Nick and Sal made their way out of the airport and into the sunshine, heading for desk number eight.
"Tell you what, I'll order you a uniform tomorrow and you can start next week Nick if that's okay with you," Sal suggested.
"Great, I need some cash a.s.a.p. Want to sort out a bike to get me around on...and to go out for voltas of course," he added.
She smiled. "Of course. So it will be the most expensive, flashy bike going that you'll be wanting then for your road trips."
"How did you guess?" he grinned.
She screwed her nose up at him. "Just a hunch!"
"I don't suppose I could get a lift back on a coach could I Sal? A taxi is going to cost me a small fortune," Nick pointed out.
"Well..." Sal began, seemingly unsure but then adding with a smile, "go on then, seen as it's you."
"You're a brick Sal," Nick said, throwing an arm around her shoulder.
"Okay, chop chop girls, plane's due to land any time now. You, you and you," Sal said pointing to three of the girls when they reached the desk, "you three can meet and greet at the arrivals door and the rest of you can find the coaches for me."
Nick widened his eyes at her. "Very assertive Sal, you almost sound as if you know what you're doing!"
She pulled a face at him. "Do you want that lift back to Agios Nick or not?"
He cringed. "Okay, I'll shut up now."
She nodded. "Wise."
The crowds of reps dispersed and went to their duties leaving one girl standing by the desk with a lost, bewildered look.
"Oh, hello," Sal smiled at her. "You must be new. Sally Fitzroy-Smith," she said, holding out her hand. The girl looked back blankly at Sal with terrified eyes. "And you are?" Sal prompted her.
"I'm here to do a transfer," the girl said in a small voice.
Sal's eyes swung to Nick's as he stood there smirking.
"Yes, I had gathered that but I was just wondering what your name was," Sal asked with a touch of impatience.
"Oh," the girl looked mortified, "My name is Freeda. My Dad is German," she added quickly, feeling that she should justify the name.
Nick chuckled to himself and Sal turned to him with a frown, kicking him under the counter.
"Well Freeda why don't you go to arrivals with the other girls and they'll show you how to greet the guests?" Sal suggested.
Freeda looked panic stricken and Sal pointed to the entrance doors, encouraging her to go.
"It's over there, don't worry."
Freeda left reluctantly and Nick burst into laughter as she went. "Good luck with her Sal!"
Sal groaned. "Do you really think she's capable of doing a transfer Adam? What were you thinking?" she said to an invisible Adam.
"Err, Sal. I think you may have finally lost your mind! I'm Nick remember, not Adam," he teased.
"Oh shut up stupid, I wasn't talking to you!" she came back. "As if I haven't got enough on my plate. Why don't you just go and sit over there somewhere until the coach is ready to leave."
"Okay, okay! Who got out of bed on the wrong side this morning?" he said over his shoulder as he moved away.
She rolled her eyes at him but smiled afterwards, she really was glad to see him again.
Several minutes later the guests began to come trickling out of the arrivals door towards the desk and coaches. Sal directed the lost tourists to the correct coach numbers and filled in the forms for the people who had decided to make their own way to the hotels and apartments. Nick sat on a seat outside the airport, opposite desk eight, and watched Sal with amused interest.
Well what do you know; she's not half bad at this!
Sal glanced at her watch and calculated that the next flight of guests from Manchester would be landing in ten minutes. She then had a difficult decision to make. Should she send the already half filled coaches from the Gatwick flight off to the resorts or should she wait for the Manchester flight to land and finish filling the coaches with those passengers as well? It would be at least another fifteen minutes, maybe more, until the Manchester guests came out of the airport. Could she get away with making the Gatwick passengers wait? If so it would save Adam the extra expense of making the coaches return to the airport for a second time. As Sal stood there contemplating what to do next one of the reps came running over to her from the coach park.
"Sal someone is sending the guests to the wrong coaches, it's chaos over there!" the girl said, trying to catch her breath.
Sal ran a hand through her hair. "Bloody hell, it's bound to be the new girl. Here, take this," she said, handing the rep a sheet of paper, "it shows you which coaches the guests should be on. Try to direct them as best you can and I'll go stop Freeda before she gets us all the sack!"
