ARABELLA • Alex Turner

TWENTY TWO

Sophie and Arabella tanned for a while on adjacent sun loungers while the boys relaxed in the pool with their own bottles of beer and a couple of cigarettes, chatting each other's ears off about God knows what. Miles had blown up the giant inflatable flamingo that Sophie had brought with her, and he and Alex were taking turns sitting on it.

Palm trees whispered in the sea breeze as they all soaked up the sun, drinking and smoking and laughing without a care in the world.

Arabella found herself becoming increasingly distracted, however, by the sight of her boyfriend. His hair was now wet and even darker than usual, dripping water over his face and onto his bare chest, and every time he shoved his hands through it his arms flexed in a very enticing manner.

   As if reading her mind, he lifted himself from the pool once he'd finished his cigarette and stubbed it out on the deck, approaching the sun loungers with a mischievous grin on his face.

"Would you ladies care to join us?" He questioned, water dripping all around him and creating small puddles on the warm sandstone where he stood. His swim shorts were now sopping wet and clinging to his body, a sight which flustered Arabella more than she would care to admit.

Sophie immediately placed her beer down at the request and jumped up from the sun lounger, adjusting the straps of her hot pink swimsuit to avoid any mishaps.

"I would love to. Coming Bells?"

Before Arabella could even process the question, her friend was cannonballing into the pool and sending a wave of water over poor Miles's head, successfully knocking him off the inflatable flamingo. The redhead cackled when they both resurfaced and she saw her boyfriend spluttering dramatically.

Arabella laughed at the scene, placing her own beer down on the little table between the loungers.

   Alex held his hands out for her and she took them with a dimpled smile, allowing him to pull her up. She was taken completely by surprise, however, when instead of letting her walk on her own two feet across the scorching stone, he looped his arms around her thighs and hauled her over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes.

   "Alex!" She shrieked, clutching onto him like a lifeline as he carried her to the edge of the pool and down the steps into the shallow end.

   He let her down once they were in the water and she sank into the coolness, red faced and giggling.

   Alex's own cheeks were flushed and his wet eyelashes were clumped together in wisps, sunglasses long forgotten by the side of the pool along with his beer. The smile on his face was so relaxed and genuine that Arabella wished to be able to freeze time and preserve it forever.

   She absentmindedly reached up and tightened her red bikini top before it came loose, Alex's gaze drawn to her chest by the motion. He stared unashamedly at her breasts as she retied the strings around her neck and merely smirked when she slapped him on the shoulder for it.

   Before she could dwell on his wandering eyes any longer, Sophie called out from the opposite end of the pool where she had been offering a dischevelled Miles apologies in the form of smooches.

   "Bella! Let's play Chicken!"

-

"Alex." Arabella laughed as the man backed her into a chest of drawers in their room and attached his lips to her neck. "We need to get ready."

   After multiple games of Chicken, a few underwater handstand competitions, and an intense swimming race between Alex and Miles, the group had decided to return to their respective rooms in order to shower and change for the evening.