Learning to Fly - 36

Chapter 36 - What to do?

Carly woke the following morning and stretched, she ached in so many places. The thought brought a smile to her lips, and she rolled over to watch Lucas deep in sleep next to her. He was so beautiful in sleep, his long lashes brushing his cheeks, that unkempt hair that was so endearing. Today was judgement day for Carly and she rued the fact that this could be the last time she woke with him like this. 

There was so much to work out, and she feared that Lucas would bolt once she pushed him, but she'd realised the previous day that she was no longer willing to put everything on gold until he decided if she was the one he changed his life for. His strange reaction to visiting his family had surprised her, but had also given her the bonus of realising that it wasn't her in this scenario, he seemed to have this lack of commitment or responsibility for everyone, not just her. He was rejecting his family too. All this made her realise that HE had to change. And she was only part of that. 

She loved him, but she loved herself too. She owed herself the future she wanted. Her mother was right, if he loved her too, if it was meant to be, then it would work. Somehow over the last two days, basking in the attention and desire of Lucas, she had re-found her wanderlust. 

She stroked a finger over the contour of his cheek and one eye half opened, his face transforming into a smile, God he's so gorgeous she confirmed. He winked before surprising her, throwing himself over her, trapping her against the bed. 

Giggling she succumbed to his advances.

Much later they dressed, and headed out into the bleak wet day. 

"This is why I want to get to sunnier climes," Carly smiled, interlinking her fingers with Lucas' as they hopped to across the pavement avoiding the large puddles. 

He laughed, "that's why I love Austria, snow is more beautiful than rain."

"Snow always turns to rain!" she warned, but let that one go.

They'd decided on a restaurant to take her parents to that evening, an Indian restaurant across the small town. There wasn't a great amount of choice, but it did have a great reputation. 

"I need to check up on my emails," she told him once they'd had breakfast in a small cafe. Really she wanted to start trawling the Internet for long haul flights, in the hope that he'd feel a pang of jealousy. Somewhere behind his stubbornness was an adventurous man, she just knew that. 

Her family home was empty, both parents were at work, so she put on a pot of coffee and some music, and they both settled at the kitchen table, Lucas reading a couple of newspapers, catching up on the football world he'd turned his back on four years earlier, Carly to open up her laptop.

She had thirty emails, it had been a while since she'd had the motivation to log on and check. Some were junk and spam, but amongst them were an email form Millie in Boston, she'd been devastated that her father had cancelled their trip back to the resort, also there were two from Camilla, and an email from Marta. 

She opened Marta's first, and chuckled at the stories of the chaos that occurred in the  creche, Rochelle was pregnant, her and Franz had only been thinking about it and she'd caught straight away, but then came the real reason for her contacting Carly, her and Bernard had set the date for their wedding.  They'd chosen a date six weeks away, and after that they were both heading off to Australia. They had jobs in a Sydney hotel that Herr Konig was opening in a few months time. Their wedding was in Salzburg, at one of the smaller churches there, then a reception in a small hotel. Marta wanted Carly there more than anything.

She was pondering how that fitted into her time when Lucas glanced up, "what's wrong?"

She told him about the invite, "seems like I'll have to travel after that.

"What's wrong with  travelling in Europe first? Take in some of the cities in Estonia, Latvia or Czech Republic, places you wouldn't normally visit."

Carly nodded, "great idea, but a whole different wardrobe to one needed for India, Singapore or Australia. There's only so much I can carry!"

"And a flight from Salzburg to Scotland, a few day stop off..." he shrugged, "hardly difficult."

She glanced at him again, and saw the sceptical look on his face, "are you trying to make me jealous?"

Carly chuckled, "no! I'm just thinking aloud. You asked me what I was pondering if you remember." As he nodded and turned back to his paper she added, "not my fault if you find the thought of three months on hot beaches in only swimwear makes you a little envious. There'll be plenty of people there thought, so don't worry I won't be alone!"

The comments landed on a silence, but she knew his lack of response meant he was struggling to digest it. She laughed inside and returned to her emails. Camilla was coming back to London in a week and wanted to meet up for a few days, that was another thing to add to her schedule. Suddenly her future was mapping itself out again. Penning a quick reply she promised to call Camilla to discuss dates, then closed the computer. 

"I'm just going to get some better Cd's from my bedroom."

As she made to leave, he glanced up, "I doubt there's anything better! I know your taste!"

Indignant she stood with her hands on her hops and laughed, "who died and made you King of Cool?" His laugh made her stop again. "Ok then will.i.am, you pick some music."

He followed her upstairs and instantly Carly felt a tinge of regret, her room was still decorated as it had been when she was a teenager, complete with Take That stickers around her mirror and Back Street Boys pictures glued to her wardrobe doors! As the door opened, he burst out laughing, "Oh My God!"

Holding her head high she ignored his giggles as she opened a cupboard next to her bed that was rammed full of Cd's. As he browsed his laughter subsided. 

"Ok, ok. I'll presume that you're music choices have matured along with the rest of you!" 

