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c h a p t e r⠀0 1

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"WHERE THE BLOODY hell are you, you prick?"

Muffled grunts and ruffling followed the seething voice, the sounds alone making me chuckle where I sat cuddled up on the sofa. "Talia! Do you need help?" I shouted, placing my phone down.

"No, no, I'm good. Just trying to find the golden dress, you know the one I bought last week," she called back and I could picture her face all scrunched up and flushed with frustration.

I stood and stretched, limbs sore from being in the same position for too long, and entered Talia's mess of a bedroom "I probably should head home and start packing too."

Her dark, pretty eyes snapped up to mine from where she sat on the floor in a heap of clothes. "Remember to pack the black lingerie set," she smirked.

I rolled my eyes and let a puff of air pass my lips. "Yeah, 'cause that's the most important thing for me to bring."

"Of course! You never know who you might bump into." Talia wiggled her eyebrows while doing a little shimmy with her shoulders.

"I have a boyfriend," I stated and crossed my arms. "Who happens to be coming with us."

She frowned, her plump lips pressed together as she stared at me with obvious annoyance. "I don't get why you're with him. He's a tosser."

"You're unbelievable." I sighed, bending down to pull out her golden dress that peeked out from under a black hoodie. Her eyes lit up and she rose to snatch the fabric from my fingers but I held it away. "I'll let you have it when you apologise for calling my boyfriend a tosser."

Talia got to her feet and marched over to me. "I won't ever apologise for being honest. I don't like him, you can't force me to."

"I'm not saying you should like him but please, promise to behave just this once. I made the decision to invite both of you and would hate for things to be tense," I begged, trying to ignore how her words made me feel.

I found it a shame my best friend and boyfriend didn't get along, but they never had. From the first time I introduced the two, I quickly learned some people simply weren't meant to be put in the same room. Axel complained about Talia being unrestrained and too straightforward, pushing me in directions he didn't like, while Talia whined about him being a square, not giving me enough of a challenge.

Before I met Axel my life had pretty much consisted of school, boys and partying. Talia and I spent close to each night of the weekend out and about in the clubs of London, shamelessly flirting and dancing. I didn't regret my earlier behaviour one bit, but the only remaining thing of the three now was school.

Axel with his sea glass eyes and cropped sandy blonde hair had me intrigued from the moment we ran into each other in the hallway six months ago. One date led to another and before I had time to register what happened, we were officially boyfriend-girlfriend.

Talia crossed her arms now, raising her chin. "Honestly, I can't believe you let him bring his sister. That little racist bitch. I will do my best to behave around him but I swear, as much as one wrong look from her and she will be on the floor."

I sighed, knowing full well what she was talking about. Axel's sister Clara had somehow nestled her way through his conscience and had him talk me into inviting her. It wasn't that I hated her, but I had grave issues with her opinions and attitude.

"I'm with you when it comes to Clara. Don't worry, I'll make sure she won't cause trouble."

"Good. Now go on home and pack your shit. Call me when you're almost done and I'll come over. Do you want to order takeout tonight?" Talia questioned, neatly folding the golden dress to put it in her suitcase.

"Sure. Just try not to overpack."

"Rocio, there's no such thing as overpacking. I need to be ready for whatever situation life decides to put me in, yeah?"

I chortled and blew her a kiss. "Pack as much as you want. And um, Axel and Reeve might be coming over tonight too."

"Bloody hell, you really want to test me, don't you?" she groaned. "Fuck it, fine. I'll be a good girl. Might as well call Reeve and ask him to drive me to yours. See you later."

I retrieved my phone from the sofa and called a goodbye before slamming the front door shut behind me, almost hoping Reeve would tell her he couldn't pick her up. I seemed to be the only one aware of the huge crush he had on Talia.

He was perhaps one of the nicest people I knew and he would do anything for both me and Talia. While she freely used his kindness for her own comfort, I tried to avoid asking him for favours. He was one of those people who had a hard time saying no and I didn't want to use him.

