Ibiza Summer

by Anna-Louise Weatherley

  ‘Sorry, Rex, didn’t know she was taken,’ the guy smiled back, cheekily.

  It felt good that he’d referred to me as ‘my woman’ and I suddenly had this urge to run into his arms and hug him.

  ‘Don’t mind Davey.’ Rex smiled apologetically when the guy sloped off. ‘He’s always trying it on. Not that I can blame him – just look at you! You look . . . you look stunning, Iz, really stunning.’ I was wearing a white strapless dress that I’d pinched from Ellie’s case, so I had to be careful not to spill anything down it. Yet another thing to worry about.

  ‘Thanks.’ I smiled broadly, hoping I didn’t have any lipstick on my teeth.

  ‘Come on,’ he said, ‘I want you to meet some friends of mine.’

  So he introduced me to Steve ‘The Spin Doctor’ Jones, his DJ buddy and the one he lived with in Es Cana, and he was dead friendly and sweet and told me I looked ‘super foxy’, which made me feel even more amazing, even if I did think he was probably just trying to be nice. Then he introduced me to Clare and Chloe, two blonde girls that were standing around drinking and laughing and looking glamorous.

  ‘So where you from then?’ Chloe asked, smiling at me in a friendly way.

  ‘London,’ I replied coolly, desperately trying to hide my nerves.

  ‘Wicked place,’ Chloe nodded, smiling. ‘Been there twice. Clubs are ace.’

  ‘You working out here for the summer then?’ asked Clare.

  ‘Just here on holiday,’ I replied with a tentative smile, hoping I was being interesting enough.

  ‘We’re out here for the season; doing a bit of PR work for some clubs, handing out flyers and stuff. It’s been well heavy.’ Which I took to mean as ‘good’.

  ‘How do you know Rex?’ asked Chloe, casually.

  ‘We met at Alfredo’s party. Alfredo’s this guy who holds these amazing par—’

  ‘I know who he is,’ Chloe said interrupting, although her tone was still light.

  I felt stupid. Of course she knew. She was one of the clubbing elite.

  ‘How do you know Rex?’ I asked, unable to help myself.

  ‘Everyone knows Rex,’ Chloe smiled. ‘He’s a great guy – totally genuine. You’ll have fun with him.’

  I smiled at them and nodded. Fun. Was that all it would be? I couldn’t help but think, hope, it might be more than that. But I had to get real. It would probably just be a holiday romance, over just as soon as it had started. I remembered my pledge to stay away from lads until I could be sure about not getting hurt, but I just couldn’t stop myself wanting to find out what would happen between us. With Rex, my heart had completely overuled my head and I was powerless to stop it.

  Chloe and Clare asked me what I did for a living and I told them I was studying to be a vet, which led them to enquire which university I was at and, before I could make up yet another damned lie, Jo-Jo turned up and inadvertently saved me. She looked totally stunning as ever in this black catsuit type thing that showed off her cleavage and long legs, and she was wearing her long blond hair up in a high ponytail, and I could tell, just by the other girls’ reactions, that the party clearly doesn’t start until Jo-Jo arrives.

  ‘Ladies,’ she said, acknowledging them like a queen does her courtiers. ‘Steve.’ She nodded frostily in his direction. ‘Hi, Rex,’ she said, much more warmly, I noted.

  ‘Hey, Jo,’ Rex said, and I was sure he slightly dropped his arm from my waist a bit. ‘You good?’

  ‘Uh-huh. Hi, erm – Lizzy isn’t it?’

  ‘Izzy,’ I said, feeling slightly embarrassed and beginning to worry about the whole arm-dropping thing.

  She ignored me. ‘You coming up to Adam’s Temple later, Rexy?’ she said, and I noticed she was looking right at him, her eyes sparkling from the make-up she had on.

  Rexy?

  ‘I don’t think so, Jo,’ he said, apologetically, shooting Steve a sideways look.

  ‘I’m – well, I’m here with . . .’ Rex’s arm was round me again now, which as you can imagine, was more than a bit of a relief.

  ‘It’s cool,’ I said, looking up at Rex and feeling compelled to butt in. ‘If you fancy going up there later, then no worries.’ But Rex said nothing and the four of us stood there all looking at each other in this weird, uncomfortable sort of silence.

