isla-bennett:
“Do you ever think that they’re just making words up to fuck with us?” Isla asked, laughing with him. It amazed her, sometimes, that she could constantly find herself surrounded by the smartest people in the room. “Blame the hotel for making the interview process so long!” She replied with a laugh. “Otherwise, all of you would’ve heard me screaming down the halls much sooner,” She joked. “Of course you knew it before he did. That’s probably the least shocking thing that I’ve ever heard,” She chuckled. “I’m, like, ninety percent sure that I was the first person that Eleanor admitted her feelings to,” She said, shaking her head. “I don’t think she even meant to say it to me when she did. I’ve just got the Cupid touch,” She laughed. “Eleanor will know straight away that it’s me who told you. And then I won’t get the stories any more. You wouldn’t want to take those away from me, would you?” Isla asked, running her hand down his chest. “Down. Right. Filthy,” She emphasized. “Of course she does. Look at her!” She grinned. “I knew that it was really important to him,” She shrugged. “And when you love someone, you’re willing to do things that you don’t really want to, right?” She asked. Back then, there wasn’t anything that she wouldn’t have done to try and make things work. But every time she thought she had a way in with his family, they put up another mile-high wall to keep her out. “I think he thought that what they didn’t like about me was something that they could just get over with time. He didn’t realize it only made it worse until it was too late,” She explained. “Took a twenty carat weight off of my chest, that’s for goddamn sure,” She scoffed. “Surely he’s moved on by now and they’re happily torturing the next girl, poor thing,” She frowned. “That’s because you probably don’t appreciate it the right way,” Isla explained with a laugh, knowing that he was probably saying nearly word-for-word what she would say to Scott.
“I never liked any of that,” Isla said, scrunching her nose up. “I think he thought that I was just being modest when I said not to buy that shit for me,” She shrugged. “But—you know me. My favorite earrings are all made of plastic,” She laughed. “I don’t think I realized just how poorly I fit into the bubble of the elites until I was out of it,” She confessed. “If there is ever some insane circumstance where I run into Andrea, I’ll be sure to tell him that my best mate Sammy sends his regards,” She joked. “Well, they don’t act like people with money,” Isla agreed. “If I didn’t move into her apartment, I don’t think I would’ve ever guessed that Eleanor is as wealthy as she is. Honestly, I would’ve assumed she grew up like anybody else,” She shrugged. “And I didn’t know about Parker until one of you guys mentioned it to me,” She added. “I’ll also just never stop being amazed by their generosity. It’s not so common in the wealthy. At least not when there’s no good publicity around it,” She added with an eye roll. “And why wouldn’t he be?” Isla asked, smirking at Sam. It was tooth-achingly sweet to see Scott be so gentle with Eleanor. There was something particularly energizing to her about watching tough men melt for the women they loved. Especially when they didn’t think that anyone was looking. “What can I say?” Isla asked, shaking her hair off of her shoulders. “I have my cake and eat it too,” She laughed. “You can explain it away all you want, but you can’t fool me, mate,” She smirked. “Maybe you’re just more like me than you thought,” Isla suggested with a smirk. “If it wasn’t love then what else would it be?” Isla asked with a shrug. It certainly felt like love at the time. More than any other relationship that she’d ever had. “Oh, please,” She said, and waved away his compliment. “I hang around with the best of them, so I just look good by proxy,” She said, smiling at Sam. He was the very best of them all as far as Isla was concerned. She felt lucky to be in his orbit in any capacity. “I mean—“ Isla shrugged. “Open relationships work for loads of people,” She argued. “But, in hindsight, I’m sure some of the reason he was so keen to put a ring on my hand was to close us up for good,” Isla mused. His question made her pause, then she started to chuckle a little. “Sure, I guess,” She shrugged. “I think that everyone kinda secretly wants that a least little bit, y’know?” She asked. “To just meet a person and kinda know, y’know?”
