Time to let my guard down

Driving in to Dahab we are stopped at a checkpoint men in army uniforms come up to the bus and ask us to take out our passports. A man in plain clothes puts his head in the door and takes each one of our passports after a quick look he passes them back nods his head and we are free to go. Our hotel is on the other side of town so we drive through Dahab. There are open spaces and mountains to our left to our right shops and the Red. It does not looked as maintained as Hurghada and the road has many pot holes. But it does look clean. You notice lots of utility trucks and jeeps with Bedouin drivers wearing scarfs on their heads. Sitting in the back of the utility trucks are people in wetsuits going to their destinations. Dahab is a world famous diving spot so divers are everywhere you look

After going through another check point we reach our hotel. In the hotel lobby we are seated while Marwuan sorts out the paper work and keys for our room. Walking to our room we noticed that there are no other guest in the hotel. The hotel was located right on the beach. The beach was not a sandy beach it was all rocky. The hotel consisted of white square brick buildings that were all lined up diagonally; each room had a wooden door at the front and a sliding glass door at the back that lead to the pool area. The room consisted of two beds a little fridge with a television on top and a table to the side of that The bathroom was small just enough room for toilet basin and shower there was no shower basin so whenever you showered water went all over the bathroom floor.

Once in the room I jumped straight into bed not worrying about changing out of the clothes I was in I was so tired I could have slept for days. My alarm went off a few hours later. I looked out the glass door the sun was going down, there were some of the group sitting out by the pool so I showered and went out to join them. It looked like they had got a lot of sun today both Ben and Nick's faces was bright red. Apparently they had spent the whole day by the pool. Everyone was now at the pool and it was time to leave so we made our way to lobby to meet Marwuan. Outside there were two jeeps waiting for us, The jeeps were older jeeps with bench seats lined below each window we all piled into the back and made our way into the town centre.

The jeeps dropped us off at what looked like a car park here were jeeps and trucks lined up dropping or picking up tourist. We walked through the town centre heaps of restaurants one after another all going right up to the water edge men were standing out the front of them asking us to go in, each restaurant had a seafood displayed in big trays for the guest to choose from. The restaurants were all lit up with different coloured lamps and filled with tourist. On the other side of the path there were shops these shops were all filled with the same trinkets that markets sold. Men also stood outside the shops asking you to enter their shops We stopped at alcohol shop all the restaurants don't serve alcohol but you can bring your own and they will provide the mixer. Mel, Lauren and I all picked a drink called ID. It was a vodka mixed drink with lime, watermelon or lemon flavour much like the premixed drinks you can get back in Melbourne. However these were 10% alcohol and very strong after two you felt very happy.

Today the restaurant we went to was called The Kitchen it served Indian, Chinese and Thai inspired food. It was good to have something other than Egyptian food I had eaten enough Egyptian food to last me a lifetime by now. I took a seat close to the end of the table Mel sat on one side then Marwuan took the seat on my other side. Ben, Lauren and Nick were across from us. The entire group was really good I had no complaint but it seemed the six of us were the loud ones and the ones that was always up for a drink so at most places we stuck together.

After dinner we went to bar called Mojito it was a bar that was on a second level that had a balcony that you could see the whole Dahab strip. We drank cocktails out of big bowls here but only had one tonight because most of the group was getting tired unlike me they did not sleep through the day so we all went back to the hotel. At the hotel everyone went back to their rooms. I was sitting in my room but was not tired so I looked out the window towards the pool area to see if anyone was up Marwuan was sitting there alone I took a drink out of the fridge and I walked out to join him.

"Hey you. What doing sitting out here all by yourself?" I asked. He said like me he had slept today so he was not tired now. I sat down on the chair beside him. We started talking general chit chat with a little flirting thrown in here and there. I knew where we were sitting everybody could see us if they were to look out their glass doors so I asked Marwuan if he would like to take a walk on the beach. "Sure it's a great night for it" he said. This was very true the sky was filled with thousands of stars and the moon was almost full so it shone off the water and there was no wind the air still warm.

We walked out onto beach trying not trip on the rocks under my feet. Marwuan took my hand and we walked in silence for a while just enjoying each other's company every once in a while we would look at each other and just smile. We walked until we came to the next hotel's beach. On this beach there was sunbeds Marwuan sat down first I then sat down in between his legs both of us facing towards the water. I leaned back into his chest he put his hands around my stomach. Now was the time for me to explain myself.

I started off by saying that I enjoyed the time we have spent together alone and I am sorry that I had walked out on him twice. I then said that I was previously worried that I would be just another notch on belt because I am sure that things like this happen all the time. Marwuan tried to talk, I asked him please to wait until I finished talking "ok" he said. I continued. "But life is too short to worry about silly things like that so I want to just enjoy the time we do have together. We won't talk about the future or the past we will just go with the flow and take it day at a time. And one more thing you have to promise not to fall in love with me" I turned around and smiled at him.

Can I talk now" Marwuan asks, I nodded and turned back towards the water. "First this kind of thing doesn't happen as much as you think it does and when it does happen I don't just tick it off a list, for you to think that of me hurts my feelings. But I can see why you are concerned I am concerned also I am having feelings towards you that I don't remember feeling in a very long time maybe I have never felt like this and you are leaving in a week. I will agree with you that we won't talk about the past or the future but I cannot promise that I will not fall in love with you because I am already falling.

