A Zax Story

The Holiday

[Context – Zoe and Max have been friends for a long time working in the ED together. However, when a group of the staff members, including Max, Zoe, Robyn, Lofty, and surprisingly Dylan decide to go on holiday together, Zoe finds herself strangely drawn to Max in a way that she has never felt before… NB This is an AU where Zoe and Max have not been in a romantic relationship]

Zoe Hanna’s eyes fluttered open as beams of light shone through the thin cream curtains that were hanging in the hotel room in Greece. She stared at the ceiling for a minute before finally stretching and sitting up.

She glanced across the room to the sofa, where Max lay sleeping. After a mix up with the flight companies, Dylan, Robyn and Lofty had ended up in one hotel, and Max and Zoe in another about 10 minutes away. If that wasn’t enough, once Max and Zoe had arrived at their hotel they realised that their hotel room contained only a double bed. Max had courteously insisted on sleeping on the small sofa in the room, but Zoe still felt bad when she saw Max’s body twisted awkwardly in an attempt to fit on the seat.

She crept out of her bed, careful not to disturb Max, before throwing on a cheap dress and trampling downstairs to the breakfast buffet. She wasn’t feeling very hungry in the choking heat, and so grabbed a slice of toast and a cup of coffee before heading back up to the room. She opened the door and was shocked to see Max in only his underwear, with his back facing her. She found herself entranced for a moment, gazing silently at the defined muscles on his back. Wait, this was Max, she thought to herself, slightly panicked. Snapping back to reality, she cleared her throat loudly. Max spun round. ‘Oh God Zoe, sorry!’ he exclaimed, jumping backwards and bashing his hip on the corner of the bed. ‘I’ll just, um…’ He grabbed some shorts and a T-shirt that were hanging off of the sofa and awkwardly made his way to the bathroom, pressing up against the walls as he walked. Zoe felt heat flood to her face as her cheeks began to burn red from embarrassment.

‘So, anyway,’ she heard Max call from the other room, ‘What are the plans for today?’

‘Um, I thought we were supposed to be meeting the others at Balos Beach at around 4, weren’t we?’

‘Well yeah,’ he said, ‘But I meant, as it’s only 11am now, what are you planning to do till 4?’

‘Oh,’ Zoe replied, her cheeks burning even more furiously. ‘Um, well, I guess I was planning to stay by the pool, but if you’ve got another suggestion…’ Her voice trailed off.

‘Relaxing by the pool sounds great,’ Max reassured her. ‘Meet you down there?’

‘Yeah, okay,’ Zoe replied, grabbing her towel and bikini and heading out of the door.

 *

Zoe and Max were silent as they walked side by side down the beach. The cool waves lapped gently at Zoe’s ankles, a pleasurable contrast to the blazing heat. Despite the warm comfort of the sun and the soft, golden sand beneath her toes, Zoe couldn’t help but feel uncomfortable. She felt out of place, dressed in only a loose white dress that floated around her opposed to her normal tight dresses and heels. She carried a pair of flip flops tightly in her hands, agitated by her own thoughts. And where were the others, anyway? She was supposed to meet them half an hour ago, but after they had neglected to show, Zoe and Max had decided to walk down the beach in an attempt to find them.

Out of the corner of her eye she saw Max smiling to himself. She turned to face him. ‘What are you smiling at?’ she enquired.

‘Oh, nothing,’ Max said in a tone that suggested there was quite obviously something funny on his mind.