ARABELLA • Alex Turner

TWENTY TWO

TW: Sexual content.
Smut after the second line break (-) about halfway through. If you don't feel comfortable reading, please ask for a chapter summary as there's some important plot at the end.
Enjoy girly pops <3

~

When Alex and Arabella woke up from their nap around an hour later, it was due to a human-sized lump landing on top of them and jolting them out of their sleep like an excited child on Christmas morning.

   "Wakey wakey, my darlings!"

   Arabella tried unsuccessfully to kick the lump off and groaned when a pointy knee jabbed her in the thigh, burying her head further into Alex who made a similar noise of discontent and pulled her closer. Neither of them were willing to be dragged out of the soft warmth of their little bubble just yet.

   "Go away Sophie." She mumbled, still half-asleep. She could hear Miles laughing from the open doorway, and if she were more awake she probably would have cracked a smile.

   Sophie remained sprawled across the bed, refusing to budge. "Get up, you lazy bastards. We've got pools to swim in and margaritas to drink."

It was Alex who shifted first and sat up, blinking sluggishly. Arabella grumbled when she was jostled by his movements and shut her eyes for a few more seconds before finally following him in sitting up and glaring at her best friend.

"I hate you." She scowled, kicking her foot out once more and catching the redhead in the thigh.

Sophie cackled at the sight of their disgruntled faces, finally rolling off the bed and joining Miles in the hallway.

"Love you too!"

Despite the abrupt start to the afternoon and the fact that she would no doubt be covered in knee-shaped bruises for the rest of the trip, Arabella couldn't help but smile as she set about finding a pair of shorts to wear.

Sophie was right; they did have pools to swim in and margaritas to drink. And she would be lying if she said that she wasn't excited to spend the entire week relaxing and admiring a sun-kissed and half-naked Alex in the process.

-

Two hours later, after a longer than necessary shopping trip in which she and Sophie had filled three big shopping bags to the brim with random crap, Arabella sat down on a lounger by the pool and allowed herself to relax.

The Portuguese summer sun bathed her in a delicious warmth as she slid her sunglasses down over her eyes and watched Alex run back into the villa for a drink.

   He looked delectable in a pair of black and gold swimming trunks, his smooth skin still a little bronzy from the month he'd spent in America and his quiffed hair falling over his forehead as he jogged. Arabella didn't think that the memory of his hands rubbing sun cream into her skin mere minutes earlier would be leaving her mind anytime soon.

   When he returned from the villa and handed her an open bottle of beer, she could feel his dark eyes roaming her bikini-clad body even through the sunglasses covering them. He too was clearly appreciating the scanty lack of clothing that came with afternoons by the pool.

Beads of water from the condensation on his own bottle dripped over his knuckles as he leaned down to press a kiss to her lips, bracing himself with his hand on her thigh. He was delightfully warm, and though he tasted slightly of sun cream she still chased his lips for another kiss when he pulled away.

   "Get in here, Al. Water's lovely." Miles called, successfully drawing Alex's attention away.

After one last fleeting kiss and a beaming smile, his hand was gone and he was making a beeline for the pool, leaving her thigh tingling.