They disembarked and trotted off lazily up the beach towards their huts. The island was silent and bathed in darkness save the lights from the constellations above. After a minute or two they had reached Jenny and Sarah's hut. Jenny quickly put Sarah to bed before returning to Henry who waited outside, quietly shutting the door as she left. It was late, about 3 am, but Jenny didn't want the night to end.
Henry, it seemed, was on the same wavelength. He took her hand and turned back the way they had come, walking back down the beach towards a series of beach beds set up along the shore. They were large, four poster beds, covered with triangular thatched roofs and with light white curtains draped down the sides. They were set up to gaze out towards the ocean, with Gili Air and the imposing silhouette of Lombok visible on the skyline.
They lay down on the first bed they came to and drew the curtains across to give them some privacy, but with the front exposed to the water gently lapping against the sand. Henry turned and started kissing Jenny, quickly restarting their passionate embrace from the boat. They kissed and touched each other, Henry carefully pulling off Jenny's top and exposing her bra below. He sat up and unbuttoned his own shirt, pulling it apart and putting his rippling muscles on display. Jenny glided her hand across his chest and torso, feeling the grooves of his abs and warmth of his sun-kissed skin. Their passions rose as they lost their clothes and soon both were down to their underwear, lying there under the early morning sky on a secluded beach on Gili Meno.
Suddenly, Jenny began to get nervous. Things were going too fast for her, and the alcohol was beginning to betray her. As Henry continued to caress her soft skin, she retreated and moved back a touch. Henry look up quizzically, “are you OK?”
“Um, yeah I'm fine, I just don't wanna....you know....” she mumbled the last few words, but Henry knew what she meant.
“Oh no, we don't have to at all....not if you don't want to. That's not what I was trying by the way...I wasn't expecting that.”
“Well, it's not that I don't want to....it's just...oh it doesn't matter...” she trailed off.
“What's wrong Jen...come on, don't leave me in the dark here. Is it something I've done?”
“No, no, it's not you at all, nothing like that. Well, I guess there is something that you did as well, but that's not what I'm talking about.”
Henry looked at her, a confused expression growing on his face. “Look, I'm a little confused here. So it's not something I did, but then there is something I've done that's upset you? Is this still to do with whatever you were mad with me about back in Bali?”
“Yeah I guess so....I mean, it's just silly really but you did hurt me a little bit.” Her tongue was now fully loosened up by the alcohol coursing through her veins.
“Well, I still don't know what that was about. I just thought you weren't interested in me. So....what exactly did I do?” There was a slight air of irritability in his voice.
Jenny was still slightly amazed that Henry could continue to not realize that perhaps she'd seen him kissing Emily that night in Kuta.
“Well, you kissed Emily in Bounty when we went out. I don't know, I thought we were getting along great and then you go and kiss a girl you've just met in front...well, not in front of me, but you know....basically I saw you kiss her, Henry, when I went to the toilet.” Jenny was a little flustered, fumbling her words.
Henry leaned back, frowning. “I didn't kiss Emily that night.” He said it slowly, authoritatively.
“Um, well I saw you both leaning up against the wall in the club near the toilet. She was leaning in kissing someone and then when she leaned back I saw it was you.”
Henry laughed gently. “And that's why you were mad at me....because you thought you saw me kissing Emily. That's why you weren't speaking to me?”
Jenny nodded, “yeah, I....I know it's silly but, I really liked....I like you...and I was drunk and I thought you liked me as well.”
Henry smiled reassuringly and looked in Jenny's eyes: “It's not silly at all. If I'd seen you kissing someone, I'd have been pissed as well. But Jen, I didn't kiss Emily that night.....she tried to kiss me, but I said no. That's why you saw her leaning in....she was drunk and trying to kiss me and I leaned back and pulled away. You can see what she gets like when she's drunk....”
Jenny suddenly felt very stupid. She felt stupid for reading so much into something. She felt stupid for being so offish with Henry for the last week. She felt stupid for reading his diary to get some answers. She felt stupid right now, knowing how pathetic she looked for behaving as she had done.
Henry saw what she was thinking and reached forward to lift her chin. “Don't feel bad....it was a simple misunderstanding. I guess I'm sorry as well....for not telling you how I feel about you. I suppose I thought that I'd avoid it all since you're leaving in a week. I guess I didn't wanna start liking someone only to have to leave them. But I do like you Jenny....I really like you...”
Jenny looked up and saw the sincerity in his face. “I really like you too Henry, but I've just gone through a hard break up and I'm like you – I didn't want to start something I couldn't finish. But I really like you...a lot...and there's another thing....”
Jenny took a deep breath: “I'm....I'm a virgin.” She looked away, embarrassed.
There was a slight silence, before Henry started speaking again: “and that's what you were saying just now....that's why you wanted to stop?”
“Yeah.” she paused, “I've just never found someone that I felt I wanted to do it with....my last boyfriend, he...he kept pushing me and that put me off a bit. I guess it's no wonder my boyfriends always cheat on me.”
