Chapter 2

The group of five met up again by the entrance to the eating area and waited by the currently unmanned ‘please wait here to be seated’ sign. The restaurant consisted of a number of basic wooden tables and chairs arranged regimentally around an industrial-carpeted, characterless eating area. It was serviced by several equally characterless minimum-waged waiting staff who all appeared to be shivering from the lack of heat in the room.

“Table for eight please,” said Grace to the waiter when he finally shuffled over. “We’re expecting three more at some point.”

He nodded vaguely. “This way madam.” He robotically led them across to a large round table, stopped beside it and merely pointed at it. They hesitated, waiting for him to make his next move, but he remained fixed to the spot, looking as though he had completed his programmed duties.

Nathan shrugged to himself and pulled out a chair. “Boy girl boy girl, right?” he said as he sat between Charlie and Grace.

“I didn’t know you knew anything about etiquette,” remarked Rob as he sat the other side of Grace.

“I only know the important stuff, like when I get to sit between two women.”

Charlie grinned and Grace just smiled.

“You know, that’s the bit I always enjoyed about etiquette.” Rob grinned at Nathan. His grin dropped however when he realised that the seat to the right of him was as yet unoccupied. “Hang on a minute… If you’re between Grace and Charlie, that means I’ll have to sit next to one of Garry’s two lovely ladies. If what I remember of Nadine is anything to go by, I think I’ve been given a bit of a rough deal here.”

“You think Nadine’s bad? You’ve not met Lizzie yet,” Nick laughed.

Rob looked at him wide eyed. “She can’t be as bad as Nadine. Hey, is Nadine still a bit plump and got that dreadful streaked perm?”

“She certainly has.”

“And what’s this Lizzie woman look like?”

“A bit plump with a dreadful streaked perm. However, she has the added attraction of wearing thick newsreader glasses and being about 27 feet tall.”

Rob grimaced, and turned from Nick to Nathan. “How come you get between the two decent women?”

“Because I’ve known ‘em both longer,” Nathan stated firmly.

“I don’t care,” Rob argued. “I’m the guest. I should get first pick.”

“’Fraid not,” Nathan insisted. “You have to sit near the women you’ve known the longest so the women feel at ease. That’s how it works. Back me up ladies.”

“It’s true Rob” Charlie agreed, just because she wanted to keep Nathan next to her. “Just make sure you keep a close eye on…your assets. If you suddenly feel something making its way up your leg, be afraid.” Charlie raised her eyebrows as she reached for a bread roll from the basket in front of them.

Rob looked startled. “Are they really that bad?”

Charlie didn’t look up from buttering her roll. “Worse. Nadine is just desperately easy and Lizzie is a complete slapper who’ll do anything with a pulse. Preferably round the back of Woolies.”

Rob was taken aback by Charlie’s strongly negative opinion about two people she had chosen to go on a two week holiday with. He looked at Grace.

“Do I sense a hint of friction?”

“Absolutely,” Charlie cut in brightly before stuffing the roll into her mouth.

Rob still looked bewildered and Grace felt that, as Rob had volunteered himself to be a part of this trip, he deserved some kind of explanation. “Let’s just say that Charlie and Lizzie don’t exactly see eye to eye.”

“I see,” Rob began, but before he could ask any more questions, a waiter came across to their table and handed out menus.

At the sight of a list of food, conversation was temporarily forgotten. Rob’s first priority was to peruse the wine list, and after a moment’s consideration and without bothering to ask the others what they wanted, he instructed the waiter to bring them two bottles of Chablis and two bottles of an interesting looking Rioja Reserva that he’d spotted.

Grace looked on with admiration at his extravagant spending and his clear knowledge of good wines. For some reason he suddenly appeared to be even more attractive to her, but she couldn’t be sure whether it was his intellect or his Platinum Card that she found so alluring. “I’m impressed,” she told him as the waiter left.

Rob looked smug. “I hope you don’t mind me ordering for everyone, but I know my wine. I got a red and a white so they should go with whatever we chose to eat and I think I’ve made choices that will suit everyone.”

“Well, they’ll certainly suit me.” Grace scanned the menu for what she wanted to eat. “So, you’re a bit of a wine connoisseur then are you?”

“I just like the finer things in life,” Rob replied with a shrug.

“A man after my own heart,” Grace smiled.

