Euro Tripped

by Sally Bryan

  Because apparently, Arwen was in Lisbon.

  * * *

  Gabe and I waited in silence on a rooftop bar called Topo, which overlooked the Mouraria district of the city and had the São Jorge Castle looming in the near distance, providing a splendid ambience with soft music and a view lit by the city’s night lights. If only I was in a state to enjoy it.

  For the fifth time in as many minutes, Gabe checked the time on his phone, sipped his soft drink and muttered something under his breath. Then finally, just when the silence was becoming painful, his face shot to life, his line of sight pointed straight over my shoulder and I whipped around to see Dan and Arwen walking over, arms around each other, as they threaded a path between tables and sofas.

  They were both beaming as they took seats facing Gabe and I, and whether intentional or not, Dan chose to sit opposite me so that Arwen was furthest away at a diagonal.

  I coughed and shifted, which prompted a snide sideward glance from Dan and in my paranoia, I could only assume he still suspected, rightly, I had a little something more to do with Arwen’s leaving our group than he knew.

  “Was it worth coming to Lisbon or what?” He declared and shifted around to lean against the wall so that he was facing Arwen and I was cut out.

  Arwen dragged her chair around to face Dan but did so in a way that did not exclude Gabe and now she was closer to facing me, though so far she hadn’t so much as looked at or acknowledged me, despite the fact I was finding it hard to look both at and away from the girl.

  “Boy could hardly leave me alone but you sure feel loved walking over those mountains, hitting an accidental hotspot and having thirty or forty messages all tumbling in at once.” She rubbed Dan’s arm, the grin on his face was something to behold and all I could do was ponder whether that was a dig at me, who’d done little but think of Arwen these last weeks, even if I’d not attempted to contact her.

  “Jesus,” Gabe said, “you’re not even exaggerating.”

  She shook her head. “I sure felt loved.”

  The waiter arrived and asked if we’d like to order drinks. Gabe gestured to his nearly empty glass and, in Portuguese, ordered another soft drink. The waiter puckered his lips in appreciation, glanced at Arwen and exhibited the usual look of derangement I was so used to seeing. She arched her back, which caused her boobs to push slightly out and I lost all feeling in my legs as that familiar thrumming began to stir in my belly because Arwen commenced a conversation in Portuguese, ordering tapas for the table, or so I assumed. The waiter then looked to Dan.

  “Ok, I’m giving this a go,” he cleared his throat and rubbed his temples before surprising me and totally impressing Arwen by labouring through something vaguely resembling the native tongue. The girl was willing him on, correcting him on a couple of words and Dan insisted on starting again from the beginning because he wanted to get the whole thing right, whilst the waiter was good-natured enough to humour it. The word Sangria was easy enough to work out but from the sound of it, Dan was changing the recipe to his own specifications.

  “Leave out the apples and add more sugar and brandy.” Gabe helped for my benefit before he and Arwen cheered when Dan finished his order.

  Finally, it was my turn, “beer please.”

  There was an extended silence until, mercifully, the waiter broke it by saying, “ok,” and leaving as I felt the heat rising. Back in Barcelona, I’d cruelly called Arwen the odd one out but now it was me.

  Gabe broke the tension, “so tell us about the Camino?”

  She turned to face him and her eyes swept over me so fast I was unsure whether it actually happened. “It was really fricking awesome. What could be better than a seven hundred mile cross-country trek with awesome company? No offence, Freya. Oh, it was one big adventure, exploring, camping, feasting, making good friends and seeing sites all over the place, cities like Zaragoza, Burgos and León. Oh, and let’s not forget Santiago itself,” she grabbed Dan by the arm, “you have to see it. There’s nowhere else like it on the planet and I’m not even religious.”

  “What about your feet?” Gabe enquired.

  She dismissed his concerns by flapping a hand then propping it on her hip, all nothing can faze me. “Oh Gabe, thanks for the concern but I think I can handle it.”

  My brain was already chewing over the details and I could tell Gabe’s mathematical head was doing the same. I was glad he enquired for me. “Seven hundred miles? It’s been what, four weeks, a little less?”

