“Yes. Straight on past reception. There are a couple in the first corridor on the left.”
31
“Good morning, ladies.” Stella stopped in front of Sheila and Tiff, who were lying on sunloungers, each with a cocktail, chatting to a couple next to them. She’d been on her way to speak to a group of women who had taken their drinks into the pool, but she saw Manuel was already on the case, gesturing to their plastic cups and telling them to keep them out of the water.
“There she is!” Sheila held up her cup in a toast. “I was just saying to Tiff, ‘I wonder if we’ll see Stella today. You haven’t been around for the past few days.’”
“I had a long weekend off.” Stella spread her arms and chuckled. “But here I am. Have you heard anything from the tattoo parlour yet?”
Sheila batted her long, fake lashes at her and shot her a beaming smile. Her shoulder was still covered with the bandage, but she was giggly and clearly in better spirits today. “Yes, I got a refund and another five-hundred Euros extra towards removing the tattoo. It was way beyond my expectations,” she said. “To be honest with you, the police didn’t seem that bothered when we were at the station, but I have to give it to them; they must have done something because I got a call from Beni Tattoo this morning and they transferred the money into my account shortly after. Just like that.”
“That’s great news. Let’s hope they can remove it nicely.”
“Nah.” Sheila waved a hand as if she didn’t care all that much anymore. “I’ve never had so much in my account; the money for that tattoo came from my savings and now that I’ve ended up with a profit, we’re going shopping and partying tonight.”
“Okay…” A little irritated, Stella needed a moment as she’d gone out of her way for these women to get justice so Sheila could have her tattoo removed. “So, you don’t want to get rid of it?”
“Not right away. I’ll have it done once I find a boyfriend with a proper job who can pay for it.”
You’re not going to find a boyfriend with that thing on your shoulder, Stella thought, but she kept that to herself.
“Anyway,” Sheila continued, “it’s not important anymore because there’s even better news…” She took a big gulp of her cocktail, then paused for effect.
“Oh? More good news?”
“Yes, you’ll never guess what happened.”
“You’ll never guess!” the man next to Sheila and Tiff repeated, glancing at his phone. “You need to see this, it’s epic.”
“Shhh… this is about me, so let me have my moment,” Sheila said to the man, beaming as she took her own phone out of her handbag, opened Twitter and showed it to Stella. “I’m trending on Twitter and I got a reply from Keanu Reeves!”
Stella frowned as she took the phone and saw that the picture of the manky tattoo with the caption‘Asked for Keanu Reeves and got this’ #benitattoohad over thirty-five thousand likes. “No…” She scrolled through the thread of remarks. Some were supportive, like:‘That’s horrid. Sue them!’and‘You poor thing.’Others were less sympathetic.‘You deserve what you got for even coming up with such a stupid idea,’someone said.The next one made her laugh.‘Could have been worse. Look at mine.’There was a picture attached of a tattoo that indeed, looked worse than Sheila’s, if that was possible. She couldn’t work out who the full-coloured pink face belonged to at first, then read the caption underneath that said:‘Meatloaf forever.’“I see you’re popular. Where’s Keanu’s reply?”
“It’s here.” Sheila took the phone from her, scrolled down for a while, then held it up for Stella to read the tweet that was sent by Keanu Reeves with, indeed, a blue tick behind his name.
“Getting a tattoo of my face was probably not the brightest idea you ever had but I appreciate the sentiment and feel humbled. Good luck with getting it removed, assuming you will,”she read out loud. “Okay, you really did get a reply from him.”
“Amazing, right?” Tiff’s voice was high-pitched with excitement. “We waited in front of his hotel for hours the last time he was in London. His fan club; the whole lot of us. Five hours we waited there, only to find out he’d left through the back entrance. And now Sheila’s had personal contact with him.” Shaking her head incredulously, she added, “I’m so fucking jealous. They’re practically friends.”
“Practically.” Stella nodded, pretending to agree with that statement. She wasn’t sure if a tweet counted as personal contact, let alone friendship, but she was happy for Sheila, whose spirits had lifted from zero to ten in a matter of three days. “Very cool. I get why you want to keep it for a while as a reminder. Anywhere special you’re celebrating tonight?”
“Pit Stop!” Tiff shimmied her shoulders and laughed out loud. “Where else? Happy hour starts at five, which reminds me, we’d better get our outfits sorted.” She turned to the couple next to them. “You guys coming?”
“Nah. You girls have fun. We’ll just stay here and enjoy the free drinks,” the woman said, flashing her all-inclusive wristband.
“Okay, well enjoy the rest of the day and have a lovely night, ladies. Make sure not to get any more tattoos,” Stella joked as she walked off. She made a mental note to tell Lisa about it. It was funny how she felt the need to share everything with her, because Lisa just got it, and they had laughed so much together over the weekend. She missed not seeing her by the poolside today yet waking up with her more than made up for that, of course. Contemplating calling her, she decided against it. She didn’t want to disturb her or come across as needy, and if she couldn’t even wait a couple of days, then what was she going to do when Lisa moved back to the UK?
32
“What are you doing here?” Lisa asked, pleasantly surprised to see Stella as she opened her bedroom door. She was wrapped in a towel after a cold shower and was just about to get dressed for dinner. They’d waved at each other a couple of times in the past few days, and they’d talked a little in passing but other than that, they hadn’t had any personal contact. Lisa hadn’t wanted to message her, afraid she’d come across as too keen, and she felt silly about how much she’d been overthinking things. She hadn’t been like this when she’d first started dating Sandrine, but with Stella, it felt like each action could have major consequences and that was daunting. Relieved to finally have her to herself for a moment, she opened the door wider, giving into the butterflies that made her weak in the knees.
“Hey. I’m on a break.” Stella took off her mask and held up a pair of shades. “Are these yours?”
“Yes! Thank you so much, I thought I’d lost them.” Lisa looked behind her to check the room, but it wasn’t overly messy. “Want to come in?”
“Not sure if I can do that.” Stella glanced into the corridor, then chuckled as she stepped in anyway. “But I have no willpower when a beautiful woman invites me in, so as long as no one sees me I was never here.” She gasped and slammed a hand in front of her mouth as she looked around the small room. “What the fuck? Is this where you’ve been living all this time?”
“Yes, this is home for now. Why are you so shocked? Have you never seen the rooms?” Lisa asked. She followed Stella’s gaze, mildly amused at how quickly she’d gotten used to her room. At first it had been her idea of hell but now it was… well, it was just her home, she supposed, and she didn’t mind it anymore.
