Almost Home

Chapter Thirty

Here it is...The final day of my holiday.

Today we will all pile back into Jamie's camper van and he will drive us home. My adventure was over and my heart panged with a longing to stay, but all good things have to come to an end and the sooner I get home, the sooner I can begin the hard toil of trying to forget about Jamie, forget that I was absolutely in love with him.

I place my rucksack by the door along with the rest of them and smile awkwardly when I find him eating breakfast in the kitchen, along with Tom and Chloe. Jamie stares at me intently as I make my way over.

'Morning,' Chloe calls cheerily to me as I hover by the table, unsure of where to look so I settle on the back of Tom's head instead. Has it always been so big?! Mine had better not look like that from behind! I reach up with a tentative hand and try to have a tactful feel when Chloe speaks again. 'Are you feeling any better?'

'Sorry?' I turn to her in confusion, my hand dropping back to my side. Why would she think I was unwell?! OH! Of course. 'Erm, yes...much better...thank you. So how was your dinner the other night?' Quickly changing the subject.

'It was amazing! I had the nicest steak I've ever eaten, you could literally cut it with a butter knife. I wanted to marry the chef and bring him home with me.'

Tom clears his throat loudly and she flashes him a teasing wink in reciprocation, earning the most sickening display of adoration from his devoted eyes. God, they make me sick!

'How about you two?' Tom asks when he finally realises I'm in the room. 'Did you get up to much in the end?'

In my peripherals I spy Jamie picking up his coffee mug and hiding behind it, avoiding my eyes completely as I try to think up a convincing lie, afraid that Tom was probably going to see right through it. I've always been a terrible liar.

'...We, erm... we watched a movie.' Oh, God, my face is burning, you could literally fry an egg on my cheeks right now and it's made all the more obvious as Chloe moves her head from me to Jamie and back again, her eyes widening with realisation.

'Anything good?' Tom carries on, oblivious to the tension forming in the room.

'......Yes.'

Just yes?! You couldn't have thought of anything else to say other than 'Yes'? You might as well have walked up to him and screamed 'I slept with your best friend!' right in his face!

Tom seems perplexed for a moment and I feel my palms start sweating, wiping them discreetly on my trousers. He's leaning his head back to appraise me and I stare at him intently, willing Jamie to grow a pair and save me from this inquisition.

'God, I forgot how weird you are...' He shakes his head in bemusement and I breathe a quiet sigh of relief, turning my back on them to pour myself a glass of water. Anything to avoid looking at them all right now.

'Er, Tom, I really think we should start packing up the van. We're going to want to get on the road as soon as possible, it's such a long way.' Chloe changes the subject abruptly and I silently thank her behind Tom's back.

'Yeah, you're probably right. Jay, have you got the keys?'

'They're on the side table by the door.' Jamie speaks for the first time since I'd joined them, his voice sounding low and dreary, exactly as mine did when I first woke. Maybe he'd had as little sleep as I did last night. Tom thanks him and the two of them pick up their bags and head out the door, leaving Jamie and myself very much alone.

I allow myself a moment of weakness and glance at him, feeling overcome with sadness when I realise that after today, I have no idea when I'll next see him again and when he looks back at me I realise that I couldn't let this happen. I didn't want him to go!