Rob smiled to himself and gave her a sly admiring glance. “In more ways than one.” He saw Grace glance at him questioningly, but made no acknowledgement. “Anyway, you were telling me about the Charlie and Lizzie thing.”

Grace took a second or two to stop thinking about his previous comment. “Oh, yeah. Between the time of booking the trip and us actually going on it, there was something of a tiff. We used to get along reasonably well, I mean there was always a clear divide between ‘us and them’, but we used to go out for drinks and stuff and have a good laugh. The only problems lay with the fact that Lizzie is rather…authoritarian let’s say. She likes to be in charge and decide where everyone is going and when, etcetera. That could be ok, because she always arranged the trips and nights out and all we ever needed to do was turn up. I mean she even arranged this whole holiday, flights, hotel, car, the lot. But there were times when it became tedious, you know, there’s only so much of the bossy mother thing you can take before it starts to become tiresome.”

“So was there an actual row then?”

“You could say that,” Grace laughed. “As time wore on, it became clear that Charlie was losing patience rather quicker than the rest of us with Lizzie’s self imposed group rule. There were a few tense moments and choice comments exchanged on nights out, but the really big fall out didn’t happen until the night of Lizzie and Garry’s engagement do.”

Charlie glanced up at the mention of that fateful night. “Believe nothing she says Rob. It wasn’t my fault!”

Grace raised her eyebrows at Charlie. “Funny that, because I’m sure it was you who threatened to punch her lights out in front of both families.” Grace began to laugh at the thought of it.

“She asked for that,” Charlie defended. “She was totally rude to me.”

“Only because you told her that her party was… how did you put it? A big pile of shit that even old people would fall asleep at. That was it.”

“Well it was! There were about six people there and we were the only ones under 65. I dunno about you guys, but I don’t exactly consider spending the evening in a geriatrics’ disco eating semi frozen bulk-buy sausage rolls and dancing to Come On Eileen as the ultimate night’s entertainment. Besides, that comment was made after about twenty minutes of relentless ranting from her - it was completely in retaliation. Anyway, you lot sit there looking all innocent, but I seem to remember all of you had your say.”

Rob looked amused by what he had heard so far, and even more so at the thought of Grace becoming actively involved in a drunken fight. “You joined in?! You don’t seem the type.”

“No!” Grace glared at Charlie who stared back equally unyieldingly. “Ok, so maybe I said a few things, but not as bad as she did!”

“I’ll tell you the proper story,” Charlie cut in. “What happened was we all got invited to her party and we turned up at the time the invitation said but no one else was there. We sat for a bit and the disco struck up and despite the first record being some 80’s party ‘classic’, we all thought it would probably pick up as the night wore on. But time passed and the turn out was still as poor so we all decided to go to the pub, have a few there and then go back when it had got going. Problem was, we all got a bit pissed and ended up crawling out of the boozer at kicking out time. When we got back, she’d clearly noticed our absence, ‘cos instantly she started laying into us. The choice words Grace referred to were exchanged, I for some reason ended up squaring up to her despite the fact she’s about two foot taller and five stone heavier, then her mum kicked us out. That was the last time we saw or spoke to any of them until she phoned us to say Nadine’s bloke had dropped out. And that’s where you came in.”

Rob looked amused. “I see. So, how does the land lie at the moment?”

“Tense,” Grace replied. “We manage to be civil to each other…”

“You do you mean,” Charlie interrupted. “I’ve not had the pleasure as yet, and to be honest I can’t promise that I can be as courteous as you.”

“It’s only ‘til we get there,” Grace reassured. “I’m only being reasonable with her because I know we’ve got to go on this trip with them. As soon as we’re there we can leave them, and as soon as the holiday’s over, we never have to see them again if we don’t want to.”

Nathan looked at his watch. “Hey speaking of those three, where do you think they’ve got to? They should have been here hours ago.”

Charlie laughed. “Hopefully they’ve changed their minds or are staying elsewhere, but it’s more likely Garry has had to stop at every services on the M1 for Nadine to eat and piss.”

“True.” Nathan nodded then returned his attention to the menu.

The waiter returned to their table with Rob’s wine and took their food orders. The distraction provided Rob with the opportunity to break conversation with the other three and turn his attention solely back to Grace.

