Fun In The Sun by repgreece (read people like a book TXT) 📕

find us?" Sandra questioned.

"We were on our way to the beach and noticed you sitting up here," Karen explained.

"Mind if we sit?" Bob said, drawing up some chairs before they could reply. "Wow, what you got there? Looks totally rock n roll," Bob said, hanging his ukulele on the back of his chair.

"Waiter," Phil called out again.

The waiter turned and approached wearily. "More ice cream sodas?" he asked.

"Yep," Phil grinned, "Two more please."

The waiter sighed. "Two more," he nodded, strolling back towards the kitchen again.

"Hey," Bob turned his attention to Sal and Nick, "you two get it on last night?"

Oh my God, did he actually just ask that?

"No!" Sal exclaimed.

"No?" Bob asked, surprised.

Oh, Sal just remembered that Bob thought Nick and Sal were engaged. Still, what a question to ask!

"Err, well, I was tired," Sal explained.

"Tired?" Bob slapped Nick on the back, "Sorry mate."

Sal looked at the foam in the four ice cream sodas on the table and imagined disappearing into any one of them. Then three more ice cream sodas appeared, and she wondered where on earth they were going to put the food!

"Don't look now," Karen said suddenly, rescuing Sal from total embarrassment. "Duck!" she urged, grabbing Bob and Sandra's hands.

The others watched, bewildered.

"Kate," Karen warned, pointing desperately over the railing, whilst trying to slide down as much as she could in her chair.

Oh hell!

The other's followed her lead, hiding behind the menus.

"I guess we are a bit mean," Sal whispered.

"Do you want her to come up here? Because she never finished telling us last night about the day her parents moved to Kent," Karen said.

"On second thoughts," Sal reconsidered, "there's no room on the table anyway. Or there won't be when Mike arrives, that's for sure." She risked a peek over the railing to see Kate disappear down the path. "Phew!"

"Here comes Mike now," Sandra observed.

This sure was a small town; everyone was out today.

Dressed again in smart trousers and a striped shirt, with a camera slung on one shoulder, looking like a typical tourist, Mike strolled over to their crowded table.

"Any room for me?" he asked.

"We can squeeze you in," Sandra said, pulling up another chair, whilst everyone shuffled theirs around to make space.

"How is everyone today?" Mike asked, taking a seat. "I don't know about you, but I didn't sleep a wink last night," he said, stifling a yawn.

On seeing Mike yawn, Nick suddenly felt tired also, and yawned instinctively himself. "I know what you mean," Nick replied. "We never got to sleep till past 4.00 am."

Oh great! Sal kicked Nick under the table. He frowned at her.

"I thought you were too tired," Bob piped up with.

Sal blushed bright red. "Err, err, I was...i just..."

"It was just very hot last night," Nick interrupted, helping her out.

Oh Lord, Sal peered into her glass at the lack of foam. She needed more ice cream soda!

"Here, this is for you," Sandra said, handing Mike the ice cream soda they had ordered for him.

"What do we have here?" Mike said, holding up the glass to take a look at its contents.

"Ice cream soda," Sandra replied.

"Oh, that's a new one on me," Mike said, taking a sip. "Not bad though."

"Yeah, it's kind of out there," Bob added.

"I think the waiter is a little tired of us ordering them now though," Sandra chuckled.

"I see what you mean; we seem to have enough to open a parlour," Mike commented. "And what else do we have here?" he asked, watching the waiter approaching them with a huge tray full of food.

"Oh, I almost forgot about the food. We have inventive sandwiches and some snacks," Sal replied.

"Ah okay, we should go now," Sandra said suddenly, moving some of the ice cream sodas to make room on the table for the food, "and let you two enjoy your lunch."

"No, don't worry. There's so much here: stay and share some with us," Nick offered.

"Goodness, we don't want to take your food off you," Sandra said.

"Really," Nick insisted, "we would like you to stay, and then we can go to the beach together."

Sandra watched as Bob helped himself to some of the crisps in a bowl and doubted that she could make the others go now anyway; Bob tended to be a bit of a freeloader. Phil and her would stay to make sure Bob didn't take too much advantage.

The whole table marvelled at the unusual sandwiches, and Sal and Nick offered people a quarter here and there a tasters. As it happened, it was lucky that they had ordered the extra food.

"I love lunchtime, don't you?" Nick commented, savouring a bite of his sandwich, which he had just filled with crisps too. "I used to play outside a lot when I was a kid," he said wistfully, recalling those days, "sometimes in the summer with my cousins, when they came to my town for the day. We'd play out all day long, with my uncle too, and my aunt would go shopping or visiting friends. But she would always come back at lunchtime with a whole bag full of goodies. We would sit in the grass and eat the whole bloody lot!"

"Where did you play out?" Sandra asked.

"There were big fields just at the back of my house. We played there," he replied.

Sal was surprised that Sandra didn't seem to know much about Nick's childhood, considering that they had been friends for years. She wondered what the aunt and uncle had to say about Nick's father, and why Nick hadn't mentioned them visiting his home. Then a disturbing thought hit her: why had he been so hungry at lunchtime? Did he used to get fed at home?

