mouthed Lucy. ‘Are you looking where I am?’
Jennifer certainly was. He was absolutely gorgeous. Without even realising she was doing it, she suddenly found herself sitting up and angling her entire body in his direction.
He was standing by the bar, to the left of the ship, and was nodding his head in time to the music, watching a group of girls who were dancing next to him. He completely stood out from the crowd. He was wearing a T-shirt and combat trousers but his body was that of a demi-god and to Jennifer he seemed to ooze testosterone, sex appeal and something more dangerous. His arms were muscular yet lean and brown and he put Mark and his mates in the shade. They were mere boys compared to this specimen of manhood.
Just then he turned and caught Jennifer’s eye and as he did, a number of things happened. Firstly, Lucy realised in a nanosecond she was out of the running. Secondly, Jennifer suddenly sensed that the next few days were going to be very interesting, and thirdly he gave her such a confident grin she suspected he was thinking along the same kind of lines as she was. It was as if he liked what he saw but more thrillingly, clearly knew he could have it.
‘He’s coming over,’ squealed Lucy all flustered.
‘Oh my god,’ panicked Jennifer, realising her friend was right. ‘I shouldn’t have had that slice with pepperoni on it. Quick Luce, smell my breath.’
‘Fuck off, weirdo,’ complained Lucy, shoving her away. ‘And no, you’re fine anyway.’
Quickly, Jennifer stopped breathing on Lucy, pulled her skirt down and rearranged her legs to look as slim as possible. Then, as he continued his approach, she flicked her long, brown hair over one shoulder, realising as she did how obvious she was being. She flicked it back again but then worried in case she looked like she was having some kind of attack.
‘All right, girls,’ he said, finally coming to a stop directly in front of Jennifer. His accent was broad and northern.
‘All right,’ said Jennifer looking him straight in the eye, acknowledging the instant flicker of attraction that she’d felt between them. This was going to be so much fun.
She frowned at Lucy who was making a silly face at her as if to say I see you flirting, Missy.
‘Drink?’
Jennifer nodded, her eyes never leaving his. Nerves dissipating, she concentrated on letting him know she was more than a match for him and felt her stomach flip as he grinned again and looked her up and down in a way that could only be described as filthy. Every nerve ending fizzing, Jennifer watched as he returned to the bar where the queue for drinks was three people deep, while Lucy elbowed her excitedly in the ribs.
‘Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god,’ squealed Jennifer, eyes still glued to him.
Unsurprisingly, the barmaid noticed him at once and served him straight away. She obviously knew him and the easy way in which he bantered with her, made Jennifer briefly wonder what she was getting herself into.
A minute later he returned carrying three lethal-looking cocktails. Jennifer was pleased he’d got one for Lucy.
‘Here you go. B52s’
‘Thanks,’ said Jennifer, tossing her hair again and shoving her breasts out as far as she could until, that is, she realised Lucy was laughing at her at which point she returned them to their normal vantage point.
‘You’re gorgeous,’ he said, matter of factly.
‘Not so bad yourself,’ she shot back, thrilled by his flirting.
‘Thanks for the drink,’ said Lucy, giving her friend a large wink and slinking off to leave them to it and find some fun of her own.
Half an hour later, Jennifer had found out that his name was Aidan, that he’d been on Kos all summer and that he was the most exciting person she’d ever met. He didn’t seem to conform to any rules. He’d left home, was travelling the world, his only real plan being to permanently escape his home town of Carlisle and to end up living in Australia. They’d already kissed and it was so charged with sexual excitement it had practically blown her head off. Now he was sliding his hand gently up and down her thigh, which tickled a bit, in a gloriously shivery kind of way.
‘Do you want one?’ he said suddenly, pulling a little bag of white pills out of his pocket. He took one out and offered it to her. It had a picture of a dove on it.
‘Not sure,’ said Jennifer truthfully.
‘Your mates can have one too,’ he said. ‘I’ve got plenty and they’re very clean.’
Jennifer shrugged, determined not to display how much her mind was racing while she worked out what to do. She’d not had ecstasy before but everyone she knew who had, like Karen, said it was amazing.
‘If Karen’s up for it I will,’ she said, leaving Aidan behind to go and get her friend who was inside on the dance floor.
Once she knew she was out of his line of vision, Jennifer stopped trying to walk sexily and started practically galloping towards her friend, gesturing to Karen to meet her halfway. ‘Aidan’s got some e’s,’ she shouted into her friend’s ear over the deafeningly loud music. ‘Shall we have one?’
‘Oh my god, so not only have you pulled the hottest person on the island, he’s got pills as well?’ she shouted back, out of breath from dancing, eyes shining. ‘You are such a bitch. Why didn’t you say earlier? Make sure he gives one to Mark too.’
Jennifer nodded and turned on her heel to find Aidan, hoping desperately he wouldn’t have disappeared or met someone more interesting during the last forty seconds.
As she made her way back, she decided that with regard to the pill, she should probably just go with the flow. Her dad had always told her that in life it was better to regret something you’d done than something you hadn’t which sounded like good advice to her, even if he probably hadn’t had class A drugs in mind when he’d said it…
One hour later and Jennifer was standing in the middle of the club, with her hands in the air, feeling happier than she ever had in her entire life. ‘Rhythm is a Dancer’ by Snap was playing, a tune which they’d heard on average at least three times a day recently but at this precise moment it sounded more amazing than it ever had before.
Jennifer scraped her hands through her hair and exhaled noisily, letting the rushes she was experiencing travel up her body. Right now there was not one place on earth she’d rather be.
Suddenly she felt Aidan’s hands on her shoulders, massaging her, kneading her. His touch was so firm and felt so good that she staggered a little bit, almost losing her balance. She turned round.
‘All right,’ he grinned, chewing gum, his eyes wide and pupils really black.
‘Yeah,’ was all Jennifer could manage to utter, but she grinned back at him and it didn’t seem to matter in the slightest that she’d lost the power of speech. She literally couldn’t care less. All that did matter was that she was with her best friends, and with Aidan, who happened to be the most beautiful man she’d ever seen in her life, listening to music that was literally transporting her to another dimension. She looked over at Karen who was dancing at a hundred miles per hour as if someone had told her all human life depended on it, Mark watching adoringly from the side, a daft grin on his