“So,” he began in a low voice. “Tell me some stuff about yourself.”

Grace blushed. “There’s really not much to tell.” She didn’t really want to talk about herself because they would inevitably get onto the subject of relationships and she didn’t want to tell him she had a boyfriend, even though Nathan had no doubt already told him.

“I don’t believe that for a minute. What do you do?”

“I’m a buyer at a clothing company,” Grace answered. “What about you? Charlie said something about you qualifying as a lawyer?”

“Yeah, two years ago.” Rob had no problem at all in talking about himself, but at this precise moment he was more interested in finding out all Grace’s vital statistics. “So, have you got your own place?”

“Yeah, I’ve got a little place. It’s not much but it’s nice to be away from the confines of the family home.” Please don’t ask me about boyfriends, she pleaded silently.

“Do you live there alone, or with Davey?” He said the name with a distinct sarcastic drawl.

Grace looked up with a start, surprised to hear him mention her boyfriend’s name. “Oh no. I don’t live with Davey. I don’t even see him that often.”

Rob nodded thoughtfully. “That’s good.”

Grace stared at him questioningly but he had already turned his attention to Charlie. “So Charlie, what do you do?”

Charlie looked up from a flirty conversation she was having with Nathan. “I work for a magazine. Only a small thing but it’s quite cool.”

“Interesting. Have you got your own place?”

“No, I still live with my Dad. I don’t mind though. Low rent, minimal bills, and my Dad is really cool so I pretty much have the run of the place. What about you?”

“I’ve got my own house,” he replied. “When we get back to England you can all come round and have dinner and see the place if you like.”

“Sounds good. So, are you excited about the trip then?”

“I am quite, yeah. I’ve been to America in the past – I studied out there for a year as part of my degree – but I’ve never been to Miami so that’s quite exciting.”

“I just hope Lizzie has booked us a decent hotel,” Grace cut in. “Anything less than four stars and I’m out of there.”

“Look well if we get there and she’s booked us into one of those trailer parks!” Nick joked to try and rile the girls.

Charlie raised her eyebrows. “She can get lost if she has. You wouldn’t catch me dead camping. My idea of roughing it is a hotel room without en-suite.”

“Absolutely,” Grace agreed whole-heartedly with a shudder. “This place is bad enough for me, thank you very much.”

Nathan looked at his watch again. “I don’t reckon them three are gonna show you know.”

“I hope not,” Charlie replied.

“They could be stuck in traffic,” Rob offered. “Maybe that incident we heard about on the radio has caused some trouble on the motorway.” He diplomatically used the word ‘incident’ to avoid setting Nick off again.

“What incident was that?” Grace asked.

Nick started to laugh again. “A condom lorry jack-knifed and, erm, dropped its load, if you’ll pardon the pun.”

“No way!” Charlie laughed. “I wonder what caused that?”

“Apparently there was another vehicle involved,” Nathan replied. “Probably one cut the other up. You know what it’s like.”

“Probably. Blimey, fancy being the car. Imagine telling that to your insurance hey? I wouldn’t fancy being that person.”

Her thoughts were violently broken by an all too familiar and all too piercing voice. “There you are!” shouted Nadine, pointing over at the group.

“Oh god,” Charlie groaned and slid down a little way in her seat. “I was hoping they’d got lost and had to stay somewhere else.”

“Yeah, like a prison cell,” remarked Grace as the others guests turned round with distasteful expressions on their faces.

Nadine came galumphing over wearing a pair of aqua coloured pedal pushers, which were mercilessly tight on her dumpy legs and backside. She flung her arms around Grace who flinched as Nadine creased her outfit. “Grace! It’s so good to see you!”

“Hi Nadine,” said Grace calmly as she released herself from the hug. “It’s nice to see you too.”

Nadine repeated the ritual all the way around the table with varying levels of enthusiasm and response. She reached fever pitch however when she reached Rob. “ROB!!!! Long time no see! How are ya chicken?” She went to hug him but he quickly stood up and shook her hand instead.

“Fine thank you,” he replied politely. “Yourself?”

“All the better for seeing you. It must be ten years since I last saw you!”

“It’s actually eight. I moved away eight years ago now. So, where is your brother?”

“He had to go toilet. He always likes to go for a big one after a long drive.”

