Ride the Wave

by Natasha West

  Eden turned back to the ocean and hoped the retching wouldn’t be too loud. After a minute or so, Maggie said, ‘OK, I don’t think it’s gonna happen.’

  ‘You sound disappointed,’ Eden said.

  ‘Mixed feelings on the subject,’ Maggie said, opening her eyes. ‘On the one hand, you feel better afterwards. On the other, the act itself is rough. And then you smell of vomit. It’s not a hot look.’

  Eden laughed and remembered her first impression of Maggie. Cool, smart, together journalist. Knowing her a bit better now, she’d gotten her wrong. She was a bit of a mess. But Eden liked her anyway. She was good company, and her lack of filter was refreshing.

  Maggie drew in a deep breath and stood upright again. She turned to Eden. ‘Now that I know I’m definitely not gonna vom, you wanna come back to mine?’

  Eden was shocked. ‘What, like…’

  ‘Yeah. Why not? Might help you to get over what’s-her-face. Call it medicinal.’

  Eden considered the proposition. ‘Maggie, don’t take this the wrong way, but no thank you.’

  ‘Why not?’

  ‘I’m too drunk for a start. I’ve got a rule. I never sleep with anyone new when I’m drunk.’

  ‘How do you enforce that?’

  ‘What do you mean? I just don’t do it.’

  Maggie was flummoxed. ‘But that’s the thing about booze, it lowers your inhibitions. It’s mistake juice. Doesn’t matter what rules you have sober. Poof, out the window.’

  ‘What can I say? It’s hard and fast. I never break it.’

  ‘What if you weren’t drunk?’ Maggie asked. ‘Would I have stood a chance?’

  Eden shrugged. ‘If you’d have sat next to me the first night instead of Isabella, yeah, maybe.’

  ‘Damn place settings,’ Maggie whispered to herself. ‘I shouldn’t have respected them. I should have sat next to you.’

  ‘Well, that’s not what happened,’ Eden said.

  ‘OK, but now…’ Maggie began.

  ‘…Now I see you as a friend,’ Eden finished.

  ‘I hate it when women say that,’ Maggie said bitterly. She looked back over the edge of the railing. ‘Alright then.’

  ‘Alright then, what?’ Eden asked.

  ‘Alright then, I’m definitely gonna puke.’ Maggie leaned over the railing and out came a rainbow pallet of fruity cocktails. Eden was tempted to leave her to it, but she went to Maggie and grabbed ahold of her hair, placing a comforting hand on her back. ‘Come on, let it out.’ Maggie nodded and out came more colours.

  Eden tried to block off her nose from the stench. She couldn’t believe this was how her night was ending, watching this. Maggie had been wrong as well. None of this had helped to take her mind off Natalie. If anything, it had focused her mind like a laser. Because she was getting to know someone she’d thought attractive initially, only to find she wasn’t what she was looking for. What Eden wanted was someone mature, intelligent, deep. And Natalie? Natalie was it.

  Nineteen

  Lisbon was ridiculously gorgeous. Natalie was enjoying it alone.

  There’d been talk at breakfast of a group attack on the city, but Natalie needed a break from the gang. She was exhausted from the drama. Max had turned up to breakfast with not one, but two women while Steph quietly seethed. Angelique had the woman from last night – no one knew her name still - on her lap, they were feeding each other and putting everyone else off their breakfast. Florence and Beatrice appeared to have fallen out and were saying things like, ‘pass the sauce’ to each other in absurdly icy tones. Caz and Saz hadn’t even made it, no one wondered why. Isabella was the least dramatic, eating quietly, ignoring everyone as usual. Though she did wink at Natalie discretely.

  But most of Natalie’s attention was taken up by Eden and Maggie. They both looked a bit green, they’d clearly made a night of it. Natalie tried not to read anything into their shared state. But she kept having this horrible feeling that if she sat there too long, one of them was going to say or do something that would make it clear that they’d gotten horizontal last night. So she had eaten quickly and told everyone she might see them around.

