Chapter Text
Sidney felt like his beach bar shift was going on forever. He had a thumping headache after yet another late night of drinking with his friend Chris Crowe, and with it being a particularly hot and humid day in Barbados, with unusually little breeze, he was feeling rather done in. He’d just downed a pint of water with some painkillers and prayed they would soon kick in.
After serving the last customer waiting, he was about to start on washing up the mass of dirty glasses that had accrued during the last few busy hours, when he heard a voice calling for help. He looked up to see a young dark-haired woman running his way.
Puffed out after her sprint across the beach, she struggled to speak for a moment. “Please help me. My friend has just passed out after drinking too much champagne, and I think she has sunstroke. I tried to get her lying in the recovery position, but I just can’t move her. I really need some water and some cold wet cloths please,” she gasped, while trying to catch her breath.
Sidney shouted to a colleague to call an ambulance, before he grabbed an ice bucket along with a few clean cloths which he handed to the young woman. Then after picking up several bottles of water, he followed her back across the beach.
A young blonde woman was under a parasol, lying on her back on top of a towel. She looked like she was now conscious, but she had her eyes shut tight while she moaned.
Getting to work quickly, Sidney dipped a cloth into the cold water at the bottom of the ice bucket and placed it across her forehead, while the dark-haired woman poured a bottle of water over a few of the cloths and draped them over her friend’s chest and arms, which were very red with sunburn.
“I tried telling her to keep applying sunscreen and drink lots of water, but she did insist on sneaking a bottle of champagne down to the beach from the hotel and drinking all of that instead, and she wouldn’t get under the parasol with me,” the young woman told Sidney. “Oh, by the way, I’m Charlotte and this is Clara,” she said, nodding towards her fragile looking friend.
“Nice to meet you Charlotte, although sadly not under the best circumstances. I’m Sidney,” he replied, just as he was hailed by a man across the beach saying that the ambulance had arrived.
A paramedic rushed across the beach towards them and after getting Clara to drink some water, Sidney and the paramedic supported the now upright patient towards the ambulance.
Once Clara was settled in the back, Charlotte climbed in, and Sidney handed her their beach bags and towels and smiled at her. “Good luck, and at least she’s in good hands now.”
Clara raised her head enough to look blearily at them both and Sidney smiled reassuringly at her. “Don’t worry, I expect once they’ve treated your sunburn and you’ve been given something to make you sick to bring up the booze you’ll feel a lot better.”
“I don’t want to puke, I hate being sick,” she wailed, before she said, “Oh God I think I'm going to puke,” and promptly stuck her head in the bowl she’d been given.
Sidney and Charlotte looked at one another and pulled faces at the sound of Clara throwing up.
“Goodbye Charlotte, it’s been an adventure,” he said.
“Thank you so much Sidney,” he just heard her say as the doors were closed and they drove away.
~~~
The following afternoon Sidney had arrived at the bar for his afternoon shift, when his friend Crowe was just about to leave.
“There’s a right looker with lovely boobs arrived about twenty minutes ago asking after you Parker. It looks like you’re well in there, mate!” he commented enthusiastically.
Sidney looked around the bar and recognised Charlotte sat on one of the bar stools, drinking beer from a bottle. He frowned at Crowe.
“For fucks sake, she might hear you talking that loudly. I helped her friend who was taken ill yesterday, that’s all.”
Sidney went to speak to Charlotte, smiling as he approached. Crowe was intent on hanging around and he came up behind Sidney, putting his hand on his shoulder as he looked at Charlotte. “You know, people think that Parker here is the best bartender on the island. He mixes delicious drinks, keeps his bar spotlessly clean and is the best-looking guy for miles, but I’ll have you know that I taught him all that he knows,” he finished, with a big grin.
Charlotte raised an eyebrow. “I very much doubt that,” she replied, with Sidney giving her a grateful smile.