“Right.” Rob was unsure how one should reply to statement like that. “So Nadine, what are you up to these days?”

She batted her eyelashes at him. “You know, you can call me Nads if you want. All me mates do.” She sighed and put her head on one side in an exaggerated fashion to look at him.

Grace decided it was time to cut in with her icy bitch tone of voice before Nadine had a chance to answer his question. “So Nadine, where’s Lizzie?” she asked.

“Her tampon leaked, she’s had to change her pants.”

Grace just froze. She could feel the other people in the restaurant looking across at their table. Charlie turned away to look at Nathan, trying her best to dissociate herself from Nadine.

Rob raised his eyebrows and slowly stood up. “Grace, would you care to help me get the drinks in?”

“Of course. We won’t be long.” She leapt up, glad not only of the opportunity to escape from Nadine but also to have a chance to speak to him in private. She followed him to the bar, leaving Charlie and Nathan to suffer Nadine alone.

Once they were out of earshot, Rob stopped by a large pillar and turned to Grace. “I see she’s not changed a bit.”

“Do you know her from before then?”

“I know Garry from way back. We went to school together, but we lost touch when I moved to London to go to university eight years ago. Nadine was usually at the house if I went round. I think she always had a bit of a thing for me.”

“Looks like she still has,” Grace replied bitterly.

Rob looked across at where Nadine seemed to be trying to make conversation with Nick, but Nick suddenly got up and walked off in the direction of the gents. “Oh dear. It looks like Charlie’s next in line to be bored to death. She’s an interesting girl incidentally – seems to have one or two anomalies in her personality.”

“How do you mean?”

“Well, one minute she’s complete class, then she’ll drop in a string of expletives totally out of the blue. It just doesn’t seem to fit.”

Grace laughed. “I know exactly what you mean. Charlie’s a contradiction in every way. She’s appears totally wild, yet she loves nothing more than a night in reading or watching some history programme. Sometimes you find her chatting with someone about politics or Shakespeare, then another time she’ll be bawling and shouting with a load of rowdy blokes in some boozer somewhere watching football. You see, Charlie is god’s little science experiment – born to a rich, classy, well-educated mother, raised by a football and beer loving van driver father. Somehow, she’s managed to adopt a clear half of each of them in her personality, and it can make for some very odd behaviour at times. Charlie actually has the psychological profile of a serial killer.” Rob looked startled and Grace laughed. “Insecure extrovert. Don’t worry, normal people can have that profile too!”

Rob looked impressed. “How come you know so much about this sort of stuff?”

Grace blushed at his interest.

“I studied Psychology at university.”

“Really? So, tell me about myself.”

Grace sighed. “Everyone always says that.”

“Ok.” Rob shrugged resignedly. “Why don’t you tell me about yourself instead?”

Nadine got up from her seat and went to sit next to Charlie in Nick’s seat. “How ya doing then?” she whimpered. “I’ve really missed our little girlie chats.”

“Girlie chats, hey?” Nathan was grinning in a ridiculing fashion at Charlie. “I didn’t know you were into girlie chats?”

Charlie just smiled sarcastically at him. “I’m fine thank you Nadine.” Her attention was caught by something to Nadine’s rear. “Or should I say I was fine.”

Lizzie came striding out of the ladies and headed for the table. On sight of Charlie and Nathan, she stiffened and adopted a matron-like stance as she reached them. “Hello both,” she said curtly.

Charlie didn’t bother to look up. “Lizzie.”

“Did you have a good trip?” Nathan asked brightly to try and cut through the thick atmosphere.

Lizzie looked at him. “Traffic was very bad – WASN’T IT Nadine?”

Nadine looked a little scared. “Erm, yeah. It was Lizzie.”

There was another painful lull in conversation. Lizzie picked up one of Rob’s bottles of Chablis and sniffed it. “Ooh. That smells strong. Looks like it’s a dry one as well. I prefer a nice Hock, me. That or a nice Lambrusco Bianco.”

Charlie sighed. “Peasant.”

Lizzie glared at her. “What did you say?”

Charlie glanced up. “I said it’s actually quite pleasant. Light. You know?” She flashed Lizzie a bright friendly smile.

Lizzie didn’t know how to respond, so she just replied with “I’m going to the bar to get a pint.”

“So what type of law do you specialise in?” Grace asked Rob, attempting to take the attention off herself. “Is it Criminal?”

