AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Sarah!” she called, raising the hand with the clipboard over her head in greeting as she broke into a run towards the pair. “Oh, thank God! You have to hurry. Rodarick is going ape. He’s even threatening to sue if we miss the light for this shoot. I tried to tell him there’s always tomorrow, but he just starts screaming shit at me in Fren-oh. Hi,” she said, noticing Alex for the first time before leaning in close to Sarah and saying, “say, girl, who’s your cute friend?”
Blushing, Sarah avoided the girl’s gaze. “Jules, this is Alex, Alex, this is my assistant Julia.”
“Alex-wait, you mean the Alex.”
Plainly growing uncomfortable with the conversation, Sarah made an extra effort to look offhand as she said, “yes, Alex Rike, we went to school together back in England. Look, I’ll deal with Rodarick. Can you please escort Alex over to the viewing area while I get ready?”
“Sure, oh, I can’t wait to hear what juicy stories he has.”
Then, before Sarah, or Alex for that matter, could object, Julia had run up to him, seized his hand, and began dragging him towards the roaring surf. Not sure what to say, Alex could only look back, but Sarah was already making her way towards the open caravan.
“So, you’re the famous Alex Rike. You can’t imagine how long I’ve waited to meet you,” she said after a moment, her voice silky.
“What... I mean… um oh, why’s that?”
“Sarah often speaks of you. She said you were the most amazing man she has ever met, and that she has never had a truer friend. When she told me that, I knew I just had to meet you. Good men are a rare commodity and Sarah’s just too smart to be so wrong about you.”
“I’ve never known Sarah to be wrong,” he murmured, suddenly feeling especially warm under the blazing sun. “Has she ever mentioned anyone else? From England, I mean.”
“No one in particular. She spoke of some bloke...Robert...something Wallaby a few times, but it was mostly just in passing, though once she said that he was the most insufferable ignoramus she had ever encountered.”
Alex couldn’t help but snigger.
Richard might be many things, but ignorant wasn’t one of them. He’d known the truth well enough, but that didn’t stop Sarah’s ex being a cunt whenever he deemed it appropriate. And it certainly didn’t stop me from introducing his perfect nose to my fist.
“So, what was Sarah like back home? She doesn’t talk about the old days much.”
“Sarah doesn’t talk about anything much.” His Kris Kristofferson impression was as rusty as the actor’s Texan growl, but it made Jules chuckle nonetheless.
“No, she was…” Alex paused. How often had he pondered that question? Though the answers rarely eluded him, the prospect of picking just one to sum her up entirely made his pulse quicken and his mouth dry. Or perhaps it was merely the heat. “Brilliant,” he continued. “There was no challenge she couldn’t master. Anything she set her mind to, she could do, but she could also be a real ball breaker. She always followed the rules to the letter. Though she’d always denied it, I think a part of her secretly liked my frequent attempts to get us into trouble.”
She giggled again. “So, you were a corrupting influence?”
“Absolutely.” Alex grinned and this time, they both laughed. They were almost at the surf after skirting the edges of the milling mass, and Alex could smell the rich saltiness of the sea air. For a moment, he thought she was about to lead him into the turbulent waters when Jules suddenly veered right and led him up the bank to the shade of the parasol. The viewing area, as Sarah had called it, turned out to be just a group of seven or so unfolded camping chairs with a cooler.
Bending down, she withdrew a chilled bottle of coke and handed it to Alex before helping herself to one. Unscrewing the lid, she took a long swig of the soft drink before moaning happily. She screwed on the lid and dropped it back into the blue box, closing it with a kick of her heel.
“Okay, make yourself comfortable and Sarah will be down in just a few moments.” Without waiting for a response, she turned on her heel and began walking back towards the caravan, pausing a moment before she left the shade to throw one last glance back at him and say “Hmm… I guess it’s true what they say about tall thin men.”
Alex almost choked on his mouthful of coke. Feeling his cheeks flush with embarrassment, he turned away quickly before Jules could see the blush and instead looked down at the sea. What the hell has Sarah been telling people?
Remembering the drink in his hand and his parched throat, he half drained the bottle in a single long swallow. It was warmer than he would have liked, but the fizzy liquid was sweeter than ambrosia, and he finished it off with just two more swigs. He was about to look for a rubbish bin when a portly middle-aged man with heavily tanned skin, greying military cut hair, and a curled goatee strode between the set of light stands. Dressed in a long white robe and leather Jesus-creeper sandals, he would have reminded Alex of a born-again prophet had he not also had a pair of Ray-Ban sunglasses around his neck and been holding an expensive camera.
Caught up in his own private tempest, he was shouting and ranting at anyone who dared to step too close in what Alex thought to be French.
The man’s presence caused a tremor to run through the throng of people around the site and they began to fall back behind the light stands, just in time for Alex to glimpse a figure swathed entirely in a hooded robe of billowing white silk, strolling through the surf. Realising the show was about to start, Alex looked back at the caravans in the hope of catching a glimpse of Sarah walking down the beach. However, there was no sign of her on the dunes or amongst the crowd of onlookers, all of whom he noticed happened to be staring in the same direction.
Following their gaze back to the robed figure, he watched the individual step out of the surf and walk up the bank towards them. The silk masked them completely, but the damp sea air caused the silk to cling to their skin and he was treated to a thrilling peak of golden flesh as the figure passed. For the briefest moment, he was certain he had glimpsed rosy lips smiling at him from beneath the hood. Suddenly anxious, he had to fight the urge to leap over the folding chairs and pull the figure’s hood down as the urge to see who lay beneath nearly drove him mad. His world began to slow as the figure, long-legged and graceful, took the last few steps towards the onlookers before reaching up and pushing the garment clear and letting it fall to the sand.
The sight stole his breath away.
Sun-kissed and gorgeous, Sarah Snow stood upon the sand in nought but the pooling silk at her feet and a seashell two-piece bikini. The top only just hid the swells of her bosom. Her skin aglow with the midday radiance. She followed the photographer’s direction as he shouted at her to lay on her side with her back to the surf. Alex could feel his breath catching as he watched her throw an arm carelessly high and arch her back, pressing her breasts in his direction. She lay still for a moment, then her eyes shifted in his direction and she winked…
Rodarick’s camera began to click, the flash blinding.
Hot and sweaty, with sand sticking to the most unimaginable of places, Alex felt as if he had never enjoyed a shower more than he did at that moment.
Despite Sarah’s assurances that the shoot wouldn’t take very long, he had sat in that ‘viewing area’ for about three hours before she had come to collect him. It would have been nice to think he had been cool about it, or at least to have handled the situation well, but that would have been a lie and Sarah had only giggled at his shocked expression before dragging him off to a late lunch at her favourite Chinese restaurant. He would never have thought of it, but he had enjoyed listening to her explain the differences between true oriental cooking and the western comparison. It had reminded him of their more peaceful days in school and of the girl he had known so very long ago.
