Fun in the Sun chapter 15

Nick and Sal left the cocktail bar in great spirits, just catching a minimarket along the way before it closed so that they could by drinks and snacks to take to the beach party. Sal fussed around, dropping all kinds of weird things into the shopping basket she’d picked up at the entrance, whilst Nick knew exactly what he wanted and took no more than a minute to find it: beer, and lots of it.

“Come on Sal. What the hell have you bought?” Nick asked, watching as she began to unload the basket at the till.

“Just cocktail stuff,” she smiled.

Nick laughed. Sal was nuts.

As they approached the beach, they could hear the shouts, music and laughter coming from the party in the distance. The area was in complete darkness, apart from the famous caves, which were lit up at the far end. But the closer they got to the party, the more they could make out the faint, shadowy figures of the people and an orangey glow, which they assumed was from the barbeque.

“Hey!” Nick shouted out as they approached. “How could you start a footie match without me?”

A few men out of the group on the beach who were battling a football out of each other’s reaches, stopped and turned to see who had shouted out.

“Get a move on then; you’re on our team now since you’ve just lost us that point!” Nick’s friend, Phil, shouted back.

Nick turned to Sal as if to check that it was okay with her if he went to join in with the game.

“Go on,” she said, “go play with the boys.”

“You sure? You don’t know anyone,” he pointed out.

“I know Sandra, and I like meeting new people; don’t worry about me,” she reassured him.

“Well, okay, you make us one of your cocktails Sal,” he replied, handing her the carrier bag of drinks and snacks, “and I’ll be with you in a bit,” he said, hoping that the men weren’t going to make fun of him for drinking a girly cocktail, but wanting to please Sal at the same time.

“Nick? What you doing?” Phil shouted out impatiently.

“Go on,” Sal encouraged him.

He gave her a smile and brushed her cheek affectionately before charging into the group of guys and jumping on them so that they all fell to the sand in a heap. There followed an explosion of male shouts, grunts and laughter, until all the guys got back onto their feet and began the chase for the football again.

Sal watched the spectacle in front of her and giggled at the men’s boyish antics before heading for a group of people who were sitting around the barbeque on plastic chairs. Scanning the faces of the small group of people, she searched for Sandra, but saw no sign of the woman she’d remembered meeting on the beach earlier. The people smiled at her warmly though and waved one by one as introductions were exchanged.

A thin, young girl with long, blonde hair and a big smile stood up and went to Sal, introducing herself as Kate, linking an arm with her and moving them back to the chairs. “Here, take a seat next to me,” Kate offered, “We have beer, wine and lots of food. What would you like to drink?” she asked.

This girl seemed really friendly.

“Tell you what,” Sal replied, lifting up the carrier bag that Nick had passed to her and placing it on her lap, “how do you fancy a cocktail? We’ve got vodka, Schnapps, and all kinds of mixers,” she said, pulling out the bottles and placing them on a small, makeshift table in-between Sal’s chair and Kate’s.

Kate’s face lit up. “Great. Wow, you’re organised,” she said, glancing into the bag and helping Sal to pull out the remaining snacks and drinks. “How about I put these beers in the ice box to keep them cool,” she said, picking up Nick’s cans of Mythos, “and you make us both a cocktail? I like everything there, so mix it all up and surprise me,” she shouted out as she made for a cool box behind the rest of the group who were chatting to each other, in-between laughing at the guys playing football.

What a stroke of luck that Kate was there. She seemed really nice, and now Sal had someone to share cocktails with too.

Sal began to experiment with the vodka, Schnapps, and mixers, tasting as she went along, until she came up with a satisfactory tumbler full, which she adorned with two brightly coloured straws, an orange slice, and a small paper umbrella. Okay, number one prototype done; now all she had to do was see if she could replicate another one for Kate.

Sal was so engrossed with her cocktail making, that she didn’t notice Kate return, or the fact that most of the group now had their full attention on her. Looking up suddenly, she was faced with several pairs of eyes focused on the tumbler she was filling.

“Oh,” she said with surprise, “would anyone else like one?”

There followed a burst of laughter from the group. One man spoke up. “don’t worry, we all have drinks; we were just intrigued with what you were doing,” he said with amusement.

She giggled, a little embarrassed. “Well, I’m pretending I’m on holiday, and what’s a holiday without cocktails?” she said, handing Kate the finished drink.