  That was how she found herself wandering the lovely, colourful streets of Portugal’s capital on a solo mission, determined to cheer herself up. But despite the gorgeous setting, she felt low. Not for the first time, she cursed her sister’s ‘generosity.’

  While she was getting a drink at a café, she asked for a sightseeing recommendation. She was directed to the tropical botanical garden. It was an astonishing place, where you could start out in a hedge maze reminiscent of the gardens of Versailles and end up in a palm tree-lined walk straight out of Hollywood. Eventually, she found herself beside a lake filled with swans, and she sat on a bench to catch her breath. Lisbon was hot.

  She watched the swans for a while, but she didn’t like the way one of them was looking at her. She’d always heard a swan could snap a person’s arm with its beak and this one definitely looked like it was thinking about testing the density of the human forearm. Natalie tried to ignore it. But then it made a noise, a sort of muffled trumpet sound. Natalie got up and began to back away from the lake, not wanting to turn her back on the swan with the devil in its little black eye. It watched her the whole time she slowly reversed. Natalie thought it was best to go elsewhere. The swan had made it clear she wasn’t welcome. She kept backing up, trying to remain calm. Then the swan stepped onto shore.

  Natalie nearly ran for it. But she didn’t know the kind of speed swans could do, and she didn’t want to risk making it angry enough to chase her down. She reversed away slowly, looking around for help. She was alone. The swan was creeping toward Natalie, its eyes locked on hers. It was going to kill her now, she was sure. This was how it ended. Death by swan in Portugal. Well, at least her obituary would make for fascinating reading.

  But then she heard a voice behind her. ‘Natalie?’

  She was still locked in the death stare, but she whispered back to the person, ‘Yes?’

  ‘What are you doing?’ the person asked. Natalie now recognised the velvety voice. It was Eden. Of all the people to see this absurdity.

  ‘Shh,’ she urged.

  Eden’s voice got closer. ‘What’s…’ She trailed off as the swan’s eyes moved to Natalie’s side and she knew it had zeroed in on Eden now. ‘Just keep still,’ Natalie instructed her.

  ‘Why is it looking at me like that?’ Eden asked, her voice quieter now.

  ‘I don’t know. It’s out for blood or something. Maybe humans killed its parents,’ Natalie murmured. ‘Just don’t move.’

  ‘For how long?’ Eden whispered.

  ‘I don’t know until it loses interest,’ Natalie said.

  But the swan didn’t look like he was getting bored. He kept inching forward.

  ‘We’ve got to run,’ Eden said.

  ‘That’s exactly what it wants us to do.’

  ‘Well, it’s about to get its wish,’ Eden said anxiously.

  ‘We can’t, it’ll chase us and break our limbs with its big strong beak!’ Natalie said, accidentally glancing from the advancing swan to look at Eden. Eden turned to look at her. ‘Look, I don’t-’

  ‘No, don’t break eye contact!’ Natalie hissed, and they both swung their heads back, but it was too late. The swan had become enraged and was running at them, honking.

  ‘Run!’ Eden yelled, grabbing Natalie’s arm. This time, Natalie took the instruction, and they pegged it, the sounds of honking and flapping wings filling Natalie’s ears. She started screaming. Eden started screaming. The swan honked louder as Natalie and Eden began to sprint for their very lives.

  They ran around a tree and several bushes in abject terror, still screaming. After a while, they both ran out of breath and slowed. Natalie couldn’t hear honking any longer, nor the pitter-patter of webbed feet. She chanced a look over her shoulder. Clear.

  ‘I think we’re alright,’ she assured Eden, her hands on her knees as she tri
ed to catch her breath.

  ‘What the hell was wrong with that swan?!’ Eden asked, panting.

  ‘Probably just smelled fear.’

  ‘Can swans do that?’ Eden asked.

  ‘This one could,’ Natalie said, her wind returning.

