Fun in the Sun chapter 19

“You’re dead,” Sal said through gritted teeth as the rest of the group laughed at her obvious discomfort from discussing Nick and her being ‘lovers.’ Nick chuckled with them. “I mean it Nick. And anyway,” she said, glancing back at him, “I’ll get you back for this…big time,” she stressed.

He grinned, unfazed. “I hope you do Sal. Will you do really bad things to me?” he said cheekily.

Sal’s jaw dropped. “Nick! You’re terrible.”

He laughed loudly then and she giggled with him, despite herself. She found it near on impossible to keep up a pretence of annoyance with Nick, especially when he came out with such outrageous comments as that one. He acted like butter wouldn’t melt in his mouth most of the time, and then suddenly out of the blue, he was downright wicked. Sal suspected that she didn’t help matters though; laughing with him always seemed to encourage him even more.

Trying to keep a straight face, Sal was ready with a reply. “No Nick,” she began, attempting to sound serious, “it will be nothing you’ll enjoy.” Damn, she was giggling again. And Nick appeared to think it was absolutely hilarious. “Stop it,” she said, slapping him playfully, even though the giggles were taking over, “I’m being…” she laughed, “serious,” she struggled to say. Now her sides were beginning to ache from laughing so much. Most of the people in the circle were listening to Mike at that point, but at least some must have been wondering why Sal and Nick were having a sudden attack of hysterics.

“Stop trying so hard to be serious Sal,” Nick howled, with tears of laughter in his eyes. “It doesn’t suit you.”

They sat, watching each other helplessly in the grips of hysteria and trying desperately to regain control, if only for the benefit of the company they were with. However, every time Sal took a deep breath to calm herself, Nick laughed even more, causing Sal to begin laughing again. Thank goodness she was sitting with her back to everyone now.

Then mike said something which caught their attention and made things ten times worse, because for some reason, any little thing had become a trigger for hilarity between them.

“Hey Phil,” Mike shouted out, “pass me Bob’s ukulele. I think I’ll have a go at playing something on it.”

Fresh laughter burst from Nick and Sal on hearing this, causing everyone this time to turn to them. Sal leant towards Nick and buried her face into his chest, giving up on fighting the giggles.

“She’s a little drunk,” he said to the group by way of an excuse, “I’d better get her back to the hotel.” Scooping an arm around her waist, he attempted to lift up a very limp, giggly Sal, who had lost all strength in her limbs. “Come on darling, let’s get you to bed,” he said with laughter still threatening to escape. “I’ll phone you tomorrow,” he said to Phil, “Bye everyone.”

Sal was beyond help and had lost the ability to speak by then, so she simply gave them all a small wave behind her back as Nick and her made their way back across the beach towards the main road again, with both of them giggling all the way. By the time they had reached the road, the laughter had run its course and was finally ebbing away, leaving them relaxed, happy and light-hearted.

The moment they had moved up the set of steps, from the sand onto the pavement, and finally out of sight of the party, Nick caught hold of Sal’s hand and swirled her around so that she was leaning against a waist high stone wall that separated the beach from the pavement. Still brimming with amusement, he planted his hands either side of her on the top of the wall.

“You, Miss Sally Fitzroy-Smith,” he began, watching her look of surprise at his sudden action, “are the most fun I’ve ever had,” he finished matter of factly.

Her eyes widened. That was quite a compliment. As always, Sal never knew how to react when he complemented her like that and she found herself simply gazing back at him as a pleased smile flickered across her face at his flattery. Placing her hands next to his on top of the wall, she leant backwards to observe him, smiling coyly. There followed a moment of silence, which was nonetheless filled with warmth and something like excitement between them. Then Sal gasped and put a hand to her mouth.

“Oh God, what on earth must they think of me?”

Nick wasn’t following. “What?” he frowned with confusion.

“Your friends and Kate, Mike, Karen and all the others. I didn’t even say goodbye to them properly,” she fretted.

He laughed, “You’re worried about a load of ukulele paying hippies, Miss million mile a minute mouth and an uninvited gate crasher?” he said incredulously. “I don’t think you should spend any sleepless nights over that Sal.”

She chuckled. “I suppose not. But Sandra and Phil…”

“…will not give it another thought,” he finished for her. “Now,” he said, throwing an arm over her shoulder and turning around to direct them back down the street, towards the hotel, “what you really should be worrying about is if you’re going to win the toss for the bed or not.”

“What?” she said, as her head shot round to him. “We have to flip for it?”

He tried to look serious. “Of course. There’s only one bed. You wouldn’t want to take advantage of me would you Sal?” he grinned at the thought of it and left his question open to interpretation for a moment before adding “…by expecting me to be the one to sleep on the sofa.”

Sal narrowed her eyes at him suspiciously. “Well, no of course not,” she shrugged, playing along with his game, whatever it was. “And you wouldn’t want to take advantage of me, would you?” she came back, with another hidden meaning hanging in the air.

He shook his head. “Never.”

“So, you were right, we should toss a coin,” she concluded.

Hmm, he would rather she took advantage of him. The tease hadn’t worked. She was getting to know him too well. Calling his bluff eh. He’d have to try harder next time.

“Tell you what,” he said, after a moment’s thought, “I’ll let you have the bed on one condition.”

She glanced sideways at him warily. “What?”

He tightened his hand on her shoulder slightly and pulled her a little closer to him. “Well… I think we should find a bar and have one more drink, just you and me, before we settle in for the night. What d’ya say?” He watched her face expectantly and waited for a reaction.

She stopped walking and turned to him. “Oh Nick, I’d love to but it’s so late; I really don’t think we’re going to find anywhere open,” she said, glancing down the street, which seemed particularly dark and lifeless at that time.

“There’s bound to be somewhere, if we’re quick,” he replied, taking her hand and urging her to walk again. Then he suddenly slowed down and faced her once more. “That’s if you want to.”

“Oh yes, I do,” she answered, “I just hope we can find somewhere open.”

He smiled. “Sal,” he began, replacing his arm over her shoulder, “if the likes of you and I join forces I’m willing to bet that, not only will we find a bar open for a nightcap tonight,” he paused, “but, you never know, we might even find the Minotaur’s axe.”

Sal chuckled. Yes, a nightcap with Nick would be nice. She picked up the pace then, having warmed to the idea. “Or, the Minotaur himself,” she giggled.

Nick swung his head to her and laughed loudly. “Sal, only you could come up with something like that!”