Sal grabbed her handbag and turned to run across the road to the arrivals doors but in her haste she failed to see the airport trolley behind her and stumbled on it, grasping the handle to steady herself but sliding onto the floor nonetheless. She growled and pulled herself up quickly, looking around her to see if anyone had noticed. Nick watched her and chuckled to himself before straightening his face and turning away when Sal noticed that he had seen her stumble. She narrowed her eyes at him suspiciously and strolled towards the airport, past the chair he was sitting on. He looked up at her with a grin as she gritted her teeth with annoyance and embarrassment, kicking his feet as she passed.
"Did you have a nice trip?" he shouted after her, laughing loudly.
She ignored him and disappeared behind the crowds of tourists, giggling to herself once out of Nick's sight.
Ahh, there goes the entertainment, Nick thought to himslef when she'd gone.
Sal rushed into over to the arrivals door and collected Freeda, deciding that it would be wiser to ask her to direct lost guests from the desk so that she could keep an eye on her. When she returned to the desk however there were another two reps there who were confused and panicked by the extra guests who had been wrongly directed to their coaches. To make matters worse her phone rang in the midst of the chaos and the rep on the other end informed her that a guest who was departing soon had lost their ticket.
Damn! Not now! How the hell was she supposed to be in a million places at once?
"Listen I have to pop off to departures," she said to the reps that were standing next to her. "Can you..." she began, but stopped when it hit her that she couldn't possibly leave the situation as it was at the desk and in the coach park.
She closed her eyes and tried to think amongst the noise and mayhem. An idea came to her then but she pushed it out of her mind, desperately striving to come up with an alternative solution to her dilemma. Finally, when a second phone call came in from departures again she was forced to resign herself to the only option that was left to her, she looked across to Nick and wondered how he would react to a plea for help from her. He knew the job well and would be able to straighten out the mess whilst she went to sort out a replacement ticket in departures.
Nick watched Sal put a hand to her head in frustration as the reps flapped and fussed around her. The phone call had obviously not helped, neither had the new rep who had clearly caused some kind of problem in the coach park. Observing Sal's look of panic Nick actually began to feel sorry for her. Knowing Sal she was trying to impress people in her role as airport supervisor but, although Nick had no doubt that she could do the job, chaos never failed to follow Sal around. He could offer to help out but...no, he'd rather wait for her to ask him. His sense of fun and mischief prompted him sit there watching her struggle with the decision. He grinned as she began to walk towards him, only to hesitate and look back towards the desk with second thoughts. She sighed deeply, reluctant to ask him for help and preparing herself for the jibes that were bound to follow. Before she could change her mind she strode across the gap and stopped in front of him with her arms crossed defensively.
"Look, they need me in departures," she said abruptly.
"Right..."
"And..." she faltered.
"And?" he questioned.
"Well it's really busy over there," she pointed out.
"I can see that," he said unhelpfully.
His eyes connected with hers making her edgy.
He could offer to help, he can see the situation! But no, instead he just chooses to enjoy watching her struggle! And she thought he was a friend!
"Never mind," she said, her pride prompting her to turn and walk away.
"Hey Sal," he called out, "for what it's worth, I'm impressed. I think you're doing a great job!"
Her expression changed. "You do?"
Ah, don't be mean. She was trying to impress him and it wasn't her fault. He should ust help her out, she was his friend.
"Sure, but I told you that the new girl would be a handful."
She contemplated him for a moment. "She is. I'm a bit stuck at the moment to be honest."
"Hmm, I can see that."
She tried to figure out what he was thinking.
"Nick," she began after a few seconds.
"Yes," he replied, smiling at her.
She fiddled with her neck tie and averted her eyes. "You know how we used to be friends."
"Still are I thought," he corrected her.
"Yes. Anyway, you're about the only person here who has a lot of experience with this sort of stuff," she hinted.
"I guess I do."
She sighed. "So will you help me out or not?"
"Of course," he said, rising off the chair, "you only had to ask."
Her face lit up.
"On one condition though," he added.
Her face fell.
"What?" she asked warily.
"Well, I wonder what I can get out of this," he grinned.
She huffed and rolled her eyes at him. "Knowing you it will involve taking some sort of clothes off for experimental purposes!"
He raised an eyebrow. "Actually I hadn't thought of that, a good idea though Sal. But no, I was just thinking, if you could sum me up as rep in a few words how would you describe me?"
