Nothing You've Come To Expect - Alex Turner

Bonus Chapter- Yesterday's still leaking through the roof

I let myself fall on the bed, belly up, with a sigh. Nothing better than laying down after a long journey.
A nice sea breeze comes in from the patio door, opened one third of the way.

I look at Alex, outside on the terrace,  leaning on the parapet smoking a cigarette. The tight greyish jeans underline his beautiful derrière and on his feet are the inevitable boots. He tossed his leather jacket on one of the deck chairs, remaining in a white t-shirt. It's a warm spring late afternoon.
I can see his attractive profile as he looks up the Californian coast. He blows out the smoke, but the two fingers that took the cigarette to his mouth linger a little longer on his lips, rubbing them. He's lost in thoughts. His hair, now short, moves with the breeze.

He toyed with the silly thought of shaving his head, but of course I did everything in my power to dissuade him from this outrageous idea. With beautiful hair like that, if he shaved he would be committing a crime.
But he wanted to change into something more practical, so he got the cut.
I prefer his hair when it's long and wavy, but I have to say that with this shorter and fluffy boyish cut he looks extremely cute. I just want to ruffle his hair all the time (oh, and I do.)

I get up and I go out to him. I sneak my arms around him from behind as I take in a big whiff of ocean air and then I exhale, letting out a sigh of happiness.
"I've missed this place." He says. I can hear the smile in his voice.
"Me too."
'Our House'. Yep. The house on the beach. He never got rid of it.

We came back here on a short visit only once since I moved to London, and we went to LA on a second short trip to California, half a year ago. We have both been extremely busy with our jobs.

My little segment "Women Are Us" had a lot of success and and it may become its own thing. Maybe with the new year. For now, I started writing most of the contents and during the time off I do research on topics for the show and I write.

The Arctic Monkeys tour has been incredible but very demanding.
They just got back from the Australian leg and they took two weeks off before sailing off to Latin America for the last stretch. This coincided with a two-week break in the broadcasting of "Blast From The Past" for the airing of a big BBC history special.
Perfect.
Time for some much-needed R&R.
'Our House' is where the heart took us. Two full weeks, just me and him, taking it as easy as it gets.

Alex turns around and tosses his cigarette butt on the floor. He puts it off with the tip of his boot.
He places an arm around me and pulls me close for a kiss.
"We had some fun on this terrace."
"We did, indeed..." I get a flash in my mind of a particular dirty act we performed up here once. In broad daylight.
I wonder if he's reminiscing the same.

"Remember that time...?" he asks with a smirk.
I throw my arms around his neck and I kiss him slow. "I do..."
Our mouths open to let our tongues meet.
I feel his stubble as I cup his face and I run my thumb along his jaw.
My phone vibrates in my pocket. I ignore it.

"Your phone is going off..."
"I'm busy right now...." I'm not letting a call ruin this intimate moment.
We pick up from where we left off. His tongue swirling around mine causes a tingle rushing from the back of my head to my core.
The phone vibrates again.
"Mmh..." I protest, my mouth still on his. But then I part from it.

"It might be Claudia."
Claudia! I can't wait to see her! She knew we were arriving in the afternoon. It's probably her.
Alex smiles and lets me go. "Hold that thought," he says as he steps through the patio door.
"Oh, I'm holding..."
He gives me one last crooked smile before he disappears inside.

I pull out my phone. It's a number that I don't know.
"Hello?"
"Anna..."
"Who's this?"
"You don't even recognize me, babe?"
"Robert?!"