Bea and Oscar 7


The dry arid heat hits Bea in the face as she stepped out of her cottage bungalow at 6am, the following morning. She was having trouble sleeping, something that rarely happened to her. Today was not a good day to not be well rested. They had a full schedule today. They'd scheduled some press obligations in the morning and a full afternoon and evening of rehearsals.

Bea knew why she couldn't sleep, and it had nothing to do with her English sensibilities and the desert heat not meshing well together and everything to do with a certain Senator that was currently in DC, eagerly waiting her had been grateful for everything that Raf and Oscar had done for her, in regard to the press. For this morning's press obligations, she had entrusted her longtime loyal PPO, Simon to step in and cut them off if they asked her anything that didn't pertain to their current tour, newest release, or current US tour.

She sat by the pool's edge. They were being put up in luxury cottage bungalows on the outskirts of Albuquerque. A short fifteen-minute limo ride to their concert arena. As she let her feet dangle into the water, their drummer Nico let himself into the pool compound. he nodded a quick good morning to her, before diving into the pool and swimming laps. Nico had joined them last year as a drummer, in their back up band. From Erica, she had learnt that he had come to the US for school to pursue a scholarship at school for swimming and was on his way to the Olympics when a foot injury ended his career. They didn't chat much, not for a lack of trying on her part. There was a language barrier. He only spoke Spanish and she didn't. But isn't that the beautiful thing about music, it transcends the language barriers.

It was relaxing, the atmosphere, the ambiance of the place. She took in a deep breath of that fresh air and inhaled in deeply. After the trials and tribulations of yesterday's rehearsals in the dry, almost unbearable heat, she was almost tempted to take herself off for a swim. But swimming always made her drowsy and today especially, that was a luxury she could not afford.

Snapping a picture of the sky, the sun sneaking up as the purple hues of the sky turned into deep oranges, and the last stars faded, she sent it to Alex and Henry, in their group chat. Such a pretty sky she captioned it. It was just after 8am in New York, so she wasn't expecting a reply, but the sound of not one, but repeated dings less than a minute later, told her otherwise.

It's alright, love. Her brother Henry had replied, following up with Why aren't you still asleep, sister dear? Typical Henry, always worrying about her. Even from hundreds or thousands of kilometres away.

Alex never failed in not making her smile. u think tht's pretty? If Bea didn't know any better, she'd swear Alex was insulting her, but far from it. wait til u get 2 texas. aint nothing prettier than a texas sky. Typical Alex, always raving about the beauty of his home state. back me up, h.

He isn't wrong, Bea. At Oscar's lake house up on LBJ Lake, when the dawn awakes and you time it just right, there is a million stars that litter the sky. The morning rays of the rising sun hits the water at just the right angle and it's like the water is inviting you to personally rendezvous with it. To bask in all of its glory. It glistens with the shimmer and sparkle of the world's brightest diamonds. Henry waxing pure poetry before 6am always hurt her head, not that she would ever tell him that.

ull have 2 come 1 day. h loves it. except 4 the sunburn. he doesnt love tht.

Bea smiled to herself remembering fondly the sight of Henry after trip to the lake with Alex, returning to London for royal duties and he was as red as a lobster. Pip and Gran had been palpable, but Bea and their mum, Catherine had chuckled. Meanwhile, it looked much worse than it was when he was next to Alex at the dinner table. Alex's usual brown skin was sun kissed a golden bronze and he looked ethereal. Like he had been literally plucked from the heavens above, their own choice of God.

Henry did like to tease her though. With auburn hair, she too tended to go lobster read in the sun. Followed by blistering and peeling, all not too pretty to look at. At least Henry would go tanned after looking like a lobster. Luckily for him, it only took three or four days for him to look normal again. Something Alex loved and loathed about him. Alex loved him looking like he had caught some sun, but not while he was read and in such pain that he could not stand for anyone to touch him.

