She turns around, her gaze pitying as she clocks the confusion on my face. ‘It was lovely to meet you, Amorie. But I think youneed to figure out what’s happening with you and Noah before you date anyone else.’
I went to Budapest and all I got was . . .
. . .a frosty shower
Mala’s words stuck themselves into the crevices of my brain from the second that they left her mouth. They overtook it, shrouded my thoughts in doubt and circled around my head until they were all I could focus on. But then I re-entered the juice bar, Noah bounded up to me with a fifth drink and everything felt right with the world again. I have nothing to worry about – this is justNoah. Noah is just a friendly guy.
Mala saw us interact for a couple of minutes out of context and got the completely wrong end of the stick. It’s no reflection of us, or a reflection of her, it’s just a reflection of unfortunate circumstance. Noah and I don’t act particularly lovey-dovey – we just act like two people who are comfortable with each other. Because wearecomfortable with each other.Supercomfortable. So comfortable, in fact, that our current awkward silence makes no sense. We’ve been standing in it since we walked through the door of our Hungarian hotel room.
‘It’s... different,’ he says, trying to move us on from ten minutes of awkward nothingness.
I, on the other hand, am still dumbfounded. ‘There’s no way this will work.’
‘It’s notthatbad.’
‘Noah.’
‘Amorie.’
I look back at him, perturbed. ‘The bathroom walls are entirely see-through.’
‘It’s frosted glass!’
‘Noah.’ I’m louder this time.
He mumbles. ‘It didn’t look like this in the pictures. Do you think they’ll switch our room?’
‘Do you think the other rooms are different?’
‘Probably not.’ He sighs. ‘So, what do you want to do?’
I continue to stare. I haven’t stopped. I’ve been frozen in the same spot, suitcase handle in hand as I ogle the monstrosity that they expect us to use. What kind of pervert puts a see-through bathroom cubicle in atwin bedroom? Frosted glass or not, they knew exactly what they were doing.
‘This place was non-refundable, right?’ I ask.
He nods sombrely. ‘You told me to book the cheapest rate going.’
And I meant it. I still have a hefty amount of credit-card debt.AndI still owe Noah for the hotel in Amsterdam because I needed the last instalment I promised him, to get myself out of my overdraft. He said I could get it to him whenever, but I don’t want to take liberties.
‘I guess we make do,’ I sigh, rolling my case towards the beds.
I pick the one closest to the window and furthest away from those frosted walls.
‘I promise not to look when you’re in the shower,’ Noah says, settling on the other bed.
‘You better not.’ I fall back onto the bed.
‘And you promise not to look too, right?’ he asks.
I go to laugh, but as I tilt my head in his direction I see that he is actually being serious.
‘Looking hadn’t even crossed my mind,’ I say, deadpan.
In fact, since Mala dropped that bomb, I have done my best to avoid thinking about Noah entirely. It’s too late to complicate things, especially given how far we’ve come and the task we’ve got at hand. I have done so well so far and I will be damned if I am brought down by frosted glass.
I hang my head upside down over the edge of the bed, eyes focusing in on an inverted image of the perturbed-looking man now standing over me. He’s frowning. Forehead creases packed tightly as he looks down at my face intently.
‘It didn’t cross your mindonce?’ he asks.