“You and your brother just can’t help yourselves, can you?” She asked with a laugh. “You’ve got to big brother everyone around you,” She teased, as though it wasn’t one of her favorite things about them. “I just can’t believe you’re trying to put a pair of—let’s be honest—immaculate tits in a cage,” Isla laughed. “But I do understand your reasoning,” She added as a consolation. “You say that as though you’re difficult to like, even though it’s very much the opposite,” She said, shaking her head at him. It was nearly impossible for her to imagine someone meeting Sam and not immediately wanting to befriend him. “If you make them laugh first, they won’t realize what disgusting thing you’ve said. That’s my tried and true strategy,” She laughed. “And don’t I always love it?” She smirked. “Between the pair of us, I think we know just about everything that’s going on at the resort at any given moment,” She agreed. Sometimes, it was hard for her to keep up with everything that was going on around them. Every day it seemed like there was another new scandal going around. It made all the yachting drama seem so minuscule by comparison. “I could never be bored of you, either,” She replied. It was laughable to think that Sam could ever be even remotely boring. “I promise not to make you laugh or have any fun at all when we start lessons, Mr. Morrison,” Isla teased. “Yeah, but then when you guys kill yet another performance and get swarmed with groupies, they forget all about the time you made them run a song four times in a row,” She said with a smirk. Isla laughed when Sam did after she told him about her arrest story. “I know, so typical,” She said with an eye roll. “It hardly makes for a funny story when it’s that predictable,” She chuckled. “Might have to just fluctuate between the two then,” She shrugged. “To keep you on your toes,” Isla started to grin when Sam called her bestie. “Told ya it’d catch on,” She replied with a wink.
“I see how that could be enticing,” She shrugged. “But I also see how that could easily be a recipe for disaster,” Isla added. “Did they at least have something in common?” She asked. “You know, aside from the fact that they were attracted to each other,” She added with a chuckle. She could see how bothered Sam was by his friend’s old relationship, and she found it so sweet. “Sounds like he manic-pixie-dream girl’d her. What a fucking nightmare,” Isla said with a huff. When Sam started to laugh, she furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. She didn’t know what was so funny about what she’d said, but she was happy any time she made Sam laugh. “Nope, never once,” She replied with a shrug. “I just don’t really see the point. The way I see it—a person is going to be with the person that they want to be with. If that’s not you, then why would you waste your time being upset about it?” She asked. “And like I said, if I was jealous then I would’ve been in agony all those months that I spent away from my ex,” Isla added. “Oh, is he?” She asked, smirking back at Sam. “That sounds like my beautiful wife,” Isla said with a dreamy sigh. “I can’t believe he knew who she was just by the way that you described her,” She said in awe. “That’s the kind of stuff that could make you cry,” She chuckled, and felt that same wonderful tightness in her chest that came any time she thought about something truly romantic. “Ivy,” Isla echoed with wide eyes. She’d only heard a little about her, but she suspected that Sam might have the real scoop. “Eleanor mentioned that she was an ex of Scott’s,” She nodded. Isla gasped at what Sam told her before she could stop herself. “Oh my god,” She said, putting a hand to her chest. “Poor Scotty,” She murmured. “From what Eleanor’s said, it sounds like Ivy was a total cunt to her,” Isla shook her head at that. How anyone could look at Eleanor and say something cruel was beyond her. “I’m sure it’s pretty easy to have your head done in when your first love and your last are keeping your head on a swivel,” She shrugged. “Messy, messy, Scott. Eleanor mentioned he was a bit of a fuck boy back in the day. Guess old habits die hard, huh?” Isla joked. “It is honestly so hard for me to picture Scott or Eleanor being with anyone besides each other,” She replied, shaking her head. “Jason,” She said, rolling her eyes. “Wait, so Scott, like what? Jumped him?” She asked. “You might be a slut, but that’s all part of your charm, Sammy,” Isla teased, flashing Sam a grin and scratching under his chin like he was a puppy. “And now they’re here together?” She asked, starting to smile. “That’s really sweet. And what a dream, right?” She laughed. “Oh, leave your brother be!” Isla said, and swatted at Sam’s chest. “He’s letting Eleanor live the dream. I mean, who wouldn’t want to be someone’s muse?”
Isla nodded when Sam told her, albeit vaguely, about his relationship with his mother. “And you knew I would,” She asked with a quiet chuckle. She wouldn’t have been able to help herself. It was hard, almost impossible really, for Isla to stop asking Sam questions about himself. He was one of the most interesting people that she’d ever met. “I’m happy to hear that you’re doing better, though,” She smiled. She easily wrapped herself around him when he picked her up, then chuckled against his lips when he kissed her. “What more do you want to give, bestie?” Isla asked, letting her nails slide up the back of his neck until she could start to play with his hair.
