Читать книгу One Endless Summer: Heartwarming and uplifting the perfect holiday read - Laurie Ellingham, Laurie Ellingham - Страница 16

Samantha

Twenty minutes later, the blue sky had turned lilac and the pain in Samantha’s legs had dulled to a throbbing ache. Impatience niggled in Samantha’s thoughts. It was time to start the descent, to get back to the hostel and change before heading back out into the bustling city for cold beers and noodles. Samantha turned to ask Lizzie how much longer but the question died on her lips. The look on Lizzie’s face, mesmerised by the panoramic view, was enough for Samantha to keep the question in her head. Her friend wasn’t ready to leave.

Samantha thought of the rooftop bar the previous evening and Lizzie’s stricken face when the heavy grey clouds of a thunderstorm had rolled across the sky. She thought she knew everything about Lizzie, but Samantha didn’t know why sunsets seemed so important all of a sudden, or why Lizzie seemed to be scrutinising the view as if she was scanning a group of people, looking for a familiar face. Samantha opened her mouth to ask, but closed it again. Lizzie would tell them when she was ready.

‘Why do you like to watch the sunsets?’ Ben asked, mirroring Samantha’s thoughts. Ben sat down beside Samantha, and with his back to the view he leant outwards, angling the camera at Lizzie’s face.

Samantha looked at Ben for a moment. Despite his harsh words on the plane, he was growing on her a little. He’d helped with Lizzie’s seizure, and he’d never barged into their room at the hostel without knocking first and giving them fair warning. She’d caught him smiling at their jokes a few times too.

But Ben wasn’t smiling now. Despite the camera pointing at Lizzie, his eyes had moved to the drop beyond the ledge. His eyes widened, his forehead creased. He swallowed hard; she could tell by the way his Adam’s apple lifted up then dropped back down. Was he scared of heights?

‘It’s beautiful,’ Lizzie whispered.

Samantha waited for Ben to ask another question, but instead he waited, the camera fixed on Lizzie’s face. It reminded Samantha of a police interview technique she’d read about once. Three sentences in a hundred-page policy briefing document. Samantha couldn’t remember what the report had been about, or any other information within in, but for some reason those three sentences had stuck in her mind. Silence was an unnatural state for human beings. If a question was left hanging, then more often than not, the other person felt obliged to speak. A useful technique for police interrogations, and documentary makers it turned out.

‘I want to find the place in the world with the most beautiful sunset,’ Lizzie added.

‘Do you think this is it?’ Jaddi asked, looping her arm around Lizzie as Ben zoomed in on their faces, then turned, traversing the shadowed buildings of Bangkok as the tip of the sun disappeared from view, leaving behind a spectacle of pink and purple.

‘It could be.’ Lizzie smiled. ‘Ask me again on day ninety.’

Samantha’s throat tightened. Day ninety. Samantha had never deluded herself. Ninety days, it wasn’t long. But now they were here, the days were disappearing like grains of sand slipping through the gap in a timer. Samantha desperately wanted to slow it down, but she knew she couldn’t. In the blink of an eye they’d be at day twenty, sixty, ninety. She reached for Lizzie’s hand and felt it tighten around her own.

As if on cue, light poured out of the temple around them, basking every inch of the walls in a soft orange glow. Lizzie sighed and stood up. ‘Come on, let’s go back. I’m famished.’

Samantha looked up from her steaming plate of market food and watched Jaddi, head bent over her mobile and scrolling furiously. Couldn’t she ever just relax and enjoy the lights, the buzz, the smells of this vibrant city?

‘Oh my God.’ Jaddi’s voice rang with excitement as she drew her phone closer to her face. ‘You’re not going to believe this.’ Jaddi pulled her eyes away from her mobile and glanced at Lizzie and Samantha.

‘What?’ Lizzie asked.

‘I’ve just checked our Facebook page and there are thousands of comments from people wishing us good luck.’

‘That’s nice,’ Lizzie said, nodding, her eyes already veering back to her half-eaten plate of noodles.

