SUNLOUNGER 2: Beach Read Bliss (Sunlounger Stories)

by Belinda Jones

  ‘What? You giving up already?’

  ‘I can’t do it.’

  ‘Of course you can. I’ve seen you.’

  ‘What do you mean you’ve seen me?’

  ‘You know. I’ve seen you around.’

  ‘And?’

  ‘You’ve got something.’

  ‘What, like herpes?’

  ‘No,’ she smiled. ‘You attract attention. You draw people to you. You’re kind of infectious.’

  ‘You sure you don’t mean herpes?’

  ‘No,’ she said. ‘People smile around you. I think that’s what I mean.’

  Charlie thought for a minute.

  ‘Do you mean I have stage presence?’ he asked tentatively.

  ‘Yes,’ she nodded. ‘Something like that.’

  ‘That is the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me,’ beamed Charlie.

  ‘Good,’ replied Diana. ‘Now are you going to get your ass into gear or what?’

  ‘No,’ he replied. ‘I think you are going to get my ass into gear.’ He stood to attention again, reconstructed his topline and stuck his backside out.

  *

  By the night of the Cast Castaway, Charlie was exhausted both from the vigorous rehearsal regime that Diana had set him and also from the effort of the constant smiling. The requirement for the Viennese Waltz face had left his jaw aching so much he half wished he was back being Seaweed, able to pull whatever face he wanted under green flowing tentacles. Still, after tonight it would all be worth it, he told himself. Cinderella had not said another word to him since he started as her emergency Prince Charming but she often turned to him during the parade, giving him one of her dazzling smiles that was so full of warmth and affection, he was convinced that she liked him.

  Diana, as it turned out, had proved to be a hard taskmaster. Every day straight after the parade, they had dashed to a rehearsal room and she’d tried desperately to bring out the dancer within.

  ‘The thing about Latin is that you need to let your emotions out,’ she’d said. ‘Let your heart do the dancing. Let it all go. Stop being so British!’

  He was trying to let go but he just didn’t know how. In pure frustration on the fourth day of failing to get Charlie to express any emotion though his dance moves, she hauled him out of the rehearsal room and took him out in the theme park amid the throng of thousands of visitors.

  ‘What are you doing?’ he protested. ‘You’re supposed to be teaching me how to dance?’

  ‘You’re never going to learn it if you don’t learn how to feel it,’ said Diana, dragging him through the crowds. ‘So let’s get you to feel something, shall we?’ She came to an abrupt halt and looked up high into the sky. There towering above them was the world’s tallest, most terrifying rollercoaster.

  ‘Forget it,’ said Charlie, his knees instantly turning to jelly. He wanted to run a mile but Diana had a firm grip on his hand.

  ‘Trust me,’ she said gently. ‘Sometimes you love the things that you’re not expecting to.’

  ‘But I’m scared,’ he barely dared admit.

  ‘That’s good,’ replied Diana. ‘You’re feeling something. Keep feeling.’

  Charlie cowered alongside Diana as they climbed into their seats and pulled down the harnesses. She took his hand. He looked over at her, struggling to control his breathing.

  ‘This is how I want you to feel just before we start to dance,’ she told him. ‘Full of anticipation and emotion, not quite knowing where the journey is going to take you but willing to go along for the ride.’

  As they poised at the top of the track Diana lifted his hand high in the air before they dropped down into oblivion. They both screamed as the exhilaration coursed through their bodies, then screamed some more as they twisted and turned around the demented track. Charlie could feel his heart beating out of his chest as he struggled to catch his breath. The wind whistled through his hair and he became aware that at some point the fear ebbed away to be replaced with a sense of utter euphoria. The release was incredible and he screamed even louder, enjoying the freedom of just letting himself go with it. When he eventually staggered off the coaster after it had ground to an abrupt halt, Charlie fell into Diana’s arms laughing hysterically.

  ‘Did you feel it?’ Diana asked him.

  He looked down into her dark eyes.

  ‘I certainly felt something,’ he replied.

