Ibiza Summer (9 page)

‘I think I’d like to come back as a butterfly,’ I said after a few moments, ‘because, well, they’re beautiful.’ And then it fluttered off and we watched it
disappear until it was just a tiny dot in the distance.

He smiled at me warmly, our faces closer together now. ‘You’re as beautiful as a butterfly,’ he whispered, which could have been really corny coming from anyone else, but from
him it sounded perfect. With his sandy hands he brushed away a few strands of my frizz-ball hair that was in my face, and his lips touched mine. And he tasted sweet. As sweet as the grapes he had
brought to eat.

ow was it?’ Ellie asked, as I burst into the apartment. She was sitting down at the table, bits of cotton wool
stuck between her toes as she painted them.

‘How was what?’

‘Duh, the beach, dummy!’ she said, pulling a face.

I thought for a second. I wanted to tell her that it had been the most magical moment of my life so far, and that I had wanted to bottle the afternoon like perfume and spray myself all over with
it so it would forever linger on my skin, sweet-smelling like coconut, but I thought that would probably sound a bit over the top and she might get suspicious, so I just said, ‘Yeah, it was
cool, thanks.’

‘Mum phoned,’ she said, without looking up. ‘We had a good chat and she was sorry to have missed you. She sends her love and says she hopes you’re having a fabulous time
and not to kiss any strange boys.’

I almost started to laugh, because she had no idea how close to the truth she was, although I didn’t consider Rex to be either strange nor a boy exactly.

‘Did she say she’d ring back?’

‘In the next day or so,’ answered Ellie, beginning to blow air on her toes to help dry the polish.

‘Cool.’

I casually walked into our bedroom, then threw myself down on the bed and clutched the pillow to my face to drown out the squeals of excitement that I could no longer contain. Rex had kissed me
again when we had said goodbye outside the lilo shop, and it was just as nice as the first kiss, if not better. ‘I don’t want to be the one to have to say goodbye first,’ I had
said to him. In fact, I hadn’t wanted to say goodbye at all. ‘Well, I’ll say goodbye first,’ he said. And he stood there. ‘Goodbye first, Izzy.’

‘Goodbye second, Rex,’ I said, and he had kissed me again.

He’d made me promise to ring him because he said he was old-fashioned and hated ‘all that texting malarkey’. With that reminder, I actually managed to buy the phone credit I
had originally gone to the shop for earlier.

Rex had also made me promise to come along to Café Del Sol that night and I’d told him I would really try, because the thought of not seeing him for more than a few hours suddenly
made me want to wither up and die like a plant that someone had forgotten to water.

I wanted to relive the afternoon over and over. But as hard as I tried to recapture the events – the moped, the cheese and grapes and lassi (which incidentally is a bit like a yoghurt
drink), and the butterfly, Rex’s daring dives off the face of the small cliff (that I was sure he had done just to try and impress me, which it did, massively), and that kiss, that soft
lingering kiss – all that I could think of was how much I had lied through my teeth to Ellie to get there. And the thought of this kept creeping back into my head, threatening to ruin
everything.

I rolled over on to my tummy and reached for my mobile that was still in my little rucksack. I brushed the grains of sand that had gathered there back into the bag, because discarding them
somehow seemed wrong. I wanted to save them for ever, a souvenir of my perfect day with him.

I had a text message:
HOWZ IT GOIN IBIZA QUEEN
?
R U AVIN IT LRG
?
W X

It was Willow, of course.

LRGE NOT DA WORD
.
I AM IN LOVE
!
IZ X

I pressed ‘send’ and lay back down on the bed. Almost instantly my phone beeped.

NO WAY
!
WHO IS HE
?
W X

I tapped back furiously.
A DJ
.
OWN MOPED
. 100%
GORGE
.
IZ X

If that didn’t get her to call me, nothing would, and sure enough only a minute or so passed before my phone lit up and I heard that familiar ring tone.

‘Can’t talk for long, got zero credit and off to the piccies with Chantal now . . .’

‘Oh!’ I said. ‘Who’s Chantal?’

‘Never mind that! Who is this DJ bloke with his own moped? You little minx!’

‘Oh Wils,’ I wailed, ‘I don’t know where to begin . . .’

‘Er, try at the beginning,’ she said.

And so I did my best to tell her the story of how Rex and I had met, and that he was this twenty-six-year-old DJ with his own moped and house in Es Cana, and that he’d taken me to the
beach and fed me grapes, and that he wanted to see me again, but that I hadn’t told him how old I really was. Willow had oh-so-casually said, ‘Well, just don’t tell him,
then.’ After all, she had pointed out, I was only in Ibiza for three weeks, and in all likelihood I would never see him again, and I should just enjoy having a holiday romance and stop being
a stress-head, because it wasn’t as if I was going to marry the guy, was it?

‘Listen, what he doesn’t know can’t hurt him,’ she said, resolutely. ‘Besides, it’s about time you had some fun and romance in your life.’

I wished I could be more like Willow. I always managed to over-complicate everything with all my ‘what ifs’ and major stress-outs about everything.

But she was right. Where
could
it all go? I was here for a three-week holiday and he was here for ever – Ibiza was his home – and eventually I’d have to say goodbye,
even though the thought of it already paralysed me with dread.

‘You know what, you’re right,’ I said, suddenly full of determination. ‘Maybe I should just go for it and enjoy the moment. I mean, what’s the worst that could
happen?’

