“Come on, Sarah!” Cass shouted from ahead. Naturally she was the best at cycling; as she was with everything else. And naturally, I was the worst. My thighs were burning and hair was plastered to my forehead with sweat. Nothing like a relaxing cycle ride around town, was there?
“Just . . . a minute . . . guys,” I gasped out, willing my legs to move faster.
I blamed Ollie for this situation. It was the last day of the spring term and he and all the other boys were going to a football match. They hadn’t told us and we were annoyed we couldn’t go. Then Ollie suggested we actually do some sport and Ashley of all people agreed with him. So an hour later, here we are on hired bikes and cycling around possibly the whole of Brighton where most of population gets to see me doing exercise.
Couldn’t we have just, I don’t know, gone out for ice cream instead?
Suddenly there was a high pitched scream. “Sarah, look out!”
I looked up and saw the pothole just before I hit it. I was thrown out of my bike seat and over the handle bars as my wheel jammed into the pothole edge. It felt like I was in a movie and the scene was in slow motion. I could feel my arms flailing as I tried to stop myself in midair, because right in front of me was a dark haired, tanned and very hot guy, and I was about to fly into him.
When we collided the world seemed to return to normal speed. He crumpled on impact and we fell to the ground, our limbs entangled. I couldn’t feel any obvious injuries but that may be because I had landed on top of the guy. Around us, I could hear the girls’ voices and a loud huffing in my ear.
A moment later I opened my eyes and came to my senses.
Oh. My. God.
Our cheeks were squashed against each other and my legs were wrapped around his body. His arms were squashed under my body and his hands were on my boobs! I squealed and tried to get free.
“Ciao, bella,” he whispered in my ear in a strong Italian accent. As I was trying to release myself from our current state, he winked at me, looked at his hands on my boobs and removed them. The smirk he gave me made him look pretty but I felt violated.
Once my legs were free I jumped up and looked around. My friends wore worried expressions and there was a question on my lips. Then a wave of nausea and dizziness came over me and I blacked out.

What dragged me back to consciousness was lack of oxygen. When I awoke, I saw why. The Italian guy was snogging me. Like, literally snogging me.

I pushed his face away from mine. “Ew! What the hell?”

“Are you feeling okay?” he asked. The wind blew his hair across his forehead and into his eyes. He looked extremely sexy.

Snap out of it! “Fine.”

“Are you sure? You just fainted.” The fact that he seemed to care this much touched me but I couldn’t change my tact halfway through the conversation and I hadn’t forgotten what he did earlier.

“Well, I’m awake now and I’m fine.”

“Lighten up a bit, Sarah,” Donna said from behind me. “Fredrico was giving you mouth-to-mouth.”

Standing up wasn’t easy but I managed it and I don’t think I was swaying much.

“Bella, you should not be on your feet.” He made for me again but I was ready this time and slipped behind Ash.

“Get away from me!” I said as forcefully as I could.

The girls giggled and Cass said to him, “Don’t worry, she’s not usually like this. What’s your number by the way? I know she’ll regret it if she doesn’t ask you.”

I stared at her, mouth hanging open and made a note to talk to her about this later.

Getting my bike out of the pothole was easy but the tire had burst from the impact and I would have to walk back to the rent out place. The girls walked with me and for a moment there was silence.

“Look, Sar, we’re sorry if you don’t find this funny?” Cass started.

“No, I don’t! He felt me up and then slobbered all over my face when he was supposed to be giving me ‘mouth-to-mouth’. I only fainted, I didn’t need help breathing!”

“He was so nice though,” Donna said. “He caught you so you didn’t hit the ground when you fainted, and he genuinely wanted to help.”

“Hmph.” Did he really do that? “Well I didn’t appreciate it.”
Still, my brain wandered and I caught myself thinking about his dark eyes and structured cheekbones.

Cass brandished the piece of paper with his number written on in front of me. “I bet you still want this, though.”

I hate to admit it, but I did.

I attempted to snatch it from her but she whisked it away before I could get there.

Then, perfectly synchronised, they sang, “Sarah and Fredrico sitting in a tree, doing something they shouldn’t be . . .”

I groaned. “Shut up!”

But I didn’t mean it. And I would find a way to get his number from Cass. My friends may be annoying, but they did know me. I laughed along with them on the way home while secretly thinking about Fredrico and how long I should wait to call him.