  *

  Charlie felt sick with nerves as he entered the bar in downtown Orlando where the Cast Castaway was being held. Tonight was the night when his dreams could come true and he didn’t want to screw it up. As he looked around he realized that the only person he really knew at the party was Diana. He searched the room for her, wanting to hear some last words of encouragement. There was an abundance of young men in tight-fitting jeans and shirts alongside girls in figure-hugging skimpy dresses but Diana was no-where in sight. Then he spotted her. Not Diana, but Cinderella. She’d straightened her hair so it fell in a golden curtain down her backless hot-pink dress ending just above her toned buttocks. She was surrounded by men, no doubt all aiming to be the one to take Cinders home from the ball.

  His nerves engulfed him and he strode to the bar to order a drink. Having the guts to fight his way past the hordes of potential suitors and sweep Cinderella off her feet was going to take some Dutch courage. Downing a brandy, he looked around again to seek Diana. She would re-assure him he knew. The last rehearsal had gone well. Diana’s trick of taking him on the rollercoaster appeared to be working. Now when he started to dance he drew on his memories of nervous anticipation when the coaster first started to move, then the release he’d felt as he’d soared through the air before his heart had filled with joy at the end in Diana’s arms.

  ‘I get it,’ he’d told Diana. ‘The dance is like an emotional rollercoaster. That’s how it should feel.’

  ‘That’s it!’ she’d replied jumping up and down in excitement. ‘An emotional rollercoaster. That’s it!’

  He was just trying to summon up those feelings again when Diana appeared at his side.

  ‘How you doing?’ she asked.

  ‘Fine,’ said Charlie. ‘Nice dress,’ he couldn’t help but comment, taking in the stunning sparkly blue-sequined dress she was wearing.

  ‘Thanks,’ she replied, turning a little pink. She glanced over at Cinderella stood at the opposite side of the room. ‘So do you think you can go through with it?’ she asked him.

  ‘I’m willing to risk it,’ he replied as he watched Cinders swish her golden mane left and right.

  ‘Because you don’t have to, you know,’ said Diana.

  Charlie glanced back at Diana confused. He didn’t need doubt from Diana now; she was the one who was meant to be giving him confidence.

  ‘It doesn’t have to be Cinderella,’ she continued.

  What does she mean, thought Charlie. This was what the whole painful week had been about. Pulling Cinderella. Of course it had to be Cinderella. Diana was looking meaningfully into his eyes.

  ‘Just checking you’re sure, that’s all,’ she said.

  ‘Of course I am,’ said Charlie. ‘I wouldn’t have put myself through the torture of this week if I wasn’t, would I?’

  Diana’s face fell. ‘Well, at least after tonight I won’t be torturing you anymore,’ she declared.

  ‘No, that’s not what I mean,’ he said. ‘The dancing has been torture, not you. You have been amazing.’

  ‘Really.’

  ‘Really amazing.’

  Diana looked down before she pointed those dark velvet eyes back in his direction.

  ‘Cinderella doesn’t have to be the belle of the ball you know,’ she said. ‘Sometimes the shoe fits an ugly sister better.’

  A heavy silence hung in the air as Charlie tried to decipher what on earth Diana was talking about.

  ‘So anyway, good luck,’ she said suddenly. ‘I guess this is it then. Hope it goes well with Cinderella and all that.’ She leant forward to embrace him
. ‘Goodbye,’ she whispered.

  ‘But…but you’re not going now, are you?’

  ‘No, of course not. I’ll go over and get the music lined up for you with the DJ but once you’ve got Cinderella in your arms I dare say you’ll be pre-occupied for the rest of the night, so we might as well say goodbye now.’

  ‘Right. OK. I guess so,’ said Charlie feeling flustered at Diana’s imminent desertion. ‘Erm…thanks Diana, I mean it. I couldn’t have done this without you.’

  ‘You’re going to be great,’ she said nodding. ‘I know you are.’

  ‘Thanks,’ he said. ‘For everything,’ he added.