  ‘Suit yourself,’ said Jo-Jo, sticking her nose in the air as she strode off, her long ponytail swishing behind her.

  ‘You two need to do some serious talking,’ Rex said finally as he turned towards Steve, but Steve just shrugged and carried on mixing up some tunes.

  ‘Come on, Iz, let’s go and get a drink and watch that sunset.’

  The sun was beginning to set, signifying the end to what had so far been the most amazing day of my life. Not even the appearance of Jo-Jo, who I was fast beginning to think hated me, could cast a dark cloud over it.

  We had moved away from the revellers now and over to a small part of the beach that was sheltered by rocks.

  ‘Don’t worry about Jo-Jo,’ Rex said. ‘She’s just in a mood about her and Steve. Take no notice. She’s really quite nice once you get to know her.’

  Maybe, I thought.

  I looked out towards the sky as the sun began to disappear behind the horizon, casting a rich deep-orange shadow and causing a stream of light to make a path across the sea that looked so beautiful I felt as though I could almost walk across it – although not in these heels, obviously.

  ‘You could have gone to Adam’s Temple with her,’ I said, adding, ‘I wouldn’t have minded. I’d only have cried for, ooh, maybe two days.’

  I gave him a playful smile and he smiled back as he pulled me towards him.

  ‘Only two days, huh?’ he said, his body up close to mine. ‘Besides, why would I want to go to Adam’s Temple when I have everything I want right here?’

  ‘Oh yeah?’ I said, cocking my head to one side, mimicking him. ‘And what’s that then?’

  We were flirting madly and I was totally swept away by it. I couldn’t understand where my words were coming from; it was me saying them, that much I knew, but their confidence and self-assurance startled me. It was like I had been taken over by a more cocksure, sassy version of myself, and it scared and excited me in equal measures.

  ‘Oh, you know,’ he said, linking his arms round my waist. We were moving together now almost in time to the soft sound of the beats in the distance. ‘Well, I’ve got the best tunes . . . the balmy summer evening on the beach,’ he said, gesturing around him, ‘and the superbly sublime company of . . .’ he let the word hang in the air, poignantly as he looked directly into my eyes, ‘Steve,’ he said, laughing.

  ‘Pah!’ I replied dramatically, and I began to look over his shoulder, as if I was searching for something or someone. ‘Now, what was that lad’s name again? Davey, wasn’t it?’ I giggled, teasing him back.

  ‘Oi, cheeky, don’t even think about it!’ he said, laughing with me as we stumbled a little across the sand, refusing to let go of each other.

  ‘Speaking of names,’ I said, ‘last night at Alfredo’s villa, you knew my name before I’d even told you what it was.’

  ‘A-ha!’ Rex said. ‘There’s a simple explanation.’

  ‘And . . .’ I said, eager for him to continue.

  ‘I’m telepathic, you see.’

  ‘I knew that already,’ I said, giggling.

  ‘You did? How?’ he asked, looking at me quizzically.

  ‘Because I’m telepathic too!’ I said, unable to keep a straight face.

  He threw his head back and laughed a little.

  ‘I had a really amazing day today,’ he said more seriously now. I saw a flicker of something in his eyes, but I couldn’t put my finger on what it was.

  ‘Me too,’ I responded, my heart beginning to stomp in time with the waves that were gently but methodically lapping against the shore.

  ‘Is it something you do a lot? Take girls to the beach and feed them cheese and grapes?’ I was careful to ask
in a jokey way so as not to make it sound like I doubted him too much. It was unlike me to be so frank, but I just had to know where all this was heading. The brief conversation I’d had with Chloe and Clare made me wonder if I was just another in a long line of girls before me. ‘You’ll have fun.’ Fun was good, don’t get me wrong, but I was falling for him so fast and with such strength and intensity that it terrified me. I was frightened of getting hurt, of feeling more for him than he would for me. If fun was all it would be, did I really want to get even more deeply involved than I was already?

  Rex looked at me strangely, almost as if he had been waiting for me to ask the question.

  ‘I get to meet a lot of girls out here, professional hazard and all that,’ he said, his jokey tone only just detectable now, ‘but I’ve never taken anyone to Cala Jondal before.’