“That’s right,” Kate agreed, “They’re just jealous that they don’t have their own,” she joked, sitting next to Sal and taking a sip of the cocktail. “Ooh nice. Thanks,” she said, leaning back in her chair. Sal smiled, and took a sip of her drink too. “I remember the first cocktail I ever tried…” Kate began.

As Kate started to speak, Sal noticed the other people in the group turn abruptly away to begin their own conversations.

Strange, Sal thought.

“It was at a cousins wedding. I was only young, nine years old I think,” she paused for a second, “Yes, about nine I must have been. It was in Oxford, the wedding that is. I’m from Kent by the way…”

“Oh really, I’m…” Sal attempted to add the conversation but Kate seemed oblivious and carried on talking.

“Yes, Kent is nice. I ended up in Kent after I’d been backpacking around Europe for a couple of months. I think it was around three months in the end. Well, I met this really cute guy called Geoff…”

Sal took a large gulp of her cocktail. This girl had either drunk a fair few beers already, or she was the world’s most chatty person.

“… So Geoff came from Kent and that’s why I ended up moving there. Where are you from?”

At last! She’d actually asked Sal a question.

“Not far from Kent actually, I grew up in Sussex…”

“Ah, yes that isn’t far from Kent,” Kate piped up. Yes, Sal had just said that. “I kind of like Kent but…” Oh god, not back to Kent again! Sal took solace in her cocktail once more. Maybe she should have made it stronger and, after a few sips, she’d have been numb enough not to let this girl’s ramblings bother her. At that moment though, she was kind of wishing that she’d sat by someone else. No wonder all the others had turned away so quickly; they must have known what she was like.

“…but I’m not sure if I preferred living in Oxford actually. My parents used to live in Oxford, but then they moved to Scotland…”

“Your family move around a lot then,” Sal pointed a little sarcastically. But she may as well have been talking to herself; Kate was still on a roll. My God, she could talk for Britain and Greece put together! Sal hoped to goodness that she herself wasn’t as chatty as Kate. She did talk a lot sometimes, but she was sure that she came up for air occasionally!

“…Everyone was very surprised when my parents moved to Scotland though. Well, it’s so far away. I like visiting them there mind you, but… if I’m honest with myself, I sometimes wish that they hadn’t moved from Oxford…”

As Kate continued to natter away incessantly, Sal’s concentration began to drift away. This didn’t seem to put Kate off though; she carried on chatting to a vacant and slightly frustrated looking Sal.

“Hey!” came a voice from behind her out of nowhere. Sal nearly fell off her seat. “Oh sorry chick, didn’t mean to scare you senseless. I was just wondering if you wanted some food from the barbie,” said a girl with long, blonde dreadlocks and a brightly coloured, tie dyed top.

Fantastic! A chance to escape.

“Sure,” Sal replied quickly, “I’ll be back in a bit Kate,” she said, jumping up from her seat and taking her drink with her to the barbecue. She wondered if Kate would still continue chatting away to herself, even without Sal there.

“I’m Karen by the way,” the girl said. Then she leant over to speak quietly in Sal’s ear. “You looked like you needed rescuing.”

Sal exhaled on a laugh. “Well, yes. Thanks.”

Karen passed Sal a plate and gestured to the barbecue. “Help yourself and then come join us,” she said, moving to sit cross legged on the sand opposite a bearded man who was testing the strings on a ukulele.

Hmm, different, but then at least they won’t be chatting her to death!

Sal wasn’t feeling overly hungry after the ice cream and huge pick nick, but the food smelt nice, and she’d drunk close to three cocktails now, so she was tempted enough to pick up a couple of sausages from off the barbecue and some salad and bread from a blanket that was spread on the sand and laid with other offerings. Taking a seat next to Karen on the sand, Sal smiled at her and began to enjoy the food as the bearded man started to play a strangely, out of place medley of London Cockney folk songs. The skinny, raggedy looking guy, with a rough, gingery-blonde beard, smiled toothily at them in-between songs, and seemed to be enjoying the attention. Sal couldn’t believe that Karen was actually taking him seriously; I mean, he was like a cross between a hobo, a hippie and George Formby! What a weird party this was turning out to be. She needed another drink.

