The other side of the world (Bondi Rescue Fanfic)

Chapter 6 - I love the nightlife

Shannon spent the rest of the morning lounging in the pool in the large garden that was at the rear of the house. She thought about what to wear that night and was running several ideas through her head when she heard the rest of the group arrive home.

"Great idea" yelled Darren as he ran off and was back in seconds with swim shorts on and divebombed into the pool. Rachel sat on the side and dangled her feet in as Shannon swam towards her.

"Did you go down to the beach today" asked Rachel

"Only to take that jacket back" she replied

"And was that nice lifeguard who got you home safely last night there?" grinned Rachel

"Yes but I didn't stay long so stop getting all giddy" warned Shannon

"What!" shrieked Rachel pretending to be offended "I do believe I have no idea what it is you are getting at" Rachel said in a mock posh English accent.

They all spent the afternoon in and out of the pool and having a laugh and then talk turned to food as usual.

"I fancy pizza" suggested Karen

There was lots of agreeing and they decided on a little pizza place Tristan and Jamie had spotted earlier and all went off to get ready.

Shannon was deciding what to wear when there was a knock at her door.

"Only me Shan" called Karen through the door "Have you got any bracelets with green in them?"

Shannon opened her bedroom door and Karen followed her inside as Shannon passed her a jewelry box.

"Have a root through there" said Shannon, still pulling several outfits from the wardrobe.

"This is perfect, please can I borrow it?" asked Karen holding up a beaded bracelet that had several shades of green on it.

"Yeah no probs" replied Shannon holding up a strapless cream coloured knee length dress that had a red flowery pattern on it "What do you think of this?" she asked Karen

"Gorgeous" replied Karen "Will look great with your red wedges"

"I don't want the lifeguard lot to think I am making too much effort later though" explained Shannon

"You have got the perfect balance don't worry" laughed Karen "Now just how many of these lifeguards are single exactly?"

"No idea mate but you can have fun finding out" laughed Shannon.

The whole group made their way to the pizza restaurant in good spirits and ended up having a really good time together for a change. They all finished up and paid the bill so talk turned to where they were going next. Shannon told them where she had arranged to buy the lifeguards their thankyou beer so they decided to head there.

They walked inside the large open plan bar and Shannon immediately liked it, with its large wooden booths around the outside of the room and the various sized tables in the middle. The place was relatively quiet with only a few couples and small groups dotted around so they made their way towards a large booth situated in the window at the front of the bar.

"Right then, who wants what?" asked Jamie whilst scanning a cocktail menu.

They decided to get some large jugs of a few different cocktails and just share them so a few of them went to the bar to order.

"Oh look, a real old style jukebox" said Rachel nudging Shannon and nodding her head in the direction of a huge 50s style jukebox stood in the corner "I wonder if it works or if it's just for decoration"

They wandered over together to investigate and noticed that it was all lit up and appeared to be in working order,

"Could be full of totally crap music though" said Shannon

"No no, looks like a good variety actually" replied Rachel putting the requested coins in and scanning the music list.

"Ah ha!" she said with a smile "I'm putting this whole album on"

"Oh god what have you picked" chuckled Shannon referring to her friends usual taste in music.

The music started and Shannon recognised it straight away – it was one of their favourite albums by an Irish band called the Script.

"Good choice mate" winked Shannon as they made their way back to the table where the cocktails had just arrived.

"Get that down ya neck" laughed Jamie handing them each a glass filled with something a deep blue colour.

"Mmmmm that is gorgeous" Shannon and Rachel both said in unison.

They were steadily finishing off the initial batch of cocktails when they heard lots of voices by the bar. Shannon looked over and realised there was a big group of men who had just arrived and she recognised quite a few of them as the lifeguard boys. She wasn't quite sure if she should go over but when Maxi and Whippet looked straight over and waved manically she got up from the booth and started to head over to them. This is not something that Shannon would do easily so the cocktails were definitely helping her bravery!

"Hey English, you guys have started without us I see" yelled Maxi giving her a hug

"This round is on me" Shannon informed the bartender, turning back to smile at Maxi

"Thanks English" smiled Maxi "Really not necessary though, all part of the service, hey save us that big table next to your booth and we can come join you all if you don't think your friends will mind?"

"Not at all" replied Shannon as she waved over at the booth trying to get some attention. Darren eventually looked over so she tried to tell him what she wanted using hand gestures and mouthing for him to move the table. He eventually got it, gave her the thumbs up and started to move a large table and it's chairs to join their booth.

"Oi, Deano! Reidy! We are heading over to that lot over there, give the guy a hand sorting that table and stuff would ya" shouted Whippet as he started telling the bartender how many beers they needed.

Shannon handed over the money for the beers and as she turned to head back to the group she almost walked right into a man's chest.

"Sorry" she apologised, looking upwards to see Kailan grinning down at her as Whippet handed him a beer

"Cheers"said Kailan and Whippet in unison as they clinked their glasses together and both took a huge gulp of their cold beers. As the three of them started to walk back to the now very loud group of English and Australians, Shannon giggled at Maxi and Darren who had started to dance along to an old eighties song that someone had chosen on the jukebox. Shannon heard Kailan also laugh behind her, then she jumped as he whispered into her ear "You look beautiful tonight by the way"