“What the hell happened?”
“Bella!” I shout, “Not right now.”
I am so exhausted that I feel like I might collapse. The helicopter ride was the most stressful thing I have ever done.
I had to take public transport afterwards with people who most certainly recognised me. I was stared at and even heard whispers. I am overwhelmed, have had no food for an entire day, my body is trembling, and I can’t think.
Pebbles comes and brushes herself against my leg. I grab her. She is the one I need. I squeeze her into me, she purrs. And for one tiny moment, the world is alright.
Tears stream over my cheeks.
What a bloody mess.
Bella sits down next to me. I don’t want her here. I just want Pebbles. And alone time. But Bella doesn’t leave.
I don’t know how long I have been sitting here, but at some point, Bella lies down with her head on my lap and puts her feet up against the wall.
“You know,” she says, “I always thought it would be me who hits the media with some crappy headlines because I fell out of a rich guy's apartment while drunk or found dead because I was murdered by the wife.”
I laugh. In tears. I don’t want to, but I have to.
“Me too, Bells, me too,” I say and pat her shoulder with my free hand. Pebbles immediately complains, wanting me to pet her. I have never been away for a night before, and she is very clingy.
“They’ll forget about it,” Bella says. “Next scandal will come.”
“The media, maybe, but the parents won’t.”
Bella sighs. “Well, that’s crap.”
“Yep,” I say. “But hey, I flew in a helicopter.”
“You what?” she asks incredulously and sits up.
“Yeah. She took me to her manor house in the highlands. Bloody castle that thing.”
“Did anything happen?” Bella asks, I know she wants the gossip. She always pushed me to find someone.
“Many things happened,” I say. I don’t feel comfortable giving her a step-by-step walkthrough of yesterday’s and today’s events.
“Aaaand?” she asks.
“And nothing. I should have stayed home, look what happened.”
“Was she any good?”
“Bells!”
“Come on, Mia, you have to give me something.”
“She knows her stuff,” I say.
“So you finally had?—“
“Yes,” I say, humiliated. “Kind of. She made me come with…um, her thigh, I believe.” There is no way I will ever tell her about the leash thing afterwards. My cheeks burn with heat.
“Uhhhhhhhh,” she says. “Was it good?”
“Yes,” I say scarcely.
