Playing My Love (16 page)

D:-"Aw, I love you too!"

  The recording ended and I pulled the pillow over my head, trying to calculate how drunk Darcy had been in the video and how much of this she'd remember.

  "She has a copy!  I sent it to her on Facebook earlier"  Jazz said casually.  I moved the pillow enough to see her out of the corner of one eye.

 
She really is reading my mind?  Shit!  That means she can hear this, then!  Get out of my head, Jazz!  Um, think something else, think something else…

  "I'm never drinking tequila again."

  "Aw, why not?  You were so much fun!"

  "I can't believe I said her smile was like a rainbow…oh god!"  I cring
ed, then stared at Jazz.  "Wait a second, did you just say you sent her a copy of that video?"

  "I said it about five minutes ago, yeah.
You're quite slow this morning aren't you, sweetie?"

  "Why? 
Why!  Why would you do that to me?"

  "Because she
added me on Facebook this morning, and I told her about it.  Then she asked me for a copy, so I sent it to her.  But don't worry, she promised not to make it public or anything."

  "No!  I can't ever face her again!"

  "Aw, but you both looked so…snuggly!"

  "Stop it!"  I groaned at the thought of Darcy watching
it, or maybe showing it to Nicki…

  "
So.  When are you going to tell me what's going on between you both?"

  "Huh?"  Uh-oh.

  "Don't play games, Ali-bar.  Don't make me have to force it out of you, because I think we both know you're in no fit state to put up a fight!  Darcy very obviously fancies the frilly married knickers off you, and you, my friend, were shamelessly flirting with her!"

  "I was drunk, and you were feeding me
teq…"

  "Don't you dare blame the tequila!
"  she punctuated each word with a playful poke to my forehead.  "There was flirting going on way before that!  You were practically dirty dancing at one point, the amount of gyrating you were engaging in!"

  "It was just harmless flirting, that's all."

  "Ali, it's never harmless when one is completely besotted with the other.  Especially when that other person is married.  She's a genuinely lovely girl.  It's not fair to lead her on."

  "I know."

  I decided now was the time to tell Jazz, to tell her everything.  I looked her straight in the eye.

 
I feel attracted to Darcy in ways I can't even explain to myself.  Just being around her makes my knees shake like a teenager in love for the first time and I don't know what to do?  Help me, Jazz?  What should I do? 

  "Ali?"

  "Mm?"

  "Why are you staring at me like that?"

  "I thought you could read my mind?"

  "Really?  What did you say?"

  "You tell me."

  "Something about being in love with her?"

  "What?"  My mouth dropped open. 

  "Just kidding!  I've got no idea!
  Although…"

  "I'm
not
in love with her!"

  "Of course you aren't!  You're just very affectionate
, touchy feely friends!"

  "Jazz!  I'm warning you!
  Don't mention any of this in front of Gray!"

  "Why not? 
Doc thought the video was hilarious!"

  "
No!  Please tell me you didn't show it to Gray?"

  "I didn't show it to
Doc.  Or Gray!"

  "Promise me?"

  "I promise!"

  I sighed
, rubbing my sore eyes.

  "Are you lying to me?"

  "Absolutely!  But only because you told me to!"

  "
What?  When?"

  "Just now.  You said 'tell me you didn't show Gray' and 'promise me', so I did!"

  I groaned again.

  "I love you
, honey, but my head really can't deal with you right now"  I mumbled.

  "I know.  Imagine what Chris has to put up with, every day!"

  "Ooh, if I get up, will you tell me what happened to Chris' watch?"  I yawned, remembering.   

 
"Sure, although I have already told you."

  "Really?"

  "Yep, twice.  But I'll tell you again anyway, just because it is actually quite amusing.  Apparently, he was in town shopping, and he felt like he needed to relieve himself, you know, sexually.  Rather than walk around with a tent in his trousers, he went to the nearest public toilets to sort himself out.  But, the Rolex I'd bought him for his birthday was too bulky and kept banging on his wrist bone, so he took it off and placed it on the floor while he cracked on.  However, and I'm sure you can see exactly where this is going, when he'd finished, he simply cleaned up and left.  By the time he remembered, it was long gone, so he called Doc who suggested he say he got mugged."  She sighed sadly.  "I must have been having a bad day to miss that one.  Still, when we get home, I'm going to tie him up and torture him to find out what else he's been hiding from me!"

  I looked at her wicked smile and almost felt sorry for Chris, before I realised that he'd probably enjoy the whole thing immensely.

  "I can't believe he actually filed a police report!"  I mumbled, remembering how Doc (shit, she'd got
me
calling him that now) had painted this picture of poor Chris being held at knifepoint for his beloved watch.

  "I can't believe I bought him another one.  So, are you getting up or what?"

  "Yes, I'm going to have a shower first though.  Make me a coffee?"

  "Coffee is the worst thing for a hangover.  It revamps the alcohol in your system.  You should have an orange juice if you want to feel better."

  "I want a coffee."  I waited until she was at the door, thinking about it.  "Wait a sec, is that true?"

  "One hundred per cent.  Coffee is the worst thing to give someone if you want them to sober up.  It's a stimulant.  Makes perfect sense.  I did a driving under the influence a few years back, and it came up in the research. 
Why, do you want an orange juice now?"

  "No, I still want a coffee, but it was very interesting."
  I couldn't tell if this was a wind up.

  She smiled before she walked out
, leaving me to drag myself out of bed.  Before I did, however, I checked my phone.  I'd received four texts in total, as well as having twelve notifications on Facebook.

