ARABELLA • Alex Turner

SIX

~
TWO WEEKS LATER

The weeks between Miles and Sophie's birthdays absolutely flew by, and before Arabella knew it she was standing in her best friend's bathroom with a glass of champagne, getting ready for the highly-anticipated party.

"I actually can't believe we did it." Sophie was practically buzzing with sheer excitement and happiness as she applied her sparkly eyeshadow. "We wrote dissertations. Yours was longer than a bloody book for Christ's sake! We're reyt smart."

Arabella laughed, draining the last of the champagne in her flute and plugging her curling iron into the socket by the bathroom door. "Absolute geniuses, you and me."

   "I have never been more glad to finish anything in my life. I swear. It could've been total dog shite for all I care." Sophie poured herself another glass and downed the whole thing. "It may be my birthday but we're both celebrating tonight Arabella Stevens!"

   Arabella snatched the bottle of alcohol from the girl's hands before she could drink any more, chuckling. "Alright Einstein, cool it with the bubbly. We don't want you on the floor before the party has even begun."

"I'm just saying." Sophie continued without a care in the world, coating her lashes with mascara. "We deserve to let loose. I for one am going to get obliterated tonight."

"Wouldn't expect anything less."

Once the curling tongs were hot enough, Arabella began the process of twisting her layered hair into the loose 70s-style curls that had become her signature.

Sophie drenched her face in setting spray and spluttered as if she'd swallowed an ocean of sea water.

"Are you nervous to see Alex?" She asked once she'd recovered, rubbing tinted body lotion all over her arms and legs.

Arabella pursed her lips. "Yeah. I'm just... I don't know. I'm trying not to put pressure on anything but I still think I'd be a bit upset if he didn't like me back. Which is stupid because I've only met him twice."

   Sophie shook her head.

   "It's not stupid. When me and Miles met I liked him straight away. I don't know, I just felt like we had a connection. So, I would've been upset too if it didn't work out."

   Arabella felt weirdly validated by her friend's words.

   She had been mulling over her interactions with Alex a lot over the past two weeks, mainly because she was apprehensive about seeing him at the party, and even though they had only met twice and barely spent an hour together in total she did feel a strange sort of connection to him.

   She had never been much of a believer in fate, but what were the odds that the same man who took it upon himself to comfort her months back would turn out to be Miles' best friend? And what were the chances of two total strangers meeting again after such a long time and recognising each other? It all seemed too much like a coincidence to be insignificant.

   Before Arabella could get lost in her thoughts, the door to Sophie's house slammed and a familiar voice called up the stairs.

   "Special delivery!"

   Sophie cackled and pressed pause on their predrinks playlist to answer. "Get up here you sexy swine!"