Page 33 of Bad Influence
As Jimi leant in closer, I could feel his breath on my neck. I blinked.
‘Are you okay?’ he asked. ‘Thank God. I thought you were completely out for a moment.’
I sat up onto my elbows and immediately felt a burning sensation on my upper lip. I moved my tongue to it and tasted blood. I put my hand to my face, to the source of the hot sensation, and when I moved it away there was fresh blood on my fingers, confirming my fear.
This feels bad. Really bad.‘What have I done?’ I asked shakily, my eyes fixed on Jimi. ‘Itreallyhurts.’
‘You slammed down a weighted ball and it bounced straight back up and whacked you in the mouth,’ Jimi said, his concerned expression panicking me further. He even looked hot when panicked. ‘You’ve got a fat lip.’ He winced.
I moved my tongue upwards again. Things definitely felt bigger than normal up there. ‘How bad does it look?’ I asked, my eyes wide with fear. Jimi didn’t say anything. ‘Tell me, honestly – on a scale of one to ten?’
‘Probably six?’ he said in an airy tone that fooled neither of us. ‘Make that nine. I’ll grab you some ice.’
‘It’s stinging.’ I cringed, my hand lifted to meet my lip again as a perfectly round drop of bright red blood landed on my leggings.
‘I’m not surprised. You look like you’ve done a round with Anthony Joshua. You’re lucky you didn’t knock your front teeth out,’ he called over his shoulder as he left the gym. ‘I’ll get a compress too. Philippa must have a first-aid kit in the house.’
I was still thinking about the call with Rob last week when I had reached for the medicine ball. I vaguely heard Jimi ask something about whether I had used this type of ball before, which I thought I had. I clearly didn’t think about not slamming it down unless I was ready to catch it. The heavy ball had bounced straight back up and whacked me in the mouth at close range, throwing me backwards.
Amber, you clumsy fool.
I should have known better because I already knew that celebrity-style gyms didn’t agree with me, following an unfortunate incident at Soul Cycle in New York last year. It involved me falling off a static bike and injuring myself midway through a class, because I was too busy trying to stalk the Victoria Beckham–lookalike on the station next to me, rather than listening to the litany of instructions and affirmations being shouted out by the instructor. Disappointingly, it turned out to be VB’s doppelgänger, and I had the humiliation of being sent out of the class to sit in reception with a banging headache, a glass of water, and a badly bruised ego.
Today, I found myself in a similar predicament, having zoned out of listening to Jimi’s commands, because the thought of Rob being in contact with Emily had filled me with a discombobulated feeling that no amount of weighted squats could shift. I hadn’t felt this jealous since Vicky got the last pair of Chloé ankle boots in our size in the Outnet sale. And now my lip was throbbing too.
I had a visceral feeling that I wanted to cry, and I wanted Rob to comfort me.
A few minutes later Jimi returned with a champagne bucket filled with ice and a damp cloth.
‘It’s the best I can do.’ He leant down and gently held the icy cloth against my lip. ‘It’s going to swell a bit and then I’m sure you’ll have a nasty bruise. But you’ll only look hideous for a day or so.’
‘Thanks for letting me know,’ I muttered.
‘You’re lucky it wasn’t worse,’ he said more sympathetically.
‘What is Mandy going to say?’ I winced, as the cold ice sent a shiver down my back. ‘We’re shooting today. This is a disaster. I’m such an idiot!’
‘Idiot you might be, but your lip will heal. It won’t look so bad once the swelling’s gone down. Perhaps you can convince Mandy that purple’s this season’s lip colour?’
I smiled and then grimaced as my lips refused to do what they were supposed to.
‘Wow – you reallyareQuasimodo.’ Jimi pulled away from me jokingly.
‘Stop it. I can’t laugh, it hurts!’
‘That’s better. What was going on with you then? You seemed miles away.’
I slumped backwards to lean against the wall. I was feeling slightly lightheaded now too, I needed breakfast. Thinking about Rob again, the tightness returned, it felt as if something heavy was pressing down on me and I didn’t have the energy to push it off.
‘Oh, just boyfriend stuff,’ I mumbled.
‘Did he dump you?’ Jimi asked. ‘You really are having a bad morning.’
I wanted to laugh but didn’t dare, for fear of ripping my lip open further.
‘No, he didn’t dump me,’ I replied. ‘Would you be a little more sympathetic if he had?’ I was conscious of the fact that I was avoiding making eye contact, because he still looked like a model, and I was paranoid about the state of my face. ‘We just had a misunderstanding about something on the phone this morning. We’ll work it out.’
Then another face came into view behind Jimi.
