Blackbird (16 page)

“So, I was going to ask you what you’re doing
tonight?
” Nate asked.

Claire had spent the last few days working and
spending time with Dave. This was the first time she’d seen Nate since she’d
found out Dave was going away for work.

“I’m actually meeting up with Dave later.”

“Oh.”

“It’s just that he is going away for a few days,
so he wanted to spend time with me before he left.”

Why am I explaining myself?

Claire and Dave were going out. Spending time
together was part of what you did as a couple, yet Claire felt guilty about it.

She looked across at Nate whose eyes were focused
ahead. “Nate…”

He didn’t turn towards her. “He’s my boyfriend.”

“Right.
Of course he is.”

“You’re mad.”

“I’m not mad, Claire. Just leave it, okay?”

“Okay,” she agreed reluctantly. They’d arrived at
access to the beach anyway. She hadn’t been surfing in days, so the last thing
she wanted was the beginning of a perfect day to turn bad by a simple
conversation. Although it wasn’t really simple, was it? How could she even
explain what was going on?
She didn’t know, that was for
sure.

They both got out of the car, Nate walking off to
check the surf while Claire pulled the surfboard out of the car to wax it up.

“Sorry to burst your bubble,” Nate said, walking
back to the car. Claire looked up at him. “It’s flat as a lake out there. We won’t
be surfing today.”

“Damn it!” Claire leaned back against her car in
defeat. “That sucks.”

“It does.”

“What are we going to do now, then?”

Nate grabbed the surfboard from her hands and put
it back into the car. “Just because there’s no surf doesn’t mean we still can’t
go for a swim.”

 Claire really only wanted to go for a surf,
but she wasn’t about to turn the car around and go sit around at her place
doing nothing, so a swim it would be.

“Okay.”

They grabbed their belongings and headed for the
beach, dropping them on the sandy dune and taking off their clothes to put on
their swimmers.

It never gets old
, Claire thought as she
watched Nate take off his shirt, leaving his masterpiece for all to see.

Claire wasn’t the only one to notice his body. Two
women nearby were nearly wetting their pants at the sight of him.

Claire laughed. “Looks like you’ve got admirers,”
she said, nodding her head in the girls’ direction.

Nate turned towards them and then turned back to
Claire with a confident smile. “Well at least someone notices it. It’s not easy
staying this fit.”

“You’re joking, right?”

How could I not notice you!

He shrugged.

“I’ve noticed your body, Nate. Don’t act like you
think I haven’t noticed it.”

“And what do you think of it?”

And the old Nate emerges once again.

“Seriously?
You really
want me to tell you how hot you look?”

“You think I’m hot?” Nate’s smile widened.

“Of course you’re hot, Nate. I never said you
weren’t. You’ve got a body that girls drool over and a face made for
modelling.”

Nate straightened his back. “Knew you always
thought I was hot.”

Claire shook her head. Typical that he would take
it like that. “Now that your ego is as big as a hot air balloon, can we go for
a swim?”

Nate laughed.
“Hot air balloon
reference, nice!”
Claire rolled her eyes. “And yes, let’s go for a swim.
Race you?”

“I’m not going to race you.”

“Come on, afraid you’ll lose?”

“What about your leg?”

“I’ve been running on it for a while now.”

“Well in that case,” she said quickly turning and sprinting
for the water’s edge.

Claire didn’t know Nate was racing after her until
he had his arms around her, lifting her over his shoulder. “You know what
happens to cheaters?” Nate asked, carrying her quickly to the water.

Claire was too busy laughing and kicking her legs
upside down to answer him

“They get punished.”

“No, Nate, don’t!” she yelled when Nate was waist
deep in the water. With one quick movement she was flung into the air, landing
in the water.

She came up splashing and waving her arms around.
She stood and looked at him. “I’ll get you for that!”

“I’d like to see you try,” Nate said confidently.

She splashed water straight into his face. He
wiped it and looked at her smiling. “Oh, it’s on.”

