A Complicated Summer of Love (Complicated Love Series #3) (3 page)

SUNDAY

It’s great being here, and I love just sitting on the decking outside my bungalow just watching the ocean. The ocean is so blue and it totally beats some of the beaches along the coast of England. I’m eating my breakfast and it's nice being alone for a few minutes. It gives me a chance to think about my plan of action to win Tracy over. I’m pretty sure the only thing I can do, is spend as much time as possible with her. I need to show her that we’re great together and that she can depend on me.

It’s so frustrating that she loves me and I love her, but we’re not together. I have no idea why. I know it has something to do with her parents, but I need her to understand that we aren’t going to be like them. I know we won’t, because we love each other and I can’t see that ever changing. I just need her to take the risk. I’m lost in my thoughts when I notice someone sitting down in a chair across from me, so I come back to the present and see that Brandon has sat down.

“Hey bro, what’s up?” I observe he’s nursing a black coffee and he’s looking a bit green. “You, all right? You’re not looking so hot.”

He sips his coffee. “I have a banging headache. I think I might have drunk a bit too much last night.” I laugh at his wrinkled up face when he watches me eating eggs on toast. He dips his head down and concentrates on his coffee instead.

“Must’ve been a good night then? Why wasn’t I invited to this little party?”

“It wasn’t a party, and it wasn’t exactly planned. Lily talked Maddison and me into a game of spin the bottle.” I’m just putting a piece of toast in my mouth when he says, “You played spin the bottle?” and I end up choking on it while trying not to laugh.

“Well, I didn’t want to really, but it was something to do, I guess. Lily wanted to make it more like spin the bottle, truth or dare kind of thing. There was plenty of drinking, that much I know.” I finish my breakfast and take a drink of my coffee.

“What happened in the game then?”

“I’m not sure really…I can’t remember much of last night. I don’t know if that’s a bad thing or a good thing.” I’m just about to ask more when there’s a commotion to our right.

“Come on, baby. I don’t understand why you’re mad at me, but please just stop and talk to me.” Annabelle comes storming out of their bungalow with her fists clenched. She spins around and glares at Joshua as he rushes out onto the decking.

“I have nothing to say to you! I just want some space right now!” She doesn’t say anything else before turning around and storming off, down the steps to the beach. I look back at Joshua and he slumps his shoulders and looks confused as to what’s just happened. He notices us and makes his way over and slides into the chair to my right.

“Sorry, you had to see that.” He looks upset.

“Don’t worry about it, mate. What’s up with Annabelle?” He looks as if he’s trying to come up with an explanation, but he sighs and looks defeated.

“I have no idea. I woke up this morning and she was already up, but won’t talk to me. I’ve obviously done something to wind her up. I’m trying to rack my brain for something I’ve done wrong, but I’m absolutely clueless.” He shakes his head.

“That’s women for you. Aren’t you going to go after her?”

“Nah, I think it’s best to let her go. You heard what she said, she wants some space so I’m going to give her it.” He looks at Brandon. “What do you think?” Brandon holds up his hands.

“Whoa, I don’t think I should comment, I don’t really know enough to give you advice.” I laugh at Brandon’s awkwardness. My thoughts turn to the vision in front of me when I see Tracy walking toward the table with a bowl, and her favorite, a glass of orange juice. She always tells me that she doesn’t understand how I can drink tea and coffee. She said she tried it once, and absolutely hated it so she sticks to cold drinks.

“Hey, guys. Where’s all the others?”

“I’m not sure where Maddison and Lily are, but it sounds like they had a late night last night so they might not be up for a few more hours.” I look up at her and she looks beautiful. “You look stunning today.” She blushes and I fist pump the air in my mind. I love seeing the effect I have on her. It gives me hope that maybe I can win her around.

“I hope Maddison is up soon because we’re going on a boat tour today.” We all turn and look at Brandon and he’s shifting nervously in his seat.

“Wait…are you and Maddison…you know?” Tracy looks at Brandon expecting an answer, but Brandon is looking anywhere but at her.

“It’s nothing like that. She invited me to go and I said yes, that’s all.” He gulps the rest of his coffee down and pushes his chair out before walking off. Tracy sits down in his seat.

“Well, that is interesting…” She’s smiling wide.

“Don’t go reading anything into it, beautiful.”

She smirks at me before replying. “Okay, okay, I was just saying.” She starts to eat her cereal.

“Well, I’m going to leave you guys to it.” Joshua gets up. “I’m going to see if I can find Annabelle and sort this mess out.” He heads down toward the beach.

“What’s the story there?”

“Annabelle’s mad at Joshua for something, but he’s not sure what.” She looks concerned.

