Destined for Algeria Ch. 04

"Yes. Exactly like that." Ally replied. "I'm thinking that if we wrap the tops of your legs and your waist in cellophane food wrap, then soak all three of these." Ally saw the look of disbelief on Tess's face as he picked up the bikini bottoms and turned back to hand them to her.

"We soak them in this resin, you put them on and we wrap more cellophane food wrap over the top to prevent the resin from running out until it sets hard." He explained.

Now finished eating, Tess stood up, took hold of all three bikini bottoms from him and put on the red pair. Once pulled up over her jeans she proceeded to step into the black pair, followed by pulling on the blue ones over the top of all the others.

Tess snatched hold of the large resin tubes from Ally and looked down her nose at him.

"Not a fucking chance!" she said. "Have you gone mad?"

Ally froze, wondering if he had actually overstepped the line into madness. He'd definitely overestimated her gullibility.

For Tess to rebel by refusing his 'mere suggestion' showed she possessed some level of self-control.

Could this be the effects of the alcohol giving her confidence? He wondered.

Ally remained silent. He watched Tess pick up her new green jacket and put it on.

Still wearing the three bikini bottoms she strutted an imaginary catwalk towards him.

Before striding past, she stopped and turned in front of him to flash him with the coat open wide.

She then picked up her new phone and held it to her ear. "Erm. Yes. Can you come and take my lunatic boyfriend back to the nineteen eighty's where he belongs please? I think he's lost the plot."

Ally worried that he might have pushed her too far and that this could change her mind about getting on the boat.

It took a few seconds for him to realise, from her humour, that he hadn't insulted her at all and accepted the ridicule at his expense.

Ally knew that as long as she remained in this country, she held the upper hand over the decisions of her options.

"I was just trying to look after you." He embarrassingly protested.

Making a mental note of his embarrassment, she raised her glass to her mouth and emptied the contents in a couple of gulps then confidently replied, "I'll take my chances without your helpful inventions thanks."

With her free hand she flipped up her hood, throwing her hair into disarray around her face. The same hand then splayed out fingers across the middle of Ally's chest and pushed him backwards onto the sofa. As he bounced down onto the cushioning, she crawled on top of him and put her cheek against his.

With her hair and hood succumbing to gravity, surrounding Ally's face, sending him into almost darkness, she quietly spoke into his ear. "Why do I always attract the weird ones?" she asked.

Ally conceded her correct observation with silence.

Tess precariously balanced the empty glass on the sofa next to them and brought both hands up to Ally's face, keeping the hood as close to him as she could.

Gently with her fingernails traced them all down the sides of his cheeks before planting a meaningful kiss on his lips.

Pulling her head away slightly she stared into his eyes and whispered, "Is there anything else you want to tell me before I fall completely in love?"

Ally looked away.

"There is just one thing." He confessed.

Shocked at his quick and direct response, Tess quickly crouched back onto her haunches and squatted over Ally's knees.

"No fucking bullshit." She demanded. "What is it?"

Looking back at her he replied, "The boat leaves in less than three hours."

This revelation totally threw Tess. "What? Do you mean the boat, boat?" she asked.

"I'm afraid so." He told her, "But worse than that, it will take us nearly an hour to drive to it."

Tess looked up and around the room in disbelief. Her head stopped roaming when she reached for the empty glass, which amazingly still stood upright on the sofa next to the two of them.

"So. Are you going to fill this up or am I going to throw it at you?" she hinted in her own way of ordering a refill, at the same time as admitting acceptance of the imminent boat journey.

Ally smiled when they both stood up from the sofa, happy that they could now begin moving along with more pace now that they both knew the reality of the situation.

He filled her glass and they toasted to a successful journey.

Tess undressed and showered whilst Ally frantically packed the rest of his possessions into boxes ready to take with him on his legitimate journey through Europe and into North Africa.

Unable to carry everything in one van load, he had arranged for an overseas removals company, to ship his not so essential items to Algeria, in slower time.

Tess made herself up as best she could, straightening her hair and spraying on whatever relevant cosmetics of Ally's she could find.

Ally gave her a shoulder bag and began passing suggested essentials to take on her own journey.

Still sipping on her Champaign each time she passed by the glass, Tess now felt ready to take on the challenge ahead.

When the time came for them to depart, Tess followed Ally outside with her hood raised, hiding herself from view of possible onlookers still searching for her.

Ally stopped Tess at the open back doors of his van, encouraging her to climb inside amongst the boxes and remain out of sight.

Before stepping up inside, she had to move a milk carton sized box from her path so that she could continue.

The box feeling fairly weighty, attracted her curiosity but the picture on the outside with the words Leg Cuffs alerted her attention.

"What are these?" she asked.

Ally cursed himself for not remembering that he'd left them there after his latest shopping trip.

He held out his hand to take them from her and laughed. "They're for a resin design I've been asked to copy."

Tess let go as he virtually snatched the box from her grip and quickly stashed it in one of the larger boxes destine to be couriered by the overseas removal company.

"Don't worry about this lot." He told her, referring to the entire contents of the back of his van, "This is all going into storage."

Slightly inebriated, Tess believed his excuse and jumped up to settle herself in amongst the randomly stacked boxes.

Ally locked the cabin and returned to the back of the van.

"You comfortable?" he asked.

She gave him a coy smile to which he returned, then closed the doors, signalising the beginning of her journey into a new life.

A wire mesh screen separated the front and back of the van, allowing Tess to see where they were going.