“Acquisitions and Mergers actually,” Rob replied.

“Oh, interesting. Have you acquired and merged with anything recently?”

“No, but I feel a take-over bid coming on…” He looked deep into her eyes, but the moment was shattered by Lizzie bellowing “Hiya Robbie.”

Rob slowly raised his eyes from Grace up to Lizzie. “I prefer Rob actually. And you must be the delightful Elizabeth. Nice to meet you, I’ve heard a lot about you.” He shook her hand in the way that he would normally greet another man with none of his usual hand or cheek kissing gestures.

Lizzie turned reluctantly to Grace. “Grace,” she nodded.

Grace smiled politely. “How are you Lizzie? You look well.”

Lizzie looked disturbed by Grace’s kindness, unaware of the fact it was all completely false. “I’m okay thanks.” She paused again. “Ooh, come here! It’s lovely to see you!” She flung her arms around her and Grace flinched again, this time due to the vice like grip Lizzie had her in.

“I see you’re going ‘au naturel’ under the arms Lizzie.” Charlie sauntered over to the bar with Nathan as a ploy to escape Nadine.

Lizzie let go of Grace and let her arms drop to her sides. “Er, no I’m not. I’ve just been a bit busy lately and I’ve not had a chance to…”

“Don’t worry,” cut in Charlie. “I’m sure you’re not the only woman in the world who doesn’t care about how she looks.”

Garry joined them at the dining table just as the main course was arriving, in Puma tracksuit bottoms and a long sleeved white shirt with a pair of brown Brogues.

“That’s an interesting mix of styles there Garry,” said Nick as he started on a huge plate of sweet and sour chicken.

“Yes,” Charlie agreed. “Certainly an eclectic combination. You and Lizzie make a dashing couple this evening.”

“Really?” Garry replied in a deadpan way. He wasn’t as stupid as his sister and he knew when someone was taking the piss. “Can I have some of your dinner?” he asked Nick bluntly.

“Erm, no. I’m afraid not.”

“Oh, come on. I’m starving.” The distraction of Nick’s alluring dinner seemed to have made Garry completely oblivious to the fact that he had quite rudely failed to actually speak to anyone else at the table, including his old best friend he hadn’t seen for eight years.

“Nice to see you too Garry.”

Garry suddenly seemed to snap back into reality. “Huh? Rob! Long time, no see mate!” He stood up and approached Rob, giving him a hug and pat on the back. “My god! You look so well!”

Rob looked at Garry’s outfit and decided that it would not be appropriate to return the compliment. “How have you been?” he said instead.

“Oh, fine, fine. Getting married.”

Once again, Rob felt that even a lawyer couldn’t bend the truth enough to say he was a lucky man, so he replied “Yes, congratulations. Did you have a good journey down?”

Garry looked suddenly uncomfortable. “It was okay,” he replied, having been threatened with death should he mention their unfortunate scrape with the law. “Lots of traffic.”

“Did you get stuck in the condom traffic?” Nick asked.

Garry and Lizzie both froze and stared at Nick with alarm. “W…what do you mean?” Garry stammered.

Nathan stepped in before Nick went into a seizure again. “A condom lorry jack-knifed. We heard it on the radio.”

Garry shot Lizzie a wide-eyed look. “No, we didn’t hear about that.”

“Garry had diarrhoea.”

Everyone looked up at Lizzie’s seemingly irrelevant and rather unpleasant statement.

Garry looked even more confused than everyone else. “No I never.”

“Yes you did Garry, and we had to keep stopping so you could relieve yourself didn’t we? That’s why we were late. Wasn’t it?”

Garry suddenly twigged, but he looked no more enthusiastic about being at the centre of the rather embarrassing excuse. “Oh, yeah. That was it.”

Charlie looked at Lizzie belittlingly. “Well, thank you for sharing that with us. I’m sure Garry’s more than thrilled you told us all that.”

“Yeah, thanks Lizzie,” Garry agreed. He leaned in close to her. “Why does it have to be me that had the shits? Why can’t it be you hey? Or Nadine? Why does it have to be me?”

Lizzie just glared at him. “Because you were the one that caused the accident,” she hissed. “Now shut your mouth and get some food ordered.”

