Chapter 6
as I picked up the phone beside my bed the next morning. "Raaaaaaaaay…..
It's only…." I checked my watch. "9:30…" I finished lamely. "Exactly. Now,
be here by 11:00 on the dot." Ray said, and hung up. I sleepily turned over
in bed. "Rise and shine, Madam Long Legs!" Anika said, bouncing into my room.
"Goaway." I said, burying my face in my pillow. "I will. I just came to see
what you wanted to eat. Amma's gone to Emily's to chat with Mrs. S. So I'm
in charge of breakfast." She said, sitting down on a corner of my bed.
"Fruit and lots of water." I said, yawning. "Ariana Wickremasinghe!
Toast? Eggs? Bacon?" She asked. I shrugged. "If you'd already thought about
it, why ask me?" I said, diving under the sheets again and cuddling up.
She was silent for a moment. "So, I gather last night's party was a
success." She said, breaking the silence. I glanced at her from the top of
my sheets. "How did you know that?" I asked her, suspiciously. She grinned.
"This guy called Rowen, you've heard of him? He turned up at the door,
like, at 5:00 in the morning, maybe even before that, with 25 red roses for
a 'friend', he said. I should think that the party was a success."
I found a big smile creeping onto my face. "Really?" I asked. "Where are
they?". Anika scampered out of my room and returned presently with a huge,
and I mean huge, basket full of red roses. There was a card stuck on top.
"I didn't read that." Anika pointed out. "Thanks." I said, plucking it
out of the flowers. I opened it gingerly. It read 'Just to tell you, I
thought of you all along last night. Love you, Ro.' I blushed, feeling glad
that Anika hadn't read it.
"What does it say?" Anika asked, cheekily, leaning in to see. I stuck it
under my pillow in a flash. "You don't have to see." I said, blushing
again. "Oh, Ari's got it bad! You're in lurve, girl! You're blushing
sooooooooo bad!" Anika laughed, getting up. "And he said he'll call Ray and
find out when you have to be down at SS&SC so he can drop you off. You
better get dressed. You don't want Prince Charming to find Cinderella in
rags, do you?" She said, winking as she got off my bed and ran out before
my pillow could hit her.
I got up and dressed quickly. My usual attire; black Adidas swimsuit,
jeans and top. I gathered my sports equipment bag and was just about to
leave the room, when I decided I didn't look nice enough. Sighing, I put my
hair up and dabbed a bit of lip-gloss on my lips. "There, much better." I
told myself. I bounded down the stairs, yelling to Anika, "Have you seen my
sneakers?". The doorbell rang. "Anikashka, have you seen my bloody… Ro!" I
exclaimed,as I opened the door. He smiled. "Hello…." He said, leaning in for a
kiss.I lifted my chin obligingly, and got lost in the feeling of Rowen's warm
lips on mine.
"Hi Ro…" Anika broke off as she caught sight of us. We pulled apart,
guiltily. Anika smiled. "Hi Anika." Rowen said, sounding slightly
embarrassed. Me? I was as red as a ripe tomato. I blushed so, very easily.
"Relax, guys, I'm not going to give you detention because I caught you
kissing!" Anika exclaimed, taking Rowen's coat. She caught my eye and
smiled. "He is soooooo cute!" She mouthed. "I so know that." I mouthed
back, rolling my eyes.
"You staying for breakfast, Rowen?" She asked. Ro looked at me and smiled
a smile that turned my insides over. "Can I say no?" He asked, leaning in
for another kiss. I smiled and kissed him back. "I don't think you can
resist me, can you?" I asked coyly. "No, I can't. And I also can't resist
Anika's bacon and eggs!" He said, smiling mischievously. We all laughed.
By 10:45, I was at SS&SC. "Are you picking me up?" I asked, as he opened
the door for me to get out. He nodded. "Give me a ring say, half an hour
before you're done? Mark will come along, too. He's trying to drum up some
action tonight. Want to go out on a triple date?" He asked.
I smiled. "Why not? But with who?" I asked. "Well, not exactly a triple
'date'. But Mark and Em thinks maybe they should try to get Nicky to get to
know Kate better. He's going to be in Sligo for the weekend, so I agreed
it's worth a shot. So, you, Em, Kate, Mark, Nico and me. Sounds good?" Ro
asked. "Sounds fab. I have to admit, I kind of thought the same thing.
They'd make a sweet couple of friends, if not a sweet couple." I said, with
a shrug of my shoulders.
Rowen nodded. "Can't hurt to try. I'll come around 4:00. We'll talk about
it then." He said. He pushed away the regular wisp of hair, which fell
across my face. "See you?" He said, giving me a tiny kiss. "See you." I
confirmed, returning the kiss. I watched him pull out of the club premises
and then headed in. Ray was waiting for me.
"Good, you're early." She greeted me. Then she took a closer look at me.
"Goodness, don't we look nice today? Hair up, lip gloss… Just to come for
training?" She asked. I grinned. She studied me even further. "You, my
girl, are positively glowing. Something seriously good has happened.
Spill." She said, sitting down on the bleachers. I sat down next to her.
"Weeeell…." I tried to think of a way to say it. "Wait, I can guess. It's
Rowen, isn't it?" She asked. I nodded, grinning like a hyena. She let out a
squeal. "Going out?" She guessed. I nodded, with the same silly grin. "Oh
Ari, that's great!" She said, giving me a big hug.
"Thanks." I managed to say. My eyes were shining with happiness. "That's
so sweet! Did he come to drop you off?" She asked. "Yeah." I said. She
smiled. "Proper gentleman, huh? Well, get changed. I expect you to swim
extremely well today." She said, pushing me towards the changing rooms, and
shoving me into the showers.
And I did. I did another personal best of 3:46:89. Ray was positively
glowing as she pulled me out of the pool. "We're going to go for the gold,
Madam Long Legs." She promised, hugging me. I couldn't keep my smile away.