Euro Tripped

by Sally Bryan

  “The geocaching forum said it’s one of the best in Lisbon.”

  Arwen sipped from her wine glass and held her teeth at the rim then Floor flirtingly pulled her arm down and began nuzzling her neck. Arwen’s eyes again met mine but this time Floor noticed she wasn’t receiving her crush’s full attention and she followed her gaze across the room and I was startled to be met with the most chilling moment of my entire life.

  Floor made a double take, her eyes bulging and fixing on me, and she whipped back on Arwen who stepped away and then they both commenced exchanging rapid hand gestures and angry facial expressions.

  I had no idea what to think, on one hand it was funny, on the other confusing, and my head fizzed so hard that I needed to sit down to process things.

  “What do you reckon? We could set out after breakfast and be back in time for tomorrow night’s party.” Really, the girl was beginning to resemble a one-dimensional character from a bad romance novel.

  “Yes, novel.”

  “What?”

  Why had Floor reacted like that? Obviously, she was surprised to find me in Lisbon, which meant Arwen hadn’t told her I was here and judging from that look of sheer poison, it was easy to surmise Arwen had given her reasons to hate me which, I supposed, was a good thing, I think. Not that it discouraged Floor because she now took Arwen’s hand and tugged her towards the couch.

  I turned into Karla, if only to avoid Floor’s constant menacing daggers as she continued to demonstrate her possession of Arwen, all whilst I had to endure the obvious subject from Karla. I glanced over her shoulder and saw that at some point, Luuk had arrived and was now speaking with Samuel.

  It was all too much and the heat didn’t make it any easier. What did Floor know about Arwen and I? She’d been given reason to hate or perhaps fear me though I just couldn’t picture Arwen blabbing the sensitive details to another person, she’d already promised it was our secret. By far the worst thing though was having to watch the two of them together and although Arwen was hardly instigating anything, she was far from discouraging it. And why was that? Did Arwen like her or not? If she didn’t like her, why were they kissing and snuggling on the couch? And did my being in the room affect how things were playing out? Ugh, if she’d wanted to hurt me back then she was succeeding.

  My mind was a mess and I hated it and if I didn’t get a few minutes to speak alone with her soon, I was likely to lose my mind. No, I had to take a chance and fuck the consequences, I no longer cared.

  There was a door situated between myself and where Arwen and Floor were seated and it wasn’t like I needed to pretend much, as I wobbled in that direction, which drew both girls’ attention, and the tears flowed easily as I screwed up my face. I almost bumped into one man holding a pint glass and then staggered as I passed through the doorway and into the empty corridor where I crumpled against the wall, sobbing and waited.

  I received my reward after only two minutes.

  Her hand touched my shoulder. “Frey?”

  What good is making a person jealous if they’re not there to witness it?

  I spun around, she was alone, and I seized the opportunity, “gotcha,” as well as her wrist and pulled her into the laundry room, locking the door and standing square in front of it as imposing as I could.

  Her mouth plunged so far open I could see a filling, so she did possess at least one physical flaw. “Of all the…” she was lost for words and I wondered if I detected the slightest hint of admiration on her face. “You can cry on command? Are you sure medicine’s the right field for you?”

  I finally had the girl where I needed her and what little relief I might have felt was now overcome by everything else. Added to that was the recognition that this was the moment I was supposed to say everything that needed saying and as predicted, my mind had gone to crap. There were also four or five washing machines spinning ferociously and the noise was horrendous but I was hardly in a position to negotiate such trivialities.

  She was still in her red jumpsuit and God, she looked good, so good I knew I’d be incoherent again and now she stepped forward and stood arms akimbo. “You must have gone completely mad. Do you really think that woman will stand for this?”

  And it was there, in her words, her tone, her eyes, that I knew it at once and I unconsciously took a step towards her, she didn’t move, as I silently mouthed the words “that woman,” and I couldn’t help but smile, almost weep with joy. Floor was nothing to her and nothing Arwen now said would convince me otherwise. And she came to me! I’d fled the room and she’d come to find me.