After everyone had eaten their main courses, the group temporarily disbanded, more than anything to escape the tense atmosphere, which clearly hung over them. Group discussion had been minimal during the meal, with the individual groups continuing to talk quietly amongst themselves. Eventually, Lizzie announced that she was going outside for a smoke and Nadine as usual accompanied her. Garry and Nick went to the bar, and Grace and Nathan both went off to the toilets, leaving just Charlie and Rob at the table.

“So,” Charlie began after a few moments. “What do you think?”

A smile began to appear on Rob’s face as he refilled both of their glasses. “Interesting. I suppose you could say we’ve enjoyed an insight into how the other half live. Needless to say, I think I’ve seen quite enough to keep me going for a long time now and am rather hoping to go in a separate direction to them when we arrive.”

“You and me both. I don’t know if I can cope with spending any sort of duration with them. I don’t mind Garry so much – I mean, he’s mega tight and a bit of a moaner, but he’s basically all right and takes relentless mocking on the chin, which is a bonus. As for the other two, Nadine drives me insane because she’s so bloody stupid and whiney, and Lizzie, well I’m finding it extremely hard just to be civil to her. I don’t know if I’ll be able to hold my tongue if she starts her usual interfering. The girl just makes my blood boil.”

“I’ve only spent about thirty minutes in her company, but I don’t think I’d have a great deal of difficulty in seeing why that is.”

They both laughed and paused their conversation to take a sip of wine. Charlie began to peruse the dessert menu. “You and Grace seem to be getting along well,” she said casually without taking her eyes off the menu.

Rob smirked to himself at Charlie’s obvious fishing. “She seems a nice girl,” he replied coolly.

“Yeah she is, she’s cool.” She paused for a moment, silently contemplating whether she wanted the blueberry pancakes and ice cream or the Manhattan Cheesecake. “She’s having a bit of trouble right now though, so she’s a bit quiet – not her usual self.”

“Oh?”

“Bloke trouble,” she elaborated. “Her boyfriend’s a bit of an arsehole. Actually, make that a lot of an arsehole.”

Rob smiled to himself at hearing such words coming from such an elegant and classy looking girl. “Really? What’s he like then?”

“He’s a total prick. His parents are loaded and he’s a typical bankrolled rich boy – went to an all boys grammar school, lives a totally charmed existence, and as a consequence he’s completely up his own arse. I have absolutely no idea what Grace sees in him or why she ever got involved with him in the first place. She could do infinitely better. Grace is classy, intelligent, fun to be around, and Davey is, well, none of the above.”

Rob raised his eyebrows. “He sounds delightful I must say. Tell me if I’m speaking out of turn, but I’ve heard a similar rumour about your own significant other and yourself. A little bird told me you’re in a similar position?”

Charlie smiled. “Yeah, I guess you could say the same of my situation. Adam’s from the same farm as Davey – rich folks, easy life, deeply conceited. You could say we share rather a lot of differences. I don’t know why I put up with him to be honest.”

Nathan returned to the table and their conversation was broken. Charlie looked up at him. “Hey mister, I hear you’ve been slagging off my charming boyfriend.”

Nathan looked from Charlie to Rob then back at Charlie again. “Not really. I just said that he didn’t treat you very well, that’s all.” He omitted from his confession all the negative descriptions he’d given and derogatory names he called him.

“I’m not fussed anyway. You can slag him off all you like – it’s all true.”

Grace returned to the table at that point, closely followed by Lizzie and Nadine. Lizzie plonked herself down in her seat and about choked everyone with the smell of stale cigarettes on her clothes.

Rob grimaced and turned in his seat away from her. “Would you like a top up?” he asked Grace as he refilled his own glass with wine.

“No, I think I’ll have water actually,” said Grace. “I think I’ve had quite enough for tonight.”

“I think I’ll join you,” said Charlie.

“Oh well, waste not want not!” declared Lizzie, reaching over and grabbing the bottle from Rob. “I mean, as I said earlier, given a choice I prefer a nice Blue Nun. But, seeing as we’ve only got this cheap stuff…”

She tipped the remainder of the wine into her empty Guinness glass.

Nathan looked at Lizzie and shook his head. “Talk about mixing drinks…”

After they had all eaten, they retired to the bar area to chat. “So, what time are we planning on leaving tomorrow then?” said Rob, putting his hands behind his head and relaxing into his seat.

