Page 61 of Endgame

‘You’re a lot in love with her, aren’t you?’

‘No I’m not! Take that back.’ Lara pokes me in the ribs through the blanket.

‘Ow! I take it back.’

‘Thank you,’ she responds forcefully, staring at the ceiling silently. Lara is in love. I struggle to keep my face neutral in order to hide the pure delight I feel. ‘And even if I was, it would only be a tiny, TINY bit,’ she admits, giving me the same dirty look I got earlier.

‘It’s some sort of admission at least,’ Caleb says, walking in wet, wrapped in a towel.

‘God, please, if you can hear me, I really hope today is the day Honey accidentally breaks something…’ Lara prays loudly, looking up to the sky with her palms together.

‘God, please, if you can hear me, I really hope today is the day Lara gets hit with so many feels for Honey that she writhes in excruciating?—’

The pillow hits Caleb squarely in the face. How it managed to land between his praying hands and face is a mystery.

‘What’s this?’ a sweaty, post-Honey Caleb asks, pointing at the thin, lacy underwear Eden delivered for me to wear today.

‘Lingerie.’ I start laughing because I know Caleb is going to make fun of me.

‘Why is it all orange, tiny and pretty? I quite like the passive-aggressive resistance of your usual. This one poses no challenge whatsoever.’

‘My dress is cut strangely, so if it slips a little bit and something shows, I’ll be all right.’

‘I suppose the silver lining is it’ll be easy extracting you from it later.’ He leans in to kiss me before heading into the shower.

I take my time getting into the asymmetrical fishtail dress Eden sent. She went for a bold, blue and burnt orange Africanprint with large leaf details with holes everywhere. It’s so confusing, I’m on my fifth attempt getting it on when Caleb emerges.

‘Eden stitch you up again?’ He raises an amused eyebrow.

‘At this point, I’m comfortable with Eden doing whatever she wants – but she could at least send me instructions on how to get into the clothing she selects.’

‘Hold on. We can sort this out between us.’ Caleb approaches and takes it from me gently. It turns out I’ve been putting my foot into the armhole. When I get it on, it’s beautiful, but a little exposed because of the massive gaps between the leaves.

‘You don’t like it?’ Caleb asks, a laugh playing on his lips.

‘It’s pretty, but I asked her to make me blend in, not stand out!’

‘Well, I like it. It’s tempting.’ Caleb slips his hand up my dress so quickly he is halfway to his destination before I smack it away.

‘Stop it. You’re naughty. No.’ Thankfully, my phone dings. It’s a text from Lara letting me know that Ruby has arrived, enabling me to leave the room quickly.

‘Eden asked me to pop by quickly to see if the dress needs adjusting and to put a little bit of make-up on you,’ she explains. She’s wearing what looks like a huge bum bag and dragging a trolley case.

‘How is it going over there?’

‘It’s busy but we’re there. Melissa looks unbelievable and I’m not even done yet. Look at you. Eden will be pleased. It’s perfect. It’s the colour of the sea and flowers along the beach. Are you happy for me to do a deep-orange shadow on you and smoke it out softly with a dark blue? We can leave the rest of your face bare and just put some gloss on your lips?’

‘Mason! Get your beautiful behind in here, I need your bowtie-tying skills,’ Caleb calls from the bedroom, then pokes his head out.

The shock on Ruby’s face settles into confusion, then realisation, as she looks back and forth at us.

‘Hi, Ruby,’ Caleb calls happily. ‘Make-up time? I’ll leave you ladies to it.’

‘Is this what I think it is?’ Ruby whispers excitedly.

‘It’s exactly what you think it is.’ Caleb appears again. ‘And maybe quite a bit more.’ He raises his eyebrows twice before he disappears.

‘Ignore him,’ I plead, as I fail to control how joyful I feel.

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