‘No, no, hang on, that’s not the amazing bit. One comment got half a million likes, so I read it and it’s from …’ Jaddi paused, her grin widening. ‘You won’t believe this when I say it … Guy Rawson.’

‘No way,’ Lizzie said, reaching towards the phone in Jaddi’s hand.

‘Yes!’ Jaddi giggled, pulling her mobile closer to her body and out of reach. ‘It says: Lizzie, caught your interview on Channel 6 Breakfast. You’re awesome. Hope you can make it to my concert in Los Angeles next month. VIP passes waiting for you and your friends at the gate.’

‘It’s a con.’ Samantha shook her head. ‘It’s probably one of those fake accounts, created by a diehard fan.’

‘I checked. It’s definitely the official Guy Rawson.’

‘But he’s a megastar,’ Samantha said, her tone still tinged with scepticism despite the exhilaration now coursing through her veins. ‘I mean … I grew up with posters of him modelling swimwear on my walls. We listen to his albums all the time. He must be one of the most famous men on the planet.’

‘Oh, come on, he’s not just one of, he is the most famous man on the planet.’ Jaddi squeaked. ‘Do you remember that time we stayed up half the night, waiting for his concert tickets at Wembley to go on sale.’

‘Remember?’ Samantha smirked. ‘I’ve still not forgiven Lizzie for that one.’

‘Hang on.’ Lizzie laughed. ‘I will fess up to getting the time they went on sale wrong, but it wasn’t me who forgot to set the phone alarm.’ She grinned, waving her finger at Jaddi.

‘Well, this makes up for it.’ Jaddi jumped up and down, twisting the screen of her phone to face them. ‘VIP tickets means front-row seats.’

Lizzie opened her mouth to say something, but stopped as her eyes scanned the screen of Jaddi’s mobile. ‘What’s that comment next to it?’ She grabbed Jaddi’s arm and pulled it towards her, bringing the mobile with it. ‘Does that say Harrison?’

‘I don’t know.’ Jaddi shrugged. ‘I’ve not had a chance to read through them all.’

‘It does.’ Lizzie’s forehead furrowed. ‘It’s from Harrison.’

Ben adjusted the lens and stepped closer. ‘Who’s Harrison?’

After a pause, Jaddi spoke. ‘Harrison is a guy Lizzie dated for a few weeks in London last year.’

‘Not just dated.’ Samantha grinned, swept along in the excitement of Guy Rawson’s message. ‘He was Lizzie’s one that got away.’

Jaddi nodded, flashing a smile into the camera lens. ‘Harrison moved back home to Australia before anything could get going between them and—’

‘I thought he was from America,’ Samantha said.

‘Anyway,’ Jaddi said, ‘he’s put a message on the comment board, which says: Can’t wait to show you around Sydney. Message me when you get here.’

‘Can you message back through that page?’ Lizzie asked.

‘To Guy Rawson?’ Jaddi asked. ‘I definitely want those VIP tickets.’

‘No –’ Lizzie shook her head ‘– to Harrison.’

Samantha snorted. ‘A world-famous, incredibly gorgeous and talented singer invites you to front row seats at his concert, and you’re asking about a boy you went out with a few times?’

Lizzie shrugged. ‘Well, can you?’

Jaddi tapped a button on her screen before handing her phone to Lizzie. ‘Just type what you want to say there.’

‘What do I say?’ A spark of excitement lit Lizzie’s face as she looked between Jaddi and Samantha.

Samantha leant forward, peering over Lizzie’s shoulder. ‘Say: That would be lovely, kiss kiss.’

Jaddi laughed. ‘No, that’s too mushy. She hasn’t spoken to him since last summer. He could be seeing someone. Just put, great, see you in a few weeks, then put a smiley face.’

Lizzie tapped at the screen for a minute before handing the phone back to Jaddi.

‘We’d better go,’ Samantha said. ‘Long day tomorrow.’ Samantha closed her eyes for a moment as a yawn overtook her body. Tomorrow they would leave the city and spend eleven hours on a bus to Cambodia.

At least it would be more relaxing than climbing a hundred steps in a million-degree heat, Samantha thought.