Poking out her tongue she pulled out her favourite CD of the moment, Fleetwood Mac Rumours, and left the room. She was well into Dreams by the time he joined her, a stack of six Cd's in his hands. 

"Can you copy these on your laptop?"

She burst out laughing, "so says the man who questioned my musical taste?!"

Laughing they sat back down and Carly spent the rest of the day singing along to so many songs loudly.

As they made their way to the Indian restaurant that night, Carly reminisced on what had been a simple yet wonderful day with him, proof that just hanging out in each other's company was more then enough, they didn't need to hide behind trips to pubs or cinema. As time went on she became more and more aware that they were compatible. She just had to prove that to him, somehow. And time was running out.

Her mother giggled around Lucas like a school girl, and she could tell that her father was equally as taken with her. After the meal, spicy curry with rice and several Indian beers, they meandered home via their local pub. And there too Lucas was the centre of attention. A lot of people knew Carly and all wanted to meet this handsome stranger who was more charming than most expected. 

her parents left them around ten, but Carly could tell Lucas was enjoying himself chatting to the dozen or so old school mates who'd gathered to sit around the open fire in the lounge of the pub to chat. It was after eleven that they left and made their way back to the hotel dark streets. 

In the hotel room they changed for bed, a more somber affair than the previous evenings when they'd ripped each other's clothes off in the heat of passion, tonight, they changed into pyjama's and slid beneath the sheets from opposite sides. When Lucas reached for her hand, Carly went willingly,but she couldn't hide the tears that trickled down her face. Lucas swiped them away with his thumbs, but where she wanted to hear 'I love you' or 'we'll work this out', she met silence. 

The next morning Carly insisted on driving him to the airport in her old beat up two door economy car, his rucksack filled the backseat. As they waited at the entry to the departure lounge, she managed to fight the tears, but as he heard his flight call he pulled her into his arms for a goodbye kiss, she hissed against his lips.

"I hate you Lucas Slater! I hate you for running away like this!"

He looked at her with a stunned expression, "Carly?"

But she was stepping back, viewing him through a veil of tears, "I can't believe you're doing this! I can't believe you can't love me!"

With that she turned and ran, and it was a long time before the tears stopped.

Camilla called and arranged for them to meet in London the following week, a real interlude, then Carly had to think hard. Did she got to Salzburg with all it's memories and the proximity to Lucas for Marta and Bernard's wedding? Or did she head off away from all that to start anew, maybe catching up with them when they started their new jobs in Australia? She didn't know. But she did know that Camilla would bring news. She'd avoided contacting Lucas, and other than a few unanswered calls, there was no contact from him, but Carly knew that he'd have spoken to Camilla, if he wanted to speak to her, see her. 

Carly was stood at the Arrival Hall with a big balloon and a 'Welcome home Camilla' banner as she spotted her extremely blond friend sashaying through the throng of people. When she saw the banner she burst out laughing, one drunken evening she'd confessed that she'd love to have a welcome committee when she came home from a trip, like you saw on TV or at the movies, but her father usually sent his driver to get her, not even coming himself.

"Oh Carly! I LOVE it!" She hugged her friend before taking the balloon and giggling. "I really do love you! You're THE best!"

The two walked towards the station to connect to London, "so what have you got planned for the next three days?"

Camilla found a bench on the platform and sighed, offloading her bags, "well Daddy dearest has begged me to come back to discuss...and I quote 'the future', which I'm worried might mean another potential beau!"

Carly nodded, "and you're hoping that he'll act a little less dictatorial if I'm around? Glad to be off help!" Despite her words she wasn't angry.

"I can't deny that you will be a sweetener, but I have missed you cherub! I really have!"

There was no one in the Kensington home, which was a virtual palace. So Carly followed Camilla to the spare bedroom and dumped her bags. An hour later they were in a local wine bar, toasting absent friends and reminiscing about their times together as reluctant roommates

"So..." Camilla finally asked the question that had been on her mind since seeing Carly at Heathrow. "What happened with Lucas? He told me he was coming to visit you. How was it?"

Carly groaned then turned to her friend, "best sex in the world, but despite declaring my undying love, he left me to go back to the most important thing in his life, his job!"

"Ah!" Camilla looked awkward as she tried to think of a reasonable solution.

"Don't worry Cam, I'm done with it all. I'm planning my big travel trip, he doesn't want to come, so I'll just have to do it alone."

"You're strong and independent." 

"I know!" Carly found herself announcing before adding angrily, "but I wanted this to be something I didn't do alone for a change. The bastard!"

Camilla's hand on her forearm caused her to smile, "if it's any consolation he looks like shit, that's why I asked how it went."

"No real help!" Carly announced sadly.

A while later after several more glasses of wine, they were both tipsy and giggling, but as they waited for a waiter to bring them the food they'd ordered, Carly found that Lucas was too much of an invasion to her calmness. 

"I love him Cam!"

Camilla froze, then turned to look at her friend, "you do? does he love you?" When Carly shrugged, she broke into a smile, "then we have to do something about that! We need a plan Carly dearest, and I am the one to help! Operation 'Catch that Man!'"