From Henry's description of the lake, she couldn't help but let her mind wander to Oscar being there. She wondered if he too looked golden and sun kissed like Alex, or did he burn like her and Henry. She quickly had to stop her train of thought from going any further, or she would be useless all day. Oscar looked like an adonis on his worst day. She doesn't know any names of the Spanish gods, but if Oscar was an adonis, he'd probably be Hefesto. Hefesto was considered to be el Dios del fuego, the God of fire. He was believed to have forged all the weapons for the gods of Olympus and was worshiped by artisans, blacksmiths, carpenters, and sculptors of Athens. His presence alone, it sets her soul on fire. She is an artist, and she would happily spend hours worshipping him. Her argument may be weak, but so is her mind and flesh.

Feeling flirtatious, she smiled softly and took a selfie, trying to capture enough of the natural beauty from the oasis behind her. Sending it to him on a whim, without thinking of anything else but seeing the smile on Oscar's face. Of course, she tried not to keep looking at her phone. Even though she felt like her heart was going to beat right out of her chest at the thought of getting a reply from him.

Hearing the melodious chime indicating an incoming message, she tried to calm the butterflies in her stomach, as she took her time opening the message. Fuck, look at you. Beautiful, radiant. My desert flower. He had replied, and she could almost hear his words in his voice as she read them. Oscar had managed to do what no other man had ever done before. He had managed to gain a physical reaction from her body, at the sight of his words alone.

She was screwed.

After a long morning of press obligations where Simon had to step in on her behalf no less than sixteen times, Bea was exhausted. When Simon finally handed her phone back to her for an hour between the press obligations and the rehearsals, Bea smiled when she had no less than ten messages from Oscar alone. Seems that he was much like Alex, a serial texter.

You never replied to my message, I hope I didn't overstep.
If I did, I am sorry.
I thought it might be ok, given how you kissed me before you left.
You did kiss me, right? That wasn't something my imagination made up, was it?

Okay, I am going to assume you're hard at work.
I should be too.
I really should focus on the bill in front of me.
But I can't. Thinking about you instead.
Can I call you tonight?
I don't care how late it
is.

Stowing her phone away, she focused on her lunch and on the upcoming rehearsals. If she could keep her mind occupied long enough, she might not feel as if she missed the opportunity of a lifetime, back in Denver. She managed to block everything out of her mind except for her music and the rehearsals. As usual, they stopped for dinner, before picking up the final run through.

As soon as it was over, Bea was opting out of a night out, preferring to return to the hotel. The clubs and whatnot of Alburquerque did not hold the same appeal to her, as a hot shower and a phone call with Oscar.

Once she was showered and dressed, she plucked some snacks from one of her bags and laid back on the sofa in her room with them. Opening a glass of soda, she pulled up Oscar's contact card on her phone. Deciding on a text message in case he was busy, she typed a flirty message to him in reply to his ten earlier messages.


Oscar had been having trouble focusing on anything, but Bea. The picture she had sent him had been distracting at best. Her message had been all consuming, in the best possible way. It had been a long time since a simple text message had made him feel this way. In hindsight, he shouldn't have opened his phone when he was supposed to be focused on the bill in front of him. But he couldn't help himself. Even her the sight of a message from her in her inbox was alluring.

What was worse about the whole situation was that Raf had leaned back in the chair opposite his desk and had witnessed the entire incident. They had been discussing the bill in front of them over a cup of coffee, when her text had arrived. To top it off, Raf had sat there and very visibly bitten his tongue and not said a damn word. Not a single sound. However, the look on his face had been more than telling.

But thankfully they were due on the senate floor and any and all discussions on what had transpired was put on hold. When their session was over, his ex-wife had stopped by his office and Raf thankfully had kissed Ellen's cheek and excused himself. Ellen had only wanted to check in with him about the plans for the upcoming holidays. Oscar had invited the whole family to his lake house, including his ex-wife and her husband, Leo. They had wanted just one holiday with the kids where there was no guilt from having to choose which parent to spend time with. What triggered this decision was he had overheard Henry and Nora commiserating with one another over their mutual dread of June and Alex discussing which parent they would be spending time with for the holiday. Henry and Nora had made it seem like this was something that June and Alex had done every single time a holiday had rolled around. While Labor Day wasn't a major holiday like Christmas or Thanksgiving, where they would all have to be at the White House playing happy families for the press, the anonymity of being a happy family at the lake had called to him.

