Essex Girls. Laura Ziepe

Honestly, I don’t want to be set up with him.’

      ‘Hey.’ Sam kissed Adele on the cheek as he walked over.

      Jade quickly glanced at him. She could feel herself go hot and couldn’t even look for long in case he saw her staring.

      ‘How’s it going? Busy night?’ Adele asked, in her distinctively husky voice.

      ‘Yep, Saturdays are always busy though. Take it you have a night off?’

      ‘No, I just always sit here drinking when I’m working,’ Adele teased, pouting her lips and flicking her long dark hair over her shoulder. ‘Of course it’s my night off! Where you going tomorrow daytime?’

      He shrugged his toned shoulders casually. ‘Don’t know. Plaza Beach probably, that’s where we always end up. How come?’

      ‘This is Kelly and Jade,’ she introduced, waving a hand in their direction. ‘You should come to the beach tomorrow with us, they’re going to be working here too next week. Bring some of the other boys as well?’

      He smiled at Kelly and Jade and said hello, then looked back quickly in the direction of the bar. ‘Sounds good, I’ll BlackBerry message you. Better go, bar is getting busy again. Bye girls, nice to meet you.’

      ‘Bye,’ they chorused.

      Jade watched him as he made his way back over to the bar. He was tall, just over six feet she guessed, with fairly broad shoulders and an amazingly toned body. She imagined how safe and protected she’d feel if he wrapped his strong arms around her. His white TIBU top brought out the colour of his striking, stunning emerald eyes. His fair hair had streaks of gold running through it, highlighted from the sun. Somehow he reminded her of Leonardo DiCaprio in Titanic.

      ‘He is good looking,’ Kelly said when she noticed Jade glancing over at him.

      ‘Very,’ Jade replied dreamily. ‘He reminds me of Leo in Titanic.’

      ‘Deffo, babe. Oh my God, I loved that film so much. Do you remember we used to watch it over and over?’

      ‘Yes, it’s such a good film.’ Jade smiled at the memory. When they’d discovered the DVD they were hooked, and used to watch it eating Monster Munch crisps and Doritos with dips as they blubbered throughout the ending.

      ‘I’m not being funny, but whoever made that story up must have such a good imagination. They must be so intellectual. I’d love to be that talented.’

      Jade laughed, almost spitting her drink out. ‘No one made it up, Kelly! It actually happened. The Titanic really did sink!’ She laughed even harder at Kelly’s incredulous expression.

      ‘Are you joking babe? Oh my God, shut up! I thought it was all made up! The Titanic really sunk? What about all those poor people?’ Kelly’s eyes were wide with amazement.

      ‘It’s a well-known tragic story and it was made into a film, silly.’ Jade wiped her eyes, which had started to water because she had been laughing so hard.

      ‘I just can’t believe that,’ Kelly shook her head, completely bewildered. ‘Poor Rose! Poor Jack! Whatever happened to her in the end? She didn’t marry that horrible bloke she was supposed to, did she? I mean, I know that necklace was pure beauts but he was just nasty!’

      Jade burst out laughing again as she explained the characters were actually made up even though the story was true, leaving Kelly even more dumbfounded.

      A few drinks later, she caught Sam’s eye and he smiled at her, making her heart somersault. It was official. Jade was in love.

      *

      Sam went back to the busy bar and thought about how much he loved his job. Hot girls everywhere, good money and baking sun every day; there was no other place he’d rather be. He looked over at Adele and the others. She was an odd one, Adele, wanting to spend the day together when he’d seen her with her new guy, Lee, several times. He doubted that Lee would be happy knowing Adele was going to the beach with her ex. It had been a long time since they split though, Sam justified to himself, and they were very young when they had dated. It wasn’t like there was any chance of any romance happening between them again anyway, no way. He couldn’t believe he’d gone out with Adele in the first place. She seemed to have become more full of herself recently and her looks meant everything to her, something that didn’t interest him. It was all about what you looked like, what shoes you had and how much your designer bag cost as far as Adele was concerned. She was a typical Essex girl, he decided, but he’d only been twenty-one when they’d met and if he was honest, he didn’t even know what he was looking for at the time. All his friends had started to date girls and Adele just came along, then before he knew it, they were a couple. They’d been more like friends really and he knew the relationship would never last from the first day. They still spoke when they bumped into each other at home, but that was about it. Then he’d seen her on his first day in Marbella and couldn’t believe it. He wasn’t bothered about her being there either way; they were still on friendly terms. Still, he was glad she was with Lee now and hopefully she would find the happiness she was after.

      Sam wasn’t looking for any kind of relationship. Not while he worked in Marbella anyway. This was a place to be single, not loved-up with someone. He never understood girls that were constantly on the hunt for their Mr Right. It was like they felt pressure to settle down and meet ‘the one’, especially the girls he met over the age of twenty-five. He’d been on a few dates at home recently with older girls and it seemed all they wanted was a serious relationship. Their constant questions about whether he wanted kids in the future, and did he see himself married within the next five years drove him mad. It felt more like an interview than a date at times! His view on love was that it would happen when it happened, and in the meantime, he might as well have as much fun as possible.

      The two girls Adele had just introduced him to seemed nice, especially Jade. She was very pretty too, which was a bonus. The beach should be a fun day tomorrow, he thought, as he poured glasses of champagne for two blondes who were eyeing him up.

      *

      Jade woke up the following morning with a dry mouth and pounding head. She needed a drink desperately and winced when she opened her eyes and realised they hadn’t bought any water the day before. Big mistake. She glanced over to see Kelly texting on her phone.

      ‘Morning babe.’ Kelly looked over when she heard her move. ‘I’m just texting Lisa and told her about our first night. She said she misses us already and told us to be careful with our drinks. Bless, she’s such a worrier.’

      ‘My God, my head,’ Jade groaned. ‘We forgot to buy water.’

      Kelly smiled. ‘There are taps in the bathroom you can drink from, silly.’

      ‘What? You didn’t drink from them did you?’

      ‘Yes, why?’ Kelly answered, bewildered.

      ‘Kelly, you can’t drink water from the taps in Spain!’

      ‘Why?’ Kelly was bemused, her smooth forehead creased up.

      ‘They give you an upset stomach; just don’t drink from them, okay?’

      ‘Okay,’ Kelly said frowning even more. ‘Whatever you say. I always have though and I’ve always been fine. I’ve got paracetamol, but nothing to drink it down with if you can’t drink the water. Don’t worry, we’ll get ready quickly and then go for breakfast. Then we can quickly go to that market and head to meet the others.’

      Jade agreed, forced herself out of bed and went to the toilet. She glanced at herself in the mirror and cursed herself for not being more careful in the sun yesterday. She had a red nose and had burnt under her eyes. She always burnt there, when on earth would she ever learn? She had a shower and promised herself that firstly, she wasn’t going to burn and look like a stupid patchy weirdo and secondly, she was going to try to make herself look amazing today, especially if the most gorgeous man on earth was joining them at the beach.

      Jade