ARABELLA • Alex Turner

TWENTY NINE

~

     Arabella was so shocked by the sight of Alexa Chung standing there in front of her that she may as well have been struck by lightning.

   Wide-eyed and slack-jawed, she barely registered the tightening of Alex's grip on her hand or the mounting anxiety practically radiating off of him. If she wasn't stunned into silence, she would have tried to reassure him.

   As someone who had always been very into style and clothes and fashion in general, she absolutely adored Alexa. The woman was so effortlessly chic and cool and inspiring, and it was hard not to be awestruck by her presence.

Ironically, Arabella had idolised Alexa long before she even knew who Alex was.

   When they were teenagers, she and Lilly used to obsess over the latest fashion trends and flip through magazines in which Alexa's face was plastered. The model-turned-internet personality was the centrepiece of every moodboard she ever made in the mid 2000s, and standing in front of her honestly felt a little bit like meeting the Queen.

   As Alex's girlfriend, however, there was part of her that felt immediately insecure. She didn't want to be one of those girls who saw others as competition, but Alexa was even more gorgeous in person, a fact that made her want the ground to swallow her up.

   If anyone had told seventeen-year-old Arabella that she would one day become the girlfriend of Alexa Chung's ex, she would have laughed hysterically.

   Before she or Alex had the chance pull themselves together, Alexa spotted them and her face lit up in a bright smile. She excused herself from whoever she was with and made her way over, beautiful black heels that Arabella immediately wanted for her own wardrobe clicking across the floor.

   "Hi Al, I didn't know you'd be here!" She exclaimed, pulling him into a quick half-hug before turning to the girl on his arm, seeming genuinely enthused (and maybe a little tipsy).

"You must be Arabella. It's so lovely to meet you!"

Surprisingly, nothing in her body language suggested that she was at all bothered by the sight of her ex-boyfriend and his new girl. In fact, if the exuberant sparkle in her blue eyes was anything to go by, the case was quite the opposite. She seemed thrilled.

"You look absolutely stunning. And that dress, it was made for you." She continued, barely sparing Alex a second glance as she fawned over Arabella's outfit. "Romeo and Juliet, right? Claire Danes? I adore that film."

Arabella was utterly gobsmacked. This was the Alexa Chung, complimenting her. If she wasn't already panicking internally about what to say, she would have fretted over the fact that she was gaping like a fish in front of her favourite celebrity.

Alex seemed to notice how starstruck she was and touched the small of her back gently, bringing her back down to earth from whatever reverential plane she'd been stuck in.

   "Thank you so much! Please, call me Bella." She tried her best to sound like a functioning human being, even though she suddenly couldn't remember how to blink or speak normally. "You look gorgeous too! Those heels are to die for."

Alexa beamed.

Though she eventually got over her initial shock, the longer they talked the more insecure Arabella found herself feeling. The woman was a model, and she could definitely see why. Before long, the fangirl inside of her shied away and probing thoughts began to pelt her like hailstones.