“Zero five hundred hours,” said Lizzie without a moment’s hesitation.

Everyone’s eyes shot to her and Charlie’s almost glowed red as the first signs of Lizzie’s domination showed through.

“Five o’clock?” Rob repeated in disbelief. “Why are we going so early? The flight’s not ‘til 9 o’clock and the airport is only five minutes away. We don’t need a four hour check in, surely?”

“Well that’s when we’re going. I’ve already booked the taxis.”

Everyone looked at each other, unsure of quite how to react to her comments. No one wanted to leave at 5am, but no one really wanted to upset the applecart at such an early stage. No one, that was, except Charlie.

“Correction,” she butted in. “That might be when you’re going, but I’m still gonna be asleep at zero five hundred hours.”

“Me too,” said Nathan knocking back the rest of his drink.

“It is a bit early, Lizzie,” Grace agreed gently. “The whole point in having a stop over was so we didn’t have to get out of bed at an ungodly time. Surely we can string it out until sevenish? We’ll still be there in plenty of time.”

“I’ve booked the taxis for 5am,” Lizzie replied determinedly, folding her arms.

“Can we not rearrange?” Grace asked her.

“No, we can’t.”

Charlie sat back in her seat and folded her arms. “Well I’m not going anywhere at 5am.”

“This has got to stop right now,” commanded Lizzie. “Upstairs in my suitcase is a rigid time planner which we shall not be deviating from under any circumstances. If we do deviate, things are liable to go downhill rapidly.”

“They’ve already gone downhill and I’ve not even seen it,” said Rob sitting forward in his chair.

Grace, Charlie, Nick and Nathan looked at each other in disbelief at what Lizzie had just said.

“You’ve got a what in your case?” Nathan asked.

“A time planner. A fourteen day plan of what we will be doing and when.”

Charlie’s mouth dropped open. “You’re having a laugh!”

“A time planner?” Grace quickly cut in before Charlie got really abusive. “Surely it’s best to be spontaneous on holiday? We don’t want to be mapping out what we’re doing yet, do we? We might find there are other things we want to see and do when we get there.”

“The time planner makes optimum use of the time we have in Miami,” Lizzie replied. “It was devised and created using a Berlitz City Guide. I can assure you, I’ve missed no attractions out.”

“Well, thanks all the same but I think I’ll make my plans as I go,” Charlie stated.

“Yeah, and I think we’ll sort our own taxi out in the morning as well and meet you there,” Nathan added.

Lizzie looked incensed. “I thought I was handed responsibility for organising this trip?”

“You were,” Grace replied. “But…”

“But you don’t need to live it for us as well,” Charlie interrupted. “Yes, your booking etcetera is appreciated, but your job’s done now.”

Lizzie looked furious as she sat back in her chair and folded her arms. “We’ll see. And as for the morning, I’m afraid we’re leaving at 5 o’clock.”

Rob leaned towards her. “To be ready by 5am, I’ll have to get up at 3.30. I’m sorry, but that’s not happening.”

Lizzie turned to Garry. “Garry will be ready by 5 o’clock and he won’t be getting up ‘til 4.45, will you Garry?”

“With all due respect,” began Nick. “It’s obvious that Garry doesn’t get up until fifteen minutes before he leaves.”

Grace smirked at this. “Lizzie, why do we need to be ready by 5am?” she enquired calmly.

“Because it allows us maximum use of daylight hours.”

“What is this, a military sortie or something? We don’t need maximum use of daylight hours - we’re not solar powered.”

“That’s a good job,” muttered Rob in her ear. “Because most of my mergers are executed after the sun has set.”

Grace felt the familiar blush creep up her face again. She was about to reply when Charlie stood up abruptly. “Well, as much as I’d love to stay and debate this with you Lizzie, we have a long day ahead of us, so I’ll bid you goodnight. Anyone coming?”

Grace stood up quickly, glad of the opportunity to break away from the intensity of her exchange with Rob. Nathan and Rob looked at each other and quickly stood up. Nick followed slowly.

“Right. Have a lovely evening with your time planner you three,” Charlie smirked as they started to leave. “We’ll see you tomorrow at 7 o’clock.”

“I’ll phone you at 4.45 to make sure you’re up,” Lizzie bellowed acidly after them.

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