Chapter Eight

Joey shyly joined everybody at the dinner table in the hotel restaurant. Aden smiled, Ruby waved and Charlie leapt up and pulled out the chair beside her, gesturing for Joey to sit down. Joey blushed, aware that everyone else at the table was admiring how adorable Charlie was being. She couldn't help but admire it herself. They had spent most of the afternoon making out on top of the cliff. They hadn't gone any further than kissing really. Joey still wanted to keep things low key for now. She still wasn't sure if there could be a future between them. Maybe she was selfish but for now, she just couldn't quit her addiction to Charlie's lips and the feel of her arms around her. They had parted reluctantly to each get ready for dinner with the others. She looked around the table. Everyone was smiling at her, even Xavier who she didn't even know. Ruby's eyes were eagerly flitting between her and Charlie, looking like she was trying to figure out if anything had happened between them. She felt Charlie reach out for her hand under the table. She accepted it gratefully, although she wasn't sure she'd cope with concentrating on eating when Charlie was rubbing her thumb up and down her palm.

"So, tell us all about your trip," Leah suggested.

"Oh, it's been great," Joey enthused. "We're docked here because of the shark attack stuff but before that it was amazing. You know how much I love being out on the water."

"We do!" Aden laughed.

"What are the crew like?" Ruby wondered. "Have you made friends?"

"Yeah, I'm pretty close to three people there. There's Joshua who's been really protective of me. Then there's Luke who is adorable. And Katie who's really nice. We've got a lot in common."

She glanced at Charlie who had squeezed her hand a little too hard. Charlie didn't meet her gaze; she looked down at her plate. Joey sighed. She would not be impressed if Charlie started being jealous. After everything that had happened, Charlie was not the one who ought to be feeling paranoid about her girlfriend spending time with other people. Not that we're together, Joey reminded herself.

***

After dinner, Leah took VJ to bed. Ruby and Xavier went for a walk along the beach and Aden went to a bar to meet up with some guys he'd made friends with during the day. Charlie and Joey hovered in the lobby, neither quite sure of what they should do next.

"You could come up to the room if you wanted," Charlie suggested awkwardly. "No funny business, I promise. We could have coffee or something."

Joey nodded and let Charlie lead the way.

***

Inside Charlie and Ruby's hotel room, Joey hovered in the middle of the room while Charlie made coffee.

"You can sit," she said.

Joey perched awkwardly on the edge of Charlie's bed, in a similar way to how Charlie had done it the day before in her room at the bed and breakfast. Charlie hurriedly made the coffee and returned to Joey with their drinks, sitting beside her. They sipped their coffees in silence.

"Thanks for inviting me to dinner," Joey said. "It was great seeing everyone."

"It was great seeing you," Charlie replied.

She took a breath and then leant closer to kiss Joey, hoping that it was still an acceptable thing to do. Joey fell into Charlie's arms. They both promptly dropped their coffees on the floor. Joey jumped and apologised, moving to clear up the mess.

"I'll deal with it later. It's a wooden floor. It's fine," Charlie insisted, drawing Joey close again.

They began kissing more deeply, the spilt coffee completely forgotten about. Charlie leant backwards on the bed, pulling Joey with her. They let their tongues play as their passion increased. Joey's heart was hammering in her chest. Deciding that it was now or never, she let her hand slip down to Charlie's breast. She felt Charlie take in a breath as Joey's hand began to explore her body. Unwelcome images of Charlie letting Hugo touch her flashed into her mind. She tried to ignore them, to keep focussing on Charlie and remembering how much they meant to each other. But the images kept coming at her, like a perfect video tape. She snapped her hand away and got off the bed in a hurry. Charlie sat up, looking hurt and confused.

"I can't do this," Joey managed, her heart breaking and voice cracking. "I'm sorry."

She rushed out of the room before Charlie had even had the chance to reply.