Ellen had even offered a truce, upon hearing Oscar's story of how this whole idea had come about. She too had felt guilty, especially in light of how recently she had learnt about Alex's heartbroken call to Henry on that fateful Christmas when they'd had the big blow up. As Ellen was at the door, Oscar looked up her "Would it be ok if I invited Henry's sister to join us too? She will still be touring, and it would be a nice surprise for him."

"Bea, is always welcome." Ellen had smiled at him, and Oscar had to wonder if Ellen still had the ability to read him like a book. "After what that poor woman went through. I am so glad that you and Raf were there to help her. I know Alex was so relieved when they saw the story. Poor Henry has been beside himself with worry for her. He and Alex really didn't like that boyfriend." Ellen stopped and hesitated, scrutinising him carefully. "You can invite whoever the new woman is that you're seeing too."

"Geez Ellen, I am not seeing anyone." Oscar snapped, admittedly a little too defensively at his ex-wife. "Why on earth would you think that I am seeing someone?"

"I recognise the look on your face." She smiled at him. "That soft look you have on your face. I've seen it enough to know what it means."

"Meaning?"

"Meaning that I remember seeing it when you were looking at me. I remember seeing during the time you weren't seeing Jess." She had naturally made the inverted commas motion with her fingers over the word weren't. "And I remember seeing it when you were with Erica."

"I was never with Erica." Oscar argued. "And I am not seeing someone now."

"It's not a crime to meet someone and ask them out, Oscar." She reminded him. "Just because our kids have their own lives now, doesn't mean our lives are over, or obsolete. You're allowed to be happy."

"I am happy, El." Oscar smiled, not stopping himself from letting the nickname escape his lips. "The idea of someone ... of meeting someone and them slotting into our organised chaos of a family..."

"It's scary, I know." Ellen agreed with him. "Remember what you told Alex, about Henry?" Sometimes you just have to jump and hope you're not standing on a cliff.

The thing about standing on the threshold of whatever this was becoming with Bea was, that he actually was standing on a cliff, and he wasn't sure if anyone would be able to catch him. Certainly not Alex or Henry, Bea was Henry's sister and Alex was Bea's friend. Bea treated Alex like another brother.

Oscar hesitated, "I know what I said Ellen, but I am not seeing anyone."

"Just think about it, Oscar." Ellen told him sincerely, kissing his cheek. "You're too good of a man to be all alone." Before she took her leave.

The thing was that Oscar had done nothing but think of it. What it would be like if he asked Bea out on a date. What it would be like to take her hand in his, as they strolled down the street. What it would be like to pull her into a whole-body hug, what it would be like to have her beneath him in bed. What it would be like to spend a drizzly Sunday morning in bed with her. Listen to her tinker on her guitar, writing her music, while he cooked in their kitchen. What it would be like to see her hair, fanned out on his pillow, as she slept soundly beside him. Curled into him for comfort and warmth.

Unfortunately, all too often, he thought of the flip side. The one where Bea and Henry have a huge argument over his relationship with Bea. Alex and Henry fight, then worse, he and Alex fight. How June would undoubtedly stick up for Alex and how she would be angry and disappointed with him to. How hurt Bea would be by her brother's refusal to accept their relationship. How awkward it would be as they crossed paths in the future.

He was damned if he did and damned if he didn't.

Of course, in all of his musings, he hadn't yet taken into account his ex-wife's would be reaction to them. Or the media's reaction, or the palace. If Alex's experience was anything to go by, it would be far from favorable.

The only thing he was sure of was that he and Bea needed to talk.