  She shrugged, “who’s counting, babe?”

  Giving her the benefit of the doubt and calling it thirty days would mean she’d have to have been walking from anywhere between twenty and twenty-five miles each and every day, no days off. Stopping in those cities would take time off the thirty but I already knew Arwen had spent time in Coimbra, which was not even in Spain but the middle of bloody Portugal. I was beginning to smell the bullshit even if nobody else could and my wishful mind was starting to throw up hopeful scenarios where she’d had a bust-up with her Dutch travelling friends and ditched them, Floor particularly, maybe even taken a bus ride or twelve and left them burning in the hot Spanish sun. It was wishful thinking, for sure, but there was something she wasn’t telling us. So far, our Dutch friends had not been mentioned and, to the best of my knowledge, they weren’t even here with Arwen in Lisbon and I was beginning to dare hope that my earlier fears of Floor and Arwen being together as a couple were unfounded.

  “Any other fine places you recommend we see?” I finally spoke up and for the first time since her arrival, Arwen and I made eye contact.

  “Yes, Freya,” she said so formally I didn’t know what to make of it, “I recommend visiting Porto,” she continued in the same tone, another Portuguese city.

  Now I was feeling mischievous, “I hear it’s beautiful but quite large, how long did you say you spent there?” I wondered if I detected the smallest, faintest twitching of her left eyelid.

  “Only two nights, Freya, you see, I had the Camino de Santiago to complete, which pretty much ate up most of the last month.” She was on to me and the funny thing was that she lost the formality and instead used a slow cautionary tone, whilst watching for my reaction. She knew, or at least suspected I was sceptical of her claims and I made a deliberate show of leaning back in my seat, interlacing my fingers, nothing else needing to be said as her eyes, most satisfyingly, narrowed further.

  I don’t know why I did it, perhaps to provoke a reaction, good or bad, because anything was better than being ignored by the girl you were in love with, even if she went straight back to ignoring me after. I had to do something.

  But there was no way, no way I could envisage that group completing a seven hundred mile trek through Spanish mountains in what was probably only twenty-five days, with backpacks weighing them down, repeated stops, setting up of tents and visiting sites of interest. Karla was another factor, with her short legs and constant diversions to dig up every geocache within a fifty-mile radius. And that’s not forgetting Floor, who I hardly took for the type to enjoy getting dirty and squatting it out on that kind of a trip. No, there was more to it, I was convinced of it now and after thinking it all over, when my blank stare regained focus, Arwen was still watching me and had to quickly look away.

  The drinks and tapas arrived and I had to endure Dan’s constant innuendos involving Arwen and his plans for their future together, tongue in cheek as it was, even though we all knew it was exactly what he wanted. It was the sort of thing Arwen should have been discouraging, not that it would do any good regardless, not with a guy like Dan, and especially not after he’d been so long apart from our mutual obsession. Instead, Arwen enjoyed it more than what was sensible, though the occasional sideward glance at me whilst it was happening made me question her motivations.

  “I have gifts,” she announced later, sifting through her bag, pulling out a small bottle-shaped object in wrapping paper and passing it to Dan.

  His eyes widened as he seized the gift
and began unwrapping in earnest to reveal a bottle of Lea & Perrins Worcestershire Sauce. “Oh, my Christ, where did you get this?”

  She shrugged, “I actually bought it in Lisbon, there’s a British expat shop in the Madalena district.”

  He was already unscrewing the top as I prepared to blanch, “you have to take me there,” and then he sent it down, imbibing almost half the contents in one go and wiping his mouth with the back of a hand. “You’ll make an excellent wife for me one day.” And the thing was that coming from him, it didn’t even sound weird.

  She returned to her bag and wriggled uneasily as she handed me the wrapped present. “It’s for you and Gabe.”

  “Ah,” I shifted a little myself, unsure how to respond and Gabe cleared his throat as I shook the gift, a flat square object, quite light and I began to remove the paper that only now could I see had the words ‘Mr & Mrs’ printed all over it.

  Shit.