He leapt forward, splashing water into her. She
turned and quickly started swimming until she was chest deep in water.

Nate grabbed her waist and pulled her back against
his body. “I always win, Claire. When are you going to learn that?” he said
deeply into her ear, sending chills down her spine.

She turned her body slowly, pressing it up against
his. She moved closer to his face, his eyes closing, breathing her in.

“We’ll see about that,” she whispered, quickly
moving back from his grip and diving under the water.

***

“You look beautiful tonight, Claire,”
Dave said.

Dave was taking her on a surprise dinner date.
Claire assumed it would be a nice fancy restaurant but when they reached the
marina and she saw a black and gold gondola, she looked at Dave in shock.

‘Surprise,” he said, smiling.

“We’re going on a gondola?”

He nodded his head.

“This is awesome!” she said, wrapping her arms
around his neck and kissing him passionately.

He looked at her when they’d stopped kissing. “I
thought it might be a good way to remember me while I’m away.”

She smiled and kissed him once more before they
stepped onto the gondola and sat down on the seats.

“Champagne?” Dave asked, holding out a wine glass.

“Yes, please.”

Dave poured the glass of champagne and placed it
back into the cooler. He leant back and wrapped his arm around her shoulders,
pulling her closer.

“Welcome aboard,” said the man dressed in a
striped outfit with a broad straw hat. The hat was wrapped with a ribbon to
resemble a Venice gondolier. “My name is Mark, and I’ll be your host this
evening. Dinner will be served shortly after a ride through the canals along
with a scrumptious desert. If you need anything, please don’t hesitate in
asking.”

“Thank you,’ they both said simultaneously.

Mark smiled at them, moving to the front of
gondola and grabbing the long oar. He used his foot to push the gondola from
the side of the jetty and began using his oar to push them through the water.

It was warm beautiful night, not a cloud in sight.

“This is great, Dave. It really is,” she said, resting
her head on his shoulder.

This was exactly what they needed. Time together
to just be them, not worry about anything else going on. Their only concern was
each other.

The night was over before they knew
it and everything went perfectly. Their dinner was just as good as Mark had
said it would be, and the ride around the canals was wonderful.

They walked to Dave’s car, holding hands and
kissing like lovers should. He opened the door for her and she climbed in,
completely smitten by evening they just had.

When Dave had started the car up, and they were
driving down the road she placed her hand on his lap. “Thank you Dave. I know
I’ve already said it, but I really mean it. It was great.”

“I knew you’d love it. You’ve been going on about
Venice since I met you, so I thought if you can’t go to Venice, I’ll bring
Venice to you.”

“What do you mean, can’t go to Venice?”

Dave took a quick glance at her. “Well you won’t
be going anytime soon, I doubt in the next decade.”

“What?”

Why wouldn’t I be going in the next decade?

“You’ve just finished your degree so you’ll be
going out finding a full time job soon. Then you’ll need to work for a few
years. By then you’ll probably be starting a family and be a stay at home mum.”

“Excuse me?” Claire pulled her hand from his lap
and sat up straight.
“Since when was this the plan?”

“Since you turned twenty-one and got a degree. You
can’t honestly be willing to throw your degree away to go travelling?”

“It’s not throwing it
away,
I’ll just be putting it aside for a while. People do it all the time.”

“No,” Dave said sternly. “People finish school and
go on a gap year. They do not do it after their degree. You’re twenty-one, and
you need to settle down now.”

“Exactly!”
Claire
couldn’t believe what he was saying. “I’m twenty one! I’m
young,
I’ve still got loads of time to ‘settle down!”

“No, you don’t.
And what about
me?
I’m too busy with work. I don’t plan on doing any travelling for a
long time. Now is the time to focus on our future, Claire.”

“
Whose
future, yours or
mine?”

“Both of ours.
We are in
this together.”

