Alice Cove

CHAPTER FIVE

5.

I woke up with a killer headache, but also to the smell of bacon. I could always smell when my neighbours were cooking, but this was close. This was my bacon. I laid there for a bit longer, noticing a water on my bedside table. As I woke up a bit more I could hear voices. Two specific ones to be exact. Josh and Harry. I sat up and downed some water before trying to find some clothes. This could escalate quickly.

“Still hasn’t answered the question of what the f**k you’re doing at my girlfriends place,” I heard Harry say. He sounded angry, and Harry is so sweet I don’t think I’ve actually heard him be angry. I must have missed the start of the conversation but I didn’t want to miss any more.

“Look mate, she’s told you once and now I’ll tell you once, she’s not your girlfriend. You’re living out a summer romance and I’m sorry it got shut off too quickly but be an adult about it,” Josh said. I could taste the condescending in his voice. I found a shirt and threw it on, then I realised it was Josh’s shirt. So he’s out there topless, me walking out in his shirt would send Harry over the edge.

I threw it off and went search for a clean one.

“Don’t know what she’s been telling you, ‘old friend,’ but that’s not what she shows me.”

I could hear Josh laugh. I finally got out the caravan and could see Josh step towards Harry, he towered over him. Good on surfer dude Harry for not backing down.

“What are you going to do when summers over man,” Josh said looking down at him menacingly.

That was my cue. I ran over to the boys and pushed them apart. Josh stepped back easily, laughing. Whereas Harry I had to push hard against. He was more serious than Josh, Josh had every upper hand, and was just playing with Harry’s emotions.

“What are we going to do when summers over babe,” Harry said to me.

I pulled away, “don’t bring me into your pissing contest.”

Josh outstretched his arms, “see man, I’m trying to help you. Don’t get caught up in fantasies. I know how tempting that can be.”

Josh looked at me and winked. Harry urged forward but I caught him and pushed him back.

“You’re both so f*****g childish right now, please remember that I live and work here,” I moaned. I could see people in surrounding sites watching us as we slowly spilled onto the sandy road.

“You won’t need to worry about that, couple more days and we’ll be out of here,” Harry said. Now I was starting to worry about Harry’s sanity. I hadn’t given him any false promises. We were pretty much the same age, he wasn’t a child. He was a hot surfer guy for goodness sake, I was expecting him to hit it and quit it when the holidays over.

Josh stepped forward. I could see this was starting to piss him off.

“Harry,” Josh’s voice got louder, “She’s not leaving with you. Do you even know her last name? Does she know yours?”

Harry looked at me, I shook my head.

“f**k you alright,” he pointed at Josh, “she doesn’t need to.”

“She doesn’t f*****g love you, she’ll forget about you as soon as you leave. Get it through your dumb f*****g skull. Im trying to help you.”

Now that was just cruel, but probably necessary at this point. Then before I could even think, Harry launched towards Josh, pushing me out of the way and onto the ground. I didn’t get a chance to see the fight, but I could hear a scuffle. From what I could hear it wasn’t much of a fight. I heard a thump then Josh was beside me seeing if I was okay.

“Yeah I’m fine,” I swatted his hand away.

I looked around and saw Harry also on the ground now, sporting a blood nose. I got up and went over to him, pulling him up.

“Are you for real?” Josh stood up after.

I turned to him giving him a death stare, “like I said, I f*****g work here. I have a duty of care.”

I pulled up Harry and plonked him down in one of my chairs trying to look at his nose.

“Call Darlene would you?” I said to Josh, Darlene was also the closest thing we had to a medic.

“f**k off, I’m fine,” Harry once again pushed me away, not to the ground this time, and stood up.

He stormed off, and as Josh and I watched him storm off he brushed past Brody who was on his way up.

Brody stopped in his tracks and turned to watch Harry walk away, then he turned back and looked at us, with a puzzled look, also trying not to crack a smile.

“What the f**k have you done now,” he shook his head at me.

I couldn’t help but to let out a chuckle.

“I could have you fired for less,” Brody joked, but with a serious voice.

“No you couldn’t.”

He laughed, “does this mean we won’t get coffees in the office?”

“He brought you coffees in the office?” Josh looked down at me, bewilderment across his face.

“Every morning,” Brody said trying to hide his laughter.

Josh couldn’t help it and lost his s**t laughing.

“What! It was sweet,” I sang in defence.

“How could you not see this coming,” Josh laughed. And somehow I could see Josh and Brody bond over this.

“You two are f*****g priceless,” I crossed my arms and shook my head.

“Well that definitely got rid of my hangover,” Josh declared, then out stretched his hand to Brody, “hey, I’m Josh.”

“Brody, El’s boss,” Brody shook his hand.

“You are not,” I rolled my eyes and sat down in my chair.

“I’m making breakfast, you want some?” Josh asked Brody.

“Nah I shouldn’t,” Brody took a few steps back to leave, “just had a noise complaint, had to check it out.”

Josh laughed, “no worries man.”