  Their breath caught, Natalie had other, non-swan related questions. ‘Where did you come from, anyway?’

  Eden wiped a drip of sweat from her temple. ‘The whole gang is around the corner in a café.’

  ‘You’re kidding,’ Natalie exclaimed.

  ‘Yeah, we got a pamphlet from the lobby. It looked nice, so we came. I was just coming to take a look at the swans. Thought it would be peaceful,’ Eden said, shaking her head.

  Natalie couldn’t believe it. She’d had only one plan today: get away from the group drama. But they were metres away. And Eden, the source of her personal drama, was inches away. It was sort of nice to see her, actually, even in the midst of a giant bird attack. ‘So, how’s your day been?’ she asked.

  ‘Oh, you know. Max and Steph squabbling. Angelique snogging a woman all over the place whose name we still don’t even know. Jonty yapping. The usual. You?’

  ‘Quiet. Nice,’ Natalie said simply. She realised this was the first time she and Eden had been alone since her hotel room yesterday morning.

  ‘So you’re just hanging out alone?’ Eden asked. Natalie sensed another question underneath it.

  ‘Yeah, why?’

  ‘Well, I mean, we haven’t seen Isabella today, she was doing her own thing too. I didn’t know if you guys maybe… If you made plans,’ Eden said.

  Natalie blinked, confused. ‘No, why would we?’

  ‘Oh. Err…’ Eden stuttered. But before the sentence could reach its conclusion, a gaggle of voices rounded the corner. The gang.

  ‘There she is!’ yelled Caz and Saz in unison.

  ‘Oh! You found Natalie!’ Max said, looking happy. ‘Didn’t think we’d see you today. Nice surprise.’

  ‘Jesus, don’t you ever give it a rest?’ Steph muttered.

  Max shot her a look.

  Angelique, holding her nameless new girlfriend’s hand, said, ‘We’re going to get lunch at some place in town. Wanna join us?’

  Actually, what Natalie wanted was to finish this conversation about Isabella with Eden, find out what she meant. But the chance was gone. ‘Why not?’

  Maggie appeared from the back of the group. ‘Eden, I’ve got you a coffee,’ she said, jogging over with a Styrofoam cup.

  ‘I just had one an hour ago,’ Eden said, taking the cup.

  ‘Trust me, you gotta stay caffeinated today if you’ve got any hope of outrunning this hangover.’

  Natalie felt displeasure at seeing the easy chat between Eden and Maggie. She knew it was silly, Eden was on a singles cruise. She was looking. There was no way someone like her wouldn’t get snapped up. It was just hard to see.

  ‘Exit’s this way,’ Beatrice called.

  ‘It’s actually this way,’ Florence said frostily.

  ‘Whatever you say,’ Beatrice said, equally frosty.

  ‘Good lord, I’ll flip a coin,’ Mary said irritably.

  ‘Nope,’ Angelique said, pointing in the complete opposite direction. ‘It’s actually that way.’

  ‘Trust her. She knows all,’ her new girlfriend said, snuggling into her arm.

  The group headed in the direction Angelique had decreed, Natalie at the back, just behind Eden and Maggie.

  ‘I’m surprised you’re hungover,’ Eden said to Maggie.

  ‘Why? I put away even more than you did!’ Maggie said.

  ‘Yes, but you threw it all up,’ Eden pointed out.

  ‘Not all, apparently.’ They laughed.

  Natalie trudged behind the chattering pair, wanting to run back to the swan.

  Twenty

  Nice as the post swan chase moment had been, Eden never did get another minute alone with Natalie the whole rest of the day. It was probably a good thing. She’d veered down a slightly dangerous path by bringing up Isabella. Though Natalie’s reply to Eden’s question about her spending the day with the bitchy make-up artist had been interesting. ‘No, why would we?’ It made Eden wonder. Maybe they’d spent the night together, maybe they hadn’t. But whatever had happened, it didn’t appear to be rolling over into anything serious. Still, it didn’t change anything. If Natalie was looking to meet someone on this cruise, she would. If it wasn’t Isabella, it would be someone else.

