hair into a ponytail then swiped a coat of sweat off her forehead. ‘I want to have a dip in the pool to cool off before the jet lag kicks in. You coming?’
Nodding, she followed wordlessly into the house to be shocked anew. If the outside had her chin dropping the inside would have her tongue rolling down to meet it. Chic, shiny floors covered what she assumed was the entrance vestibule, though this was much bigger than her dorm room. Bigger than five, probably. A massive, spiral staircase was situated opposite the door and artwork that looked suspiciously like originals instead of knock offs hung strategically on the walls. Ciara was scared to breathe for fear of steaming up the shiny floor or staining the pristine walls, and feck! She still had her shoes on!
‘Let’s turn this duty free bottle of tequila into something strong and icy before we hit the pool.’ Elle held up the airport bag with a grin.
‘Ooo iced margaritas?’ Gem asked.
At Elle’s nod they rolled their suitcases through the swanky house. Ciara worried that her Tesco special bag was spoiling the look of the whole place just by being there.
The kitchen was bigger than her whole house, complete with shiny chrome accessories, a kitchen bar and small dining table – not to mention the integrated appliances and even crushed ice maker. It did make Elle’s job of filling a massive jug with ice much easier, but everything seemed so foreign, like she was watching an episode of MTV Cribs not getting ready for her first stop on a crazy round the world trip.
‘Should we take our bags up first?’ she asked, having visions of jet lag kicking in when she was poolside and falling into a margarita induced coma.
‘No way. I say we dig around them for a bikini then chill at the pool for a while,’ Elle replied.
Gem agreed, unzipping her bag and picking out one of goodness knew how many two pieces, all still with the tags on. Ciara did the same. After all, she was as unlikely to win a fight with Elle as she was able to pick up a car and swing it over her head.
They took turns in the laundry room getting poolside ready and slapping on the SPF 30, then Elle led them through another hall.
‘Does that belong to one of you?’ She asked, toeing a bag out her way with her flip flop.
The sports bag was so full it almost burst the seams. ‘No,’ Ciara said at the same time Gem did.
‘Hmm,’ Elle scowled at the bag like it was filled with manure, then shrugged. ‘The housekeeper must have left it.’
Ciara slipped her sunglasses on the second they were outside. Elle and Gem insisted panda eyes was never a good look but since the weather back home was overcast eighty percent of the year, bright sunlight generally fried her retinas. And if she wanted to stay awake instead of lying out here all day frazzling, she needed to keep her eyes open.
It wasn’t too hard to manage since she was hit with another dose of the OMGs. The pool area was about the size of a holiday complex, with a stone terrace, terracotta furniture and the comfiest sun loungers she’d ever had the pleasure of lying on.
‘Drink up girls. The Adventures of Muir, Bree and Howard have begun!’ Elle filled up their glasses.
Gem pouted. ‘I still prefer Geeks on Tour.’
‘Nonsense. We’re too chic to be geeks, right Ciara?’ Elle said.
They might be, but all she’d ever been was a geek as far as her schoolmates were concerned. Instead of taking sides, she shrugged and chugged down some of the drink. Her eyes watered and she made a vow to make the next round or that margarita coma might come sooner than she’d feared.
‘It’s really, really, scorching here,’ she said to change the subject. Sticky lotion aside, her whole body was melting.
‘It’s great isn’t it?’ Elle said, chugging down more of her drink.
Against her better judgement, she did the same but the ice didn’t help cool her off. Since they’d left the wonderfully air conditioned house, the lack of a breeze and sun beating down was a little too much for her.
‘Feck it,’ she said, finishing the last of her drink and getting up.
‘Don’t wuss out on us already, Ciara. We’ve got hours and hours of tanning time left,’ Gem said.
‘Then I’m going to have hours and hours of cooling off to do.’ The tequila had already created a tiny, giddy buzz and the thought that she was in California, LA, hell Hollywood, kicked in.
That’s all it took to get over the shock of Elle’s grandfather’s house, the heat, the worry she might pass out on the sun lounger and frazzle – after all crazy girlie holidays were about having fun and not worrying about the little things. So she kicked off her flip flops, removed her sunglasses, took a run for it, and jumped into the pool.
The water was lovely, not cold, more like a warm bath that had been left for a bit to cool down. She swam from one end half way to the other before she broke the surface grinning.
Gem and Elle were already up, giggling at her change of attitude – she had to admit she’d been a bit of a moody cow so far. In her defence, the never ending plane journey had made her so restless and the cabin caged her in. Sitting for a few hours was her limit before the boredom had made her stir crazy… not even the inflight entertainment could distract her.
‘Good to see the tequila’s kicked in,’ Gem said, jumping in too.
Elle didn’t, instead she stayed on the side and pulled her long, blonde hair to the top of her head, twisting it into a bun. What was worrying was the look on her face that said she was a girl with a plan. A plan Ciara wasn’t going to like.
‘I have an idea, since we’re just having a pool day…’
Yup, the wicked glint in her azure eyes definitely meant Ciara was going to hate her friend’s idea.
Elle dashed back into the house and Ciara threw an anxious glance at Gem who rolled her eyes and started swimming like a pro. Sighing, she floated at the deep end, trying not to worry about what mad thing Elle had come up with now.
She was in LA with her two best friends, she needed to relax. Or learn how to. She’d always had studying and classes, even during the holidays. It might help a little if she stopped worrying over having no clue about her future career, or much else. But she was determined she wasn’t going to think about that until she had to. No point in making herself miserable and ruining this trip.
Soon, Elle returned with two huge poles wrapped together by what looked like a net under her arm, clutching a bottle of tequila. After ditching the bottle she came to the pool and started to unravel the two poles.
‘Ciara grab this one and stick it in the hole at the other side. Gem, there should be a ball in that shed,’ Elle commanded.
Ciara did as asked, giving into Elle’s bossy streak because it made life so much easier and she knew Elle didn’t mean anything bad by it. That was who she was, and why her granddad was going to train her to be CEO of their family business. Elle wasn’t all designer and class, she had authority and command too.
The net that stretched across the middle of the pool reminded her of 90210 volleyball games on the beach. She’d never played and didn’t