“I’m just going to get a refill,” she whispered to Karen. “Want anything?” she asked.

“Sure, grab a beer for me will you?” Karen replied.

Sal took a beer out of the cool box near to the barbecue first. Then she contemplated refilling her cocktail and having to go back to the table next to Kate’s chair. It could take her a while to escape again. She took another beer out of the cool box for herself and returned to Karen.

By the time she’d got the beers, Bob had finished playing his ukulele, propped it up against a chair and was sitting with his arm around Karen on the sand. Sal went to sit next to Karen again on the other side, but Bob caught her hand and pulled her towards him.

“Come sit here gorgeous, and tell me all about yourself,” he said, as he urged her to take a seat next to him instead, so that he ended up in the middle of them both.

She would rather have sat next to Karen, but she didn’t want to appear rude, so she reluctantly obliged him.

“You like music babe?” he asked her, slurring his words slightly.

She turned to answer him and noticed that he looked quite odd. His eyes were all watery and distant.

“Err yes, I like all sorts of music,” she replied.

“Yeah, well I’m an ‘all sorts’ kinda guy,” he answered.

What was she supposed to say to that? She had the feeling that even if she’d have wanted to tell him all about herself, he’d have not been able to keep up with the conversation anyway with the state he was in.

“Wanna get me another can?” he asked Karen.

“Thinks I’m his servant,” she said to Sal behind his back. She rose off the sand nonetheless. “Coming up Sir.”

“She’s a good one is Karen,” he told Sal. “A bit moody at times, but she’s okay.”

Sal refrained from giving her opinion on that. What a jerk! For some reason she had ended up with all the weirdos and strays. Where the hell was Sandra, and how long was Nick going to play football for anyway?

Bob fumbled in his pocket for something and finally pulled out a battered old tin, which he opened to reveal some very dodgy looking, rolled ‘cigarettes’ inside. He picked one up and offered it to Sal.

“Wanna go smoke one somewhere quieter?” He put his arm around her shoulder and leant into her, invading her space. “Just you and me,” he grinned.

Like hell she did!

“Err, no thanks,” she replied frostily. “I don’t smoke.”

“You wanna get wet with me?” he said.

What the hell did that mean?

“Nick, my boyfriend,” she stressed, “Will be finishing football soon and I don’t want him to wonder where I am; he’s the jealous sort,” she added for good measure.

“Ah…” he said, removing his arm. It was working! “… the jealous sort. Still,” he went on, lurching towards her again, “All’s fair in love and war. That won’t stop me from trying.”

What the hell was it going to take to get through to this guy?

She risked a sideways glance at him and saw a gingery-blonde beard making fast, if not a little unsteady, progress towards her face!

“We’re getting married,” she said suddenly in panic.

“We are?” Bob replied, moving his head back to take a better look at her.

She sighed. “No, not us, me and Nick.”

“You are?” came a surprised voice from behind her.

She turned to see that finally Sandra had appeared as if from nowhere. Sal whished she had appeared sooner.

“Sandra,” Sal said enthusiastically, jumping up off the sand. At that moment, Sal was so relieved to see someone half normal that she could have kissed her. “Where have you been?”

“Oh sorry love, I just popped back to the hotel for a change of clothes. Hey Phil, Nick, get over here,” she shouted out.

Both Nick and Phil were aware that they had probably deserted the women for long enough now, and they left the game to join Sal and Sandra, who supplied them both with beers.

“So,” Sandra said, looking from Sal to Nick, “I hear you two are engaged.”

Nick was in mid swig of his beer and had to stop himself from choking. Sal cringed. She’d have to explain, but how awkward. She wished Sandra hadn’t mentioned that in front of Nick. Then, Nick astounded her with the following reply,

“Oh yeah, me and Sal”, he grinned, putting an arm around her and pulling her close to him, “We got engaged last week. We’re so excited about the wedding, aren’t we my little cupcake,” he said in a ridiculously soppy voice.

Oh Lord, Nick had gone loopy.

“Errr, yeah,” Sal said, smiling at Phil and Sandra and trying to look as if being engaged to Nick was a perfectly normal thing.

********************

After all the other men had finished playing football, most of them raided the beer supply and joined Karen and Bob on the sand, where they made ruthless fun out of Bob and his ukulele. Sal took that opportunity to pull Nick to one side, with the intention of giving him some kind of explanation.

