ARABELLA • Alex Turner

SEVENTEEN

TW: Sexual references.
Barely any sexual content, more suggestive than anything, but feel free to ask for a summary if you don't want to read 🫶🏼

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The boyish smile didn't leave Alex's face for the entire journey back to Sheffield city centre.

   He was aware that it was probably not a good idea to be glancing Arabella's way every five seconds when he was the one in the driver's seat, but he just couldn't resist the urge to stare as she fiddled with the dials on the console and bobbed her perfect head to the music.

   He had to make sure that she was still there, and not some figment of his imagination.

   Their date had gone better than he ever expected. He had enjoyed every single second of it, not just because he was spending time with the girl he had fallen head over heels for, but because she was there in his hometown with him, the place where it all began and where he would always feel at home no matter how far he ventured.

   And to top it all off, she had agreed to be his girlfriend.

   The smooth, suave rock star image he had spent months perfecting since Suck it and See disappeared whenever he was with Arabella. He didn't have to act like someone he was not around her. He could be himself: shy, quiet Alex who liked sunny days and cowboy films and cheesy romance, not some public persona he hid behind in the face of stardom.

   The last person he felt so comfortable around was Alexa.

   Before he could linger on that thought for too long, they pulled into the car park behind his apartment complex.

   The rest of the night went by in a haze of red wine, guitar lessons, laughter and clumsy make out sessions.

Arabella's guitar skills unfortunately rivalled her pool-playing skills, and Alex's attempts to teach her how to play R U Mine? failed so miserably that they both ended up near tears from laughing so hard. Alex almost didn't want her to succeed if it meant hearing her giggle like that over and over again, but he still made it his mission to teach her.

   When he woke up the next morning, a little disoriented, they were tangled together in a mess of limbs on the sofa.

   He was on his back, propped up against the cushions, Arabella on top of him on her front. Her face was buried in his chest, one arm resting in the gap between his body and the backrest, and the other dangling off the side of the sofa. Their legs were entwined, and Alex's head was at such an awkward angle that he knew that he would have neck ache for days. But he couldn't bring himself to wake her up when she looked so peaceful.

   She was even more beautiful when she slept, if that was at all possible. Her face was completely relaxed, long, dark eyelashes sweeping her cheeks and wine-stained lips parted slightly. The chocolate curls spilling out of her ponytail brushed the strip of bare skin around his waist where his shirt had come untucked.

   Alex smiled at the thought that crossed his mind.

   This girl is a little piece of heaven on earth, and I get to call her mine.

   The late morning sunshine cast golden light across the floor of the living room, and it was so quiet in his apartment that he could hear nothing but the ticking of the clock and Arabella's soft breathing.