"Smug," she smiled. "Yes, that sums you up as a rep nicely...and I only needed one word too!"
"Hmm, wrong answer," he said, moving to sit back down.
"Okay, okay," she sighed, contemplating her next answer. "You're confident," she settled on.
"Not exactly the answer I was looking for. The reps are waiting and the guests look like they are ready to snap," he warned her.
She looked behind her nervously.
"Bloody hell Nick, sometimes I seriously hate you! Okay, you're the best rep in the world! Now get over there and sort it all out, I'm needed in departures," she said, storming away.
He laughed and shouted after her," I love you too Sal. Oh and by the way you could have withdrawn the offer of a bus ride home to get me to do it!"
She turned her head and stuck out her tongue to him just before disappearing through the departure doors.
When she returned to the desk half an hour later she was relieved to see that the first coach must have been organised as it was pulling out of the coach park.
"Were all the correct guests on board then?" she asked Nick.
"Yep," he smiled. "We are just waiting for a couple more for the other two coaches now but I have a feeling that they may have got taxis. I have a rep searching the arrivals area now for any lost looking people but if there appears to be no more left then I think that we should let the coaches go."
"Yes, the guests have waited long enough now," she agreed. "Thanks for that."
"No problem. Departures all sorted out?" he asked.
"Yep, they have all gone through passport control now so I'm almost done here," she said with relief.
Finally the rep returned from inside the airport shaking her head. "There's no one left from the Manchester flight in there," she informed Sal.
"Okay, you can go to your coach now then and tell the other reps they can go too."
"Great, see you next Tuesday Sal. Bye," the rep said, running across the coach park.
"Come on," Sal said, turning to Nick, "since you did help me out I'll save you the monotony of a transfer coach ride and give you a lift back in my car."
"Ooh, you have a car now, very posh!" he teased, watching her pack away the forms and files.
"It's not posh at all, it's just Bobby. But I'm considering trading him in," she said, jumping with a squeal and dropping the papers in her hands when someone tapped her on the shoulder from behind.
"Err, sorry but which coach should I go on?" Freeda asked meekly.
"Oh hell!" Sal exclaimed, running towards the last coach which was backing out of it's parking space.
She managed to get the attention of the irritable coach driver who reluctantly stopped and opened the passenger door so that she could talk to the rep in the guide's seat.
"Sorry sweet but could you take Freeda on your coach and show her the ropes?" she asked.
The girl groaned but nodded and Sal turned to gesture Freeda over to the coach, however at that point Freeda's attention was well and truely glued to Nick. She stood staring dreamily at him as he picked up the fallen papers and placed them back in the files. Sal chuckled and yelled loudly across the coach park.
"Earth calling Freeda! Your coach is about to go!"
A startled Freeda swung around and hesitated before heading in Sal's direction when she urged her to make haste. Sal waved the coach off and returned to Nick, giggling to herself at the way Freeda had been gazing at him.
"Are we finally ready to go? I need a shower and change of clothes and then I'm hitting the bars," Nick said, handing Sal the files.
"Yep, let's go. Where are you staying by the way?" she asked, as they headed towards her car in the car park behind the coaches.
"Well, you know how we are best friends and all," he began.
"Oh no! We aren't that good friends, you're not staying with me Nicholas!" she said firmly.
"Why, would you find it hard to keep your hands off me Sal?" he joked.
"No, but an apartment full of smelly socks and beer cans I could do without!" she retorted.
"Ahh Sal, crush a man's dreams I should!" he laughed. "I'm only kidding anyway, I have booked into The Apollo for a few days until I sort out somewhere more permanent."
They reached the car and she opened the door, leaning her arms on the edge of the window to talk to him before they got in.
"Want to know a secret?" she asked mysteriously.
He looked interested. "Go on."
"Well..." she began, making him wait, "someone here today has a secret crush on you."
His eyes widened and his heart lurched as he watched a slow smile spread across her face.
Bloody hell Sal, she never failed to surprise him! Would she admit it there and then?
"Has this person had this said crush for a while then?" he asked, feeling his pulse racing.
She shook her head. "No, I think realisation just hit her today."
"Oh." He wasn't expecting that.
"So you be nice to Freeda eh Nick, and don't let on that I told you anything," she said, sliding into the driver's seat and leaving Nick with a look of disappointment on his face.
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