How embarrassing.

“Listen, Nick,” she began awkwardly, “sorry about that, I…”

Nick was still grinning. What did that mean? She was sure that someone like Nick would be mortified at the thought of getting engaged; he was so casual about everything. Oh no, even worse, maybe he thought that she liked him and was secretly wishing they could get married! No, that was ridiculous. Besides, surely he knew her well enough by now; she wasn’t some crazy stalker woman!

“So when’s the wedding then Sal?” he asked with amusement.

Sal’s eyes widened in panic. “No, it’s…I didn’t…it wasn’t like… you don’t understand,” she stuttered, hardly knowing where to start.

Nick delighted in seeing Sal getting so flustered. What was even cuter, was the way her cheeks were growing redder than poppies and, like a shy school girl, she could barely look at him. Why out of all things was this making her so embarrassed? She usually coped easily with way more embarrassing situations than this. Someone had clearly made a mistake and assumed they were engaged: an understandable error.

“It alright,” he shrugged, “It is a bit sudden though. Can we make it a long engagement?” he laughed.

Sal tutted and breathed a sigh of relief; Nick was making fun of her, so at least he knew she wasn’t serious about it.

“Shut up stupid,” she said, slapping him on the arm and then realising that people might be watching them. She took his arm and turned him away from the party to face the sea, whispering to him,

“It’s that Bob guy; he’s really weird. He wanted to go smoke something dodgy with me and, well, he kind of seemed to be coming onto me. I panicked,” she said by way of an explanation.

So, it was Sal who gave them that idea then. Maybe it was her subconscious talking. Who was he kidding?

Nick turned to Sal with a crestfallen look. “You mean you don’t really want to marry me?”

“Nick, come on, be serious. Do you think we can just get through tonight without blowing our cover so that the weird, stoned guy doesn’t try it on with me again?”

“Sure Sal, but you’d never make a good undercover spy,” he joked, “you need to lower your voice or they’ll hear you,” he whispered, his eyes flicking towards the group, in which the odd person’s head was turning with interest in their direction.

“Oh God, do you think they heard?” she replied in a hushed voice.

Nick leant his head toward hers to whisper into her ear. He placed a hand lightly on her waist, which she wasn’t even aware of until she felt a slight pressure on her as he inched her forward to him, so that he could whisper directly into her ear. Now, she may be paranoid at times, but she was certain that their hearing can’t have been that good.

“Play along Sal…” he urged. His whisper tickled her ear as his mouth hovered close to it, his warm breath teasing her senses, “…if we do this convincingly enough, he’ll have lost interest in you and be hitting on the next girl before you know it.”

It sounded reasonable enough.

“What exactly are we supposed to do?” she asked, turning her head to him.

She inched back slightly with surprise then, not realising that his face was so close. His eyes were sparkling blue amusement into hers. She’d never seen his face at such close quarters before, and for some reason, she became very aware of the small details of it: the tiny lines at the corners of his eyes as he smiled, the slight evidence of stubble that had grown on his face over the course of the day, the way his bottom lip curved gently…

It was odd, standing there like that with Nick, his arm around her, his face so close, the scent of him teasing her nostrils. She’d never really got to know him that well last season. Before that day, they had only really been casual friends. They had teased each other and competed for… she wasn’t actually sure what all the competition between them was about, but it was fun. If she’d have stopped to think about it though, she may, or may not, have admitted to herself that she was possibly a little intrigued by Nick. Nevertheless, what with all the banter between them, to admit that, even to herself, would be opening herself up merciless teasing from Nick.

At that moment though, she found herself thrown suddenly into such close quarters with him that she was forced to acknowledge experiencing a certain fascination, a fascination that made it suddenly impossible for her to move away. This was certainly new territory for her, and for them. She was intrigued to know what would happen next.

“Just stay close. Pretend we’re kissing,” he answered, slipping his hand further around her back so that she found herself suddenly realizing, by being pressed to him with just one hand, how well toned his body was. She put a hand out to steady herself as he pulled her close, and it came into contact with his free arm. The muscle under his flesh, flexed against her touch as her fingers clung onto him. His skin was taught there, but smooth and warm. Now she wasn’t quite sure how she felt about this much physical contact with Nick: nervous, uncertain, flustered?