Henry was shaking his head as he spoke: “no....if they cheated on you they did it because they're idiots....because they're stupid. It's not your fault, so never think that way. If you don't want to sleep with someone, it's their problem, not yours. And being a virgin is NOTHING to be embarrassed about....nothing. When you find someone special, it will happen naturally.”
With that they stopped talking and lay down on the soft cushions beneath them. Jenny felt comfortable in Henry's strong arms, lying with her head on his chest, listening to his steady, beating heart. The air was cool on her soft skin, and the calming lapping of the water on the beach soothing to her ears. She glanced her eyes up at Henry, who had his eyes set on the ocean, before gradually, slowly, slipping off to sleep.
Chapter 11
A few hours later Jenny awoke to find herself lying alone. She groggily looked over her shoulder and saw Henry walking back down the beach towards her. He was carrying a blanket and his camera. He climbed up onto the bed and lay the blanket over Jenny: “you were shivering,” he said, “and look,” he gestured out to the horizon where the glow of morning light was just appearing.
They sat up together and watched the sun rise once more, just as they had on Mt Batur. This time the light appeared over the surface of the water, turning the sky purple and gradually illuminating the coastline of Lombok in the distance. The purple grew more intense, like an artist adding layers of color to a painting, before the golden sun burst into life, creeping over the skyline in a show of magnificent gold, yellow, and orange.
They sat huddled together under the blanket, Henry snapping away with his camera to capture the moment. Soon, it was over, the sky returning to its usual bluish glow and the sun making it's way higher above the sea. They turned to each other and kissed before lying back down and disappearing once more into a light slumber.
It must have been another couple of hours before they woke, disturbed by the splashing of local children in the shallow waters in front of them. It seemed an appropriate time to get up, so they began making their way back up the shore towards their huts. According to Henry's camera it was now 8.30 am, so it was probably unlikely that the rest of the group were up.
Henry seemed in a bit of a rush, eager to find out what had happened to Mark over on Gili Trawangan, Jenny thought. Upon reaching his room, he found Mark passed out on
the bed, and immediately began to relax. Jenny also thought she'd check on Sarah, so peeked her head round the door to see her snoring away lightly under her sheet. They both grabbed their towels and quickly changed into their beach-wear before wandering down onto the warm white sand, catching a glimpse of Andy and Eno having breakfast at the bar on their way.
The morning passed by quickly, both of them dozing in and out of consciousness as the hours ticked by towards midday. By lunchtime Andrew had appeared, and he shared with them what had happened the night before. By all accounts, Mark and Emily were completely off their heads, paranoid and delusional, while Todd was in relentless hysterics the whole way back. Andrew had found them in a quieter bar further into the center of the island, sitting around a table chattering wildly. When he arrived, Mark was apparently overjoyed to see him, clearly wanting to get out of there. He led them down to the beach, bartered for a taxi, and got them all back home safe and sound. “A hero,” was Jenny's reply, while Henry shook his hand and thanked him for taking care of his friend.
By early afternoon Sarah showed her face, looking slightly abashed as she joined them down on the sand. “Erm, what happened last night guys?” she asked somewhat timidly, to which she got the dumbed down and censored version from the others. Then, it was Marks turn, looking in an absolute state and barely able to compute what was going on. Henry looked at him disapprovingly and spoke without much sympathy: it was clear that he was completely against drugs and perhaps thought Mark was on the same wavelength. He didn't push it though, now wasn't the time for that.
By 2 pm the group found themselves hiding from the sun under a canopy set up at the bar. There was a fractious undertone as they ordered their lunch, Henry and Mark not seeing eye to eye and Todd far more irritable than his usual jovial self. Emily, as Jenny had come to expect, was also moody and unwelcoming.
Jenny didn't care though: she was feeling blissful, like a weight had been lifted from her shoulders. The previous night had been like a dream, and she was sure that Henry felt the same. After a spot of food they wandered off together away from the group, strolling around the island and joking and laughing with each other as they went. On the far side of the island they could see over to Gili Trawangan: there were hundreds of people littering the beach, and the coastline was teeming with activity as people prepared for yet another night of wild parties and drug induced mayhem.
It was much quieter on this side of the island though – no beach bars or masseuse's coaxing customers onto their tables. They wandered along the secluded beach, finding a beautiful canopy of overhanging palm tree branches under which to settle. They sat and talked and kissed, gazing out over the light blue waters stretching off towards Bali in the far distance. Into the surf they went, splashing each other like children and wrestling among the gentle waves. They giggled together and swam out to the reef, diving under the surface to explore the wildlife below. Small reef sharks darted this way and that, and carefree turtles nonchalantly glided below them. Henry duck dived low, shooting towards the drop off and examining a cluster of corals that caught his eye. Jenny was amazed at how low he could dive and how long he stayed under, watching him from the surface as he searched for interesting fish and cruised from coral to coral. He just looked so at ease down there.
