“GOOSEBERRY!”

The word was barely heard over the laughter and techno music echoing around the club. (Which was a club, technically, but Ava had called it a bar because the girls were less likely to put up a fight about bars. They were usually more low-key than clubs, you see. And while they were filled with the same amount of drunken types, it was normally quieter so you could yourself think. Sometimes.)

The man in front of Ella was gyrating his hips quite precariously close to her, making her terribly uncomfortable. She was holding her ice tea high above her head so he didn’t knock into it, and her purse had already been moved to her pocket for safekeeping. In short, Ella was not having a good time, and they’d only been at this bar for about ten minutes.

“LONDONDERRY!” (Ella had forgotten the magic word due to all the stress of having this man make ‘the moves’ on her.) “RAAAAAASBERRY!”

In that ten minutes, Ava had found some guy who didn’t speak English to dance with, and Juliet hadn’t left Ella’s side except to go to the bathroom. Which was why Ella was hoping Juliet would appear any moment now, whisking her away to safety. Though, honestly, she wasn’t in much danger as it was. The man was just a little overzealous, and probably rather drunk by Ella’s standards.

Someone knocked into her elbow was she was cowering against the bar, trying to get away from the hippy man.

“Oh, I’m sorry.” A male’s voice said as ice tea slopped onto her head.

Ella, red in the face and wishing to be anywhere but where she was standing at that very moment, pushed against the man in front of her and told him to get lost in the best possible way she knew how.

He stumbled backwards into the crowd, swearing at her.

“Whoa, what was that about?”

Ella huffed out a long breath and collapsed on a stool behind her, next to the man who had bumped into her elbow.

“That was me being fed up. He was all hands.”

“And hips.”

She laughed for the first time all evening. “Yes, and hips.”

“Do you want a napkin?” He asked, holding a handful under her nose; she had been staring at her half-empty glass and running a hand through her newly wet hair.

“Oh, thank you,” she said graciously, trying to mop up her head the best she could. “What a jerk.”

“I can leave you alone,” he said, moving to get up.

Ella chuckled, and shook her head, finally looking up at him. “No, no. Not you.”

He grinned at her. “Ah.”

Ella took a moment to stop wiping up her hair to stare at him; this was not what she’d normally do in the same situation, but she couldn’t help it. He was lovely; all longish dirty blond hair, full lips, really pretty eyes, amazing smile, great body. Australian accent, something Ella found completely charming since she rarely met any Australians…at least since she’d moved to California.

“Did you need rescuing?” He asked her suddenly, taking a sip of his drink and surveying her curiously.

She broke herself from her thoughts and managed to nod. “Yes, well, my mates and I…we have this code word. We use it when we need one of them to bail us out. Only I forgot the word.” She laughed self-consciously. “I got a little flustered.”

He laughed. “I could see that.”

“Did you bump into my elbow on purpose?” This was a surprise to Ella, her just saying something like this, because she rarely was so forward. (At least when comparing her forwardness to that of Juliet or Ava.)

“Maybe.” He gave her a sly grin and took another sip.

“If he comes back, would you mind pretending to be my overprotective boyfriend? I think my mates have deserted me.”

“Sure,” he agreed, nodding. “Can I get you a new drink or are you okay with the one in your hair?”

“I’m good, thanks,” she laughed. “I’m Ella, by the way. Ella Jenkins.”

“Ian Thorpe. Lovely to meet you.”

A broad smile. “You too.”

Of course, it had not occurred to her, even as he introduced himself, that he was the Ian Thrope. But perhaps she was just too infatuated with him to notice…or maybe she’d lost her head completely after her near brush with death.

Either way, it wasn’t until Juliet came back and perched herself on the stool beside her that Ella really realized what was going on. Juliet was staring at him as if he were the Queen of England (whom he had no resemblance to, whatsoever) until Ella elbowed her in the gut and hissed for her to cut it out.

“It’s Ian Thorpe!” Juliet whispered, her eyes bulging as she stared at him.

Ella cleared her throat, eyeing Juliet in anger. “Juliet. You’re being terribly rude.”

Ian was holding back laughter, watching them in amusement. After Ella had rolled her eyes at her friend and turned back to him, he held his hand out. “Hi, it’s nice to meet you.”

“You too!” Juliet squealed, shaking his hand. “I’m Juliet. And you’re Ian Thorpe!”

“I am,” he laughed.

“I don’t know where you were earlier,” Ella was saying, apparently still oblivious that she was sitting with an international celebrity. “I used the code word and everything.”

“I was in the bathroom,” Juliet explained, heaving a sigh. “You can’t hear code words in there.”

“What IS the codeword?” Ella questioned, looking curious. “I used several.”

“Asparagus,” Juliet said, waving the bartender over.

“Asparagus?” Ella looked completely put-out. “I thought it rhymed with gooseberry!”

“It doesn’t,” Juliet said simply, looking at Ian because he was choking from laughing so much. “Ian Thorpe is choking, Ella.”

Ella jumped off her stool and began pounding Ian on the back, who finally stopped choking and gave way to peals of laughter, which both girls watched in enthrallment.

“Are you okay?” Ella asked, sounding out of breath when he finally stopped laughing.

“Yes,” he said, wiping tears of mirth from his eyes. “I’m fine, thanks.”

Ella raised an eyebrow. “Do you often laugh yourself to death like that?”

“Not often, no,” Ian replied, smiling at her. “You two are funny.”

“We’ve heard that before, Ian Thorpe,” Juliet said, taking a sip of the beer that had just been put in front of her.

“I’m sure you have,” he said, giving her an odd look. “You can call me Ian.”

“Thorpie?”

“Sure.”

Juliet smirked, and jumped down from her stool. “I’ll leave you two alone.”

And she shimmied off, leaving Ella staring open-mouthed at the man in front of her. “You’re Ian Thorpe.”

“Yes,” he said slowly, looking perplexed.

“You’re THE Ian Thorpe! The Thorpedo!”

Ian grinned. “Yes again.”

“OHMYGOD!” Ella put a hand to her mouth. “You must think I am so daft.”

“No, I don’t,” he replied, smiling at her.

Ella put her head in her hand. “I’m going to kill Juliet. I was doing fine before she came along. Actually, that’s really bad because I was wishing she WOULD come along and save me from that----that guy----and instead, here you are….and…I’m going to shut up now.” She took a swig of her ice tea. “It was nice to meet you. Good night.”

With that, she took off into the crowd, off in search of Juliet, and Ava, and a cure for embarrassment.