Revealed

by A B Turner

  ‘I’m so sorry, Mum, please take care of yourself and come back safely, love always, L xx’

  I quickly typed back,

  ‘I’m sorry too, everything will be okay, so stay safe and I will see you soon, love you more xxxx’

  The airline staff called us to board the plane, as I stood in the queue, I went on to Messenger again,

  ‘Just about to get on the plane sweetheart, can’t wait to see you xx’

  Skylar replied,

  ‘Don’t get lost and I’ll be waiting for you at the other end xxxx’

  I found my seat, thankfully by the window, switched everything off and fastened my seatbelt. I was just stowing my bag when the Trudes passed me,

  “You made it, luv,” Big Trude beamed at me, “We were worried when we didn’t see you.”

  Little Trude lurched forward into her back,

  “What are you doing?”

  “I got pushed alright, come on Trude, we need to get to our seat, see you in ‘Straya, Carrie.”

  I couldn’t help but smile as I heard them make their way down the narrow aisle, almost continually blaming each other for some reason or another. I relaxed back in my seat and looked out of the small window, I could just make out the outline of the terminal buildings, which were now shrouded in darkness apart from the lights shining through the windows. There was a slight jerk and I felt the plane start to move slowly, all the other passengers were safely seated and you could almost feel the combination of excitement and nerves coming from everyone. At last, we reached the end of the runway, there was a long pause, before I felt the force of the engines picking up speed. The landscape raced past the window and within seconds, we were in the air, I felt a rush of every kind if positive emotion, I was really doing this now, there were no more paralyzing nerves, just pure adrenalin coursing through my veins. In a few hours, I would be with Skylar and I could hardly wait to see him.

  Chapter 14

  Some 24 hours later, after two brief stopovers in parts of the world, I would never have been able to find on a map, the plane landed in Melbourne and I had never been more relieved to just be able to stand up. Every part of my body seemed to have melded into the shape of the aircraft seat and I was now anxious to be able to walk and get some kind of circulation happening through my legs and feet. The other passengers seemed as relieved as I was to be finally moving independently again, so it wasn’t too long before we were off the plane and heading towards the baggage claim area. I wanted to message Skylar, but there were signs everywhere saying not to switch on mobile phones, so it seemed best to wait. Luckily my bag appeared and I was making my way through security, when I heard the unmistakable sound of Big Trude calling my name.

  “Hold on, Carrie.”

  She turned back to Little Trude who, once more, was struggling with another luggage trolley,

  “Can you get a move on Trude?”

  I stopped to wait for them, still not really convinced I was actually in Australia. At last they reached me and the reason for their anxiety for me, quickly became clear,

  “Is someone meeting you, luv?” asked Big Trude, I shook my head, but tried to reassure her I would be fine. Little Trude piped up from behind their trolley,

  “Don’t much around with cabs, luv, they’ll rip you off, you need to get the Skybus, it’ll take you into the city and then you can get a train from there.”

  Big Trude scowled at her,

  “I was just about to say that,” she then turned her attention to me, “The Skybus is just outside the terminal, luv, you can’t miss it, now have you got some money?”

  I nodded gratefully,

  “OK then, well, you take care,” she rummaged in her pocket and thrust a small slip of paper in my hand, “There’s my number, if anything goes wrong, you call me, any time, ok?”

  I thanked them both and was quickly swept up between them in perhaps the biggest hug I had ever experienced, it was actually hard to breathe. I waved them off and then headed out of the terminal, as they had said, there were a row of buses, waiting for customers, so I bought my ticket and dragged my suitcase on board. Once settled, I switched on my phone and messaged Skylar,

  ‘On the Skybus now, I will call you from the hotel.’

  As before his answer came back almost immediately,

  ‘OMG YOU’RE HERE !!!!’

  I smiled as I replied, saying I would see him very soon, just as the bus started to move, pulling out of the airport and speeding down a motorway. As I looked out of the window, I could see the Melbourne city skyline in the distance, it was something I had only ever seen in pictures and now I was here. I couldn’t help but wonder what we would see, where Skylar had thought of showing me, but more importantly, what it would be like to see him in the flesh. I texted Kat and Lainie, just so they would know I had arrived safely, I wasn’t surprised when they didn’t reply, although I wasn’t sure of the time difference, the chances were, it was the middle of the night back in the UK.

