One In A Billion (20 page)

Finally, almost two years after they'd had their first kiss, Alice told everyone proudly that Toby was her boyfriend. No-one batted an eyelid, no-one excluded them, no-one persecuted them. Toby and Alice were the perfect king and queen of the school, and with that, his transformation was finally complete.

'I have to tell you something', Alice said.

Toby was skinning up again, one eye on his joint, another on the school in the distance, just in case a teacher should happen to begin strolling up to see what they were up to. Alice put her hand on his leg.

'Go on', Toby said.

Alice began crying, she couldn't help it.

'What's wrong Alice?' Toby said, giving up on his joint to comfort her.

What had begun as a few tears, hit Alice so strongly she doubled up over Toby and began to bawl down his back. It felt like someone was wringing out a wet towel.

'Is it the grades?' Toby said. 'Fuck Mr Rutter, it doesn't matter what he thinks.'

'It isn't Mr Rutter', Alice said, finally able to compose herself enough to talk. 'Do you love me?' she asked.

'Why are you asking me that, of course I do', Toby said.

'You'll love me no matter what happens?' Alice said.

'What is this?' Toby said, a little worried.

'Say it Toby, say it, please.'

'I love you no matter what happens', Toby said. 'You know that Alice. I've always loved you, from the moment I saw your stupid face.'

Alice smiled, but it wasn't enough to stop the tears.

'Come on', he said. 'You can tell me.'

'Dad got another job', Alice said.

'Right', Toby said. 'So what.'

'We're leaving Toby. We're moving back to London.'

'No', Toby said.

Alice nodded, and then folded herself into him

'When?' Toby said.

'After the prom', she said. 'They're going to let me go to that, like it's all I need.'

'Stay', Toby said.

'How? Where am I going to go?'

'Stay with me', Toby said.

'I can't', Alice said. 'You know I can't.'

'Fuck', Toby said.

Alice nodded. Tears were streaming down her eyes which she tried to wipe away with the back of her hand, but it did no good. They wouldn't stop coming. 'Mmmmhhhmmmm, fucked up hey? That's my parents for you. Always thinking about me.'

Toby lay back on the grass, unrolled spliff at his feet, left to its own devices. He felt a hollow in his gut like a sucker punch. He didn't have anything to say. Drifting across the grass they could hear the school bell going. Lunch was over and afternoon classes were about to start. It was the last day of the school year for them. They'd already got their results and this was supposed to be a kind of a fun goodbye day the teachers had to put on for them to fulfil curriculum hour requirements.

'Come on', Alice said. 'Two more hours and then we're free.'

She pulled Toby to her feet.

'Are you going to open it?' Alice said when they were half way across the field.

'I already did', Toby said. 'I got an A*.'

Chapter 13

After trying out two, three and four (reverse cowgirl, tiger style and kangaroo hopping), Devizes leant me his phone while he went for a shower.

'Yeah', came Sophia's voice from the other end of the line. She sounded like she was at the bottom of the sea.

'Sophia, it's me, Alice', I said, stretching out on the bed, amazed to find I couldn't reach either side even as I was, spread out into a star shape.

'Alice, where the fuck are you?' Sophia said, breathing heavily.

'What are you doing?' I said.

'Er, exercising', Sophia lied. I could recognise those deep breaths anywhere.

'I'm in Polynesia', I said, ignoring the fact that my best friend was fucking someone while I talked to her.

'Get the fuck out of here!' Sophia said, and then, a little more quietly. 'No, not you, you stay right where you are.'

'I know right', I said. Devizes had come back into the room, and my eyes went to him as he towelled off his wet body. He really was built like an Olympic champion. If sex was an event, by the way, he'd clearly come out on top.

'That's insane', Sophia said. It was clear that talking was becoming quite difficult for her. 'She's in Polynesia', Sophia said more quietly.

'Fuck', came the response. I could picture sweaty thighs and teeth gripping a lower lip.

'What time is it there?' Sophia said.

'I don't know, morning. Maybe afternoon now. We've kind of been getting to know each other.'

Devizes crawled onto the bed and began kissing my legs, working his way up to my bum.

'I know what that means!' Sophia said. 'Come back home soon, I miss you!'

'I will', I said.

I could feel the heat coming off Devizes as he began to stir again. The man was an animal, or a machine, I couldn't tell.

'Sophia', I said before I left her. 'No sex in my bed, ok?'

'Ok', Sophia said. 'I'll wait until you get back for that.'

I clicked off and handed the phone back to Devizes.

'You don't want to call your family to tell them your news?' he said. 'Your boss?'

'They can wait. Come here', I said.

I pulled him towards me and we hugged each other, pressing our naked bodies together like giant lips kissing.

'This is the nicest thing that anyone has ever done for me', I said.

'Alice, you make it an absolute pleasure', Devizes said, and kissed me for real.

'Sometimes I can't believe you're real', I said. 'I just, I spent so long looking for Mr. Right, not to mention trying to become a writer, and they've both come to me.'

'Sometimes the only way to find something is to stop looking', Devizes said.

'That's what I think I'm beginning to realise.'

'Come on', Devizes said. 'I should show you the island.'

He tried to get up but I wouldn't let him.

'I've got everything I need here', I said.

'You're happy lying in bed all day?' Devizes asked.

'As long as you're in it with me', I said.

'We'll have to stop for food and drink at some point', Devizes said. 'Otherwise we'll fuck ourselves into extinction.'

'I don't care if we fuck more today', I said. 'Ok, maybe once more. I just like being here with you, having you hold me. It makes me feel safe.'

'Ok', Devizes said. 'Safe I can do.'

I nestled into him and rested my head on his chest. A little while later I could feel sleep gnawing at my edges again.

'I'm tired', I said.