  I peeped up to catch Arwen’s eyes snapping from me to Gabe and when I looked down again, I found myself holding a picture frame. I turned it over and saw what it was. It was one of those box frames with our forenames connecting over the word ‘Engaged’ in Scrabble letters.

  She smiled from the mouth, her bottom lip trembling so subtly. “I’m so happy for both of you,” her voice sounded choked too.

  Gabe rubbed the back of his neck and it was suddenly hot on this rooftop. “Oh, Arwen, I’m sorry about the, um…” he began and I felt it a duty to finish for him.

  “Arwen, we actually broke up,” I spoke as earnestly as I could.

  Dan immediately burst out into laughter, almost spilling everyone’s drinks when he tipped back in his seat, and stealing my attention from the girl. It occurred to me that it was likely Gabe hadn’t yet told his friend the news, which was quite understandable, it had only just happened and was still sinking in for us both.

  “Not quite the reaction I was expecting but it’s a funny joke.” She swiped a large cluster of blonde out from her eyes before glancing at Dan who was still struggling to contain himself.

  “It’s not like you, Freya, to make jokes and you said it so serious.” He had to untie his man bun to deal with the many strands that had fallen loose. Dan had obviously filled Arwen in on the gossip as to our engagement but had not thus far been privy to our breaking up and therefore neither had Arwen.

  “Our secret’s safe,” is what she’d said in the camper, “Gabe won’t ever discover anything from me.” She’d known and bless her, wanted to protect me despite the turmoil I must have put her through.

  Gabe tugged on his collar as I concentrated on the meandering floor patterns and neither of us were smiling.

  “What the fuck?” Arwen suddenly cried out. “You’re fucking serious?”

  Dan’s face flipped into a grimace as his eyes bulged out. “He is, he’s serious.”

  The present was still in my hand and I stared blankly at the ‘a’ in ‘engaged’ and how it connected with the last letter of my name. “We … um … it’s true, guys, we broke up.”

  Dan shot forward. “Fucking when?”

  Gabe coughed, “earlier today.”

  Arwen came level with Dan. “You never told me.”

  I had to look up to see she was speaking not to Dan but to me. “Well, you didn’t give me chance.”

  “I did but you were too awestruck by my presence to spit it out, literally.” Oh, that little minx. “Perhaps you didn’t think it was important enough to tell me?” Her voice came out as a squeak, quite unlike anything I’d ever heard from her because she could barely believe the news, and I didn’t care that the people on the nearby sofa were watching us because that was another lifeline. She truly cared and I needed to speak with her this very minute.

  My hand had balled into a fist of its own accord and I spoke through clenched teeth as I was literally shaking. “I think it’s time for a bathroom break.” I jerked my face in the direction of the ladies room to suggest that she should join me.

  I probably should have glanced back instead of striding straight off because ten minutes after I’d entered the bathroom, she still hadn’t arrived. Perhaps she hadn’t noticed my little nodding signal? No, of course not.

  I was still shaking when I stomped back, Gabe was holding his head, Arwen was grinning at me, which hardly helped, and then Dan shouted loud enough for too many people to hear, “did you drop a kidney?”

  I retook my seat and had to bite my tongue, I was that liable to blow and all whilst she smiled so smugly, not because Gabe and I had broken up but because she had me and she knew it and was fully intending on prolonging my misery for her amusement.

  Why?

  Did we have nothing to discuss? To straighten out? To get off both our chests? All I needed was a few miserly minutes alone with the girl to explain myself, my position, everything. If she was playing some game to frustrate me then it was working and over the next hour, I sat patiently, waiting for the moment when she would inevitably need the bathroom, but alas, that moment never presented itself because, as it transpired, the girl had a bladder like a bloody football.

  It amazed me how she could flip from incredulity one minute to indifference the next, that in one instant she sought clarification as to my status with Gabe and the next couldn’t care less. How much of it was an act and how much was her way of further frustrating me as punishment?

  But I would get my opportunity, I was determined about that. I just hoped that when it arrived I could keep a clear head and not fall to pieces like I had in the camper.

