“What?” Leo throws his hands up in the air. “You just bit my head off for suggesting that!”
“Yeah, for wedding number two, Leo! We’re now talking about wedding number three! It’s completely different.”
“Did you not witness Freya’s reaction?” He tells her urgently, glancing at me, “I don’t think it’s appropriate to suggest—”
“Maybe it’s a good idea,” I say thoughtfully, swirling my wine around the glass like a Bond villain.
“Are you serious?” Leo runs his hands through his hair and then crosses his arms in a strop. “I don’t get it. I really don’t get it. You two are a mystery.”
“Just keeping you on your toes, Leo,” Ruby says, giving his arm a comforting pat. “A good-night kiss in July in France. What do you reckon, Freya?”
“I say, I’m in. And if Matthew finds out about it, that might not be such a bad thing.”
“Exactly! Who cares?”
“He doesn’t own my lips anymore.”
“He definitely does not own your lips.”
“Secure a good-night kiss. Write it down.”
“I’m writing it down,” Ruby confirms, as I take a triumphant sip of wine.
Leo sighs. “It’s hard not to feel left out when your weird brains connect like this.”
“We’re on to wedding number four now,” Ruby says. “Whose is that one?”
“My other school friend,” I reply, consulting the calendar. “The wonderful Niamh and her fiancé, Freddie. They’re getting married in Dublin end of July. You won’t be at that one, so I’ll be on my own.”
“I think the next task needs to be a bit more out there, a bit more fun,” Leo suggests. “It’s Ireland, you can’t be boring.”
“Yes, we can’t let the Irish down with this task.” Ruby chuckles. “You know, I watched this thing recently and one of the Spice Girls admitted that when they were on tour, they would run naked down the hotel corridor.”
“They did not!”
“True story,” she insists. “It couldn’t be more perfect.”
“Wait.” I put my wineglass down. “What exactly are you saying?”
“If you’re going to take inspiration from anyone, it may as well be the Spice Girls,” Leo says, sharing a knowing look with Ruby. “Your task for the fourth wedding of the season will be running down the hotel corridor naked.”
“What?!No way. Absolutely not!”
“Oh come on, Freya, it’s brilliant! You’d never dream of doing anything like that normally!” Ruby points out.
“No onewould dream of doing anything like that normally!”
“But think about it, you’re not going to have time to think about anything sad when you’re busy working out the best moment to run down your hotel corridor naked.”
“This is awedding! You can’t just run about naked!”
“We’re not saying you do it at the wedding,” Leo corrects. “We’re saying you do it back at the hotel you’re staying in.”
“That’s just splitting hairs!”
“Have you ever been skinny-dipping?” Ruby asks, leaning forward with intrigue. “I seem to remember that coming up before and you admitted you never had.”
“Why would anyone want to go skinny-dipping? It’s ridiculous.”