  Charlie watched mesmerized as Diana talked to the DJ then glanced up and gave him the thumbs up as the opening bars of I’ve Had the Time of My Life struck up. He took a deep breath. The moment of truth had arrived. He looked over to Cinderella and watched as she barely acknowledged a hopeful man who had just approached her, casting him a disdainful smirk as if he had just crawled out of the woodwork. Charlie started to walk forward as if on auto-pilot, trying to work out his best line of attack through the group that surrounded his target. He sought out Diana again for encouragement. She smiled warmly at him. He was right in the middle of the dance floor when he stopped. He stared as Cinderella gave a cynical laugh before she turned her back on the man who was so desperate for her attention. He took a deep breath trying to psyche himself into emotional rollercoaster mode, but suddenly it felt as though the rollercoaster had taken a dramatic turn and was pushing him into previously unchartered territory.

  He knew there was only one thing for it. What he had to do was absolutely clear. There was no stopping this ride.

  He did a quick Swayze-esque spin before making a short sprint across the dance floor which culminated in an impressive knee slide that landed him right at Diana’s feet.

  ‘Nobody puts an Ugly Sister in the corner,’ he said, holding his hand up to Diana.

  The initial shock of Prince Charming landing at her feet had caused her to gasp, but now a massive smile appeared on her face.

  ‘Really?’ she managed to splutter, allowing him to lead her into the middle of the room.

  Charlie knew he had never danced better than when he and Diana took the dance floor by storm that night. Quickly the rest of the partygoers realized something special was happening and gathered round the gyrating couple as they went through their heartfelt routine. As the song entered its final bars the crowd held their breaths in anticipation of the final lift. There was a slight wobble and Charlie very nearly dropped Diana on her head but the crowd didn’t seem to care as they clapped and cheered the couple. When it was all over many of the cast came to pat them on the back and tell them how impressed they were. This was principle cast congratulating Seaweed on his dance moves. Charlie was beside himself.

  They were still trying to get their breath back, grinning inanely at each other, when Cinderella approached, hair swishing from side to side.

  ‘You Ugly Sisters get so much time to practice your dancing,’ she said to Diana. ‘I’m not a dancer,’ she added, turning to Charlie. ‘I don’t have the time because I’m so in demand on park. But I’d like you to teach me how to do that?’

  Charlie couldn’t believe it.

  ‘You…you would like to dance with…me?’ he said hesitantly.

  ‘Yes,’ said Cinderella. ‘That’s what I said.’

  He cleared his throat as Diana twitched beside him. He looked down at her. The smile had gone and she was chewing her lip. Her gorgeous dark eyes looked deep into his as he finally realized he’d reached his destination on this particular emotional rollercoaster.

  ‘I don’t dance with princesses,’ he said to Cinderella, moving to put an arm around Diana’s shoulders. ‘Just members of the Supremes,’ he continued. Diana giggled and kicked him.

  ‘But she’s an Ugly Sister,’ declared Cinderella, her mouth twisted in an ugly frown.

  ‘No she’s not,’ said Charlie. ‘She’s Diana Ross and…and…she’s pretty amazing.’

  ‘Seriously?’ said Cinderella, arching her eyebrows before sweeping away to be rude to someone else.

  Charlie turned to Diana, noticing a slight misting in her eyes.

  ‘So let me get this straight first,’ he said. ‘Whilst I was trying to pull Cinderella, you were trying to pull me, the emergency Prince Charming?’

  ‘Well, yes you could put it like that,’ said Diana, looking embarrassed. ‘Like I said, I’d seen you around. Seen your smile even before you stepped in as emergency Prince Charming. Then you said you liked Cinderella so I needed a way to get to know you before she got her claws stuck into you.’

  ‘By turning me into Patrick Swayze?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘Well,’ sighed Charlie. ‘Turns out that this week, I’ve had the time of my life with Diana Ross. Who’d have thought it?’ He actually felt a bit confused at the turn of events but when he looked at Diana it all kind of made sense. Then when he took her into his arms and kissed her, for a very long time, it really made sense.

  ‘Just like in the movies,’ gasped Diana when they eventually pulled apart. Then her face clouded over. ‘But I’m leaving on a cruise ship next week.’

  ‘Noooo,’ cried Charlie. ‘You can’t leave now. Not after all this.’

  ‘Come with me? You don’t have to be Seaweed anymore. The real Prince Charming was meant to be coming but now he can’t because Cinderella broke his jaw. They haven’t replaced him yet. You could replace him and come aboard with me.’

