ARABELLA • Alex Turner

TWENTY ONE

~
THREE WEEKS LATER

The weeks following Alex and Arabella's little tiff went by in a blur of warm sunny days, picnics in the park and pub lunches along the Sheffield canal towpath. The Olympics passed, followed by graduation, and before Arabella knew it she was standing in her bedroom on the morning of she and Alex's long-awaited trip to Portugal with Sophie and Miles.

The Olympic opening ceremony had gone swimmingly, much to the relief of Arabella who had been on the edge of her seat with her heart in her mouth for the entire performance. Graduation had gone well too, and no matter how much Alex reiterated how much she deserved it, it still seemed surreal that she was now the proud owner of an honours degree.

Even though her boyfriend had been visibly less stressed since July ended and had managed to catch up on sleep, she could tell that he was still understandably worried about the whole fan situation. Despite the fact that she and Sabrina were moving out in less than a month, he had taken it upon himself to install a camera outside her house and had paid for someone to upgrade their alarm system.

Although she thought that Alex was being a tad melodramatic with all the safeguarding, she let him fuss. It clearly made him feel better to know that she was protected, and she had to admit that she felt a lot safer with the ironclad security measures in place, no matter how drastic they seemed for a few overeager fans.

She only hoped that a week of wine, sex, sunshine and cigarettes would help to calm his mind a little.

   When Alex arrived at her house half an hour before they were due to be leaving for the airport, Arabella was still attempting to cram as many clothes as possible into her suitcase.

   As excited as she was about spending a whole week in the sun-kissed, golden paradise of the Algarve with some of her favourite people, the stress that came with last-minute packing was currently the only thing occupying her brain. Well, aside from the copious amounts of caffeine she had ingested the minute she woke up to fuel her tired body.

"Baby." Alex laughed when he entered her room at the crack of dawn with his own suitcase. It was no doubt comparatively light and contained only necessary items. "We're going for a week, not a year."

   Arabella scowled.

   She didn't know how many shoes were considered an acceptable amount for a relatively short trip, but judging by Alex's continued laughter, four pairs was a little excessive. Her suitcase was so overflowing that it resembled the leaning tower of Pisa, and she was beginning to regret ever teasing Alex about his packing skills, or lack thereof.

   After trying and failing to zip the offending suitcase shut for the umpteenth time, she turned to her amused boyfriend.

   "Stop standing there and help me, you git."

   The dark-haired man chuckled again and finally decided to step in, depositing his own luggage on the floor and moving to stand beside her at the foot of the bed. It wasn't long before a taxi would pull up outside of her house with Miles and Sophie already inside.

   "Right, take some of these sandals out, love." He took the lid of the pink suitcase from Arabella's hands and flipped it open once more to reveal a mountain of clothes and shoes. Another flicker of a smile crossed his face at the sight of the snorkel that she had stuffed down the side.

   Arabella looked over at him and pouted, though she also found herself fighting a smile. Maybe she had slightly overestimated how much stuff she would need. "Do I have to?"

   Alex pressed a quick kiss to her forehead and pulled the bulkier looking shoes from her suitcase before she could protest. "I'll put them in my case. There should be some room."