Chapter Text

Bobby had noticed the dazzling, jade-green eyes from the moment he and the boys had entered the room. Gary had been right in the middle of yet another long-winded story about a guy on his crew when he’d locked eyes with her.

There was some sort of pull about her and her aura, something that he couldn't ignore.

He barely noticed that she was surrounded by a whole group of just as perfect women. She managed to stand out.

“Dude?" Bobby’s thoughts were interrupted by a strong arm landing on his shoulder. Even before spinning around, he could smell the distinctive whiff of cologne that told him it was Ibrahim.

"Huh, what?" Bobby mumbled, forcing his gaze off of the girl.

Ibrahim's mouth quirked up into a grin before nodding in the direction of the girl's table, "I think you've been busted, Captain B. Smooth.”

Bobby just looked at him in confusion before turning his head back towards the table of girls. He felt his cheeks heat up when he noticed all of them had turned to look his way and were doing that thing girls do, whispering and flicking their eyes over, trying to be discrete but failing miserably.

He offered a small, shy smile in their direction before turning back to Ibrahim, lowering his head into his hands and groaning.

"Which one caught your eye over there?" Ibrahim asked, taking a sip of his water.

"The blonde one. Right in the centre. Dazzling green eyes. Trust me, you can't miss them.”

Ibrahim sucked in a breath through his teeth and looked nonchalantly at the table for a moment, before looking back at Bobby, who had lifted his head back out of his hands, "Oh yeah, she is definitely a ten out of ten. Maybe out of your league a bit mate?” he joked, earning a hard stare from Bobby before continuing, “alright, no jokes, but you do realize staring at her and daydreaming isn't gonna make her fall in love with you though, this isn't some sort of movie or fan-fiction. Talk to her.”

Bobby scoffed, “you say that like you’re some professional.”

"I can tell you about my dad's best pick-up line!”

Bobby, who had heard Ibrahim's version of his dad's best pick-up line, laughed sarcastically, "Yeah, I'll pass"

Ibrahim rolled his eyes with his whole body, "Alright then, keep being a nonce," he turned back to the rest of their friends, just in time to laugh at the end of another one of Gary's terrible jokes.

He tried to concentrate on the conversation, he really did, but his eyes had a mind of their own and strayed back towards the girl. Surprisingly, he saw she was already looking at him with a small smile playing on the corner of her lips.

She casually waved and her smile widened. Holy shit she waved.

He attempted casualness as he lifted his hand up and did a small wave back.

Okay, good so far I think.

Her eyes still on him, he turned around back to the boys to act confidently but accidentally knocked a glass off of the table. Luckily, he managed to catch it, avoiding a mess in the lobby. He thought it went relatively unnoticed until he heard stifled laughter coming from the girl.

Great one Captain B. Smooth. Great.

***

All the boys had gathered at this resort in the Alps to celebrate their friend, Lucas' engagement to his girlfriend Blake. It was stupid in Bobby's opinion, he'd known this girl all of five minutes and had already popped the question. Everyone was confused, but who would pass up a free stag-do?

He, Rahim, Gary and their friends Noah and Henrik were all going to be in the wedding. Plus, Bobby was happy anytime Lucas invited him on a holiday as quite frankly, between Lucas' career as a physiotherapist and his inherited wealth, he always kept them in the lap of luxury.

They had just gotten in last night and were waiting for the safety instructors before hitting the slopes for skiing. As much as he despised cold weather, he was loving life checking out the insane things some people put on to escape the cold weather, including the ridiculous goggles and baggy trousers.

Bobby had never been skilled at skiing, the cold and his natural clumsiness working against him. He far preferred hitting the tropical climates having grown up visiting Jamacia.

He was having fun though because he was with his best mates. He figured he wasn't going to let Gary forget these snow pants he had on anytime soon, and the scenery from the warmth of the lounge was breathtaking.

Now, on top of all that, there was this vision of a woman across the room to add a layer of intrigue to the next week.

There was a strange sense of calm in the air and he’d felt it while travelling to the airport. It was like something or someone was telling him it would all work out okay. He knew that stuff in his life was about to move really fucking fast.

***

After an hour of going through the basics of what to do on the slopes, and safety rules to avoid injury, they finally let them out into the cold crisp air to head up to the ski lift. Bobby grabbed Gary as a partner, hoping to avoid any further conversation with Rahim about the best ways to hit on a woman.

They joined the queue directly behind a couple of the girls that had been at the table. He looked closer at them, trying to gauge what kind of people they were.

He peered closer and noticed that one girl had platinum roots and faded pink tips. She had the look of someone trying to set herself apart, with tattoos snaking up the back of her black ski parka. Her hood was down and Bobby spotted a pattern of silver crescent moons.

When she leaned over to the other girl, Bobby grinned at hearing the Australian accent.

