Page 21 of Best Mistake Ever
‘It was pretty funny though,’ she adds when I don’t immediately respond with a giggle of my own.
‘Okay, well, for goodness’ sake, don’t take any more of them. You shouldn’t use meds that aren’t prescribed for you, especially when I’m not there to look after you.’
‘All right, Bea, I know,’ she says crossly. ‘No need to mother me. I’m only telling you because it’s a funny story. And anyway, I was fine in the end. Jem looked after me.’
My friend’s face flashes into my mind and I can just picture the grim expression on his face, having to deal with a stoned – and what sounds like a potentiallyfrisky– Dee.
Poor Jem.
I’m going to owe him big time for this.
‘Anyway, then Dad turned up at your flat this morning. Just let himself in and strolled into the bedroom in his usual entitled way and he kind of got the wrong end of the stick about Jem being in bed with me.’
‘What!’ My exclamation is so loud, birds rise from the trees in alarm.
‘Don’t panic. Nothing happened. He stayed with me ’cos I got a bit anxious about being alone. Anyway, I didn’t want to tell Dad that Jem was only looking after me because of the mistake with the meds, so he’s now under the impression that we’re a couple and that you’re away in Scotland at a friend’s mum’s funeral rather than pretending to be me at my job at the hotel.’
‘Oh my God, Dee.’ I shake my head at the sky in utter bewilderment at my sister’s innate ability to get herself into these ridiculous scrapes. Which she’s now dragging me into too.
Before I can say anything else, Dee says, ‘Dad actually came over to invite you and me on a business trip with him. Apparently, he’s been trying to woo this hotshot billionaire so he’ll invest in his business and sit on the executive board or something, which will be a major coup for Dad. The guy’s a real family man, apparently, and makes a point of only working with people who have similar family values to him. As you can imagine, that’s a bit of a stretch for Dad to prove. The man’s not exactly father-of-the-year material.’
‘That’s a little unfair, Dee,’ I say, though with less conviction than I’m sure my dad would want to hear. He’s been good at paying for anything we need, but he’s not exactly the touchy-feely type and the most attention we ever got from him when we were young was when he was giving us lectures about our future prospects. I know he loves us both, but he has a real problem showing it. His own dad was the same – emotionally restrained – or so our mum told us.
‘Dad clearly thinks the guy needs persuading otherwise,’ Dee continues, ignoring my interjection, ‘so he wants us to go to this billionaire’s swanky private Greek island, where we’ve been invited to join him for the weekend. Obviously, you can’t go cos you’re “in Scotland”, so he’s reluctantly suggested he and I gowithout you. He’s promised me he’ll pay off my student loan with some of the money he makes from this deal if I pretend to be a doting daughter while we’re there. And,’ she continues, before I can respond to this lunacy, ‘because Jem’s now my “boyfriend”, he’s asked him to come too, no doubt thinking Jem will keep me in line.’
‘What!’ I say again. ‘Why can’t this wait till I’m “back from Scotland”?’
‘It’s time sensitive apparently because the billionaire’s off to some important summit, then climbing Everest or some such idiocy and Dad needs to lock in this deal before one of his business rivals gets in there first.’
‘Right. I see.’ I’m not sure how I feel about this, but it’s not like I have the option to scupper it. I have to be here at the festival all weekend. I can’t just walk away now and leave Jonah in the lurch. ‘What about your ankle?’
‘I’ve got some crutches and Jem will be able to help me if I need someone to lean on.’
I can’t imagine Jem’s wild about the idea of spending the weekend with Dee pretending to be her boyfriend and skivvy, but I imagine he thinks it’s better to stay on my dad’s good side. I wonder why he didn’t put my dad straight about the misunderstanding though? He must have a good reason. I’ll text him in a minute and check he’s really okay with all this.
‘I can’t believe this is all happening right now. Talk about bad timing,’ I grumble.
‘I’m not exactly thrilled about it either, you know,’ Dee says, tetchily. ‘But this is the first time Dad’s ever asked for my help and I want to show him I’m a worthy part of this family too.’
I sigh. ‘Yeah, fair enough. But, please, Dee, you have to look after Jem while you’re there. Be kind. And no monkey business, you get me?’
‘I promise,’ Dee says in her most solemn voice.
I’m not entirely sure whether to believe her, but I guess I really don’t have a choice.
As soon as Dee cuts the call, I text Jem.
Are you really okay to go on this trip with my dad and Dee? You can say no, you know. And what’s this about you and Dee pretending to be a couple?!?!
His reply comes back a minute later.
It’s fine. I’m happy to help. I assume Dee told you what happened? She begged me not to tell him the truth and I felt sorry for her, so I agreed. I didn’t think it would be a big deal to go along with it, then pretend we’d broken up the next time I saw him. What I didn’t anticipate was your dad inviting us to go away for the weekend with him. I couldn’t backtrack on it by then for fear of looking like an idiot. He’s not a man I want to get on the wrong side of. Conversely, he IS someone I’d quite like to owe me a favour. Plus, I’ve never had the opportunity to visit a private Greek island. I’m planning on sizing up the area for when you and I make our millions and we’ve got some spare cash to splash around ;-)
I smile, relieved he doesn’t seem too put out by all this nonsense and text back:
Well thanks. You’re a good friend and I appreciate you looking after Dee. I owe you big time for all this.
No sweat
