okay?’
Selina nodded. ‘Brownies honour.’
After a few more minutes of catching up, Selina hung up. Despite the quietness of her surroundings, she felt invigorated. Natasha was right. The last four days had flown by before she’d even had a chance to blink, and the next few months would probably be the same. Maybe she should be more open to whatever experiences came her way. There was nothing to say that Alex even liked her like that but she knew she’d hate to see him leave and then wonder, what if?
Chapter Eight
Alex pulled on a t-shirt, looked in the mirror and then took it off again. It was the third one he’d tried on and he only had a few more hanging in the wardrobe. They were all perfectly acceptable for a night out, but today they just seemed a bit...shabby.
He looked in the mirror and raked his hands through his hair, tying it back. It hadn’t been cut for almost six months and it almost reached the nape of his neck. It wasn’t a style he’d ever envisaged for himself, but it was easier to just let it grow. Why couldn’t picking a t-shirt be just as easy? Selina probably wouldn’t even notice anyway.
The switch from disliking her to being increasingly attracted to her was something he couldn’t quite get his head around. Maybe it was because he’d really been impressed by her gusto, injuring herself just to save face and show him she could cope with life at Colinas Verde.
Alex shook his head and pulled the t-shirt back on. Enough faffing around. He didn’t have all night to stand around trying on clothes. He picked up his wallet from the bed, just as his phone vibrated on the chest of drawers and his shoulders dropped. He knew who it was before he even looked at the screen and hesitated for a moment before unlocking the screen. WhatsApp would leave a date stamp and Marie would know he’d been online but he couldn’t go on ignoring her forever. Her constant messages weren’t only reminding him about what he was running away from, they were hindering what he was hoping to move onto.
He looked at the time. Selina was in her room getting ready and they were supposed to be leaving for the party soon, but he sat on the bed and opened WhatsApp anyway. Reading the inevitable barrage of abuse was the last thing he wanted to do, even if he did deserve it, but he didn’t want to go to the party with Marie in the back of his mind either. He scrolled through his screen, shaking his head as he read her erratic messages.
- The least you could do is answer me after the way you treated me.
- How’s Ibiza? Was thinking of flying out for a holiday, whereabouts are you? Xx
- You know you’re making me look desperate don’t you? Why the fuck don’t you write back?!
- Fuck you, Alex. You’re a fucking coward.
- Hi, from all of us! It’s not the same without you here! <3 <3
She’d sent a photo with the last message of her and friends in what was their favourite club, grinning from ear to ear. He looked at the crowd of people behind them, basking in the sun, playing in the sand or lying on the deck chairs in the outdoor area and didn’t feel a single jolt of longing. Marie’s photo only reaffirmed why he’d left in the first place.
He exhaled loudly and put his phone away with unease sitting heavily in the pit of his stomach. She might have been smiling in the photo, but her earlier messages had relayed her anger perfectly.
He got up from the bed and left the room. In all honesty, reading those messages had killed his mood. The last thing he wanted to do now was go to a party, but Selina had seemed excited about it. Maybe they could just go for a couple of hours and then come home.
‘Selina?’ Alex knocked on her bedroom door. ‘Are you almost ready? I’m going to get the keys for the truck.’
‘Okay, I’ll be five minutes,’ she called back, her voice barely audible over the music playing in her room.
Alex left and went to pick up the keys from the cupboard hanging in the wood
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