Charlie
“Hi, welcome to Sarah’s, I’m Nick, how can I help you today?”, called the far too cheery man behind the desk as I approached.
“Hi,” I replied putting a print-out of my booking on the desk, trying my hardest not to be rude when all I wanted to do was curl up in a dark room and shut out the rest of the world. The man’s smile never faltered as he turned the paper towards him and tapped my booking number into his computer.
“The honeymoon package, for Mr and Mr Hope-Spring,” I inwardly groaned at hearing that name. “Is the other Mr Hope-Spring on his way?”
“Erm, he’ll be coming separately,” I lied hoping this would put the man off asking any more questions and let me get to my room.
“Okie dokie, if you’d like to follow me, can I carry your bags for you?” Nick asked as he skipped round to my side of the desk, like an overexcitable puppy.
“Why, do you think I’m too small and weak to carry it myself?” I snapped causing him to immediately recoil from me and stammer, “No…No, I just wanted to help,” now I felt bad, I knew he was just trying t be helpful but I wasn’t in the mood for his far too perky attitude.
“Your, room’s this way Mr Hope-Spring,” Nick dejectedly said as he turned away to lead me to my room.
We passed down a corridor of doors until we reached a large door at the end leading outside. Sarah’s was a combination of small hotel and private villas. I’d booked their honeymoon package as a surprise for Ben, it included a two week stay in a private villa and a number of couples experiences. I knew he’d appreciate the privacy as he was never too big on being together in public.
We were supposed to get married yesterday, then fly overnight to arrive this morning. Just 24 hours ago I was so happy, Ben and I had been together since we were teenagers. We met when at secondary school when I was in year 10 and he was in the year above. After sixth form he took a gap year, telling me it was so we could go through university together. His parents paid for a flat for Ben to stay in close to the university campus, and we lived together for all 3 years of our courses.
On our graduation day, Ben proposed. He didn’t get down on one knee, or make a big show in front of everyone, we were just getting ready that morning and he said to me, ‘Do you want to get married?’. That was 6 months ago, I’d agreed, and we booked a simple private ceremony, that didn’t surprise me, Ben and I always kept our relationship fairly quiet, so it didn’t surprise me when he said he wanted the wedding to be ‘just us’. He didn’t even want us to tell anyone until after we were marred either, which I didn’t really understand but accepted.
About a month ago, I’d decided to tell my best friends, Elle, Tao and Isacc, about our wedding. They had never been fans of Ben, after a big fight with them a few years ago over our relationship had become pretty strained so I just stopped talking about Ben with them. They didn’t understand why they weren’t invited to the wedding, I tried to explain to them how Ben and I thought it would be romantic to not invite anyone else but they weren’t convinced. Tao even accused Ben of ‘trying to keep me away from them’. Elle said she was ‘happy for me’, but there was definitely a tinge of sadness to her words.
The morning of the wedding, I was waiting at the registry office for Ben to arrive when I received a message from Tao.
Tao {9:35}: Charlie, I know it’s your wedding day, but…
Charlie {9:36}: What?
Tao {9:42}: I swear I want to be happy for you, but I think Ben might be cheating on you
Charlie {9:42}: No, you’re lying, I thought you were supposed to be my friend!
Tao {9:43}: I am your friend
Charlie {9:43}: Ha, some friend
Tao {9:44}: I saw him
Tao {9:47}: with a girl
Charlie {9:48}: She could have been a friend
Tao {9:50}: He was kissing her, and it didn’t look like a friend way
Charlie {9:57}: No, you must be wrong, it can’t have been my Ben
Tao {10:00}: I didn’t want to have to show you this Charlie
Tao {10:01}: * New reel received *
I watched the reel he sent 3 times before it sunk in. Tao wasn’t wrong, there he was, my Ben, kissing a girl. Not just any girl, it was Imogen Heaney. Ben and her had dated for a few months in school before we got together. I didn’t know what to do, Ben was due to arrive any minute. I could have confronted him, found out why he did it, but I couldn’t bare to think of what if he’s been seeing her this whole time. He never talked about her, or about anyone to me really, when we were together he liked to keep everything about me and him.
No, I couldn’t deal with this right now, I had to get out of there, before Ben arrived, I had to run.
That’s how I now found myself, alone and outside a small but adorable little villa in Menorca.
Nick opened the door to the villa and held it for me as I walked inside. Once I was just inside the door, I came to a sudden stop, I’d forgotten everything that was included in the Honeymoon package. The giant-four poster bed had red rose petals scattered on it in the shape of a heart, there were heart-shaped balloons anchored with strings guiding you towards it and there was an ice bucket with a bottle of champagne resting inside.
Up until that moment I’d managed to hold myself together, but seeing the villa like that broke me. I collapsed to my knees and starting sobbing harder than I ever had before. I couldn’t stop myself, the tears just kept flowing. I felt a strong pair of arms wrap themselves around me and I sank into them and just cried and cried until I couldn’t cry any more.