Page 1 of One Hot Summer

PROLOGUE

Zante

10 Years Earlier…

Ipulled Sarah’s groping hands out of my bikini top.

“Will you stop? Everyone will think we’re lesbians! Which I wouldn’t mind, except we’re not!” The resort was quite busy at that moment, with the arrival of other fellow university students ready to kick off their summer break.

“That’s not a bad thing! We’ve just finished our final year, we need to let our hair down.” She finally took her seat beside me.

“Hair down, yes.” I put myself back in place. “Boobs out, no.”

Sarah ignored me as she observed our mainly male audience who weren’t exactly being subtle. “Look at them all. Soak it all up while you can.” She whipped her hair behind her shoulders and leaned back in her chair, using her suitcase as a footrest to show off her freshly waxed legs. “Anyway, I’m just trying to give you a little more cleavage. Pull them up yourself. You’ve got great boobs. Show ’em off.”

“I don’t see why we had to put our bikinis on, we haven’t even been given our room key yet.” I was feeling very self-conscious sitting in such a public place in a bikini top. Sarah had let me keep my shorts on, for now. It wouldn’t be long until she was insisting my legs were out in the sun too, although surely that would be a danger to planes flying over, in the same way you shouldn’t shine lasers into the sky. My legs hadn’t seen daylight in quite some time.

We had been waiting for our holiday rep since arriving, but he was being held hostage by an angry older couple at the hotel entrance, so had told us all to wait in the outdoor dining area. Sarah relaxed in her chair, whereas I was using my bag to hide my belly. This was not a flattering position. I would have preferred to be laid flat out on a sun lounger, rather than beached on a plastic dining chair, which was making me sweat already. Every time I leaned forward, I could feel my skin peeling itself away from the plastic.

“Fancy a dip in the pool? We can really drive them wild.”

“No, I don’t!”

“Come on, Jenny, you promised you’d loosen up on this trip. Live a little. We’re twenty-one! Uni is done, this is the start of our last summer of freedom. Start to relax.”

“I will, I will, just not yet. I want to unpack and figure out where I’m sleeping tonight. Get my bearings. Once I’ve done that, I’ll feel better.”

“It’ll be fine, we’re up there somewhere.” She pointed to the rooms looking over us. “Just relax.”

The basic, rectangular pool took centre stage, surrounded by sun loungers and small tables. I could see a bar on one side, and a restaurant on the other. I counted four floors of apartments in between, all with towels flung carelessly over the balconies. Some stripey, spotty or sporting various Premier League football team logos. The whole place was enclosed by a ten-foot-high white concrete wall, which made me feel very secure. I’d never been on holiday without my parents before. I could always rely on Dad to have his watchful eye on me, but he can’t do that all the way from Halifax. We were the grown-ups on this trip, responsible for our own safety and well-being.

“Hiya, guys!” Our very animated Scouser rep finally appeared, with his clipboard in his right hand, and his left hand floating in the air as though he was holding onto an invisible cigarette. “Right, so sorry about the delay, oof, it’s warm today, innit? Well, everyone, I’m Gareth, but please call me Gaz.” There were about twenty of us who had all disembarked off the rickety coach to stay at Arizona Apartments. Not one person looked over the age of twenty-one. “Okay, I see you ladies couldn’t wait to get started on the tan.” He winked at us. “So, we’re just about ready now. If you make your way to reception, we can get started.”

“Finally.” I was getting hungry. It was nearly five o’clock back home and we had not eaten since our pre-flight Burger King this morning. I had no idea what the local time was, but I definitely needed a sandwich or something.

Sarah stood. “I say we grab our keys, dump our bags in the room, and come straight back down. Get some pool action before the sun disappears.”

“Well…”

“I know you want to unpack, but we can do that later. It looks like the bar serves light snacks and brings them to you while you’re sunbathing. We can have a light bite now and eat properly later.”

“I guess we could.” Looking over to the bar, I could see bags of Lay’s crisps in all flavours in a basket.

“Yes, we can. You look so good in that bikini.”

“I don’t feel it.” I blushed, holding my arms across my stomach, feeling far too exposed. “I’m just not used to this.”

“I know, but I promise, you look fab. How do I look?”

“Absolutely stunning.” She always looked good. Even when our alarms woke us up at three o’clock this morning, her face had looked like it always did. Unlike my own face, which was marked by my fingers as I’d fallen asleep leaning on my hand.

“Aww, thanks babes.” She bounced forward, kissing me on the cheek. “Come on, let’s get in the queue for our room keys.”

As soon as we had our keys, we were up to the second floor, looking for our room. Sarah found it in no time. I didn’t even get a foot in the door before she pulled my suitcase from me and shoved it inside, quickly locking the door again.

“Can’t we look around?”

“Yes, later. Come on, let’s get back down to the pool! I spotted some free sun loungers. I wonder if those guys are still there.”

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