  ‘Really?’ I was intrigued, not to mention thrilled.

  ‘Really. That cave is a personal little spot of mine.’ He was looking at me intensely, as if trying to bring the point home.

  ‘If you’re asking whether I’ve had girlfriends before, then the answer is yes, of course.’

  ‘No, no,’ I said quickly, ‘I wasn’t . . .’ Oh God, now he thought I was some kind of possessive bunny-boiler.

  ‘There’s not been anyone special for a long time though. Not until now.’

  I felt my heart flip over in my chest. I was special?

  ‘And you?’ he asked, raising an eyebrow. ‘When was the last time you went to the beach with a guy and kissed him?’

  I felt myself flush with embarrassment. He was turning the conversation around on me.

  ‘Never,’ I said. I wasn’t lying either.

  He moved in closer towards me and our faces were lightly touching now, nose to nose, and I could feel his warm breath on my cheek and the faint scent of his soapy aftershave.

  ‘This is going to sound really cheesy and crap,’ he said.

  ‘Go on . . .’

  ‘Well, I feel as though I’ve known you for a long time already,’ he said. ‘Does that make sense, because you know, well, I haven’t felt that with anyone for what feels like for ever . . .’

  I clung to him and he squeezed me tightly in his arms. I felt a rush of something course through my body, but I couldn’t tell you what it was or even if it had a name. All I knew was that I had never felt anything like it before. It was so powerful and intoxicating that it made the hairs on my neck and arms stand to attention, and I had this sudden urge to run with him, fully-clothed into the sea.

  I knew he could be lying to me about not having met anyone special in a long time. After all, I was lying to him about my age – what was stopping him lying to me? Yet somehow, somewhere deep inside me, I believed him. When he had kissed me it was as if I could see right into his soul. I had seen honesty and kindness, and it had felt so real, like I could almost touch it.

  ‘Me neither,’ I finally managed to say in response, and there was a conviction in my voice that I’d never heard before and it startled me, especially since when I said ‘neither’ what I really meant was ‘ever’.

  We stood there momentarily, just holding each other, looking deeply into each other’s eyes. The waves were washing over our feet now and I could feel myself softly sinking into the sand. Neither of us moved. We didn’t care. If we were going to sink, we would sink together.

  ‘This is no holiday romance, is it?’ Rex breathed quietly after a moment.

  ‘No, I don’t think it is,’ I whispered back, biting my lip nervously. I closed my eyes as his lips found mine, hungry and passionate. And we lost ourselves in each other as we kissed for what felt like an eternity.

  I’d read about these moments in books and seen them in films, that singular, spectacular moment where two people fall in love. I had hoped for a ‘thunderbolt’ moment all my life. Willow always said I was a hopeless romantic (which so far had proved true, in as much as all the romances in my life so far had been hopeless) because I had dreamed of it since I was a little girl – how I’d meet that special person and how he would sweep me off my feet and I would love him for ever.

  And here it was. I had thought I could fall in love with Rex from the moment I laid eyes on him. Then on our first date under the backdrop of the sun and pine trees I had had an inkling it might be love. Now, from the depths of my heart to the core of my very being, I felt sure that it really was. An all-consuming, burning desire had taken over me: there, on the beach, holding each other, the soft, tranquil waves washing over our toes as we moved in unison. As he held me, something inside me had let go. I was nervous, like I always was in any romantic situation, but this was a new kind of fear. The type of fear I imagined actors might get before they go on stage to give the performance of a lifetime, paralysed with terror, but exhilarated and driven by the standing ovation that would rightfully be theirs at the final curtain. In that moment with Rex everything in my life had come right. All my awkwardness and inhibitions abandoned me, leaving this newly confident person in their place. It was as if I had been unzipped and had stepped out of myself, shedding the old Izzy to make way for the new one. Like I’d been born again.

  t was the following evening, and Cala Jondal looked different in the shade of the night: empty with only the moonlight to guide us and the gentle lapping of the waves – but it was no less beautiful, in fact, it was even more peaceful and tranquil than it had been in the heat of the midday sun.