"Where do you two live here?" Mike asked, pulling Sal from her thoughts.

"In Agios Nikolaos," Nick replied. "Have you been there?"

"No, but I've heard of it. It's in the east isn't it?"

"Yes. It's a small town, centred around a lake. It's the capital of the east of the island," Nick explained. "Are you on holiday?" he inquired.

"An extended holiday," Mike said. "I've been travelling around most of the West but haven't seen a lot of the east. This quest of yours appeals to me though. It's nice to travel," Mike explained, "but it does get a bit boring at times. If you need any help, I'd be glad to lend a hand."

"Well, if you are interested in visiting Agios Nikolaos then I'm certain we could find you accommodation," Sal said. "Our boss owns a tour company, so I'm sure we could get you some kind of discount."

Mike's face lit up. "That would be great. Let me take your number."

Nick wasn't sure last night about Mike, but Phil and Sandra seemed to have befriended him, and it appeared as though he was just looking for company, so Nick accepted that maybe he could be of help in the quest. After all, three heads were better than two!

When they had all finally finished the lunchtime feast, Nick was even more concerned about the time passing, so he ordered the bill and split it with Sandra, Phil and Mike...and also Bob and Karen contributed when Sandra insisted on it.

"We had better go," Nick said to everyone. "I'd really like to pop into an internet cafe to do a bit more research before we visit the caves, and it would be nice to have a swim too," he said to Sal.

"Yes, I can't wait to hit the beach," she replied.

"Mind if I come with you to the internet cafe?" Mike asked. "I'd be interested in seeing what you find out about this 'quest'."

"Sure," Nick replied.

"Hey, why don't you come with us to the beach?" Sandra said to Sal, linking arms with her, "and leave the men to do the research. Us girls need time to top up our tans. You can meet us there," she said to Nick.

"You want to go?" Nick asked Sal.

"Okay. I'll meet you there," she said.

"No problem. There's a little wooded area just by the caves. Let's meet there in say...an hour," Nick suggested.

Sal's face went white.

"Are you okay?" Nick asked.

"No, we can't meet there," she said in panic. Oh Lord, her dream was coming true!

"Why not?" Nick asked in confusion.

"Err, because..because I'm afraid...of...of...trees," she said finally, after all other excuses escaped her..

Nick looked at her as if she'd finally lost her mind. "Well okay, meet by the kiosk then."

"Kiosk, yes," she said, breathing a sigh of relief. "I love kiosks."
Chapter 33

Sal was in seventh heaven. Sandra and Phil had gone for a swim, Karen and crazy hippie Bob had gone for a wander to 'bond with the place', whatever that meant, and so she had time to herself. She was lying on her stomach with the sun's rays warming her back, melting away every last residue of tension in her body and lulling her into a dreamlike state. She was drifting away in the calming to and fro of the soft waves that were lapping the shore. Bliss.

"Sal?"

She was barely aware of the sound.

"Sal?"

There it was again though, dragging her out of her semi consciousness.

"Sal, are you awake?"

Okay, she could no longer ignore that. Groaning with protest, she opened her drowsy eyes to see Nick towering above her. Then she was suddenly, and quite abruptly, awake.

Oh my God, she'd forgotten to meet him... yet again!

Jumping up in a panic, she momentarily forgot that she had untied the string on the back of her bikini to prevent tan lines, and she spent the next few seconds floundering about on the sand, trying desperately to catch the ties of her bikini before the whole top of it revealed too much! She wasn't so worried about the other people on the beach; she often sunbathed topless, however, the thought of bearing all in front of Nick was beyond embarrassing for her. Finally, she contented herself with simply holding the two triangles of material over herself, having failed miserably at finding, and tying, the string ends together at her back.

Nick watched her with affectionate amusement. Poor Sal; she always got herself into such a pickle.

"What's the panic Sal?" he laughed.

"What time is it? I fell asleep. So sorry Nick," she grimaced.

"Calm down; we were quicker than I'd thought, so I found you here," he explained, leaning across her, opening her beach bag and fumbling in it. She watched with bewilderment, kneeling on the sand, still holding her bikini top over her modesty. Finally, he found what he'd been searching for and pulled out a bottle of sun tan lotion. "Here, lie back down, and I'll put some lotion on you; you're burning," he said.

She hesitated, eyeing the bottle of lotion suspiciously.

"Come on Sal," Nick said incredulously, "I put lotion on you the very first day we met; you weren't shy then," he teased, kneeling down next to her. She tutted and lay back down on her towel, on her stomach, carefully slipping her hands away so that the bikini top remained in the correct place underneath her. "Oh, but I forgot; you don't remember that, do you?" he whispered into her ear.

She turned her head to look up at him. "Of course I do silly. It's just that...well, I forgot momentarily."

"Hmm." He didn't sound convinced.

Unscrewing the top off the lotion, he poured some of it onto Sal's