Page 90 of Benidorm Again

‘Same,’ says Ged, looking at me. ‘We got swept up in this whole pre-moon spree that we lost sight of why Connie was coming to Vegas in the first place.’

I smile back. ‘It’s okay, you guys. I’m sure we can work it out.’

‘I’ve got to go,’ Matteo says. ‘Have a good flight. See you soon. I’ll organise a limo to pick you all up.’

Everyone whoops while I say a quiet goodbye to Matteo. His dark eyes burn into mine making my pulse race. ‘I knew what I was signing up to. I should have guessed your entourage would muscle in on the trip. It’s no problem. I’ve handled worse.’

‘Thank you,’ I say. He really is very understanding. ‘And about that photo…’

‘Forget it. If you say it’s all innocent and there’s nothing going on, I believe you.’

Oh, wow. Considering what hewent through with his cheating ex, this is a huge deal. It can’t be easy to trust someone after something like that. Finding out they are cheating a week before your wedding. I’m amazed it hasn’t put him off women and weddings for life.

‘I’ll make it up to you,’ I say, my heart skipping a beat.

He studies me for a second, a kind smile tugging at his lips. ‘You already have.’

BEEP. Jorge is on the bus. He has started the engine. ‘I go now. Not later. Now. Vamos.’

Matteo laughs, as I pull a yikes face. ‘See you soon,’ he says. I click off the call, my heart much lighter. As we throw our suitcases onto the bus in a silent frenzy, I hurriedly say goodbye to Nacho. He has an amused grin on his face. I suppose at the very least, there’s never a dull moment when The Dollz are in town. We line up to kiss him on the cheeks as they all hand back their villa keys.

‘Someone was sick on the bathroom mat, but it’ll definitely come out,’ Tash tells him.

‘Someone also burned a tiny hole on the sunbed mattress with a cigarette, but it wasn’t me,’ says Cherry, kissing him on the cheek.

‘Someone has left brown stains on the kitchen bench and brown footprints on the fake grass, but don’t worry, it didn’tbother us. You can hardly notice. The place is lovely. We’ll five star it on Tripadvisor,’ says Liam.

Good God.

‘See you soon,’ Nacho says, masking a worried look. ‘Have a great time in Las Vegas.’

He waves us off as the minibus hurtles down the street. We are now very late for our flight. Everyone is quiet. Cherry’s immaculate make-up has run down her cheeks with all the hoo-hah over her baby-daddy. We are all wearing the wrong outfits. They are ill-fitting and stained. We look uncomfortable and dishevelled. I’m not sure we’ll have time to swap clothes. We’ll have to do it on the plane somehow. Cherry is blaming her pregnancy brain on the mix-up which is a bit of a relief. Ged and Liam are looking dangerously jaundiced. I’ll be surprised if they let them fly. At least Big Mand and Big Sue are sitting together. Tash is sitting on her own. She has still not told Sister Kevin what he has done wrong. She is hoping that he will read her mind and telepathically ascertain what he must do to make amends.

Liberty is the only one who looks half decent. She has the hump with me about Luke and is the first to break the lovely silence.

‘So, Connie,’ she yells down the bus. ‘What exactly happened between you and Luke last night? What wasso important that you felt the need to keep it a secret from us? It looked like you were almost kissing on stage. Call me old fashioned, but aren’t you supposed to be avoiding him? You did say he was a stalker weirdo. Or has that changed now?’

She has made it sound like I’m hiding something even though she bloody invited him here. But I’d rather not think about it right now. I just want to get to Las Vegas and put this whole week behind me. Including Luke, and the fact that right after that photo of us on stage was taken by Dan, he kissed me. In front of the whole crowd at Voices. I was mortified.

I twist my body to look out of the window. We are passing by signs for the historic Alicante castle and the jumbo sex hypermarket meaning we are almost at the airport.

‘Fine,’ she huffs. ‘Have it your own way. But just so you know, I’m finding seeing images of the two of you together very triggering.’

Ten minutes later, we have arrived at the airport looking like the Poundland version of the cast of Barbie. Everyone looks like they’re masking a lot of trauma. Tempers are fraying as we drag our luggage to the check-in desk. I have my workcut out for me on this flight. I have thirteen hours to turn it all around so that we arrive happy, presentable and ready to party hard, work hard and romance even harder. If anyone can do this, I can.

While we are queuing, Ged sidles up to me. ‘Can you please try to speak to Big Sue and Big Mand for us?’ he whispers. ‘We’re gutted we upset them. It was a genuine mistake.’

He has dark circles under his eyes and a stress rash appearing on his yellow cheek. I give him a quick hug. ‘Of course. I’ll do it straight away. As soon as we are on board.’

He brightens and shuffles back to Liam, who is near the front of the queue.

‘Connie,’ Tash hisses. ‘I need you to speak to Kev.’

Why me?

She looks drained under all of the fake tan and the huge eyelashes. I really hope for her sake she isn’t pregnant. ‘I need you to convince him that having a baby is a great idea.’

She can’t be serious.

---