  ‘Are you kidding me?’ exclaimed Charlie, stepping back horrified. ‘Tell the other Seaweeds I’m leaving them to run away to sea with the Ugly Sister? Their expecting me back with Cinderella on my arm. I will never live it down.’

  ‘It was just an idea,’ said Diana, looking away.

  Charlie gently turned her chin back towards him.

  ‘What do them Seaweeds know?’ he said, grinning. ‘Sounds like the perfect fairy-tale ending to me.’

  About the Author

  Tracy Bloom started writing when her cruel heartless husband ripped her away from her dream job shopping for rollercoasters for the UK’s leading theme parks, to live in America with a brand-new baby and no mates. Determined to see it as an opportunity, she turned to her love of words and comedy and started to write No-one Ever Has Sex On A Tuesday. It went on to be successfully published internationally and topped the Amazon bestsellers list in 2013 as well as being awarded the Best Author-Published Read at the Festival of Romance. So now Tracy is chuffed to bits to have a new dream job, making people laugh and sometimes cry through her writing.

  Website: www.tracybloom.com

  Twitter: www.twitter.com/TracyBBloom

  Facebook: www.facebook.com/tracybloomwrites

  Visit www.sunloungerstories.com to discover more about the authors and their story destinations.

  We have everything you need to make this your Best Summer Ever!

  Return to the contents list.

  Magic Eight

  ***

  Laurey Buckland

  DESTINATION: Bruges

  Clutching the cup with tense fingers, I concentrate on the scattered tea leaves that have escaped the strainer in a desperate attempt not to meet her blazing glare. I begin to wonder what the several clumps of black would be telling me if I was literate in the prophetic art but instead, I force my head upwards; a move I’ve been resisting for the last ninety seconds.

  ‘You won’t find the answer in the bottom of a cup, Charlie,’ Rachel says. Her glacier-green stare fires a I-hope-you’re-proud-of-yourself arrow through my chest.

  ‘You make it sound like I’m an alcoholic,’ I snap defensively.

  Rachel’s eyebrows shoot upwards. ‘No,’ she sighs, altering her accusatory glower to an expression of sisterly concern. ‘It would be easier if you were though because then I’d know what to do to help you.’

  ‘I don’t need help Rach, I just – I just need time.’

 
; ‘Time?’ she squeaks shrilly. ‘How much time do you need? It’s been six months now.’

  ‘I know but—’

  ‘But nothing. You can’t just leave the restaurant half-way through a date which took me ages to set up for you. It reflects badly on me.’

  My shoulders slump forward, followed swiftly by my head. Tilting the cup further towards me, the remnants of tea quickly split a large clump of leaves into two; just as my heart had been split one hundred and ninety three days ago. ‘I’m sorry. I was wrong to do that, but I just couldn’t handle being there. Justin looked too much like Max and—’

  ‘Charlie, just let go of Max,’ Rachel whispers, reaching for my hand. ‘Accept that it’s over and move on. You’re not getting any younger.’

  I snatch my hand away at the reminder, knocking the tasteless display of fabric flowers to the floor, which startles the nearby elderly couple who are innocently enjoying their afternoon high tea. ‘I am moving on,’ I insist in a tone that fails to convince even myself. ‘Well, I’m trying anyway, but these things take time.’

  ‘Yes I know. But getting to know people takes time too so you can’t go dismissing every date after ten minutes.’

  ‘You make me sound so – so…’

  ‘Picky?’ Rachel offers. ‘Shallow? Narrow-minded?’

  It’s my turn to sound shrill. ‘Yes.’

  ‘Ever thought that’s because you are?’

  I sit up slightly straighter at the revelation like a meerkat on watch. ‘Am not.’

  ‘Then what was wrong with Peter?’

  ‘Too short,’ I reply without blinking.

  ‘Martin?’

  ‘He lives too far away.’

  ‘Richard?’

  ‘Mismatching socks and he wore a cravat. Who wears a cravat?’

  ‘Well what about Mark?’

  ‘His body was his temple but that temple was Buddah’s.’