My heart stopped I was still looking towards the water I wanted to turn around and kiss him but my body was frozen. After a second he turned me around "Now can you just kiss me enough talking" We kissed for what seemed like forever but was probably only minutes. I was on the biggest high I pulled away from him and asked "can we go back to the hotel now please" he smiled at me "of course."

Walking back to the hotel he stopped me and pulled me close, his arms around me so tight I could feel the pressure on my ribs. It felt so beautiful but terrifying at the same time so many things were going through my mind I was thinking that I don’t want this to be over in a week I did not want to leave this moment and go back to my normal life in Melbourne not that my life was bad in Melbourne but this feeling was something I had never felt before. I believe in destiny and fate but surely this was not mine. I had to stop thinking about it because I said to Marwuan to take each day at a time only minutes ago so I had to do the same there was no way I could bring this up with him now. Back at the hotel he led me in his room, this time I did not stop turn and run this time I followed.

 I woke up with Marwuan's arms around his waist I looked at my watch 6:30am I needed to get back to my room. I turned to Marwuan and told him I was leaving, half asleep he held me tighter "why do you have to go? Stay." I shook my head "I'm sorry but I'll see you later" I kissed him on the forehead got out of bed got dressed and made my way out the door. It was quite cold outside the sun was just coming up over the mountains. I ran to the door and opened it thank god Mel had not locked it and kept it open for me because I didn't have a key. I walked in. Two heads popped out of the blanket but it wasn't Mel. It was Rob and Louise "oh my god I'm so sorry" I squealed. I had walked into the wrong room I was in the room next door to mine. I left them dazed and confused and ran out.

At the next room I opened the door and thankfully it was the right room. Laughing at myself I jumped into bed Mel woke up and looked at me but went straight back to sleep. I couldn't believe what I had just done. It now struck me the cat was out of the bag they would now know what had happened. Like Marwuan Rob was a tour leader but in Europe and his girlfriend Louise met Rob while she was on tour with him so I was 100% sure that they would put two and two together. There was nothing I could do about it now I would tell Marwuan when I saw him next what had happened I'm sure he would see the funny side of it.

My alarm went off it was now breakfast time Mel and I made our way into the area where we were having breakfast most the group were already eating breakfast when we walked in. As soon as I entered the room I knew that everybody was aware of what had happened the previous night. I sat down but nobody said anything. I whispered to Mel that I think everyone knows she just shrugged and smiled. A few minutes later Marwuan walked in then the room started clapping. That just confirmed that everyone knew. Marwuan was all embarrassed he just smiled and said "ok guys we are leaving in 10 minutes so if you need anything from your rooms go and get it now" and walked upstairs to the lobby not sitting to eat breakfast.

Today we were going to the Blue Hole. The Blue Hole is a world famous diving spot it is also known as "Divers Cemetery" because so many divers have died here due the hard diving conditions. it has beautiful coral reefs on the sides of the Blue hole so that's what we would be snorkeling today. On the way to the Blue Hole Mel, Nick, Lauren and Ben are trying to get information out of me what happened the night before. I just smile and laugh not knowing what to say because I was still yet to talk to Marwuan.When we reach the Blue Hole we are seated a restaurant that is not far from the entry of the water. The table settings are traditional Bedouin seating. We are sitting with our legs folded on mats with low tables in front of us. Our waiter Saba comes to greet us and hands us a drink menu because our food for the day is provided. Once we choose our drinks we are then walked to the area where we are to try on snorkeling gear.

I was very quick at trying on my gear the flippers were a bit big but I wanted to get back to talk to Marwuan about what our next plan was now that everyone was aware that we had been together the night before. Once back at our table I took a seat at the very end of the table and called Marwuan over. "Everyone knows what should we do?" We both agreed that we would still act like nothing was going on through the day and then at night meet up. I was happy with this plan because I wanted to still spend quality time with my sister this was supposed to be a holiday about us. Even though it was hard to act like nothing happened we both tried our hardest keeping our distance. Whenever we had the urge to talk to each other we would send a flirty text but we ensured that it was on the sly.

But as the week progressed it was harder and harder to hide our attraction for each other during the day. Each day we would become more open in front of people and before the end of the 5 days in Dahab we were very public about our affair. We would hold each other's hand in public. We would always sit beside each other at dinner and even kiss in front of the group after a few drinks. Marwuan could not believe that he was acting this way in front of his group. I had nothing to lose but he could get in heaps of trouble from his company if anyone complained but he just didn't care anymore. Being with me was more important he said. I still spent heaps of time with Mel we went horseback riding on the beach, quad biking and lot and lots of dancing and drinking.

On the bus back to Cairo we sat beside each other with my legs hanging over his. We had my iPod on with one ear piece in my ear and one in his. We had found our song Bruno Mars " Just the way you are" we would listen to this song over and over as well as many other cheesy love songs. During the whole way back to Cairo I was feeling down I didn't want to be leaving in two days I didn't want this feeling to be over. Marwuan and I had spoken briefly about what would happen when I went back to Australia but not in great detail because we didn't want to stress about at and just enjoy our time together. I knew that next year I had planned to travel overseas again but for a longer period of time so we had talked about meeting up then and travelling together for a bit but that was it. So many things were going through my mind, will we actually meet up again? will he miss me when I'm gone or will there be another girl on the next tour that makes him feel the same? Time would only tell.