During the fifteen minutes it took for me to walk home, I thought about the following days. My parents had been nice enough to lend us their quite luxurious estate in Ibiza over the three upcoming weeks and I was excited to return to the island where I had spent the bigger part of my summers growing up. I had never brought friends there before but when Talia suggested we should go there instead of booking a trip to Greece or Cyprus like everyone else, I hadn't been hard to convince.

With the living arrangements already taken care of, all we had to pay for was the flight tickets. Ibiza was an expensive island to live on during the summer months, at least when you planned to go out a lot, so every penny we could skimp on was welcome.

I had asked Axel if he wanted to come with and he had been reluctant at first, claiming the whole rumoured wild nightlife the island offered wasn't for him. But when Reeve heard of the news and invited himself, Axel didn't have much of a choice. The boys had met through me and unlike the situation with my best friend, Reeve and Axel immediately hit it off.

How Clara got invited was still beyond me. I hadn't gotten the impression Axel was close with her but for some reason, he thought it was a great idea to bring her.

When I stepped into my flat I was greeted by a low meow from my cat Biggie Smalls, mostly referred to as Big. The irony wasn't lost on anyone as he probably was the smallest cat ever known to man.

"Hi bud," I cooed and picked him up, scratching lightly under his chin while he purred loudly and rubbed his face against my knuckles.

One of my former and biggest issues with going away was that I couldn't leave Big alone for that long. I had informed Talia of this when she first mentioned her idea, telling her I simply was unable to be gone for three weeks. But sneaky as she was, she had called my mum behind my back and managed to get her to agree on letting him stay with her while we were gone.

I shouldn't have put it past her to reach out to my parents - she was ruthless when she had her mind set on something. We had known each other for so long; she was the first friend I made when my family moved from Spain to England.

At the age of seven, I struggled with not being able to speak English. Kids seemed to distance themselves from me, having troubles with me because they couldn't understand what I was saying. For Talia, it had never been a problem. She managed to communicate with me despite not knowing any Spanish and slowly she helped me settle into the new culture.

As time passed, we stuck together and sixteen years later she was still my closest friend. I had lots to thank her for and didn't know where I would be today if it wasn't for her. Sure, my parents put me in a school where I eventually learned the language flawlessly, but she taught me so much more.

Big began to squirm in my grip and I carefully dropped him down to the floor, walking over to fill his bowl with kibble and change his water. He stroked himself almost manically against my legs and hands as I tried to put the bowl down, making me spill some of the water on his head.

He scampered off and shook his head furiously before creeping closer again and I giggled quietly. "See, that's what happens when you get too eager."

If anyone saw me like this – alone, talking to my cat like he would respond – they would probably label me as mad. But I couldn't care less. He was my baby and I didn't want to imagine how lonely I would feel if he didn't live with me.

Axel and I hadn't talked about moving in together yet, it was too soon since we'd only been in a relationship for just over four months. To be frank, I preferred living on my own with my cat. I liked being able to be my own boss – to decide what to cook, which movie to watch or when to clean.

After making sure Big was satisfied, I walked farther into my flat and hauled a suitcase down from one of the cabinets in the hallway. Once I'd managed to get it into my bedroom - after cursing at myself for not doing this sooner - I decided to take a shower before I began packing, as the long day at school had me feeling icky.

Two hours later I was nearly done and went to open the front door to let Axel and Reeve inside. Talia stood a step behind them, a displeased pout to her lips. I raised my eyebrows at her to which she shrugged, pushing past the boys with a huff.

"Hi, babe," Axel greeted, stepping inside to give me a sweet kiss on my lips.

"Hi, missed you," I murmured, squeezing my arms around his slim waist while peeking around his shoulder to the other boy. "Hi Reeve."

"You alright, Ro? Missed you too, you know." Reeve grinned and plopped down on one of the barstools by the small kitchen island.

"Well, aren't you lot cute," Talia chirped and joined him before muttering, "I wish someone missed me."

Reeve winced and knitted his fingers together to let them rest on the chilled marble. "How do you know no one did?"

Axel poked my cheek and diverted my attention from the awkward pair, giving me a lopsided smile. "Did you pack yet?"

I nodded. "Yeah, just finished. So um, Talia will be sleeping here tonight."

His brows pulled down. "Okay?"

