‘It’s on the way back,’ he added as if to sway our decision.

‘You know what?’ said Gary. ‘If it’s on the way, we might as well.’ NOOO! Gary! You were doing so well, but then you betrayed us, brother. Needless to say, I no longer wanted to kiss him. I couldn’t place all the blame on Gary, though – the rest of us hadn’t exactly backed him up with a decisive, ‘Take us back to the boat now!’

‘What did you want to do?’ I asked Josh as he put his helmet on.

‘Truthfully?’

‘No, lie to me. I love it when men do that.’

He looked right into my eyes and whispered. ‘I want to go back to the boat – just us – and spend the rest of the afternoon making out with you.’

I gulped – actually gulped, like they do in cartoons – and I am sure my eyes were the size of saucers. He grinned and got on the scooter. It was a cool move, I’d give him that. ‘Making out’ – it was so American, so high school – and for some reason, super sexy.

I climbed on the scooter and grabbed hold of his waist as he zipped off in pursuit of Duncan, mindful that no matter how many times I promised myself I would steer clear of the cute American, I literally couldn’t keep my hands off him. I concluded that I was truly pathetic and had the willpower of, well, someone who has no willpower.

Or maybe there was more to it?

As I pressed myself against Josh, I remembered what he’d told me the day that Patricia had said all those nasty things – that he wanted a bigger life. It had really struck a chord with me, and I’d thought about it a lot ever since. And every time I did, I wondered what it would mean for Josh. I also wondered what it would mean for me. I wanted my life to be bigger too; I’d been stuck in a rut for too long. Maybe those two bigger lives would be connected somehow.

We resumed our four-scooter formation and headed for our final stop of the day – at least I really hoped it was. I thought longingly about the foam mattress on my bunk. I thought even more longingly about how a sexy American boy would look on that foam mattress. Quite good, I decided as I tightened my grip on his stomach. He flexed his abs in response. Nice.