‘And I cancelled it.’
She crinkles her brow in confusion. ‘Why did you do that?’
‘Because I don’t want to go.’
Her eyes narrow. ‘That’s not how this works, Tori. The whole point is that we do things together. If there were particular activities you wanted to include, you should have brought them up in the group chat and I’d have seen if I could have fitted them in.’
‘Listen, Amy,’ I tell her, doing my best to keep the irritation out of my voice. ‘I’m very grateful for all the effort you’ve put in to organising everything, but this is my holiday too. I have paid a lot of money to come here, and I have other plans for today.’
‘You’re coming across as a little selfish, if you ask me,’ Stuart chips in.
‘I’m not asking you, Stuart,’ I tell him firmly before turning back to Amy. ‘Enjoy the mani/pedi. I’ll look forward to hearing about it later.’
‘I don’t believe this,’ Amy says furiously. ‘I think you need to remember that you’re only here because poor Fliss, who would have jumped at the chance to have the experience you’re getting, got royally shat on by your so-called roommate. Do you have even the first idea how much time I’ve invested in this schedule to make sure that everything slotted together perfectly? Only for you to decide, on some kind of mad fuckingwhim, that you want to chuck the whole thing in the bin because you’re not in the mood?’
I’ve tried to be rational, but I’m struggling to contain my own temper now. ‘I’m not chucking anything in the bin, Amy,’ I tell her firmly. ‘You and Lily can still go and do everything you’ve planned. I’m just not going to do all of it with you.’
She’s looking at me with such venom now that I’m actually starting to worry she might get physical. ‘Tell me,’ she spits, ‘what’s so bloody brilliant that it eclipses the programme that I have spent hours curating, hm?’
‘It’s nothing brilliant. I’m going to spend some time on the beach, relaxing, reading and swimming.’
‘Oh, I see what this is. You’re hoping to get your claws into Stuart while I’m safely tucked away out of sight, aren’t you? Well, he’s not interested, OK? He’s told me all about you, how clingy you were, how you begged him to change his mind when he finally couldn’t take any more of you. The only thing that’s more pathetic than the way you behaved then is the way you’re behaving now. Tell her, Stuart.’
I shift my gaze to Stuart, who is looking distinctly uncomfortable. So he should. I’ve had enough of this. Before I have a chance to stop myself, my mouth is open and I’m speaking.
‘I can assure you, Amy,’ I tell her in a saccharine voice, ‘that I have absolutely no interest in Stuart at all. How can I be so sure? Because he’s a scheming, cheating, lowlife toad and I’d be more than happy never to clap eyes on him again. You are welcome to him. Now, are we finished?’
I’m breathing hard. I’ve just about managed to avoid telling her about New Year’s Eve, but it was a close call. To my amazement, however, she comes in for another attack.
‘If he cheated on you, that’s probably because he was desperate to spend time with someone who wasn’t a constant emotional drain on him. I can assureyou, Tori, that he has no such issues with me.’
Stuart is frantically slashing his hand across his throat to try to stop me saying anything more but it’s too late.
‘Mm-hm?’ I continue in the same saccharine tone. ‘Ask him where he was on New Year’s Eve.’
Behind her, I can see Stuart visibly crumple, but Amy is having none of it.
‘I don’t need to ask him, because I know where he was. He was with Lily and Dan.’
‘Is that what he told you?’
‘Yes, because it’s the truth.’
A realisation dawns on me. It doesn’t matter what I tell her, she’s never going to believe me over Stuart. To be fair, given that she evidently dislikes me as much as I do her, I don’t entirely blame her. All I’m doing is confirming her suspicion that I’m delusional.
‘OK,’ I tell her, changing tack quickly to stop myself from letting the cat completely out of the bag. ‘Forget I said anything.’
‘What?’ For the first time, there’s a spark of uncertainty in her expression.
‘I said OK. He was with Lily and Dan.’
‘No. You don’t get to do that. Why did you say I should ask him where he was? Something isn’t adding up here. What aren’t you telling me?’ She turns to Stuart, who has turned puce. ‘Babe?’
‘It’s another fantasy,’ Stuart tells her, unaware that his face is giving the game away. ‘She’s just making stuff up to try to cause trouble between us. She’s obsessed with me, what did I tell you?’
Amy is now radiating uncertainty. Anyone with half a brain could tell from looking at him that Stuart is the fantasist out of the two of us, but I can see she desperately doesn’t want to believe that.
‘I think we’re done here,’ I say to her. ‘Unless there was anything else?’