“I know we’re together but that’s not going to
stop me from going travelling. I’ve always wanted to go and now that I’ve
finally finished
uni
I can, so I will be. With or
without you,” she snapped.

“You’d seriously break up with me to go
travelling?” Dave looked at her in doubt.

“I didn’t say break up, but if that’s what has to
happen, then yes. I’m not going to throw my dreams away because you don’t want
to me to do them.”

“Just find other dreams for now.”

“What! You are being ridiculous! Are you even
hearing yourself? We have been together what? Six months or something, and
suddenly you’re telling me how to live my life and what I should and shouldn’t
do?”

“Maybe you need to be told what to do, you aren’t
exactly the-”

“What Dave? What aren’t I?”

As far as Claire could tell this conversation was
over. It was Claire’s life and she would do what she wanted. If she wanted to
travel, that’ was exactly what she was going to do. “Stop the car.”

“What? I’m not stopping the car.”

“Stop it now!” she yelled.

Dave pulled the car to the side and she opened the
door, slamming it behind her.

Fortunately she was knew the area and was just
around the corner from the nearby esplanade where she could go for safety. It
was only nine at night so many of the restaurants would still be open.

“Get back in the car,” Dave pleaded. “Look, I’m
sorry. Just get back in the car and we’ll talk about it.”

“I don’t want to talk about it. I’m done talking.”
She started walked down the road towards the esplanade, Dave following her
slowly in his car.

“Claire-”

Claire stopped in her tracks and turned. “No,
Dave! I think it’s best if you just leave me alone right now.”

“You’re serious?”

She nodded. “Yes, I’m serious.”

“Fine!”

She heard his tires squeal as she watched him
speed off into the night.

So much for a great night.

She quickly walked to the corner of the esplanade.
She stood outside one of the restaurants and looked into her clutch. “Shit!”
She had no money or cards with her. She had no way of getting home. The only
items in her clutch were her phone, lip gloss, and blush.

Smart move, Claire, smart.

She couldn’t even get a taxi ride home and pay for
it when she got there because her house keys were at home. She had no way of
getting in.

The only thing she could do was call her friends
and see if someone could pick her up and let her stay at their place. She
opened up her phone, went into the phone book and called
Layla
.
She listened to the dial tone, waiting for
Layla
to
answer.

“Hello!”
Layla
yelled
into the receiver. Claire could hear music in the background.

“
Layla
?
It’s Claire.”

“Who?”
Layla
yelled once again.

“Claire,” Claire said loudly into the phone.

“Claire! What are you doing?”

“Where
abouts
are you?”

“We’re at
Lachy’s
,
remember? It his birthday tonight, you said you couldn’t come.”

Double shit.
She’d
forgotten about that. Although
Lachy
wasn’t a close
friend of hers, she knew all her friends would be there.

“Is everyone there?” she asked, hoping someone she
knew hadn’t gone.

“Yeah everyone’s here! They have a cocktail slushy
machine so everyone’s getting drunk!”

Triple shit.
She wouldn’t even be able to
get anyone to come and get her who was capable of driving.

“Who’s driving?”

“No-one, we all caught a maxi.”

Claire cursed under her breath.

“Is everything okay, Claire?”

“Yeah everything’s fine,
Layla
,
don’t worry about it. Have a good night okay?” Claire said reassuringly.

“You too!
Bye, babe!”

“Bye.” She hung up the phone and looked down at
it. She scrolled through her phone book hoping to find someone that could give
her a lift.

After calling three more people and getting their
voicemails she only had two options left. Call Dave and get him to come and
pick her up. Who was she kidding? She was too stubborn. There was no way she
was calling him. So it only left Nate.

Truthfully Nate had been the first person she’d
thought of, but she hadn’t thought he would pick her up because a) he couldn’t
actually drive and b) she’d just been on a date with Dave.

But after going through all of her options, Nate
was the only person left, apart from people she knew but not well enough to
pick her up and let her stay at their houses all night.