Pink hair nudged the other girl and said, "Chels, don't be stupid, I'll remind you when the time comes, stop freaking out for fuck sake.”

The one called "Chels" was very slight, her bright pink snow parka swamping her frame had a faux-fur trimming which was slightly paler. She was also wearing matching snow pants that were bright pink with a stripe of the paler pink down the sides.

She sighed dramatically, her voice coming out in a high-pitched wail, "Why couldn't we have gone to the beach? We know I'm all about sitting on a towel and working on my tan. I already look about as pale as you do!"

Bobby began to laugh before reminding himself Gary was next to him and covering it with a cough. Worriedly, he looked over to Gary expecting grief for being a creep again, but Gary's gaze was glued to "lotters", his eyes wide.

Looks like I’m not the only one.

Bobby smirked and elbowed Gary, "Alright mate?"

Gary shook himself and turned to Bobby grinning, "Man, she's a real sort, isn't she?"

Bobby tapped a finger against his nose, "I already saw her, she was with the... uh, that blonde I got busted staring at earlier. You probably didn't notice, you were in a priest joke at the time," blushing, Bobby looked down, smoothing his foot over the snow, before pressing his boot down to make a pattern, "Hey, maybe we'll run into them later! After skiing?"

Gary's lips turned up into a small smirk, "Hopefully, definitely wouldn't mind a chance with that one," he said, jerking his head in the direction of the pink-haired girl.

Bobby turned towards them, just in time to see her bend her head towards “Chels”, hissing a "Shhh!"

***

"Shhh, Chelsea! He's behind us!" Lottie hissed, pinching Chelsea's arm.

"Oh shit, me and my big mouth," she sighed, "Is he the one with the Scottish accent?"

"Yeah. He's pretty cute to be honest, but in a-," Lottie tapped a black-gloved finger against the side of her face, thinking, "Boy band way! Like you could picture him singing lead vocals about a crush he had on some girl. His mate is way fitter. I could imagine him without his shirt on, easy. Iz has the hots for the sixth direction anyway."

Chelsea pursed her lips in a mock pout, crossing her arms. She stood on tiptoes to get closer to Lottie's ear and whisper-screamed, "Well they were sat with a big group of boys so I call first dibs over the other girls."

Lottie suddenly caught wind of the boy's conversation and one of them said in a low voice, "pink hair."

Smiling slowly to herself, she scanned the people around them, but as suspected, there was no one else with pink hair that was visible under hats.

Never one to shirk a challenge, she decided to talk to these boys. She’d be doing all the girls a favour really, everyone was single. A bit of male company on this trip wouldn’t be a bad thing, surely?

She spun quickly around, raising her eyebrows while cocking her head down in a challenging look. They both straightened up from their whispering position, the Scottish boy blushing furiously across his freckled face. It was almost cute, Lottie thought. However, the bulkier blonde that she had her eye on had a cocky grin spreading across his face.

More my style.

Ready to wind them up, she began speaking, "Already moved on from my girl with the stalky thing straight onto me? I'm fairly certain I'm the only one here with pink hair. Fess up, boys? Who said it?"

The blonde one shrugged his shoulders, "Sorry, I just couldn’t help but notice you were with the girl Bobby was making googly eyes at earlier."

Lottie noticed boy-band Bobby blushed even harder and kept his gaze fixed strictly straight on the ground elbowing his mate in the ribs. The blonde just laughed and shuffled slightly to the side.

Chelsea raised her eyebrow, "Bobby huh? And you are?"

"Gary. Gary Rennell. And you gorgeous women are...?"

Lottie's lips quirked up into a small smile, she held out her hand, holding direct eye contact with Gary.

She noticed he swallowed harder and felt giddy at the triumph of breaking his confident demeanour, even if it was only a little bit, "I'm Lottie, and this is one of my best girls here, Chelsea," Gary grasped her hand, shaking it.

Lottie had to bite back a small gasp, even through the multiple layers of fabric between their hands, she could swear she felt a spark. He smiled warmly at her, his eyes seeming to reach deep in her soul with one glance...

Fucking soul twin. Possibly? Maybe?

Bobby cleared his throat and finally spoke up with a bit of a shaky voice, "Can I get your friend's name by any chance?"

He still avoided eye contact and stared at the snowy ground.

"Her name is Isabella! Though she prefers Iz or Izzy. She says she feels like she's back in the headmaster's office at school if you call her Isabella!" Chelsea said excitedly.

Lottie rolled her eyes slightly. Chelsea was a handful and even Lozza had surprised her self with warming up to her so quickly in their little bubble of friends. Her, Izzy, Priya and Chelsea were the closest. It was a nice contrast to her large number of male friends.