  After a dinner of fresh paella, Ellie and Co. had decided to go to a little gathering that Alfredo was organising down at Playa d’en Bossa beach, and I had said that I was too tired to join them owing to my recent ‘illness’. Ellie hadn’t questioned this, but had made me promise to text when I got back to the apartment, and I’d said I would. I knew they would be gone for the duration of the night but I still had to play it carefully if I was to meet Rex and get away with it – again.

  Rex had been doing his usual slot at Café Del Sol and after his set he had whisked me off on his moped, saying he wanted to take me somewhere. I was a bit surprised when I realised he had brought me back to the beach. Our beach.

  ‘You didn’t have to cut your set short, you know,’ I said, worried in case he’d done it on my account.

  ‘I really wanted to bring you here again because, well, yesterday felt so good and everything, but you know I wasn’t sure if you’d think, well, that I was trying to get you alone, in the dark, and you know . . .’

  ‘And are you?’ I said, raising my eyebrows in a half jokey, half worried way.

  ‘No!’ he shot back, quickly. ‘Well, yes, but no, not because of that . . .’

  He looked as amazing as ever, his glossy honey-coloured hair falling down by his broad shoulders, and the stripy shirt he was wearing set off his deep golden tan and made his emerald eyes shine. I noticed he was wearing those little beads again and I finally remembered to ask him about them.

  ‘These?’ he said, putting his hand up to his neck. ‘Well, there’s a story behind them . . .’

  ‘Now how did I know that?’ I giggled, putting my knees up to my chest to get comfortable.

  ‘Up in Es Cana, you know, where I live, there’s this hippy market – I think I told you about it?’ he said, checking my expression for confirmation. ‘Anyway, there’s this guy, Juan Pablo, and he’s just the most amazing dude ever – this real hippy from the Sixties, not one of those wannabe hippies who’re everywhere now, selling their mass-produced tat while banging on about the evils of capitalism, but the real deal.’ He ruffled his hair with one hand and continued. ‘Well, he lives in an old van-type mobile home with no running water or electricity or anything. He thinks television is to blame for all the evil in the world, which when you think about it probably has some truth in it, and he makes his own fires and eats off the land by catching fish from the sea and picking fruit and olives and stuff. Anyway, I kind of met him by accident one time when I was on my way back from the market – he sells some of his jewellery there that he makes himself �
� and he ran after me, saying that these beads had spoken to him. Apparently, they’d called out to him and said that I must have them and that they would bring me luck and keep me safe from harm. I’ve never taken them off since.’

  ‘They spoke to him?’ I asked, intrigued.

  ‘Yeah, although I don’t think he meant it literally, because hey, I don’t think beads can talk, can they?’ He laughed and I giggled too.

  ‘He said that as I had walked past him, the beads began to tingle in his fingers, and he said it was a sign that they were destined to belong to me, which I thought was kind of cool.’

  ‘That’s amazing,’ I said, wishing I had some talking beads too, to bring me luck.

  ‘I hang out with him sometimes. We fish together and build fires and occasionally I help him thread some of his beads to sell . . .’

  ‘And he still lives in this van?’ I asked, genuinely interested.

  ‘Yeah. No water, no telly, nothing . . .’

  ‘Wow. No TV,’ I said and I tried to imagine what my life would be like without any soaps or reality TV or music channels, and I shuddered a bit.

  ‘I don’t watch TV,’ Rex said casually, as if it were the most normal thing to say in the world.

  ‘What, ever?’ I asked, trying not to sound too freaked out.

  ‘Not any more. There’s too much natural beauty here to be a cabbage in front of a telly. I’m always out and about DJing, having fun, living in the real world instead of watching fictional people living their lives in one that isn’t.’

  I had to admit that putting it like that made total sense.

  ‘I read the papers, keep up with what’s going on in the world, and sometimes I’ll have a look on the Internet – I e-mail my folks quite a bit.’

  I was glad he didn’t mind e-mail because he didn’t much like texting and I wondered if he would keep in touch with me via e-mail when I was back home. And then I realised I had thought about home, of being without him. It made me seriously panic, so I tried to concentrate on sitting next to him right now and not worry about it. Only I couldn’t stop myself thinking about leaving him, thoughts of those final moments kept breaking through the barriers in my mind and torturing me.