After I hung up, I sat on the hard, hotel mattress for a minute, allowing the conversation I'd just had to wash over me. I looked up at the painting on the wall, a dull watercolour landscape of a field, fading far back into the horizon.
I groaned and threw myself back, my head hitting the cotton pillowcases with force. I didn't know exactly what I was feeling, so I wallowed a bit more. I couldn't help but think it was slightly odd that Beth was in our flat right now. Sitting on our sofa, drinking from our crockery, laughing with Esti and Daniel. It made my gut cramp; was I annoyed? Disappointed? Jealous? I suppose it was a combination of all three.
I'd meant what I said when I had called Esti sweet, and pure and kind. She was all of those things, but she was also naïve, and it killed me to think that Beth might be using that to her advantage. I desperately scrambled for the ability to give Beth the benefit of the doubt. I felt sorry for her. Having a proposal rejected would hurt anyone, but why come back? Why linger? That was the part I was having trouble with.
A reminder flashed again on my phone screen and it beeped obnoxiously.
'Yes, yes, I'm going.' I clicked the alert off and checked my face and hair before leaving for the lobby.
The hotel I was in was high end, that much was clear. The lift I rode up and down between the lobby and my room was golden and engraved with ancient Roman gods and goddesses. It was all extravagant, but it made me feel like a bit like my old self; staying in fancy hotels, ordering room service, drinking champagne with strangers in the hotel bar.
'Ronnie!' I heard Liam's high-pitched voice shout across reception.
'Liam.' We greeted each other with kisses on each cheek; he smelt like cigarettes and still looked like a model. 'How have you been?'
'Fucking tired girl.' He pulled his sunglasses down until they were perched on the end of his long nose. 'You're going out like that?'
I looked down at myself. I was wearing a baggy boyfriend shirt and cropped chinos, it looked perfectly casual. 'I thought we were just having a drink here.'
'Sweetie, do you really think I drink in hotel bars? No, no, I won't have that. Eurgh, I suppose you don't look dreadful.' He said, lifting the collar of the shirt I was wearing. We'd only met the once before, but he was intensely familiar.
'I can't have a heavy one Liam, I have a dinner tonight.'
'Oh, that boring thing at the Contarina. You don't need to go to that.'
'I really do, actually.'
'My dad is one of the hosts, I'll just tell him you're with me.'
'Please don't do that.'
'Oh Ronnie, you're so stubborn. I love it.' He sighed and pushed his glasses back up, covering the purple bags under his eyes. 'Fine, a "light" one then. Come on, let's go.'
We sunk into the seats of a black Mercedes Benz that was parked outside. The air con blasting out gave me goosebumps.
'Angel, go to the Piazza.'
We drove for a short while, driving through the busy city, groups of people getting in the way and inevitably getting stuck in traffic. Eventually we pulled up along a deserted side street which had cobbled roads, just a few miles from the crowded heart of Naples.
'Wait here. We'll be a few hours.' Liam said to Angel, as he stepped out of the car.
'We'll be two hours, at most.' I corrected him before shutting my door. He just scoffed.