‘Atta girl!’ Willow said, sounding pleased that I’d taken her advice. ‘Anyway, listen babes, got to run, Chantal’s waiting for me and I can’t be late. I have
to hear more about DJ boy though – sorry –
man,
’ she said, giggling. ‘Call me when you can, Stan,’ she said, doing that rhyming thing she sometimes does at the
end of sentences. ‘And Iz, try not to blow it all by letting that
mahoosive
conscience of yours get the better of you. Just enjoy yourself and have a giggle. It’s only three
weeks, and just think how you can make Toby Parker suffer by blabbing about this
faaabulous
superstar DJ with a moped you snogged while you were in Ibiza . . .’

‘OK, I’ll let you know how it all goes,’ I promised.

‘Defo. And get a tan for me
pleeeeease
!’ she giggled.

‘Love you, Wils,’ I said.

‘You too, Barney Magoo,’ she said, adding, ‘Twenty-six! Can you believe it?
You lucky cow!
’ before she hung up.

I momentarily thought about our conversation and this Chantal girl and how it had sounded a bit like Wils had wanted to get off the phone to meet her. I wondered if I was just being paranoid,
because I’d only been gone a few days and surely Wils wouldn’t have suddenly found a new best friend in that time, would she? I didn’t have too long to dwell on it though because
suddenly Ellie burst in the room.

‘Don’t bother knocking,’ I said sarcastically. ‘I could’ve been naked.’

‘I won’t and you aren’t,’ she shot back. ‘Listen you’ve got less than an hour to get ready and then we’re going to La Tropicana for dinner, so get a
move on, lazy arse.’

I saw the others through the door; they were all looking at a magazine and pointing to something and laughing.

‘Actually, Els, I feel a bit sick,’ I said, clutching my stomach and feigning illness. ‘I think it must be something I ate.’ I had to try and convince her to go out with
her friends without me. It was my only hope of getting to meet him. I knew they were planning to go to Galaxy, this ‘superclub’ on the other side of the island, and this was perfect. It
was too far away to worry about her popping back to check if I was OK.

I made some soft groaning sounds. ‘I might stay here tonight if that’s cool. Look, you go. It would be mental to miss out on my account. I know you promised Mum you’d take care
of me and everything, but I really don’t mind being here on my own,’ I said, adding another sharp ‘ohhh’ sound for authenticity. ‘I’ve got my CDs and magazines,
and Edie and her parents are just a few apartments down the block so I could always go there in an emergency,’ I said, quickly adding, ‘not that there’ll be one.’ Ellie
opened her mouth to speak, but I continued. ‘I promise not to open the door to anyone and I’ll keep my mobile on. Really, it’ll all be fine. You just go and have a great time.
I’ll be better by tomorrow I’m sure.’ I pulled my knees up to my chest and put my arms around my legs. Ellie gave me a look that fell somewhere between concern and gratitude,
although I could see she was at pains to hide the latter. She sat down on the bed next to me. Her clear skin was glowing and her pink dress set off the tan she’d miraculously somehow already
managed to acquire in, like, two days, and in that second I felt a wave of love for her. I knew in my heart that she only wanted what was best for me. I wanted to reach out to her and tell her I
was so happy yet frightened because I had met someone that had made me feel different about myself, and I was scared and excited, and could she help me.

‘You really feel that bad?’ Ellie said, placing her hand on my brow to check for a temperature.

‘Yes,’ I croaked, pathetically. ‘I mean, I’m sure I’ll be OK if I get some rest tonight though.’

Ellie continued to stare at my face, surveying it carefully like she was checking for any notable changes.

‘Are you sure you’re happy with this?’ she said after what seemed like minutes, but was probably just seconds. ‘I mean, me going out with the others and leaving you
here?’

‘Honestly Els,’ I said, ‘don’t feel bad, just go and have a good time. I’ll be perfectly OK. Remember I’m sixteen, not six.’

Ellie was quiet for a few seconds and then said, ‘If you get worse, you must promise to call me and I’ll come back straight away.’

‘Yes,’ I said.

‘Promise,’ Ellie demanded.

‘I promise, straight away,’ I said.

‘Right then,’ she said sharply, signifying the end of the conversation. ‘I’d better get going.’

Ellie stood up and smoothed down her dress.

I looked at her, a tall svelte vision in pink; her glossy caramel-highlighted hair cascading past her shoulders and hanging in perfect strands, her killer cleavage that subconsciously drew your
eye to it, and her smooth tanned legs that just seemed to go on for ever.

‘You look so pretty,’ I said, my voice dry and cracking, and I really did sound sick this time, genuinely so.

‘Thanks Iz,’ she said, smiling softly at me now, and I felt a little bit better.

‘Oh, and Els,’ I said, just as she was closing the door behind her. ‘What does “self-deprecating” mean?’

he stretch of sand in front of Café Del Sol was already buzzing with people. I was amazed I’d managed
to find my way there as Rex had only explained the directions to me briefly when we’d said our goodbyes earlier and I’d been too busy thinking about our kiss to properly concentrate on
what he’d been saying. As it was, though, I found my way without even having to stop and ask anyone, which made me think that Rex and I had this subconscious telepathic thing going on between
us that they say people in love can sometimes have. At least that’s what I wanted to believe.