Page 68 of The Suite Life
‘What can I say? My mystery wedding date is well and truly hooked,’ I brag. ‘I can get anything I want.’
‘No way,’ Sunshine blurts. ‘I mean, this is all nice and all, but don’t exaggerate.’
‘Okay then, tell me something you want?’ I suggest.
‘What?’ she blurts back.
‘Tell me something you want,’ I say again. I turn to Lucy. ‘Lucy, it’s your special week, tell me something you would love to have here right now.’
Lucy laughs as she racks her brains for a moment.
‘Oh, I don’t know – a grilled cheese sandwich and a massage,’ she says.
‘Back in a sec,’ I say simply, heading inside.
I peep out of the window, to see their reaction. Mum and Lucy are excited but Sunshine is currently morphing into her alter ego – Thunder.
I head back outside and plonk myself on my sunlounger.
‘And now we wait,’ I say.
‘Yeah, okay, we’ll see,’ Sunshine says.
‘What’s going on?’ Dad calls out from the water, looking quite the picture of relaxation on his inflatable unicorn.
‘Gigi is getting us massages and sandwiches,’ Mum calls back. ‘She can get us anything we want. Is there anything you want?’
‘More inflatables,’ he calls out. ‘They’re my reason for living – they’re keeping my head above water.’
I smile to myself smugly. I already guessed that he would say that.
‘Well, this is exciting,’ Mum says. ‘And it’s so nice, to spend time together – I feel like I’ve hardly seen you, Gigi – although maybe I’m just used to seeing more of you, because you’ve been living with us since, oh… er… Anyway, it doesn’t matter, it’s going to be great, to spend the day together. Let’s just focus on now, and all have a lovely day together, yes?’
I think about what Donnie said, about how important it is to make time for family, and I feel bad that I have plans for the rest of the day. Although I suppose, now that Lucy has met Donnie, and that he’s going to be at the wedding, there’s no reason I can’t invite the family to join us. We’re only planning on going for a drink anyway.
‘I’m supposed to be meeting a friend this afternoon – Donnie, the one who is going to be playing the guitar at the wedding,’ I explain.
‘He’s a bit of all right, isn’t he?’ Lucy points out in hushed tones – well, she is soon to be a married woman, after all. ‘I wasgutted when I realised he wasn’t your wedding date. The two of you look great together.’
‘Oh, really?’ Mum sings curiously, a knowing smirk on her face. ‘I look forward to meeting this Donnie then.’
I avert my gaze, so that she can’t see me, because my mum has always had this way of reading me like a book. I’m not giving her anything – not yet.
‘So, what are the two of you doing?’ Mum asks. ‘Anything nice?’
‘Will I be jealous?’ Lucy chimes in.
I don’t know about that, but Sunshine looks so angry, you could almost mistake her rabid jealousy for sunburn.
‘We’re going to the gold bar, for a drink – you guys should come and join us?’
‘Really?’ Lucy squeaks. ‘I didn’t think we were allowed in there?’
I shrug with a seriously cool level of casualness.
‘I’m sure it will be fine,’ I say simply. ‘When we’re done here, if you want to go back to your rooms and get changed, we can all meet there. If you fancy it, that is. It’s just a bar.’
‘Just agoldbar,’ Lucy corrects me.