Soon they found themselves back on the beach, lying on the sand under the hot afternoon sun. Henry's body shone under the suns glow, his brown muscles pronounced and gleaming, enhanced by the residue of the sea. He leaned over her, blocking out the sun, and kissed her deep, stroking his strong hands over her body as he did. Jenny felt a stirring desire, a primal urge to go further, but Henry stopped, pulling his hand away from her and lying back down on the sand. The feeling gradually dissipated from Jenny's loins as she lay there, gazing up towards the heavens.
As the afternoon wore on they decided to get back to the group. Andy had arranged for them all to get together for dinner and they needed a bit of time to freshen up. Before long they were back in their rooms, where Jenny found Sarah lying on her bed with a wet towel over her head and the fan raging in her direction. It seemed she was still nursing her hangover and hadn't exactly made the most of the day. To Jenny she also seemed a bit 'off', perhaps owing to the fact that she'd spent the entire day with Henry.
After having a cold shower Sarah seemed to perk herself up a little bit, and they both walked off to the bar for dinner. There, they found Todd, Mark, and Andrew jovially recounting the previous nights mishaps. It looked as though there were no grudges held about any of it and Andrew seemed happy to have helped. Todd and Mark also appeared to have recovered and were back on the beers, laughing and joking as the girls turned up. Sarah, perhaps having hit a watershed moment sometime during the day, seemed to have decided to give up on Mark, for which Jenny was relieved. A few moments later Henry arrived, gave Jenny a kiss on the cheek from over her shoulder, and rounded the table to sit next to Mark. He issued him to lean back before having a few quiet words in his ear. It looked to Jenny as though they were sorting out their differences and clearing a few things up, but it didn't take long before they both rejoined the conversation. Once Miley, Eno, and Andy had all turned up, the group settled in for a relaxing dinner as the sun gave its final bow. Emily, Miley informed the group, wasn't feeling up to it, but her absence was hardly noticeable, to Jenny at least.
The party seemed in marked contrast to their earlier lunch, where nerves seemed frayed and tensions were mounting. Now everyone seemed chatty, buoyant, and in high spirits, with stories of the previous night abounding around the group. Andrew told of Henry's heroics with the group of Aussies who were harassing Sarah, while Todd and Mark had some highly amusing anecdotes to tell about their mushroom induced hallucinations. According to Mark, the sofa he was sitting on tried to open up and eat him at one point, which largely contributed to his paranoid state when Andrew stumbled upon them at the end of the night. It was the best dinner of the trip so far for Jenny, not least because of Henry. He talked and smiled and joked to the group, and seemed to have broken free from his shell once more. They caught eyes regularly across the table, sharing little looks and winks, to which the group were becoming increasingly aware. Before long, Andy and Todd were chiming in with a few suggestive remarks in their direction, to which they both just shrugged and smiled. Jenny found it hard to subdue her happiness, but there was always that nagging feeling that it would be fleeting. The days were ticking by quickly, and Henry was scheduled to leave for Singapore in a few days time.
At the end of the evening Jenny and Henry left the group once more, walking down onto the beach to watch the stars. They talked for a while, finding out more about each other with each passing moment, before kissing and embracing as the water trickled up between their toes. “I don't want this to end,” Jenny said, unable to restrain her feelings any more.
“Neither do it.”
With that, they returned to their rooms, Henry stopping with Jenny outside her door to give her a goodnight kiss. “It's been a special day,” he said, brushing her long brown hair to one side, “the best of my life.”
She smiled up into his hazel eyes and returned the sentiment without any hint of a lie: “mine too.”
Chapter 12
The next day the group left the island and, despite Jenny's reservations upon leaving for Gili Meno two days earlier, she was now very sad to see it go. After a quick breakfast the group packed their bags onto what appeared to be the same boat they arrived on and began the short journey back across to Lombok. Jenny and Henry sat together at the back of the boat, watching the Gili Islands gradually become more faint and merge into the background. For Jenny it seemed somewhat symbolic, as if the island and boat represented the parting of herself and Henry, and a sadness began to grip at her chest.
Before long they were coasting back into Bangsal Harbor and disembarking the boat, transferring their luggage straight onto a waiting minivan, and setting off down the western coast of the island towards Senggigi. Here they would s
pend their final night of the tour before taking a short flight back over the Lombok Strait to Denpasar in Bali.
As the van bumped along the windy coastal track, Jenny began to feel increasingly melancholic. Her feelings for Henry were growing more intense by the day, and her heart pounded at the thought of leaving Lombok and, soon after, seeing Henry leave her. She lay with her head pressed against the window, watching the light blue sea twinkle under the sun, a gloomy frown etched across her forehead. Next to her, Henry seemed equally quiet, perhaps reflecting on the past couple of days. He had his journal out, and was furtively scribbling away, keen to make sure no-one could see what he was writing. When Jenny turned to talk to him, he quickly shut the book, or turned the page to reveal a half-drawn picture from the view from their bed on the beach on Gili Meno. Jenny had no idea Henry had been drawing that night: it must have been when she fell asleep before the sunset.
Sunrise in Bali - Across the Pond Trilogy (Book 1) Page 8