Sidney turned to Crowe, “Isn’t it time an expert such as yourself cleared off and left us minions to it?” he asked calmly, but Crowe could tell there was a threat in there somewhere and decided he would be better to leave his friend in peace.
Sidney excused himself as he went to serve a customer who had appeared further down the bar from Charlotte, but he kept an eye on her while mixing the requested cocktail, and put on a display of his talents, more to impress Charlotte than the drinks recipient. He was tossing bottles in the air, moving his body as he shook the cocktail shaker and poured the liquid into a tall glass, embellishing it with pieces of fresh fruit on the side, before popping two straws into the delicious looking cocktail and placing it on the bar with a flourish.
Charlotte clapped her hands in delight, and Sidney bowed and laughed.
The customer smiled, paid for the drink, thanked him, and was gone, leaving Sidney to now focus on Charlotte.
He had a good look at her, with her dark wavy hair tied in a high ponytail and her sunglasses perched on top of her head. She was certainly pretty with soft brown eyes and long dark lashes, and he noticed she had a few freckles across her nose and a cute little dimple in her chin. He couldn’t help but notice that she did indeed have a lovely figure, which Crowe had evidently noticed quickly, and he knew she was petite after standing next to her by the ambulance the previous day. She wore a white cover up tied at the front, worn over a red swimsuit and Sidney thought she looked gorgeous.
“I wanted to come and thank you for responding so quickly to my cry for help yesterday and helping me with Clara. I didn’t know when you would be here again, but your colleague said you were expected soon, so I thought I may as well have a drink while I waited,” she explained, raising her beer bottle.
“Well, it’s a pleasure to see you again Charlotte, and you are very welcome. I was happy to help a damsel in distress, and we made a great rescue team,” he chuckled.
Charlotte nodded in agreement.
“How is Clara now?”
"Still in bed with a humongous headache, despite the painkillers. She has awful sunburn and has blistered badly. She really is so foolish at times, staying out in the full sun and drinking nothing but alcohol was bound to be a recipe for disaster.”
“Sound like she’ll be sore for a while then,” he replied. “How long are you in Barbados?”
“We still have well over a week as we’ve only been here for a few days, but Clara has already contacted Virgin Atlantic and managed to get herself a seat on a flight home tomorrow, saying she doesn’t want to be here anymore now she’s covered in blisters and looks like a lobster. She’d rather lose what she’s paid for the holiday and suffer the flight back to Heathrow in discomfort, than cover up and sit in the shade for a week. She won’t concern herself that she’s abandoning me as she always likes to suit herself.”
“I hope she doesn’t ruin your holiday Charlotte. I suppose it might be a bit lonely for you when she goes home?” Sidney commented, looking sympathetic.
“Hmm…maybe, but we were sharing a room and Clara does snore rather loudly when she drinks too much, which unfortunately is most of the time while she’s on holiday. It’ll be nice to have a proper night’s sleep, which I haven’t managed so far. We haven’t done any sightseeing yet so I can do that by myself anyway, as Clara prefers to lie on a sun lounger all day and doesn’t enjoy the local history and learning about the culture like I do.”
Sidney looked thoughtful for a moment. “You can say no to what I'm about to suggest Charlotte and no offence taken, but I have a few days off coming up, plus after that I have evening only shifts. If you like I can join you and give you a guided tour in my car around the island, and it won’t cost you more than the admission fees, so will save you the expense of paying for overpriced excursions or renting a car. It’s been a while since I did the sights, so I would enjoy visiting some of them again while keeping you company.
Charlotte looked at this tall, dark, and extremely handsome guy and thought she must be in the middle of a lovely dream and yet here he was, offering to spend time with her during her holiday, just the two of them. "Really? You’d do that for me?”
“Of course, it would be my pleasure,” he replied with a smile.
“Thank you so much, that is really kind of you Sidney, but I would have to insist that you let me pay for the fuel you put in your car. It does sound like that could be so much fun, so let’s do it!”