Problems in Paradise

Chapter Thirteen

Morgie stuck out her bottom lip. ‘I want to relocate, seriously,’ she said. ‘I can’t go back to England now, not when this place is so beautiful.’

April smiled. ‘Well, why are we sitting here then?’ she asked. ‘Let’s get out there and make the most of it!’

Grinning, Morgie swung her feet out of bed. She’d forgotten that wonderful feeling which being in a relationship gave you, which made you feel that there was a reason to get up in the morning; not just a vague, general gladness to be alive, but a specific reason to smile, a specific reason to look forward to the day ahead, and hope that it might just be a happy one.

And that reason? Oscar.

Morgie glanced at Laurel, who was now applying a little make up in the mirror, and, suddenly, all of the anxieties of the previous night came rushing back to her. She frowned, mulling it over. Hmm.

In the light of day, she didn’t feel as alarmed as before. Of course Oscar liked her for more than her body, he’d made that clear by asking her on a proper date. Surely if he’d wanted sex, he would have just encouraged her to sleep with him after one of their make outs.

And he hadn’t. Sure, he was lusty, and hormonal, but he was a teenage boy. And hell, she was lusty and hormonal herself, he was no worse than she was.

But she was still a little worried. Memories of the boys before him, the ghosts of her exes, swam around in her mind, and she felt her heart flutter at the thought that Oscar could one day be one of them, one of her regrets, one of the memories she wished she could forget.

However, as Laurel had so wisely said, she wasn’t going to let that ruin her day. It was her last one, for pity’s sake. She smiled at the others, as she went to go and get changed. She fully intended to make the most of her final day of holiday.

*

After a lazy morning and lunch on the beach, soaking up the sun rays, all six of them were suitably sun kissed and dozy as the afternoon approached.

The beach had been slowly filling up ever since they had arrived, a rainbow of beach towels and barely covered bodies now surrounding them. The sound of the waves was now completely drowned out by the loud chatter of people all around them, and, April was rudely awakened from her sunbathing doze by a ginormous inflatable beach ball flying through the air and hitting her hard in the head.

‘Maybe we should go to the pool instead?’ suggested Laurel, brushing sand from April’s hair.

Morgie nodded excitedly. ‘There’s going to be a pool party this afternoon, and on into the night,’ she said. ‘I saw the flyer.’

Oscar wrinkled his nose at her. ‘You’re definitely into your flyers, aren’t you?’ he commented, earning him a gentle nudge in the ribs from his girlfriend.

‘You wouldn’t have nearly so much fun without me and my flyers,’ Morgie informed him. ‘So be grateful.’

‘Mm?’

Morgie pulled a face, as if she was highly disappointed in her significant other. ‘I’m so unappreciated,’ she said dramatically.

Oscar raised his eyebrows at her. ‘Are you challenging me to prove my appreciation?’ he inquired, leaning closer to her. ‘Because that sounds kind of hot.’

She scrunched up her nose, making a dismissive comment, but, as they had done ever since she’d heard them, Laurel’s words haunted her a little. Was it all about sex? Sometimes, she doubted everything.

‘Come on, then,’ April said. ‘Let’s go to this pool party.’

Getting up, the six of them made their way back to the hotel, only stopping to drop off their things at their rooms before heading down to the pool.