“I wouldn’t put it past Scotty but I think Eleanor is a little kinder than that,” Sam said with a smirk. “Aye, if you were here I wonder if I’d have had to put on me little show for the pair of them at all,” he chuckled. Even if he of course would’ve loved to get to know Isla sooner, who knows where he would’ve been. With Ryan, he’s sure. So he was grateful that Isla came here when she did. In some way, he felt like he needed her arrival when it came. “It weren’t hard to tell the geezer was all goofy and smiley after seein’ her,” Sam snickered. “Oi, right of course, you and your little candy heart league or whatever,” he teased, flashing Isla a smirk. Sam licked his lips and let out a low chuckle when Isla ran her hand down his chest, then he smirked at her when she looked at him again. “No, that’d be downright cruel of me to take those away from you,” he hummed. “I’m just happy me boy gets whatever downright filthy side of Eleanor there is,” he laughed, shaking his head. “Aye, you’re right about that,” Sam said, letting out a little sigh through his nose. There were a lot of things he put up with for Ryan because he loved her. He frowned a little as Isla elaborated. She didn’t deserve to deal with that. “Sounds like a fuckin’ nightmare, birdie,” he said quietly. “Glad you’re out of it,” Sam added as a smirk grew on his face. “Twenty carats? Fuck me,” he scoffed. With the way Isla so flippantly talked about her previous relationship he knew that she couldn’t have really loved him. “Right, do tell me how to appreciate it in the right way so I don’t get a smack on on the back of me head next time,” he laughed.
“How’d you stick it out that long if you didn’t like how filthy fuckin’ rich he was,” Sam asked, cocking an eyebrow. “Must’ve had a really nice dick, I’m guessing,” he snickered, shaking his head. When Isla called him her best mate, something warm settled into his chest. “Aye, I’m sure he’d just love to hear all about the lad who’s fuckin’ you now,” he said, shooting Isla a little wink. “Dunno how Eleanor was when she were a lass, when she first met Scotty, but I think she’s always been that way if me brother liked her that much then too,” Sam agreed with a little nod. “And well, me boy has certainly had his fair share of humbling experiences, to say the least,” Sam joked with a little shake of his head. “But aye. They’re both too lovely that I can’t even hate them for bein’ wealthy,” he chuckled. “Well if Eleanor is allegedly doing downright filthy things to Scott, then I guess I can understand why he’ll bend at her will like that,” he said, bouncing his eyebrows. Seeing Scott with Eleanor reminded him of just how easily a girl you truly love could change who you are so completely. He remembered feeling like that before, and how hard it was to let the sort of walls he and his brother kept up down. What was painful was building them back up, and remembering why those walls were built in the first place. “Unbelievable, you girls can be,” Sam tutted, shaking his head when Isla insisted that Sam was secretly a romantic. Maybe he thought he could be at a time, but he knew he wasn’t built for it. “You lot seem to just hear what you want to hear even when I say exactly what I mean,” he said, cocking an eyebrow. “But if that makes you happy,” he added with a little smirk. “Infatuation, obviously,” Sam answered with a shrug. “And good sex. Surely you know how good sex can really confuse some people,” he teased. “Please what?” Sam said with an amused smile as she waved away his compliment. He licked his lips and flickered his gaze between Isla's eyes and her lips before he closed the space between them, smiling as he pulled back. "You do hang around the best of them, aye?" he chuckled, then let out a little sigh. "So the poor bastard liked you so much he put up with you fuckin' anyone else for that long?" he teased with a laugh. “Oh do they now, birdie?” Sam said with a chuckle. “I think you like romantic comedies too much,” he teased.
“Oi, don’t go comparin’ me to grandad like that,” Sam said with an eye roll. “You’ve met Savannah, it’s amazing her head is screwed on straight most days,” he said affectionately. Though she was right, to a degree. Now that Sam had a clear head he could focus on what was important—like taking care of the people who took care of him. “And have some creep answer the door? No,” he said, cocking an eyebrow. Of course Sam didn’t care what she did around the house, but he didn’t like the idea of Savannah in a dangerous situation if she were home alone. “Aye, I agree with you, but your little wife might now,” Sam smirked, even know he knew of course that Eleanor liked him, and he liked her just as much. “Somehow they still manage to get miffed off even if they’re doing it through their laugher,” he chuckled. “We’re just really good people to tell that sort of information too,” he agreed with a smirk. Sam grabbed Isla around the waist and pulled her into his laugh. “If we ever get boring we ought to just kill ourselves, aye?” he joked, then pressed a few kisses along the side of her neck. “Aye, good girl,” he muttered when she promised not to laugh when he gave her guitar lessons, giving her a heated kiss. “Otherwise you’ll get in trouble, which you might want to do anyway,” he added with a mischievous smile. “Why don’t you tell them that next time they’re on me arse next rehearsal?” Sam asked. “Love, you just put all your cards on the table so stories like that about you aren’t surprising,” he chuckled. “But I still want to hear about them anyway,” he assured her with a wink. “Just where I like to be,” he said, then found himself grinning as Isla did. “Is it catching on or do I just want to see you smile like that?” he asked, bringing a hand to tuck her hair behind her ear.