  “I don’t give a shit about that woman or anyone else.” I declared as I feared I’d fall apart. This was it, this was the moment I’d dreamt about and now, as she stood and waited for me to speak, I knew this was the moment that could change my entire life. Ok, Freya, just speak from the heart. “Are you trying to make me fucking jealous? Because if you are, it’s bloody well working so just stop it.” Ok, that was perhaps not the best thing to say, but it was certainly from the heart.

  She blew her knuckles. “You knew what you had.”

  I involuntarily exhaled at that, yet it was exactly the kind of response I should have expected, that coming from anyone else would have sounded ridiculous though somehow Arwen was able to pull it off so easily.

  “Yes, I did,” I began hopelessly, “and I still do, I know exactly what I stupidly threw away but please, you’re playing with fire out there. What if Dan had seen the pair of you?”

  She flinched at that, it wasn’t what she wanted, to hurt him and it was the only time I could recall she didn’t have an answer. Instead, she changed subjects, to annoy me again, “tell me, how was your day with Karla?” She asked with the kind of sexy smirk that could have made me melt and reminding me of all the mischief she’d earlier caused, that she was still revelling in.

  I shook my head and laughed, which I didn’t want but couldn’t help. “You do know it’s physically impossible to walk seven hundred miles lumbered down with that girl, right? You might have fooled Dan and Gabe but you can’t fool me. All you did with your scheming was unwittingly give away your bullshit Camino story.”

  Her mouth twitched but there was geniality behind the eyes. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  I stepped forward, both appalled and amused she was persisting with this line. “Oh, stop it, Arwen! Karla already blabbed it all. I know everything about Zaragoza and the train and…”

  She lunged and suddenly I was pushed back against one of the dryers, her hands in my hair and she paused, perhaps to check for my reaction but I had no objection, and then her lips were hard against mine, her tongue forcing its way inside my mouth, her hands seizing my hair, tugging, the dryer’s deep vibration ricocheting through my body to resound against her, my hands quickly seizing her breasts, her hips grinding forcefully into mine, the taste of blood on my palate, the throbbing way down in my depths and the explosion of relief flooding my veins. It was the sensation of weeks of hurt coming to the most beautiful, sudden, powerful and blissful end.

  She pulled away and ran her hands down my body to slip her thumbs just inside my waistband, not to tug down my skirt, horrendously, but to pull herself casually into me as her tongue slid across her lower lip and her enlarged black pupils refocused.

  We both heaved for breath as my mind hazed.

  She bit her lip, “how’ve you been? And tell me the honest truth or so help me God.”

  “I’ve been like shit,” I panted.

  “Good! You deserved it.”

  “I think I needed it.”

  “You did.”

  I took a second to gather my wits as we both held each other in seeming realisation of the moment. We needed each other, there was no doubting that now and there was no reason for anything to remain in our way.

  “Arwen, we need to talk about…”

  And at that she pulled away and there was nothing I could do, no way for my quivering legs to catch her as she d
arted for the door, unlocked it and disappeared, to once again leave me questioning what the fuck was happening, where I stood with her and what game, if any, she was playing.

  I waited several minutes to gather myself before leaving and when I opened the door I didn’t immediately see Floor standing in wait and there was a flash of anger as the girl, who was several inches taller, pushed me back inside. She locked the door even as her other hand remained around my collar and the musty scent of unknown spices was overpowering.

  “What do you think you’re doing?” I screeched with a defiance I wasn’t sure I felt. My heart was pounding hard. There was never a time in my life I’d been handled in such a way and my instinct was one of rage, even if my rational side knew not to lash out but attempt to control the situation. The girl was obviously volatile and had reason, not wrongly, to suspect something.

  Why did drama follow some people wherever they went? Ah, of course, because she looked the way she did. I just hoped that Arwen would prove worth it.

  Floor let go, now that I couldn’t escape, and she made a point of tilting her chin down to meet my eyes. “Are you following us around, bitch?” Came the well thought through accusation masked as a question.

  I exhaled and shook my head, “last I checked, I was here before you.”