She came back down from her thoughts and peered closer at Bobby, wondering what his astrological sign was. She'd just done tea leaves reading for Iz the day before. Could he be what she'd seen in the cup?

Imagine a trip where two people find their soul twins... it's unheard of really. Though Iz could do with letting loose after the year she's had.

"Ohh my God! I just want to say, your accent is the coolest! Hey, have you ever been in a band by any chance? Lottie said you look-" Lottie nudged her friend sharply, her usual signal in conversations with Chels for “SHUT THE FUCK UP”

Bobby just grinned, laughed a bit and then shrugged, "Guess I was born with it," he joked and winked at Chelsea, "Ach, why, I thank ye, ye bonnie wee lassie," he deliberately broadened his accent further, bringing out an almost undecipherable Scottish burr, "Really canna sae I can take credit for it tho, aye?"

Chelsea giggled and even Lottie cracked a smile at his clowning and sudden confidence.

This week was going to be fun, she could sense it.

Their conversation had brought them to the head of the line. Lottie and Chelsea turned back just in time to see it was their turn. Gary inserted himself into their hurried parting and made plans to meet up later in the lounge bar area at the resort, and made sure to tell them to bring along their other friends, especially the lovely Izzy, adding that "she will keep Bobby from acting up" as if he was an impatient and restless child.

Gary elbowed Bobby while saying her name, which apparently caused the "lovely Izzy" to appear next to Chelsea as if from magic.

She glanced suspiciously at the boys, smiling a little in Bobby’s direction before pulling Chelsea to the side.

The guy in charge on the lift looked at them all, rolling his eyes and gesturing impatiently at Lottie that she needed to get on the lift - and get on now.

"Chels! Izzy! Come on, you can talk later!"

"Sorry Lozz, this is important, go on up we will see you up there!" Isabella called.

Lottie's shoulders dropped and she looked at Gary, inviting him on with her. This way she could gauge the type of person he was, and tell whether he was worth spending her energy on.

Gary looked excited before remembering that Bobby was stood beside him. He put his hands together in a mock begging pose, looking at Bobby, his face pulled into a comic pleading look. Bobby just closed his eyes, sighed, then nodded his head towards where Lottie was waiting with the ski lift guy who had begun muttering under his breath about 'damn idiots'. Gary jogged over to Lottie and happily took the seat next to her.

Chelsea glanced over her shoulder and noticed Bobby just standing there, awkwardly shuffling his feet in the snow. She waved him over with a big grin, "New friend! Over here! Can you do me the hugest favour? Can you go on the lift with Iz? I desperately need to sort out an... um... organizational nightmare in our room! It's definitely an emergency. I promise," She tried to give him a wink and failed, instead of giving him a big owlish blink. They both chocked back a laugh and Chelsea put her hands together in an unconscious imitation of Gary just moments before.

Bobby glanced over at Isabella, not wanting to do it if she seemed against the idea. She smiled at him, and it was the sweetest thing he'd ever seen, and that included the cupcakes he was experimenting with for Lucas' wedding.

Her smile stretched into a small laugh when he looked at her helplessly and she gave him a little come over here wave with her fingers, "Fine by me. Chelsea and Lottie seem to trust you, so I trust you. You just have to promise not to be a creep who is going to push me off the face of the mountain. Swear to me you're not and you’re good," She cocked her head to the side and stared intently at him.

He stared back for a split second in shock of her little monologue, then a loud, slightly confused, laugh rang out filling the air around them. She felt her knees weaken a little. His laugh might be the best thing she'd heard in just about forever.

He looked at her like a dufus with a stupid grin on his face and she began laughing before he even spoke, "Sure, alright then. Although I can't promise that I'm not a murderer, that would give away too much," he joked, tapping his finger on the side of his nose, “gotta keep and air of mystery, haven’t I?”

Chelsea slowly backed away from the interaction, giving Bobby a thumbs up as he held out his hand.

Izzy thought for a brief second how nice his hand looked. Piano fingers, as her grandma would say.

She placed her hand in his and he squeezed gently while helping her up onto the lift. His thumb caressed over the back of her hand so soft she wondered if she had imagined it. He let go, blushing slightly and then facing forward, gripping onto the bar so tight his hands turned white from the pressure.

As the lift started to move forward, there was a slight squeak when they adjusted their weights. She noticed Bobby darting a look at her, his eyes wider than they had been. The cute blush that had darkened his freckles just a moment ago had faded into a ghostly white. She wondered why he suddenly looked like he'd seen a ghost or something.

The silence stretched a few moments longer, growing awkward. Bobby let out a shaky breath that he seemed to have been holding in the whole time. Then he turned his head more and caught her eyes. He bit his lip and it definitely looked like he was struggling to speak.

She was just about to seriously ask if he was okay before he spoke up.

"Is this a good time to admit I'm scared of heights?"