  Once off the bus, I was unbelievably thankful that English was the language of choice in Australia, as negotiating my way to the train station and then finding a cab to the hotel, was relatively easy. As promised, as soon as I had checked in, I phoned Skylar,

  “Hello sweetheart, I’m at the hotel now,” I said, very aware of how nervous I sounded.

  “Hey gorgeous, shall I pick you up in an hour then? Give you time to freshen up or ..I don’t know..something.” he laughed, “Can you tell I’m a bit anxious?”

  I laughed,

  “No more than I am, I’ll see you soon then sweetheart, okay?”

  “What? Oh right, yes, of course, I’ll be there, see ya gorgeous.”

  I started unpacking and then jumped into the shower, I wanted to wash off all the remnants of the flight. I wrapped myself in the huge towel and sat in front of the dressing table mirror, until that moment, I had felt perfectly fine, but when my eyes met my own reflection, the nerves reappeared.

  “Well, you’ve gone and done it this time, Carrie Sullivan,” I said aloud, “In less than an hour, you’re meeting him, this man you’ve talked too for months, shared pictures with and talked about everything you wanted to do with him.”

  I opened my make up bag and dotted cream on my tired skin,

  “So are you all talk? What are you going to do if he takes one look at you and runs?”

  With shaking hands, I tried to turn my face into something which someone might feasibly find attractive, while continuing this one way conversation with myself. Having achieved what seemed to be the best I could hope for, I worked on my hair and then got dressed. I had opted for a simple white blouse and black trousers, it looked smart but not too smart and hopefully, made the best of what I had. I slipped on my high-heeled shoes and looked at my reflection again,

  “Well considering everything, you don’t look too shabby, so come on Carrie, don’t wimp out now, time to go down to reception.”

  I walked down to the front desk and sat down, trying to look calm. I glanced up every time any kind of vehicle drove into the hotel, I knew Skylar had a white car, so I knew what to expect. After several agonizing minutes, I saw the front of a white car pull up, I could just make out his profile in the driver’s seat. My heart started pounding so hard against my chest, I was sure it must be almost visible through my shirt. I watched him get out of the car and look up at me, a shock of a blonde fringe covered one eye. As he walked around the car, the wind seemed to catch the hair and his eyes were suddenly fixed on me, I stood up to meet him. He was very tanned, oddly he had chosen almost exactly the same outfit as me, white shirt and black trousers, only he had an open black denim jacket. He strode purposefully around the car, which at first, made me think he was brimming with confidence and my heart sank. But then I noticed him fiddling with her car keys, then he pushed the fringe out of his eyes and took a clearly visible deep breath, before opening the hotel door which suggested he was nervous too. I was perhaps selfishly slightly relieved. I hadn’t been quite sur
e what to do when we met, so I stretched out a hand and took his,

  “Hello Skylar, I’m Carrie.”

  His deep blue eyes met mine, he smiled nervously and said hi and suggested we go somewhere for lunch. I followed him out to the car, as we sat there, he turned to me,

  “This is unbelievable, isn’t it? I can’t get my head round the fact, you’re actually here.”

  “I know what you mean,” I replied softly, “Let’s get some lunch and then maybe it will be less weird.”

  But he made no move to start the car, instead Skylar looked intently at me,

  “Don’t get me wrong, I am so happy you’re here.”

  “So am I,” I answered, knowing, without doubt, that was the plain and simple truth. We had lunch at an Asian restaurant, it was busy and so having any real conversation was almost impossible. Waiting staff bustled past our table and everywhere around us seemed to be loud conversations. I found all the distractions quite a relief because it meant we could only really talk about the menu, as it felt like both of us were still trying to acknowledge the reality of us being in the same place, face to face, and not on the phone. After lunch, we picked up a few supplies and went back to the hotel, despite our combined life experience, there was no escaping the fact, we were both nervous about being alone together. I thought back to all those phone conversations where we had easily talked about sex, yet now, here we were, sitting at opposite ends of the bed and nervously sipping Jack Daniels. Thankfully, after a couple of drinks, we both visibly relaxed and everything started to feel a bit more normal between us. I talked about the flight and the Trudes, Skylar roared with laughter and, for the first time, I saw his eyes sparkle and his whole face relax, his smile reminded me – for some inexplicable reason- of a picture I’d once seen of Elvis Presley. When I told him, he laughed again and he rested back on the bedhead,

  “Fuck you’re pretty,” he said quietly, I felt myself blush slightly, “Come here, let me look at you properly.”