“El,” Brody addressed me, “I need your little hands today on site 71, that hose is beat again. Just give me a call when you’re ready and I’ll meet you there?”

“Yeah, no worries,” I waved at him and he turned and walked.

“Nice dude,” Josh said, starting back up the Weber, “a handsome motherfucker.”

I laughed, add another one to Brodys list of followers.

“So,” Josh put the top down on the Weber and turned to me, leaning up against the caravan, that was fun.”

“What, your little d**k measuring contest? Or last night?” I raised an eyebrow at him.

“Both,” he silently laughed, his whole chest vibrated and with his arms crossed his biceps flexed, I almost forgot he wasn’t wearing a shirt. He was ripped now compared to a year ago.

“Are you undressing me with your eyes?” He asked, an eyebrow raised.

“There’s not much to undress,” I said deadpan.

“True,” he shrugged.

I looked at him expectantly, there was obviously something else he wanted to say.

“I think we should do this again,” he smiled that dazzling smile, “and again. Maybe a couple more times.”

I laughed, he wasn’t usually this eager, especially since we’ve kept out of each other’s way for a better part of the year, I wasn’t expecting this.

“Well,” I began, leaning forward with my elbows on my knees, “you did just punch my boyfriend in the face so I guess that’s over.”

He belly laughed, “well if this was a fairy tale, which you don’t believe in, I would’ve won you over with that fight.”

“Lucky they’re not real then,” I laughed.

“You didn’t really answer my question,” he said, turning back to the Weber.

“And you know I never will,” I got up, “I’ll get the eggs.”

“Well then I’ll show you,” he called to me as I went into the van.

“You know that’s how this works,” I laughed as I reappears with eggs, bread and butter.

Josh took the eggs from me and cracked them onto the weather while I set up on the table buttering the bread.

“So what was that all about?” Brody asked me, as I fiddled in the water box on site 71. Brody standing behind me giving me space to work.

He was referring to this morning, “long story short Josh stayed the night and Harry came over in the morning and wasn’t happy to see him there.”

“Shall I call you Candy 2.0?” Brody joked.

“Screw driver,” I put my hand out, “don’t you dare. This is different. Harry for some reason thought this was a serious relationship. And that’s not the case. Plus I was drunk.”

Brody laughed, “so who is this Josh kid. He’s a monster.”

He was referring to his height, I popped my head out of the box.

“Are you trying to form a bromance?” I laughed.

“He seems like a nice guy.”

“He is, he lives on a farm in Kensington, the next town inland,” I said, “he’s a nice country boy.”

“So not a summer fling,” Brody laughed.

“We dated for a while like a year ago,” I shrugged, “try now.”

Brody turned on the waterfall and it bubbled for a bit then came out seamlessly.

“Good work.”

“Anything else? Or can I finally get to the beach,” I cleaned my hands in the running water.

“Go ahead, are you back in the office tomorrow?”

I nodded, “see you then.”

I walked off, realising that Brody wasn’t having any affect on me, was that because of Josh? Because when I was hanging out with Harry I still felt it.

“Better bring coffees tomorrow since your puppy dog won’t,” Brody called after me.

I didn’t turn around, just put my finger up towards him as I kept going.

I got to the beach well into the afternoon, I took a 6 pack with me and after me swim I sat back down on my towel and had a few drinks waiting for sunset, I didn’t think about much, I tried to clear my mind. There was too much. Harry steered clear of me today thankfully so that was done with, I wasn’t sad about it. If the lat 24 hours didn’t happen maybe I would’ve been. Josh left after breakfast and texted me once since. The one person I hadn’t heard from just plonked down next to me.

“Well hello there drunky,” Candy sat down next to me.

“How could you even remember if I was drunk or not,” I laughed.

“I don’t, but I saw Josh on his way out this morning,” she fell into me.

“He punched Harry,” I said casually.

“I know he told me. That’s hilarious,” she smiled, pinching one of my beers.

“So is that a thing now? He’s gotten so much hotter, but I will still be disappointed you’re not doing the summer fling stuff with me.”

I laughed, “cause that turned out well for me.”

“That’s your fault, you got to stop acting like the ‘girlfriend’ type,” she smirked.

“I can’t help it,” I shrugged. It definitely wasn’t my aim.

“So is that a yes to the Josh scenario?” She asked.

“I don’t know,” I really didn’t, “guess just got to see what happens next.”

“Not going to lie,” Candy started, “he did want me to put in a good work for him.”

I laughed, “that’s ballsy.”

She nodded, “he should know he’s barking up the wrong tree. I have better plans for you.”

I gave her a side look, “and what’s that?”

“We can bang besties, maybe even brothers, maybe we’ll even hit the jackpot with twins.”

We both laughed.

We sat and chatted until the sun set, we weighed up the pros and cons of Josh, and obviously her idea of sleeping around together. I decided Josh could still be on the table, but any more holidayers were off the table for me this year. Harry was more than enough. We had a long way to go though, but I can’t see myself breaking that for just anyone. I don’t need to be wanted like Candy did.