  I'd been tagged.

  With my heart in my throat, I logged into my account.  If Darcy had uploaded the video, I wasn't sure if I could forgive her.  Or Jazz.  I clicked on the icon, holding my breath.  Eight were photos from inside the club, (tagged by Jazz) three were invites to play silly games, and the last was a friend request from Astrinia Barkowitz.

 
That
was her name!  Pukey girl!

  The texts were from Darcy and Jazz.  I already knew the one from Jazz would be the video I'd just watched, so I
ignored it and read the ones from Darcy.

09.47am

GOOD MORNING! AWESOME NIGHT OUT! C U TUES 4 OUR LESSON! XXX

10.10am

HEY! JUST GOT MESSAGE FROM J ON FB-SHE SAYS U R STILL ASLEEP???  WAKE UP! LOL! HAVE U SEEN VIDEO YET?! FAF! XXX

  FAF?  What the hell did that mean?  The third made me cringe all over again.

11.28am

OH, & THNX 4 LUVLEE COMPLIMENTS!  I'VE BEEN SMILING MY RAINBOW ALL MORNING!
!
  XXX

  I groaned.  How had I got so much more wrecked than either of them?

  Tequila.

  I blamed everything on the tequila.  As I gingerly made my way to the shower, I made a solemn vow to never touch the stuff again.

  When I finally made it out to the others
, I felt much better, and definitely in need of some food.  I went straight to Gray and gave him a kiss.

  "Is my smile like a rainbow too?"  he asked, smiling
broadly.  I turned to Jazz.

  "You won't get away with this."

  "Ali, darling, come on?  And I was going to dig up that information about Gray's time in Thailand for you?"

  I
scrunched up my nose, looking between them both.

  "Neither of you are off the hook, but I want tea and toast, so whoever provides me with my needs first will be in my good books for the
rest of the day!"

  They both looked at each ot
her, then ran toward the kettle and I went to sit next to Chris as they raced to make them for me.  They laughed as they jostled each other, turning it into a mock serious competition to please me first!  Gray got to the kettle before Jazz when it boiled, while she threw his buttering knife on the floor.

  "I think it's going to be a photo finish"  Chris whispered.

  "You might be right.  I think it'll come down to a taste test, if I'm honest.  Ooh, here they come!"

  Jazz and Gray both ran toward me, holding out a mug and plate each, and
slapped them down on the counter in front of me triumphantly.  I eyed both mugs, contemplating both the colour and tide, then took a cautious sip from them, minding the heat.  Then I pulled the plates toward me and nibbled on the toast they'd served, judging on colour and spreadage of topping.

  "I
know
I won on the tea"  Jazz said cockily.  "And I'm almost certain Ali doesn't like jam on her toast, so I
think
I won on that too!"

  "A
ctually, she does like jam…what?"  Gray started to say, but stopped when he saw me vigorously shaking my head.

  "Honey, I'm really sorry.  I've never liked jam on my toast"  I confessed.

  "But when we were at the b and b…"

  "I thought the little jars were cute!  That's why I stole them!  I just fancied jam that one day.  Normally I like savoury…"

  "As demonstrated by moi!"

  "…on my toast.  Why do you think I've never bought a single jar of jam in eight years?
  Why do you think every single jar
you've
bought goes mouldy?"

  "I win!"

  Gray looked almost crestfallen, so I gave him a big hug.

  "Whatever she tells you, it's not true"
  he whispered loudly in my ear before turning to Chris, puffing out his chest in an attempt to look macho.  "Come on mate.  Let's go to town and get some meat for this barby!"

  "Or, we could go hunt some animals and eat it fresh!"  Chris
said hopefully.  Gray gave him a weird look, but Jazz snorted loudly.

  "Oh for
Christ's sake, darling!  We
were
planning on eating soon!  I don't think you've got time to fashion some spears out of branches or dig a ten foot deep hole to catch a random wild boar!  Maybe next time?"

  "Yes, I mean, at least give us
some warning so we can get our crochet patterns together!"  I chirped in.

  "I found the most adorable website the other day that had thousands of pictures of the cutest little kittens you've ever seen!  Did I tell you about it?"

  "No!  Tell me now!"

  "Okay, well there were kittens with their
lickle furry heads poking out of the tops of wellies…"

  "Oh!"

  "…and kittens wearing top hats…"

  "I
love
kittens in top hats!"

  "…but the best picture of all was of two kittens kissing each other!"

  "I'm getting an ache in my heart!"

  "Do they give you smiles like rainbows?"  Chris interrupted.
  We both glared at him and he backed off.

  "Come on
, Doc.  We know where we're not wanted."

  While the men drove to town to buy lots and lots of
manly meat (as they put it), Jazz and I had a good catch up on things we hadn't been able to discuss around other people.  She told me I was well missed in London, and hinted about me returning 'at some point'.  I knew she meant after Gray had gone so I changed the subject, but then it turned into a discussion about Darcy and why I'd silenced Jazz on talking about Gray's illness in front of her.  I decided to actually tell her about giving Darcy a car in exchange for guitar lessons (as opposed to mind transferring it to her, which I wasn't sure was working or not?  Jazz had a good way of storing useful information and using it at a later date when you thought you were safe!)

  "H
m."  She said when I'd finished.  And after staring me in the eye for a long, intense minute, that was all she would say on the matter before she went to the fridge and removed a bottle of wine.  "Come on.  Hair of the dog"  she stated, not waiting for me to agree before opening it up and pouring us a large glass each.