  Her top lip curled, “this place, bitch. You’re following her around like a little puppy dog.” Obviously, it was untrue but she sounded so menacing that I feared doing anything to provoke her.

  “I think Arwen’s free to do as she pleases,” which was absolutely true and I noted how Floor’s eye flickered from the mention of the girl’s name.

  She leaned even closer and seemed in two minds whether or not to touch me again. “Listen here, you stuck up cheating little ginger bitch. If I ever so much as catch you looking at her again, I’ll tell your wimp of a boyfriend your little secret.”

  The breath caught in my throat, which I hoped was the only physical reaction I gave up because she had to be bluffing, had to be, and I didn’t want her to detect anything that might have revealed how right she was. For one, she hadn’t even met Gabe, to the best of my knowledge, and Arwen wouldn’t have given me up, I knew that and the fact Floor thought Gabe and I were still together only confirmed that to me. She was obviously paranoid but knew nothing for sure, other than that Arwen and I were, or at least once had been great friends, which was evidently enough to provoke this woman given we were all back at the same place and she now had a rival.

  I stepped back and my heels touched the wall. “Hang on one minute. If anything was going on between Arwen and I, which it isn’t, but even if it was, wouldn’t telling Gabe then free me to see her in the open?” I hoped she didn’t discover we’d already broken up because that would only make her even more paranoid, perhaps not unjustifiably. “How would that help you then?”

  Her eyebrows dipped, her lips twisted to the side and I could have laughed at having so easily confused her, if only I wasn’t feeling so threatened. She really was a beautiful woman, or would have been without that deranged glint behind the eye, which took everything away. Then her hands were back around my collar and the musty spice was stronger than ever.

  “Listen bitch, she’s my girlfriend now, so just stay the fuck away, or else.”

  * * *

  It was another half hour before I returned to the communal room, where the music was now louder, after having first sat on my bed contemplating this most bizarre of evenings, staring at the wall, out the window to the nearby view of the São Jorge Castle and finally to my backpack crammed into the corner by the lockers. It was a fleeting thought, to put all this behind me, just go, be a doctor, try make myself ecstatically happy. But it went almost as soon as it arrived.

  I’d been threatened by a bitch and to run would give her too much satisfaction.

  And satisfaction was exactly her look right now as she lounged back on the white leather couch, cocktail in hand, my girl in the other.

  I was thirsty and in need of alcohol myself and I had to skirt the room to avoid them but found myself unable to look away regardless and from a distance, it was easy to see Floor with her arm draped over Arwen’s shoulders like some precious possession as she whispered in her ear.

  I ordered a white wine and at once tasted why it cost so little as the bitterness introduced itself to my palate but I didn’t care and I skirted back the other way, towards the air hockey table and, finding no familiar faces, leaned against the wall and endured a Katy Perry song crackling out from the cheap speakers.

  Floor pulled her attention away from Arwen to scan the room but I looked away before her eyes could settle on me and a few minutes later when I checked back it was Arwen who found my gaze. She lacked her usual sparkle, instead there was something else, sadness perhaps and I’d have given anything to know what she was thinking. Why she was doing this to me? Then our eye contact was broken when Floor guided her back with a hand on her jaw and their lips touched and Arwen lifted her hands over Floor’s head to lose them in her hair.

  I had no time to consider the implications because my attention was stolen by Dan and Gabe who were now standing just inside the door, stock still, eyes agog as the revelation of what they were witnessing struck.

  I actually had to blink, wipe my eyes and squint across the length of the room to be sure it was really them but there was no mistaking Gabe’s wavy side parting and glasses, not to mention Dan’s guitar and man bun that now bounced as he bounded the short distance in Arwen’s direction.

  Her head jerked back in recognition as I held my breath and Dan halted, having covered only half the distance, took another step, stopped, turned, flung up his arm and stalked out. Arwen threw Floor’s arms away and ran after him as I felt my wine spilling over my feet.

  Gabe now spotted me from across the room and, his nose leading the way, threaded between the other travellers and strode over.