  I shifted over to him, until we were face to face, I looked deep into his eyes, they truly were the most expressive I had ever seen on anyone. It felt like everything he was as a person, everything he had experienced, was there and it was beautiful. I leant slightly forward until my lips were just touching his, he felt warm, I could feel him push gently against me, as his tongue slipped into my mouth and softly circled mine. The kiss lasted no more than a moment, but it was enough for me to be almost sure, everything I had said to him was true.

  “It’s funny, isn’t it?” he began, “It was very easy to talk about being with you on the phone…”

  “But not so easy now?” I added, finishing his sentence, he smiled.

  “So what should we do?” he asked, I was about to answer when the urge to yawn overcame me, clearly the long day was starting to affect me.

  “You look tired sweetheart, why not have a rest for a while?”

  I wanted to say no and that I had never felt better, but suddenly it seemed every limb felt heavy and my eyelids were struggling to stay open.

  “Maybe I will just slip under the covers for a while,” I said sleepily.

  “Do you want me to go?” Skylar asked, “It’s okay, I can come back later.”

  I looked at him and could see his reluctance to leave, and the fact was, I didn’t want him to go. I shook my head,

  “Stay with me,” I answered, I slipped out of my clothes and slid under the covers, wearing only my underwear. Had I not been so tired, I might have been self-conscious, but, I ceased to care about anything other than being with Skylar and feeling more awake. As I rested my head on the soft pillow, I saw him quickly take his clothes off and climb in next to me. His skin felt warm, almost silky, he eased his arm around my shoulder and pulled me closer.

  “Get some rest, sweetheart,” he whispered, I wanted to answer, but I drifted into his arms and the peace of sleep.

  Only a couple of hours I was awoken by a clattering sound coming from the bathroom, followed by Skylar muttering,

  “Dammit.”

  “Are you okay?” I called, he poked her head around the door,

  “I didn’t mean to wake you, I’m sorry sweetheart.”

  “That’s alright, I’m glad you did, it’s not the best idea to sleep all day any way,” I replied, he smiled, there was a hint of almost a shyness in the way he looked at me, before he disappeared back into the bathroom. I pulled off the covers and began getting dressed again, I caught my reflection in the mirror and grimaced, I looked a mess. I quickly found my hairbrush and tried to make something that looked half-decent out of what looked like a close encounter with a hedge. Skylar came back into the room,

  “So what would you like to do?” he asked, sitting next to me on the edge of the bed.

  “I don’t know,” I answered unhelpfully, “What do you think?”

  “How about a walk? There’s a beautiful place near here, there’s a lake and trees…”

  “Sounds perfect, let’s go,” I replied firmly, hoping we might feel more at ease with each other outside the hotel room, which, through no fault of its own was dominated by the bed.

  I quickly got dressed, we headed down to the car and set off, all within a few minutes. Almost as soon as the drive began, Skylar switched on the radio and we talked about the songs, he was clearly more comfortable driving, which put me at ease too. We turned a sharp corner and then parked in a small graveled carpark, surrounded by trees.

  The afternoon sun was high in the sky, so I was thankful for the lush shade provided by the leafy canopy.

  “Did you bring any sunscreen?” he asked. I nodded and then cursed myself for leaving it behind at the hotel, he sighed,

  “You have to remember to put it on, your skin will just burn, sweetheart.”

  He glanced up,

  “Well, you should be alright today, all the trees, but promise you’ll do it next time…” I saw him suddenly look really quite awkward, before he added the hope there would be a next time. I smiled and assured him, I was hoping for many times with him. He grinned back at me,

  “Right answer.”

  We started to walk along a narrow path, lined with towering gum trees, there seemed to be very few other people there other than the occasional dog walker. It was beautifully peaceful, the sound of the gentle breeze rustling the leaves high above our heads and the occasional sound of a bird.