“Guess it’s just one of those things you can’t figure out until you try it,” Sam shrugged. When he was with Ryan, the problem was that they were too similar. They shared the same spirt, and the same destructive tendencies too. He could recognize it wasn’t a good thing now. “I honestly don’t even fuckin’ know,” he huffed a laugh. “I didn’t spend much time around the lad because I didn’t really like ‘im,” he shrugged. Sam furrowed his brows when she was insistent that she’d never been jealous. The concept wasn’t really making any sense to him. “Sometimes the person is not with the person they really want to be with,” Sam said with a smirk, thinking of how the confession of his feelings to Ryan helped her break up with Connor. “Jealousy can be upsetting, sure. But it can also be really fucking sexy,” he said. “There was not a shot in hell you really loved that rich wanker,” he said before he could stop himself. “Actually, I take it back, Scotty is obviously soft as shite,” he joked with a hearty laugh. “Aye, he did. I think he knew she were workin’ with the dolphins though, so I’m sure that helped give it away,” Sam said. “Oi, seems like you’re in tears any time you see the pair of them together,” he teased as she cooed over Scott and Eleanor. “I know,” Sam said bitterly when Isla expressed feeling sad for Scott. It amazed him that Scott was able to forgive Ivy at all. He still wasn’t sure how he managed to do it. “Aye, and I do feel bad now not getting involved with them a little sooner. Might’ve been able to be a friend to Eleanor when she were going through that with ‘er,” he said, pursing his lips. Sam would’ve corrected a lot of things he did during that time. He regretted so much of it. “I were not jealous of Scott when all that were going on, let me fuckin’ tell you. I didn’t know what to do with the whole affair meself. But how could I tell him who he loved? Not much else I could’ve done but be there for ‘im, and I really tried to be,” he sighed. When he wasn’t drunk, fucking Scott’s life up even further, of course. He felt a wave of sick wash over him for a moment. Then he laughed. “Once you get Eleanor riled up talkin’ about Scotty’s dog days she’ll go in on ‘im for like a half hour straight, it’s amazing,” he said. “Makes it so much easier to fight back when Scotty tries to go all grandad on me,” Sam snickered. “Now I can’t imagine it either. Seeing him with Julia or Ivy isn’t anything like seeing him with Eleanor. In a good way, of course,” he said with a genuine smile. “Jason, the big fucking wanking cock he is,” Sam scoffed. “Aye, he found out the lad were married, and I think all things considered, Scott took it a bit personally,” Sam said as a smirk curled up on his lip. “So Scotty beat the hell out of him and made him come clean to Eleanor, and I’m more than sure she’s filled you in on what happened when she fought with old Scotty about that,” he said. “You only say that because you’re just as dirty as me, bug,” he said, humming as she scratched his chin. “Aye, and Lilah too, they’ve all known each other for ages,” he confirmed with a grin. Sam pretended to be wounded when she gave him a swat. “Asking me to leave Scott be is like asking be to cut off me arm,” he groaned playfully. “Oi, dunno, being a muse is a tough job I hear,” he joked, thinking off all of the muses for his own music.
Sam gave Isla a half smile. “Aye, I knew you would,” he said. Sam didn’t know what to make of Isla worming her way into his past like this. A huge part of him was desperate to shield her from it, because it was all so ugly and messy—and she was so bright and pure. Isla shouldn’t have to hear about all of that. And he’d be dead before he let her look at him with the inevitable pity she would feel towards him. Then another part of him, deep in the pit of his stomach, felt relieved being honest with her. Safe. It wasn’t something he was prepared to deal with. “With you here in paradise, birdie?” he hummed, kissing her cheeks. “Doin’ fuckin’ fantastic now,” he said, and what surprised him is that he really thought it meant it. In that moment in the ocean with Isla in his arms we did. “Hmm,” he sounded, closing his eyes when she put her fingers in his hair. After the quiet moment he swiftly tossed her in the air, laughing as she splashed into the water.