architecture was beautiful, the craftsmanship magnificent, but the energy? She couldn’t feel it. What she could feel was the vibration of her phone from the bag around her waist. Samantha resisted the urge to unzip the pocket and read David’s latest text message. Whipping out a mobile phone in an ancient, sacred temple seemed somewhat crass, even in a city mobbed by selfie sticks.
Besides, she knew what David wanted to know. The same thing he’d asked yesterday, and the day before that. Where was she? What was she doing? Who had she met?
She understood his need to stay in contact. She was on an adventure in a faraway land, and he wanted to be part of her journey. She just wished he’d give her some space and some time to process what had happened between them. A frown creased Samantha’s forehead. David and space were not two words that went together. Even before Lizzie’s prognosis and their plans to travel, David had hated sharing her. She could spend all day working by his side and all evening in his flat, and he’d still want more.
It was one of his worst qualities. She’d loved him for it once, maybe she still did, but it was getting harder to ignore the childishness of it. She still remembered the time when she’d rescheduled their quiet night in to catch a West End show with Lizzie and her parents, and he hadn’t spoken to her for two days.
Part of her understood his game. The reason for his timings. He’d wanted to do something to ruin her trip, to ensure that he was never far from her thoughts. But why couldn’t he have proposed instead? After all, her belongings were neatly boxed in the corner of the living room, ready to be moved to his flat when she returned. More than that, she loved him. David was everything she wasn’t: suave, sophisticated, romantic and good-looking. It was easy to ignore his slightly short stature; easy to thank the waiters herself when he placed their orders without a polite word.
Samantha’s legs buckled for a second as she stepped onto the platform at the top of the central prang, tugging her thoughts back to the present. For the first time, she looked around properly – the view over the city was breathtakingly beautiful. She felt Lizzie’s arm loop through hers, Jaddi standing on the other side of her. Her heart started to race. How many years had they talked about this and now here they were. Their dream of seeing the world together was coming true. For the first time, she managed to forget the camera lens and all those people at home watching her.
Samantha
Twenty minutes later, the blue sky had turned lilac and the pain in Samantha’s legs had dulled to a throbbing ache. Impatience niggled in Samantha’s thoughts. It was time to start the descent, to get back to the hostel and change before heading back out into the bustling city for cold beers and noodles. Samantha turned to ask Lizzie how much longer but the question died on her lips. The look on Lizzie’s face, mesmerised by the panoramic view, was enough for Samantha to keep the question in her head. Her friend wasn’t ready to leave.
Samantha thought of the rooftop bar the previous evening and Lizzie’s stricken face when the heavy grey clouds of a thunderstorm had rolled across the sky. She thought she knew everything about Lizzie, but Samantha didn’t know why sunsets seemed so important all of a sudden, or why Lizzie seemed to be scrutinising the view as if she was scanning a group of people, looking for a familiar face. Samantha opened her mouth to ask, but closed it again. Lizzie would tell them when she was ready.
‘Why do you like to watch the sunsets?’ Ben asked, mirroring Samantha’s thoughts. Ben sat down beside Samantha, and with his back to the view he leant outwards, angling the camera at Lizzie’s face.
Samantha looked at Ben for a moment. Despite his harsh words on the plane, he was growing on her a little. He’d helped with Lizzie’s seizure, and he’d never barged into their room at the hostel without knocking first and giving them fair warning. She’d caught him smiling at their jokes a few times too.
But Ben wasn’t smiling now. Despite the camera pointing at Lizzie, his eyes had moved to the drop beyond the ledge. His eyes widened, his forehead creased. He swallowed hard; she could tell by the way his Adam’s apple lifted up then dropped back down. Was he scared of heights?
‘It’s beautiful,’ Lizzie whispered.
Samantha waited for Ben to ask another question, but instead he waited, the camera fixed on Lizzie’s face. It reminded Samantha of a police interview technique she’d read about once. Three sentences in a hundred-page policy briefing document. Samantha couldn’t remember what the report had been about, or any other information within in, but for some reason those three sentences had stuck in her mind. Silence was an unnatural state for human beings. If a question was left hanging, then more often than not, the other person felt obliged to speak. A useful technique for police interrogations, and documentary makers it turned out.
‘I want to find the place in the world with the most beautiful sunset,’ Lizzie added.
‘Do you think this is it?’ Jaddi asked, looping her arm around Lizzie as Ben zoomed in on their faces, then turned, traversing the shadowed buildings of Bangkok as the tip of the sun disappeared from view, leaving behind a spectacle of pink and purple.
‘It could be.’ Lizzie smiled. ‘Ask me again on day ninety.’
Samantha’s throat tightened. Day ninety. Samantha had never deluded herself. Ninety days, it wasn’t long. But now they were here, the days were disappearing like grains of sand slipping through the gap in a timer. Samantha desperately wanted to slow it down, but she knew she couldn’t. In the blink of an eye they’d be at day twenty, sixty, ninety. She reached for Lizzie’s hand and felt it tighten around her own.
As if on cue, light poured out of the temple around them, basking every inch of the walls in a soft orange glow. Lizzie sighed and stood up. ‘Come on, let’s go back. I’m famished.’
Samantha looked up from her steaming plate of market food and watched Jaddi, head bent over her mobile and scrolling furiously. Couldn’t she ever just relax and enjoy the lights, the buzz, the smells of this vibrant city?
‘Oh my God.’ Jaddi’s voice rang with excitement as she drew her phone closer to her face. ‘You’re not going to believe this.’ Jaddi pulled her eyes away from her mobile and glanced at Lizzie and Samantha.
‘What?’ Lizzie asked.
‘I’ve just checked our Facebook page and there are thousands of comments from people wishing us good luck.’
‘That’s nice,’ Lizzie said, nodding, her eyes already veering back to her half-eaten plate of noodles.
‘No, no, hang on, that’s not the amazing bit. One comment got half a million likes, so I read it and it’s from …’ Jaddi paused, her grin widening. ‘You won’t believe this when I say it … Guy Rawson.’
‘No way,’ Lizzie said, reaching towards the phone in Jaddi’s hand.
‘Yes!’ Jaddi giggled, pulling her mobile closer to her body and out of reach. ‘It says: Lizzie, caught your interview on Channel 6 Breakfast. You’re awesome. Hope you can make it to my concert in Los Angeles next month. VIP passes waiting for you and your friends at the gate.’
‘It’s a con.’ Samantha shook her head. ‘It’s probably one of those fake accounts, created by a diehard fan.’
‘I checked. It’s definitely the official Guy Rawson.’
‘But he’s a megastar,’ Samantha said, her tone still tinged with scepticism despite the exhilaration now coursing through her veins. ‘I mean … I grew up with posters of him modelling swimwear on my walls. We listen to his albums all the time. He must be one of the most famous men on the planet.’
‘Oh, come on, he’s not just one of, he is the most famous man on the planet.’ Jaddi squeaked. ‘Do you remember that time we stayed up half the night, waiting for his concert tickets at Wembley to go on sale.’
‘Remember?’