"In my bed. If you were planning to stay, you'll have to take the sofa. Sorry," I laughed. "Did you bring your luggage?"

"No," he shook his head. "Was planning to get it tomorrow morning but might as well drive home with Reeve tonight then."

"Aw, baby, don't pout. I'm sure Reeve is almost as soft as me. He'll do for a cuddle buddy."

Axel chuckled and brought up a hand to playfully ruffle my hair. "Piss off. I'll have three weeks to share a bed with you, one night alone won't kill me."

"I want wine!" Talia exclaimed from behind us, breaking the bubble we somehow had enveloped ourselves in.

Axel rolled his eyes and huffed. "The mighty queen has spoken."

"Shut up," I breathed and pinched his arm. "I made her promise to behave, and so will you. I won't have any arguments or petty fights during my vacation."

"All for you, love. All for you," he whispered, pecking my cheek before pushing me towards the kitchen.

I took out four wine glasses from the cabinet above the sink and walked over to place them down in front of the odd group. "So, we're taking the train to the airport tomorrow, correct?" I asked.

The boys nodded, all of us already having discussed the matter. Parking at the airport for three weeks was out of the question considering how much it cost.

Talia simpered and began opening the bottle of wine resting on the counter, pouring each of us a not-so-modest amount. "Yeah, absolutely, marvellous. Train it is. We could always take a taxi though."

"We're taking the train. The stop is literally just outside my front door," I said and took a sip of the dark red wine.

She pursed her lips and nodded. "Whatever you say, as long as we get to the airport on time."

"Oh, fuck. I completely forgot," Axel suddenly sputtered, pressing a palm to his forehead.

"What?" Talia and I said in unison.

"I kind of invited someone else? Um...I figured since we were just two guys and you're three girls..." Axel shot me a shy glance.

"Oh, another male," Talia mused.

I raised one eyebrow. "You invited another person, to my parents' house, without asking me first?"

"I know you're still angry about Clara but please babe, I promise he's a good person. And funny too."

"So, it's someone I've never met? Someone no one has met?" I sucked my bottom lip into my mouth, staring him down. "Who is he, then?"

"It's an old friend from school. We went to sixth form together but after that he moved to Australia to study. We kept in contact throughout the years and he recently moved back to England. I just want to meet him, he used to be my best friend and I figured since your parents' house is that big...another person won't make much difference."

I inhaled and exhaled equally slow, trying not to be irritated with the liberties he took. "Fair enough. As long as he knows what he's in for. Did you tell him about how we arranged everything?"

After Axel assured me his friend was on board with our plans, we spent the rest of the evening eating takeout, drinking wine and talking about our expectations for the trip. I noticed how Talia toned down the whole hunting Spanish boys idea around Reeve and it made me happy, he would suffer if he knew of the plans she had.

I felt bad for him sometimes, how he clearly fancied her but she kept turning him down. Whereas he had never really told her out loud how he felt – he showed her with his actions. It was either that she didn't like him back in that way or she was too oblivious to notice.

Reeve and Axel drove home just past two in the morning, leaving me with a half-asleep Talia. I gently nudged her and told her to move into my bed before going to the bathroom to wash up.

"I'm anxious about the trip," I admitted quietly when we'd settled into my fairly wide bed. Despite having travelled by plane several times, it still made me utterly nervous.

"Don't be. It'll be fun, I promise. I got these pills you can take," Talia whispered. "They will make you chill, take the worst edge off."

"Do I even want to know where you got them from?" I looked at her with a shake of my head before shutting the bedside lamp off and pulling the bed cover closer around my body. "I don't want to be tired, I need to make sure things are under control. Also, I don't think I should combine those kind of pills with alcohol."

The bed dipped as she shrugged. "Then I suppose you'll have to drink instead. If you get tipsy, you probably won't notice if we're up in the air or on the ground. Just relax, okay? You'll do fine."

"Yeah, you're right," I sighed, realising how childish I sounded. "It will be fun. I'm ready."

"Good for you, babes. Now can we please go to sleep? The wine is making my head spin," Talia muttered.

I chuckled quietly. "Yeah, I'll shut up now. Sleep tight."

Her voice was barely audible as she murmured, "You too, Ro. You too."