Page 40 of What Happens in Dubai

Time was getting on, and we both realised we couldn’t linger in the suite any longer. The stench was beginning to permeate the whole place and we decided to tackle it in the morning. While Ashley waited patiently at the door, I headed back to my room and changed into a fresh pair of pyjamas, and with our tails firmly between our legs, we went out to the corridor and chapped on Raj’s door. It was 4 a.m., and after a couple of minutes we eventually heard Raj stumble to the door.

‘What’s happened?’ he asked, still wearing his eye patch and scanning all over the place.

‘Can we sleep here tonight?’ I asked, sticking out my bottom lip.

‘Why? What’s happened?’ he said again, looking concerned.

Ashley nudged his arm from the door and marched into his room.

‘Zara nearly got battered. That’s what happened.’

‘Wait, what? By whom?’ he asked, allowing me in and shutting the door.

The three of us laid on Raj’s bed and faced the ceiling while I filled him in on Henri and the crazy night I’d had. When I finished, we lay there together in a few moments of silence.

‘Raj, I’m really sorry about today,’ I admitted.

‘No, I’m sorry. I would never have called Tom over if I’d known it would upset you, Zara. I just sort of blurted it out before realising what I was doing. It’s been a while now – I had no idea.’

He held his hand out as a peace offering and squeezed mine tightly over a cosy Ashley, who was wedged between us.

‘This is nice eh, everyone’s kissed and made up,’ Ashley murmured.

‘So, Zara, are you going to tell him how he got that sand in his eye or am I?’

Chapter Fourteen

On Sunday morning the three of us woke to the hot sun beaming through the blinds. Raj tossed and turned, then eventually sat up, pulling his eye patch to one side.

‘Morning,’ he managed through a yawn.

‘Morning,’ I replied.

Ashley groaned and rolled onto her side.

‘What’s on the itinerary today?’ I enquired cheerfully.

Raj sighed loudly. ‘Yoga on the top floor of the Burj Khalifa followed by a day of sightseeing.’

‘Yoga? Seriously!’ I moaned.

‘Yoga in the middle of the desert, and on the top floor of the tallest building in the world. Sounds perfect on paper, but really who can be fucking arsed?’ he said.

Still curled up and trying to snatch a few more moments of sleep, Ashley giggled while I gasped at Raj’s language. In all the years we’d been friends I could count on one hand the number of times he’d sworn.

‘Raj!’ I shouted.

‘What? I say patch it. Let’s all enjoy our last day chilling by the pool together, no drama,’ he said.

‘No drama? Ooft, I’m well up for that!’ I leaned over to the bedside table and sipped on some tepid warm water, seriously craving my Irn Bru fix to take away my dehydration.

Ashley raised her hand in the air. ‘I’m in! As long as we don’t need to talk about Friday night ever again.’

Raj and I glanced at one another.

‘Deal. Come on, ladies, let’s get organised then.’ He started clapping his hands, and I covered my tender ears quickly.

‘Stop!’ I moaned.

---