Page 38 of The One That Got Away

‘You should also be proud of yourself. A lot of people with your fear of heights would’ve given up. But you kept going.’

‘Thanks to you,’ I said, trying to ignore the flipping again in my stomach as I thought about how he’d held my hand for ages. Sounded stupid but I kind of missed it now.

‘No big deal.’

Hearing his words reminded me that I needed to get a grip. He’d held my hand just to help me. He would’ve done the same for anyone. It wasn’t because he liked me. Not likethatanyway.

During the walk I’d started to feel really comfortable around Max, but now I felt awkward again. I didn’t think I could manage speaking to him for the whole journey back to the hotel. Every time he looked at me my stomach fizzed with excitement and I couldn’t allow that to happen. I couldn’t risk getting hurt again.

If we kept on chatting, I’d probably say something stupid and embarrass myself. I just needed to focus on speaking to Max during the tasks and then stay away from him when they were over. If I did that, hopefully I’d get through this week unscathed.

‘I’m a bit tired,’ I said. ‘I’m going to have a quick nap.’

‘Oh.’ Max’s eyes widened a little. ‘Okay.’

I leant my head back on the seat and closed my eyes.

After what only seemed like ten minutes later, I heard my name being called.

‘Stell. Stella. Wake up.’

I slowly opened my eyes and saw people in the rows in front getting up from their seats.

‘We’re here already?’ I croaked.

‘Yep. So if you maybe want to lift your head up…’

‘My head?’

That was when I realised that it was resting on Max’s shoulder.

‘Oh, shit!’ I bolted up. ‘Sorry, I didn’t mean to fall asleep on you.’

I glanced at Max, my eyes wide, and was horrified to see there was dribble all over his shoulder.

So much for not embarrassing myself.

17

MAX

‘Don’t worry about it,’ I said. ‘Once I’d stuffed some tissue in my ears, your snoring didn’t seem so bad.’

‘I wassnoring?’ Stella’s eyes flew from their sockets.

‘Just gently. Y’know, like an elephant that’d swallowed a trombone.’ A smile tugged at my lips. ‘A lot of people complained, but the driver turned up the music and after that it was fine.’ When I saw the blood draining from Stella’s face, I realised she believed me. ‘I’m joking!’

‘Oh, thank God!’ She blew out a breath. ‘You’re so evil!’

‘Sorry, I couldn’t resist!’

‘I’ll let you off this time, only because of…’ She paused, reached in her bag and pulled out a tissue. ‘Sorry about… that.’ Stella dabbed the tissue on my shoulder, wiping away the tiniest bit of dribble.

Stella always used to dribble on my chest when she slept over. Didn’t bother me then and it didn’t bother me now.

Sounded weird, but in some ways, I liked it. It meant she was comfortable.

When her head had dropped on my shoulder, I thoughtabout saying something, but she was sleeping so soundly, I didn’t want to disturb her. Hearing her breathing so close to me was soothing. Just like when we held hands earlier.

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