Just when she didn’t think they could get any closer, and she couldn’t feel any more edgy, he lifted his free hand and cupped her face with his palm, brushing back the shiny, auburn hair that had fallen forward, and delving his fingers into the curtain of silken strands. Then edgy suddenly wasn’t a good word to describe how she felt; without warning, her heart began to race. Why was it doing that? The more she tried to calm down, and think of ordinary things, the more aware she was of Nick’s body and face so unbearably close. And even more disturbing was his arm, which had captured her in that intimate hold, his hand on her face, the fingers in her hair. She was overwhelmed by his presence.

She just had to stay calm for a few moments more though, and then they would stop. That was all very well, only every second they stood there together, she felt like a ticking time bomb; she wasn’t sure if she could hold out.

“Just stay here for a bit and look like you’re enjoying it,” he whispered incredibly softly. He nestled his face next to hers to show her how. He could feel the softness of her cheek and her eyelashes tickling his face as her eyes lowered.

God, it must be the fact that she was so uptight, but Sal felt suddenly strangely emotional.

Now the arm he had around her waist didn’t seem to be enough for him; he wanted to pull her into a full embrace. He yearned for it.

Then, at that moment, the emotion seemed to transmit itself from him to her, and from her to him. It was undeniably in the air: an invisible traitor, giving away more than either wanted to and pushing them headlong into something that neither of them had ever envisaged happening.

Something in Nick’s head clicked. It had started off as just an opportunity to tease her, to get a little closer to her too. Nick was an opportunist, it was instinctive for him, and so he had continued with the pretence of having to show the group that they were a couple, whilst not really thinking about what precisely he could achieve out of it. But quicker than he could have imagined, the pretence didn’t seem like a pretence any more. He was there, holding Sal, the girl he’d thought about every day since the time she’d strolled into Adam’s office, and Nick’s life, with sunburn and a bottle of lotion. Suddenly, he couldn’t hold back, even if he’d really wanted to. The opportunity was way too good to miss, and who knows, he may never get another opportunity like that again. Nick abruptly turned his head and caught her lips with his.

Sal was thrown into bewilderment. Was someone coming? What had prompted Nick to do that, but more importantly, how was she supposed to react? For a moment, she just stood there, with Nick’s lips pressed to hers, not knowing what to do.

Nick was testing the water; he was almost prepared for a rejection from her, but she had just become motionless. Okay, so he could go further and see what happens then.

He already had one hand on her cheek, but this time he brought his other hand up and cupped her face with both hands in an incredibly warming and tender way. Unfortunately, this did little to help Sal control her already unstable emotional state, or the unnerving effect his closeness was having on her. He tilted his head then and lightened the pressure of his lips on hers so that he could move them against hers.

Oh my God, they were kissing each other! Her brain was struggling to believe it. His brain had stopped functioning a while ago. Now he was acting on pure, testosterone fuelled instinct. He wanted this woman. He wanted to pick her up and carry her to his cave and never allow her to leave. This was primeval stuff.

She guessed that this was necessary… to fool Bob, right? And anyway, his kiss was so gentle and soft, she couldn’t possibly be offended by it.

But then his hands moved from her face and slid down her body, moulding her curves to him. Without wanting them to, her hands also moved, travelling up to his shoulders and around the back of his neck. Then suddenly both of them were utterly lost, as the kiss spiralled beyond anything they had ever experienced before. They were melting together. Her bones were disintegrating; she felt as if she could hardly support her own weight. The heat she was feeling immediately conveyed itself to Nick, and he matched it with an inferno of his own, only made more fierce by the realisation that she too was burning up.

Now her mind wasn’t functioning at all, and she was kissing him back. She had no way to stop herself. Her hands were in his hair, and running down his arms and over the muscles of his chest and back.

Damn it! He wanted to scream with the sensations she was creating. It took every ounce of will power, and more, to stop himself from shouting out with pleasure. But Sal wasn’t so strong, and a small moan escaped her lips. It was the most arousing sound Nick had ever heard.

“Hey! Get a room will you!” came an abrupt interruption.

The sudden sound was like a cold slap of reality to them both. Sal had to get her head together. She would speak to Nick, but not there, not then, when she was feeling so out of control. She pulled back from him and headed back towards the party before he had time to react.