  Which left Eden with only one thing to do. Meet someone. That was why she was here. Not to get drunk with Maggie or watch the real-time soap operas that were unfolding everywhere or get chased by psychopathic swans. She was here for the purposes of finding love. She had to give it a real try.

  Job one was to strike out alone. She wouldn’t go to her usual table for dinner. She’d go to one of the buffets dotted about, fortify herself, and then go to one of the activities organised for the making of connections, even if that wasn’t how most people were doing things. There had to be some old school types who were attending these things. So, Eden had picked a single mingle night at the seventies themed bar on the upper deck. Apparently, you walked about with a sticker on your chest with your name and a few pertinent facts about yourself to break the ice.

  That was how she found herself under a disco ball, with ‘EDEN, MOVIE FREAK, FITNESS ENTHUSIAST,’ written on her chest. She milled about for a bit, reading people’s labels with disinterest. Until suddenly, she was looking at a label that read, ‘ISABELLA, MAKE-UP ARTIST, ROMANCE NOVEL JUNKIE.’ Eden stopped cold and looked at the face above the name tag. ‘Oh. Hi,’ she said to Isabella. Isabella cocked an eyebrow at her and looked at her label. She gave a little snort.

  ‘Something funny?’ Eden asked.

  ‘You might want to rephrase that first thing. It’s maybe not a great idea to have freak written on your chest.’

  Eden’s nervous smile fell away. ‘Thanks for the tip.’ She glanced at Isabella’s label again. ‘Wouldn’t have taken you for a romance reader.’

  ‘What can I say? I’m a romantic. And real life tends to disappoint in that department,’ Isabella said distractedly.

  ‘You’re a romantic?’ Eden asked incredulously.

  ‘Aren’t most people on this bloody boat?’ Isabella asked defensively.

  ‘I guess you don’t really give out that vibe. You’re a bit of a...’

  Isabella’s eyebrow went up again. ‘I can’t wait to hear the end of that sentence,’ she said aloofly.

  Eden wanted to say, ‘Cold bitch.’ But she went for, ‘Taciturn type.’

  ‘Taciturn, eh?’ Isabella said. ‘I was sure you were gonna say something much meaner. But taciturn almost sounds like a compliment. You’re good.’ She gave a mean chuckle.

  Eden didn’t really want to keep talking to Isabella. It was an exercise in futility. But she still was curious about her and Natalie. There wasn’t going to be another chance like this one to get the scoop. ‘So you’re still on the hunt?’ Eden started.

  ‘Yep.’

  ‘You haven’t met anyone yet?’

  ‘Nope.’

  ‘No one special, you mean?’ Eden pressed.

  Isabella took a sip of her cocktail, getting down to the dregs. ‘I think there’s something you want to ask me, and I’m sort of getting bored waiting for you to get up the nerve to ask it. Either get on with it, or I’m gonna go and get this drink refreshed.’

  Eden was taken aback for a moment, but she was pretty sure Isabella didn’t make idle threats, and she decided to go for it. ‘Alright, fine. I thought maybe you and Natalie were a thing.’

  ‘Why would that be of interest to you?’ Isabella asked with a sour smile.

  ‘It wouldn’t.’

  ‘Then, why are you asking?’

  Eden was starting to panic now. She shouldn’t have done this. ‘I don’t know.’

  ‘Here’s a revolutionary concept. If you want to find something out about Natalie, your,
’ she made air quotes, ‘co-worker, then maybe you should just ask her.’

  Eden felt naked, defensive, angry. Something cracked. ‘You know, maybe this is why you’re not meeting anyone. Because you’re not taciturn. You’re just a bitch.’ Eden regretted the words even as they left her mouth.

  But they didn’t have the impact she thought they would. Isabella laughed. ‘You think I don’t know that?’