Bondi by request

Chapter 2

Poppy frantically rummaged through the drawer she had thrown her bikinis into last night and found a pale blue one that she always felt good wearing. She wore a white kaftan over the top and put on her beach shoes before checking herself in the mirror. Wishing she had gone for a spray tan before she left the UK, she threw her sunscreen into her bag and left her apartment. She was tempted to leave without the rest of the family and face the consequences later but thought better of it so she sat on the stairs and waited. She didn't have to wait long before she heard their door open and all four of them noisily appeared in the corridor.

"What are you doing out here?" her father asked

"Waiting for you lot obviously" replied Poppy getting up and walking down the steps

"Why didn't she knock for us?" she heard Beth whisper to her Dad, who just shrugged and made a mental note to have another talk with Poppy later.

The beach was still pretty quiet when they arrived and they eventually agreed on where to set down their stuff and Natalie and Kate immediately started playing together in the sand.

Poppy lay down on her towel and closed her eyes, listening to her sisters chatting about the best way to build sandcastles. After a while, she sat up and announced she was going to go for a swim.

"Stay between the flags hun ok" warned Beth

Poppy nodded and walked towards the water in-between the flags, slowly wading into the water, jumping as the waves hit her. She had never been in water like this before and she was feeling a bit unsure about going out any further when she saw a big blue board coming in with two people on it. The man on the front of the board was lead on his front and looked exhausted, the person behind was paddling them both in and she suddenly realised it was the same very handsome guy she had collided with this morning at the café. Poppy felt the butterflies as she realised he had spotted her too and was smiling.

"Thank you my friend, thank you" the man said, shaking the very handsome lifeguard's hand.

"No worries mate" he replied "Just make sure you swim between the flags ok, it's not safe here"

The man walked back up the beach and Poppy felt nervous as the lifeguard headed her way.

"Hi again" he said with a huge smile "You not so sure about going in?"

"Errrm, if I'm honest I am a bit wary" she replied "We don't get surf like this where I'm from"

"Thought I detected an English accent" he smiled

"I noticed yours wasn't local either" she replied, perhaps a little more flirtatiously than she would usually be "New Zealand right?"

He nodded as another lifeguard sat on a buggy nearby beeped the horn and motioned for him to go over to him

"Well my advice is to only go as far out as you feel comfortable with and stay between the flags where we can keep an eye on you" he smiled

"Thanks" she replied "I'm Poppy by the way"

"Harrison" he replied, still smiling and Poppy wondered if he actually ever stopped smiling, not that she was complaining – he did have a lovely smile after all.

"I'll see you around yeah" he called as he jogged back to the other lifeguard at the buggy who said something to him and they both laughed.

Now suddenly very aware that they were both watching her, Poppy felt really self-conscious and decided to head back to her family.