I was in the doorway of the bathroom when the doorbell rang. It's shrill ring seemed to fill my head, making me squeal with sudden panic and cling onto the doorframe to stop myself from slipping on the wet tiles.
My eyes rested for a moment on the untidy heap of clothes I'd thrown carelessly by the sink but I couldn't muster the courage to take even a tiny step towards it. Water dripped and pooled onto the tiled floor at my feet and I felt my wet hair trailing across my shoulders in thick, heavy strands. My heart hammered in panic and I gave a short moan of frustration as the doorbell rang out it's call to the front door.
Forcing myself to creep forwards, I pulled both of the towels from the rack and quickly wrapped one around myself with trembling fingers. Gratefully, I escaped the bathroom, nearly tumbling over on the wet floor. I slammed the door shut and threw the other towel at the wide gap at the bottom.
Tucking the towel tightly around myself, I padded across the bedroom and down the staircase. My wet feet leaving footprints in the plush carpet behind me. I gritted my teeth in anger as I ran towards the door, the doorbell was being held in now and I stared angrily up at the antique mechanism suspended on the wall as I passed. I made a note to tear it down later and get ourselves a smart one.
"Alright, I'm coming." I shouted as I fumbled with the heavy key. "Stop ringing! STOP IT!"
Daniel had the good grace to look embarrassed as I flung the door open. In my anger I'd forgotten to only open the door a crack and he pulled his hand away from the bell as though it had suddenly turned molten as he took in the sopping wet madwoman in front of him. Instinctively, I pulled my towel closer to me and tried to make sure I was properly covered. The shimmering heat from outside washed over me like an unpleasant wave as though it had been pressed up against the door, desperate to reach me.
"What's wrong?" I asked breathlessly. My mind was suddenly racing with horror at the multitude of terrible possibilities which would bring the best man to the bride-to-be's door on the day of her wedding.
Daniel grinned. "Oh, well that's charming."
"No...I just meant...has something happened?"
He held his hands up. "Don't worry, nothing's wrong. I'm here under orders from the groom. I didn't mean to catch you showering. I wouldn't have..." He trailed off, gesturing at the doorbell.
I breathed out a sigh of relief and gestured him in. I was curious as to what had brought him around but I couldnt stand the heat for a moment longer than I had to. His heavy aftershave washed over me as he squeezed past. I'd noticed before that he always seemed to smell the same, all through the five years we'd known each other.
I pushed shut the heavy wooden door with relief, sealing out the blinding white sunlight with relief. I'd always thought I loved the heat until I moved to Australia with Tom. Quickly it had become almost second-nature to seek out the nearest air-conditioner where we went and only detach myself from it when absolutely necessary. Even wedding shopping had become a chore which had to be confined as close to the cooler night hours as the stores could accommodate.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to be rude. I just thought it was going to be bad news." I trailed off as I followed him into the living room. He glanced at the closed blinds against all of the windows and sat himself down on the sofa comfortably, trailing an arm around the back as though it was his own. I hovered in the doorway, torn between running upstairs to get dressed and finding out what he had come for as soon as possible.
Daniel started talking before I could make my mind up. "Nah," he waved away my apology. "My fault, I shouldn't have messed around with you today. When I left the hotel Tom was all in one piece, ready to get married. He's a little sensitive after last night but he can handle it."
I felt another pang of annoyance, I'd tried to convince Tom that having a stag do on the night before the wedding was a stupid one once I'd realised he wasn't going to come to that conclusion on his own. I had a sudden image of him opening his mouth to say 'I do' and being sick on me instead. Swallowing down the cutting reply which was on my tongue, I instead turned my disapproval to Daniel. It was only a couple of hours before the wedding was supposed to start and he hadn't even changed into his best-man attire yet. Instead, he had opted for his trademark dark jeans and plain white t-shirt combination which could be relied upon as much as what aftershave he seemed to wear all the time. I had once joked to Tom that if he ever looked inside Daniel's wardrobe it would be an endless line of identical white t-shirts and industrial sized boxes of Joop.
Tom for whatever reason hadn't laughed at that, instead giving me a reproachful look which had stopped me talking. I suspected the t-shirt was chosen to highlight his luxurious ebony skin which, annoyingly, was exactly what it did. It baffled me how anyone could bear to wear denim in this scorching climate had baffled me from the moment I moved here, yet Daniel always seemed perfectly cool. In contrast, my own milk-bottle white skin seemed to constantly be covered in sweat and stubbornly refused to tan. That was another thing Daniel had taken great delight in, especially during that one period where he had deliberately put his sunglasses on when looking in my direction.
I couldn't help but notice the flicker of his eyes as I glanced at him then. Sometimes I felt like he was looking through my clothes and I felt horrendously exposed in front of him with just a towel wrapped around me. I'll admit, not for the first time, I felt a sudden rush of excitement at the idea.
I pushed the thought away. I'd never admit it to Tom but I'd grown used to drawing men's eyes for about as long as I'd been an adult. I was taller than most women, about five foot eleven, with long light brown hair which was slowing becoming highlighted by the sun, and dark blue eyes. I was very slim and had small breasts yet I'd quickly become used to many conversations with men seemed to be pockmarked with quick glances south or forced eye-contact which seemed to be causing them physical pain. As self-conscious as it had made me at the start, I'd actually grown to find it quite funny, particularly with the worst offenders which mostly were the large numbers of strange meek men which Tom and Daniel seemed to work with.
Daniel, in his defence, usually kept his eyes northwards when Tom was around.
"I heard about Jade. Talk about bad timing, eh? She asked me to pop around and Tom thought it was a good idea." He said, his deep voice seeming to fill the room. His east London accent was always welcome, a little sense of home in an unfamiliar country.
"Oh, yeah." I replied, trying to mask my sullen resentment. Jade was my best friend, one of only a few I'd made since I moved to Australia with Tom. She was Daniel's sister so I could well believe she would send him around in her place. She'd been in tears on the phone this morning, my disappointment had drowned out most of her words but I'd caught something about a sickness bug and some horribly unnecessary details about the bathroom arrangements of their plague house.
I'd been sympathetic, telling her not to worry about coming around to help me get ready and just try to make it to the ceremony later on. Inside, I'd been seething. It was typical of her to make sure she at least had a bit of the spotlight, preferably the entire thing. I'd told her that my mother and sister had flown over the night before and would be around to help me anyway so it wasn't the worst thing in the world.
"Yeah, I popped around earlier. Her and the kids don't look good at all. She text me on the way over actually."
He leaned forward and swiped at his phone. My eyes flickered quickly across his sizeable biceps and had a weird feeling that I was being played somehow. I felt so exposed standing there in nothing but a towel. As I was about to turn around and make an excuse to run upstairs when he started reading out the conversation.
"The kids are feeling a bit better and she's going to man-up and be there for the ceremony." Daniel said, looking up at me.
