seems sincere and there isn’t really a reason why he would lie about it, maybe it is just that simple.

“So” he says picking up the hamper, pretending it’s a strain as he does, “where do you want me to put it?”

I can’t help but smile, maybe he’s not the baddie Carlos made him out to be, it was seven years ago after all, perhaps he grew up in that time?

“Just over on the beach” I motion towards the sea.

“Well lead the way Miss Mavers” his endearment makes my skin tingle, but I’m pretty sure it’s just because Carlos calls me that. We make idle chit chat as we make our way through sunbathers and families, Marcus has the gift of the gab, joking, laughing, charming the pants off you, without so much as a blink of an eye.

By the time we reach Blair and John I’m all but giggling like a school girl; Blair’s questioning look makes me turn crimson with shame. I know what she’s thinking, two minutes away from Carlos and I’m all doe-eyed about Marcus, but it’s not like that. She doesn’t know they have made up now, or how impossible it is, not to be entranced by his persona.

I’m glad when he makes his excuses not to join us for a picnic and politely leaves, so he does have some tact, apparently.

Blair is immediately on my case, “That was some turn around, three hours ago you hated the guy and now your almost falling over yourself around him. What’s going on?” she has a point there.

“I had to hate him, because Carlos did, but he says they talked it through, so now I don’t have to be mean to him. And it turns out that he is actually a very intellectual, intriguing person”

“I bet” she replies raising one eyebrow.

“It’s not like that!” even as I protest, I see there is no point. She is only teasing me, but, whether she knows it or not, there is a slight element of truth to her words.

We all tuck into the picnic, staring out across the calm ocean as we chew. I downed the cocktail John got me almost as soon as I got back, so went and got another round in; John followed suit, downing his original Daiquiri and giving himself brain-freeze in the process.

“Looks like this has the makings of another drunk-fest” he says, once the pain subsides enough for him to open his eyes again.

I look at Blair, “I’m game if you are?” she says, popping a grape into her mouth.

And so it begins. We start off playing rudimental drinking games, like throw the stick at the paper cup, if you miss you drink, but if you hit it the other two drink. John is decidedly more skilled at this than Blair and I and we are soon tipsy and ganging up on him, insisting he do forfeits for rule breaks that we make up on the spot.

“He blinked when he threw that last one!” I shout out, pointing my finger an inch away from his eyes.

“You did, I saw it” slurs Blair in agreement.

“So what if I did, since when is blinking not allowed? Blair you can barely keep your eyes open!” he says trying to deflect.

“Stop trying to get out of it and drink!” Rolling his eyes at us, both smirking back at him, he dutifully takes his penalty.

It’s 18.00 before I notice the day has past and I’m a little worse for wear. “I should make a move” I tell a small butterfly, resting on my leg.

“D’ya wan me to walk you back, you’re quite drunk” John just about manages a sentence.

“No, no, I’ll be fine, you look after Blair” who is now passed out and covered in sand.

As I stumble away my mind drifts to Carlos, I hope he is back to his old self, moody Carlos sucks! Stupid Marcus, ruining everything, why’d he have to turn up anyway? He’s been gone for years but yet he chooses now to turn up again? Surely his parents spoke to him about me being here, it seems to be the talk of the resort after all. It just seems like such bad timing, but then maybe they thought if I had tied him down to his first relationship in years, then maybe I could fix this too?

It was a bit of a long shot, but apparently it worked, so who am I to argue.

I still can’t quite believe it was resolved so easily though. Carlos was venomous when he spoke about him, it just doesn’t add up that he would then forgive him without giving it a second thought.

Seriously, how have I jumped from my own broken family, straight into another one? Out of the frying pan and into the fire, is it all worth it for a holiday romance?