I'd slept well but this place was so relaxing, I couldn't help but feel like sleeping again. Out of the open window, through which a cooling breeze was blowing, I could see the forest and the sea beyond. There were colourful birds flying about I'd never before seen in my life, and the tree tops swayed beautifully in tune with the movement of the water beyond. I knew the other side of the island was a messy chaos, but this, this part here that Devizes had chosen for his own, was absolutely mesmerising.

'It's like paradise here', I said, my words heavy with sleep and spoken into Devizes's chest, so they came out sounding nothing like I had meant. Devizes stroked my hair and let the sleepiness take me under. Moments later, with the breeze twisting the edges of the thin white curtains, and tickling my feet like nibbling fish, my head sunk so deeply into Devizes's chest, his natural aroma of burnt wood and wet forest moss filling my lungs sweetly, holding on to him for safety, should I need a strong man to ensure me safe passage, I fell into a sleep so deep, I could feel it in my bone marrow.

***

There were several things I learned about Devizes, and probably about myself, in the short time that we spent together. I realised I liked sleep much more than I had initially realised. During the time that we spent on the island, I spent a large portion of it spread out like a starfish, my eyes closed and my mouth open, and another massive amount asleep. Ok, so we had a lot of sex too!

Devizes maintained his incredible stamina, and by Friday, we had worked our way around all of the thirteen bedrooms, some of the fifteen bathrooms, the patio, the spa, the cinema, the private beach, and even the dining hall, where we were embarrassingly caught by one of the staff members. I'll never forget him opening the double doors, standing there momentarily with a chain of staff members behind him, smiling apologetically and leaving as ceremoniously as he'd entered. I realised that I liked freshly caught fish, expensive imported meats, vintage champagne and red wine, but I liked not having to cook at all, more than anything else.

I learnt that Devizes can't sleep, and he can't stop working. His phone must have gone of a hundred times, and even if he turned off his mobile, people seemed to be able to find a way of contacting him. He was apologetic at first, and then insistent on taking almost everything that came through to him - this already filtered by a staff member either there on the island or in one of his many offices - I never learnt how many he had. When Devizes was working, I spent time reading, relaxing, eating, or just looking at the wonderful view out across the bay.

I also realised that Devizes seemed to be driven by only one thing, and that was making money. He was good at it, of course, it was what had made him successful, but when I tried to pry, and find out exactly what it was that made him tick, what it was that he liked doing, he couldn't say. Sure he enjoyed fine wines and exotic foods, and he had expensive tastes, but there didn't seem to be anything else that was a passion for him. He seemed to do these things because he could, and felt like he should just because of that, but not because he really felt passionate about them. The only thing he seemed passionate about was work, and like I said before, that was because he could make money.

We argued only once. I think it was my fault really, and it wasn't even an argument. He'd received a call for like the thousandth time, on perhaps the third or fourth evening we were there, and it was during dinner, when the sun was setting beautifully over the water, and I thought it would be an incredible moment for us both to experience to reminisce on when we got older - yes I was already thinking about that after only a few weeks with each other, the hopelessly sad romantic that I am. Devizes couldn't sit still, and so he ended up missing it, and I felt put out. I sulked for a while, and then bit at him when he tried to find out what was wrong. Needless to say, it didn't take long for us to make up with each other. I think if I remember correctly that was one of the times we did it on the balcony.

I had an amazing time overall, and there is no way that I would have ever been able to do anything like it without Devizes. God knows how much the whole thing cost. A team of maybe ten staff members working twenty four hours a day, and kept on retainers when Devizes isn't using the house. A private jet and yacht to get us there in the first place. Wardrobes full of really expensive clothes, not that I really needed any. I spent eighty percent of the holiday in either a towelling robe, bikini, or naked, but the times when we'd leave his palatial home to experience the island, he invited me to select clothes from the massive collection he happened to have there already in the wardrobes.

'Prepared for every occasion', was Devizes's way of explaining things, and anything that I liked, he said we'd take back to London so I could wear it there.

We ate fresh food every day, and what hadn't been caught from the sea around us, Devizes had had imported. Some of the wines alone must have cost thousands of pounds. The whole thing was incredible.

When we weren't fucking, or eating, or when I wasn't sleeping and Devizes wasn't working, we went out. We took a boat to the smaller two islands that he owns, which were both too small to be habitable, but had the most amazing beaches I have ever seen. Devizes and I waded out from one hand in hand, and about a mile out from the shore, the water still only came up to our waists, and the water was so clean, we could see hundreds of beautiful multicoloured fish swimming about around us in shoals. The sand on all three of the islands was whiter than I'd ever seen before too. It made Weymouth look like a rubbish dump.

I went snorkelling, while Devizes sat on the beach and watched me, having revealed, quite apologetically, that he'd never learnt how to swim, trekked as much as I could through the forest that surrounded us, hoping to find an X on the ground that marked where the treasure was buried, and took one more look at the chaos on the other side of the island, before I decided unequivocally that it wasn't for me.

We took a Jeep ride up to the highest point on the island (I would have been happy to walk there, but Devizes said it was much more fun this way), and went hunting for wildlife at night time in the same vehicle kitted out with lights that were so strong we could see half way to the moon with them. I saw hundreds of birds I'd never seen before in my life, some of which even our guide didn't have a name for, lizards of all different shapes and sizes, big spiders and even monkeys. Devizes said the monkeys were a pest on the island and were in the process of being contained, but wouldn't elaborate further on what he meant by that exactly. Those ones I saw, from the smaller spider monkeys, up to the big howler monkeys hanging in the trees and minding their own business,  all seemed for too cute to contain. When he told me that, I imaged a horrible man gathering them all in a sack and drowning them in the sea, and I'm sure I wasn't too far wrong.