  “She’s a lesbian? Did you know that?” He made a clicking sound, “never did hear her speak much about men … not short of opportunities, for sure.” His speech was slurred.

  “Didn’t stay long off the alcohol then?” So much for turning over a new leaf.

  He shrugged, “I’m on holiday, it’s not like I’m a big drinker, I’ll give up when I get home.”

  “Whatever,” it wasn’t like I’d even asked him to give it up in the first place and besides, it was no longer any of my business, “did you go to the bank?”

  He was gazing with a goofy glassy expression at Floor who was striding across the room to where she found Luuk and Samuel. “Not a bad looking girl that. I bet Dan’s gonna be conflicted. A lesbian though? Assuming she is. I mean, I had no idea.”

  I exhaled loudly, “the money, Gabe, did you go to the bank?”

  “Huh?” He delved into his bag, “oh, yup, here it is, two and a half big ones and you can count it if you don’t trust me.”

  I doubted he’d descended so far as to screw me out of my own rightful money and so I took the notes and stuffed them into my bag. “Thank you for doing that.”

  “It was nothing, I’m serious about regaining your trust, in fact, I was kind of hoping that perhaps now we could discuss us?” He continued but I found my attention wandering to other places because they knew now and I wasn’t sure how that would change things.

  Dan would be upset, not just because it would put an end to his hopes of being with Arwen but because, I guessed, she never felt able to tell him herself and he’d feel betrayed by that. They were close, though evidently not close enough but then that was her business and I guessed that right now she’d be trying to explain to him that she wasn’t, in fact, a lesbian and just liked who she liked because she was who she was and rejected the label and all labels. There’s nothing to tell, she’ll say, and whether Dan would accept that explanation was anyone’s guess.

  “We could go north to Porto like Arwen suggested and because she’s already been, she won’t want to go back so getting rid of her will be easy. M
ind … she’s probably travelling with those other people now but I’m kind of getting bored of Portugal so we could just cut east, head to Madrid but Dan’s talking about getting a plane to one of the party islands, Ibiza or Tenerife … speak of the devil.”

  Dan was stomping towards us, his hair free-flowing and flaring, but then changed trajectory and instead aimed for the pool table from where he snatched the cue straight out of the hands of a much smaller Japanese traveller who mouthed a half-hearted protest before scurrying away. Samuel, Luuk, Karla and Floor were all nearby to witness the minor exchange and all backed away towards the wall as Dan angrily racked the balls and I recalled how our Dutch companions might already be wary of Dan after learning about his two nights in a Spanish prison.

  Arwen traipsed back in, her face grim, but only made it a few steps before walking back out and I had a feeling this most surreal of nights was about to become even more unusual.

  “Fuck it,” I said aloud to myself and headed straight for the tapas to spend several minutes indulging in unknown quantities of interesting nibbles; cod balls, dates wrapped in bacon, clams, meat croquettes and tiny cuts of toast with pesto, of all things, and of course there were Belém tarts too.

  “Karma got her,” it was Karla who almost made me choke, “she tries being nice to me now her friend isn’t but still no apology so I told her to fuck off.”

  “Karla!” I rebuked her, “please don’t sneak up on me like that.”

  Indeed, Arwen was back and was hovering between groups and finding nowhere to settle. She was keeping a distance from Floor, perhaps sensibly, and on two occasions, Dan moved away when she tried to approach him. In addition, Karla had apparently told her where to go and she was keeping away from me as well. Now, Arwen was sitting on a stool by the bar drinking wine alone with an expression that kept everyone else away as she rapidly tapped her phone screen, I guessed to send messages to Dan.

  What else could I do other than play air hockey and so Karla and I began a game whilst Dan and Gabe played a match of doubles pool against Luuk and Samuel, which at least was a relief they were getting along. I’d thought too soon, however, because Dan began an argument with Luuk over the legitimacy of a shot, the latter backing down probably due to Dan’s supposed reputation as a criminal. It was only when we’d finished air hockey that Karla and I approached their game and found they were playing for money, fifty Euros that awaited the winners beneath a glass, and because the game had been made interesting, a crowd had gathered for the sport.