“Shall I go and find her?” She starts to get up, but I reach across and grab her arm.

“No beautiful, leave it to Joshua. They need to sort out themselves.” I smile my megawatt smile and she blushes again. “How about we get out of here and do something?”

She bites her bottom lip. “What together?”

I chuckle. “Yeah together. We can do whatever you want to do.” She looks nervous and I like that reaction, to me it means she’s scared of what will happen.

“Okay then.” She thinks for a moment. “I’ve been looking in the brochures we have in the bungalows, and I really want to go to the National Museum.”

She wants to go to a museum?
I guess if that’s what she wants, then so be it.

“Okay beautiful…you’re on.”

“I’ll go and get changed and meet you here in half an hour?” I smile at her excitement.

“Sounds good, beautiful.”

She bounces off and I can’t help thinking that she’s so adorable. I may not want to visit a museum, but I’m so happy to be spending time with Tracy and hopefully this will be one step closer to finally making her mine.

I know that Karl isn’t that keen on going to the National Museum, but I’m pleased that he went along with my idea. Deep down I know I just want to spend time with him. I do love him even though we can’t be together, so it’s only natural that I’d want to be around him. We’ve arrived at the National Museum and I’m gobsmacked by the building. It looks so historic and so beautiful. I see a plaque on the wall which tells the history of the building. Reading it, I discover that it’s a three-story building located in Sultan Park in Malé. It forms part of the Maldivian Royal Palace compound which dates back to the seventeenth century. Reading on, I discover that it’s talking about the old building that was previously the National Museum. This building was presented to the Maldives by the Chinese Government. It sounds so interesting. The front of the building is absolutely stunning in white bricks, and I love how the glass paned windows decorating the doors, curves round. I’m so excited to be here, and I can see from the look on Karl’s face that we are complete opposites and that he isn’t exactly excited to be doing this.

“Come on! Let’s get inside and start exploring.” I bounce up and down and grab a hold of his hand.

“Fine…let’s do this.”

I lead him inside and as we walk around, I learn so much about the Maldives and their history. I especially like the section on the clothing worn by their kings and queens. Karl seems to be getting into it and by the end, he was reading and commenting on everything around him. He appears to be having a good time and I can’t help but notice all the little touches that he keeps giving me. We’ve walked around holding hands for most of the time, and he keeps brushing my hair away from my face with his fingers. I blush so much around him that I feel embarrassed by how red my face colors. He smiles his charming smile every time, so I know that he’s aware of the effect he has on me. Karl wants to take me for a meal and I’m slightly nervous about how great this day has been. It feels like it did when we saw each other in Los Angeles and look how that turned out!

“It’s only dinner, beautiful. I’m not asking for anything more apart from a meal. I’m starving after walking around the museum all day. We didn’t even eat lunch.”

I’m starving too, and like he said it’s only dinner, so I nod my head and we proceed to a restaurant that Karl said he’s been wanting to try. I find it funny that we’ve only been on the island for a day and a half, but he’s been dying to go to this particular restaurant.

We arrive at Ithaa Undersea Restaurant and I’m intrigued by the name of it. We make our way inside and most of the walls are lined with big mirrors. It’s so strange but absolutely gorgeous. There are oak tables everywhere with cream plush chairs. Karl takes my hand and leads me over to the glass bar in the corner and whispers to one of the bar staff. I can’t hear what he’s saying, but the guy smiles and asks us to follow him. I’m confused as to where we are going because I thought that we’d be seated in this room. We're lead over to a door in the far corner of the room, the guy turns to us and smiles before opening the door. I’m not ready to see what’s behind the door, and when I do I’m absolutely stunned.

We walk into a long room with the same tables and chairs that we saw before, but they are placed down the side of the room. I notice that each table is set for two. The magical part is the ceiling. It’s not really a ceiling but more like a tunnel made out of glass. I see fish, sharks and even a massive turtle swimming in the ocean. I’ve seen something like this before at the Sea Life Centre I went to when I was a kid. You could walk through the overhead tunnel to see all the fish swimming above your head. I can’t believe we’re going to dine in this room. We are escorted to a table in the middle, and Karl is a perfect gentleman and pulls out my chair for me. I can’t help but blush and he notices by placing a quick kiss on my cheek before sitting down opposite me.

“Wow…I can’t believe this place. It’s so beautiful.”

He chuckles. “I thought you’d like it and, to be honest, I wanted to bring you here.” I smile and am genuinely touched that he thinks about what I would like. This is scary territory for me.

“Thank you for bringing me here.”

He orders champagne for us and I try to tell him no, but he can be stubborn when he wants to be. We both order the special, chicken with three kinds of potatoes and vegetables. The waiter brings our champagne and fills up our crystal glasses.