  We left the bar and walked back to the hostel. It was a strange walk home, where Arwen and Dan were animatedly catching up on what they’d missed, whilst Gabe and I lingered a long way behind struggling to make conversation.

  But I knew which room was Arwen’s, on account of watching her walk through the door, and she pulled a face directed at me as she closed it behind her.

  Thirty minutes, I told myself, and I’d be banging on that thing and I cared not if I interrupted her mediation or anything else.

  I lasted less than ten and almost kicked the door in frustration because through it, I could hear Dan serenading the girl with a little help from the guitar string I’d purchased for him.

  But I’d get her tomorrow.

  Just try stop me.

  * * *

  I was downstairs early for breakfast, showered, makeup applied and dressed in an attractive casual white and red flower print summer dress I’d purchased in the Algarve. Perhaps I was too early, the only other people awake being an older couple who were checking out but I couldn’t risk not grabbing my moment with Arwen so I had to be here.

  I’d thought it all over, exactly what I needed to say, rehearsed it in my head and so I hoped it would make a difference when the time came to apply it.

  As it was, it was Gabe who arrived first, which obviously meant I’d again have to wait, wait and bloody wait and my coffee rippled in the mug as I brought it to my lips.

  “Doctor … sorry, Freya, we haven’t spoken much since yesterday,” he sat with a large plateful and a coffee.

  I straightened and rearranged my mini croissants and pain au chocolates around my plate. “That’s because you’ve spent all this time lying to me.”

  “Yes, and I will always regret that. You know that’s not me but we need to discuss the rest of this holiday.”

  “You’d like to know if we’re still travelling together after everything?”

  “Well aren’t we?” He was quick to ask.

  “The camper, Gabe, you paid for it with this ten thousand, didn’t you?” I’d had time now to think about that as well as a few other things.

  “Well, yes, I did.”

  “So tell me, how much is left?”

  He squirmed, “of the ten thousand, pretty much nothing,” he saw my stern expression and was quick to elaborate, “the camper cost six thousand and we’ve used up the other four, give or take.” It sounded reasonable enough though I couldn’t be sure
whether or not he was telling the truth and that was the whole problem. Though assuming, on this occasion, he was being truthful then that left our original five thousand budget untouched.

  “I want my half of our savings, Gabe, and not a penny less, either on a card or in cash. Give me that and then we can discuss the rest of the holiday.”

  He nodded and said nothing else, not then and not before Dan and Arwen arrived together several minutes later.

  Dan had been in his bed when I awoke and so I assumed he’d been kicked out of Arwen’s room at some point during the night and had been good enough not to wake me like on so many other occasions. When I rose, I’d been surprised to find him already awake, stroking a ginger cat that lazed and purred atop his sheet. “She belongs to the hostel,” he’d whispered, not wanting to disturb her, “and I’ve named her Freya,” and I’d wondered if that was his way of insulting or forgiving me. There were times men could be just as perplexing as women.

  “It seems like forever since we all last had breakfast together.” Arwen now stated as she opened a mini box of cornflakes and I concurred, it was too long ago. She was wearing that red jumpsuit I’d last seen in France and it was a necessary struggle to keep my eyes occupied elsewhere. How nobody had yet spotted me gawping was a mystery, though that was probably because everybody else was doing the same. She was a distraction for sure.

  Dan, obviously sensing the building friction between Gabe and I, suddenly raised his voice. “Whatever it is with the two of you, you’d better sort it out and quick.”

  I shook my head. “Some things aren’t as simple as that, Dan.” I caught Arwen’s eye from across the table and neither of us looked away until Dan yelled again.

  “I don’t give a shit. Listen, Miss Logic,” I jerked at that, “you bagged a bloody doctor, so don’t fuck it up and you, you four-eyed moron … you bagged a bloody doctor, and a slender redheaded one with nice tits, so don’t fuck it up. Don’t make me lock the pair of you in the janitor’s closet until you sort it out, whatever it is.”

  Arwen was making herself small and although the pair of them were pretty tight, there was at least one subject she’d kept from him. No, Arwen could be trusted, which was more than could be said for anyone else around here.