I walked back to the park and Candy went the other way to her place. As I unzipped my annex I saw a note on my floor.

‘Your move – Josh’ there was a packet of bacon.

I laughed to myself and put it in the fridge. Turning on the tv I sat on the couch to watch a few shows. I was still feeling pretty seedy and was back to work tomorrow.

The next few days went by so quick. People checking in, people checking out. No coffees in the morning.

Until this morning.

Looking at my computer I barely heard the chimes on the door as it opened, and then an iced coffee slammed down on the reception bar. I grabbed it as it almost toppled over.

“The f**k?” I looked up and it was Harry.

“We’re checking out,” he told me with a deadpan look.

I looked at my computer, “you have one more night.”

It was already agreed upon that Candy would do the shift for me tomorrow, knowing full well Harry would be checking out and we didn’t want an altercation.

“Yeah, we’re checking out early. This place has bad vibes,” his eyes went dark and he stared straight into mine.

“Look Harry, I’m sorry for how it all went down,” I began, “I’m sorry I gave you the wrong impression.”

He scoffed, “you’re just a slut that gets passed around a trash trailer park.”

No more miss nice guy.

I stood up and my office chair went flying behind me, “you know what? f**k you.”

Harry’s eyes widened, guess he didn’t expect me to fight back when I was working. I shouldn’t.

“You’re a immature little child and I’m glad I’m the one that got to put you and your little d**k in your place,” my fave was burning and I was poking the air in front of him.

“Where’s your manager? I’ll have you f*****g fired.”

“I’m right here, and best you leave boy. Hand in your keys and be on your way, there’ll be no need for a deposit on next year because you won’t be coming back,” Darlene walked walked in from her office, she was listening into the whole thing.

Harry slammed his keys on the bench, “f**k the lot of you.”

And left.

“Well, that was some type of tantrum,” Darlene sighed.

“Thanks for the back up Darls, and I’m sorry. I know I shouldn’t have erupted,” I sighed, sitting back on my chair she had pushed towards me.

“As your friend I applaud you, but as your boss don’t f*****g do it again or you’ll be banished to cleaning services,” she had a smile on her face as she said this, but of course she was serious.

“Well I thought it was great,” Brody came in from down the hall, presumably the break room, “I like when you added his little d**k into the equation.”

“At least he bought me a coffee,” I shrugged. Trying to keep a straight face.

“Yeah,” Darlene prolonged the word, “I wouldn’t drink that.”

She walked back to her office and me and Brody both erupted in laughter.

“She’s probably right though,” Brody said seriously, then left.

I looked at the coffee, pondering. Then pushed it to the side and got back to work.

I probably worked for 5 more minutes before I couldn’t stop thinking about it, and just had to do it.

‘Come over tonight’ I messaged Josh.

I sat outside on a chair, watching a group of kids play spotlight when someone crept up behind me and grabbed my shoulders.

I jumped and then I heard Josh laughed.

“Why would you do that, crazy,” I said as he came around to sit next to me.

“Just a perfect opportunity,” he smiled and right away I had no regret for calling him over.

“Do you want a beer?” I asked him.

“Of course.”

I quickly downed the last few mouthfuls of mine and popped it into the bin on my way in to grab two more.

I passed one to Josh and sat back down.

“So why did you want me to come over?” Josh asked.

“Does there need to be a reason?” I asked. I didn’t want to tell him that I thought of it when Harry left. Sorry. Who’s Harry?

“Well maybe I had something on,” he mused

I laughed into my beer. “Well you could have said no.”

“What if it was important?”

“I would have said, why are you being such a cop?”

“Because I think it’s cause you missed me,” he cooed.

“Or maybe I just want an easy lay,” I raised an eyebrow at him.

“I’m not just a piece of meat El,” he faked hurt, “but I’d be okay with that.”

I laughed, “dork.”

“There’s one thing I have to know,” Josh said.

I looked at him expectantly.

“Can we join that spotto game?” He was watching the kids too.

I almost spat out my drink.

“Nah seriously though, did that guy give you any more trouble today?”

“Alright Prince Charming, put your sword away. He left today actually.”

Josh nodded, sipping his beer, “good.”

I gave him a sly look and sipped my beer. Jealous already.

He better not end up being controlling and possessive like Harry. He was never before.

I was at ease with Josh, we had a few beers and just talked all night, watching the world go by. First it was young kids playing spotto and tag, then it got a bit darker and they were all called in, and then you could hear adults laughing all around having their last drinks. A few groups of teenagers walking around. Then the later it got the adults had all turned in and the teenagers started sneaking out their alcohol. Everything I did when I use to come here, I laughed at the fact, just like me, all these teenagers thought they were so stealth, but their parents always knew.

I love sitting out here til really late, then you start to see a few parents out, looking for their lost 13 year old. But we didn’t get to that stage tonight. I had work again tomorrow and so did Josh on the farm, so he didn’t even stay. He kissed me sweetly and went to leave. Then ran back to kiss me deeply, then left.