Key to My Heart: An Anthology of Sweet Romance

by Alice La Roux

  “Good morning,” I sing as I enter my aunt’s kitchen.

  “Good morning, Jolie. You look and sound cheerful this morning,” my mother points out. “Is everything ok?”

  Smiling at my mum, I give her a hug before sitting at the round kitchen table. “Yes Mum, everything is fine. It’s just nice and sunny today, so why not be happy about it.” There is no way I can tell my family about Matteo and what happened on my walk last night.

  “I’m taking Noah to the Sealife Centre today. You want to come with us whilst your mum sees to Aunt Hilda?” my dad asks me.

  Spending the day at the Sealife Centre is not my idea of fun, not in the slightest. I’m sixteen not six. My plan today was to head down to the beach again, only this time I get to see it in proper daylight.

  “I’m going to go to the beach if that’s ok? I didn’t really see that much of it last night with no proper daylight. And seeing as I was made to come here, I’m thinking I might as well make the most of it.” I add the last bit sarcastically. If they’re going to bring me here and expect me to do happy family stuff together, then they can think again.

  “Oh, ok then. Well, you have fun and call us if you need us—if you need anything.”

  Shovelling a mouthful of toast in, I swallow before asking, “Can I have some money please, so I can get a drink and maybe something to eat later on?”

  Without answering me, my dad pulls some cash from his jeans’ pocket and hands me twenty quid. Getting up from my seat, I swallow my toast before standing on my toes to give him a quick kiss on the cheek. “Cheers, Dad.” With those last words out of my mouth, I grab my phone, put the money in my pocket and I'm of out the door in a flash.

  Just as I'm nearing the front, as my mum calls it, where all the arcades and cafés are, my phone buzzes in my pocket. Pulling it free, I see my best friend’s name flashing across the screen. Pressing the answer button, I smile as I greet her. “Hey Liz, how is ya?”

  “I'm bloody missing you that's how I am. These summer holidays suck ass without you here.”

  I laugh at her way with words, but she's right: they are going to suck ass. “I’ll be back before you know it. I'm not happy about being here either,” I tell her.

  After a few more minutes of chatting away, we say our goodbyes and I cross the tramlines—carefully of course—and make my way to the top of the steps where I left Matteo last night.

  Chapter Four

  I don’t know what I was thinking coming back here. I guess the daft side of my teenage brain thought he would still be here waiting for me. I didn’t tell Lizzie about him; she would just have laughed at me and told me I was stupid for falling on my butt in front of the dude. Descending the steps slowly, I slip off my converse and dangle them from my fingertips as I walk along the sand and take in the scene in front of me. It’s still fairly early, but there are families already filling up the beach with their towels, deck chairs and sun umbrellas. Smaller children are already building their sandcastles and splashing in the murky seawater. The smell of sunscreen becomes more potent in the air the further I walk along one of the most iconic beaches.

  “I see you had no further accidents after I jumped to your rescue last night?”

  When two hands land on my shoulders and that voice whispers in my ear, I stop in my tracks, my tummy doing somersaults as our skin connects. I’ve done nothing but think of that voice all night.

  “I’m not some damsel in distress on a regular basis, just so you know,” I joke as I turn around and face him.

  “Cosi, bella,” he whispers when we’re face to face.

  As we look each other in the eye, I can finally see the depths of his green ones, and they look like they carry the weight of the world behind them for someone so young. It’s then when I snap out of it I realise what he just said wasn’t English. “What did you just say to me? You know when you whispered something.”

  A blush covers his cheeks, and I find it sweet. A boy back home never blushes: they just think they’re the bees knees and hard because they drink or smoke. Putting his hands in his shorts’ pockets, he looks down at the ground as he says, “I said you’re so beautiful in Italian, I’m sorry.”

  Quick to reassure him that I’m not offended or upset by his words, I place a hand softly on his arm as I say, “Please don’t be sorry. No one has ever said that to me before and certainly not in Italian.”

  Then, from nowhere, I realise who he is: he’s the boy I heard arguing with the female last night under the pier. He speaks Italian and he told the person from last night that he was going back to Italy the minute he turned eighteen. Guilt for eavesdropping on his conversation engulfs me, even more than it did last night before I tried to escape and failed miserably.

  “Beh sei molto carina.”

  I stand there staring at him completely lost at what he has just said to me, but he continues on in his native language.

  “Vorresti prendere un gelato un me?”

  Watching me laugh and shake my head as I’m now utterly confused, he starts to laugh at me.

  “Any chance you could repeat that, but in English this time please?” I ask him.

  “Yeah, of course. I said: well, you’re very pretty. Then I asked if you would like to get ice cream with me.”

  Oh wow.

  The butterflies return in my belly and excitement I’ve never experienced before bubbles up inside of me.

  “I would love to,” I tell him.

  “Ok then. Shall we go now?”

  “Erm, yeah, if you want to.”

  Holding out his arm for me to link mine with, he leads me back the way I just came.

  When we reach the steps, I hear, “Matteo… Matteo, dove diavolo stai andando?”

  He ignores the girl’s voice that's shouting him from behind us and goes to climb the steps—that is until she catches up to us and roughly pulls him around to face her.

  “Ti ho fatto una domanda, non ignorarmi, Matteo.”

  Once again, I don’t understand a single word she’s just said to him—only his name at the end—so I pull away from where our arms are connected and stand back.

  “Non che siano affari tuoi, ma passo il tempo con il mio nuovo amico.”

  He turns around quickly and points at me before going back to the girl who’s chased him down.

  “Martina, this is Jolie. Jolie this Martina: my sister and the biggest pain in my rear end.” He makes the introductions reluctantly, but I can tell it’s because he doesn’t want to talk to his sister. My manners get the better of me, and I step around him and give her a quiet hello and a wave.

  “Perfezionare, ti rovinerai la vita con una troia britannica.” Her tone isn’t nice, and even though she spoke in Italian, I know she said something nasty about me.

  “Abbastanza, Martina. She is just a friend I’m going to get ice cream with. I’m not going to stand here and let you throw insults about her when you don’t even know her. I’m not ruining anything, so please just go back to Mamma and I’ll be back in a while.” With that said she doesn’t fight back again and storms off along the sand.

  Well that was interesting.

  “Ready?” he asks as he turns back to face me properly.

  “Erm, yeah. Ok.”

  With that said, we finally take the steps and go for ice cream.

  Chapter Five

  Two weeks later

  “Come on, Jolie. The water is stupefacente; you need to get in here,” Matteo yells at me from where he is standing in the middle of the sea, allowing it to splash all around the perfection that is him.

  Since the day we went for ice cream, we’ve spent everyday together, including well into the night before my mother calls me and demands that I go back to the house because ‘a girl my age shouldn’t be roaming around Blackpool on her own at night’. She doesn’t know about Matteo, and I have no intentions of telling her. As far as she and my dad know, I’ve made a few new friends and they seem happy about that. They wouldn’t be so happy if they knew i
t was the Italian boy shouting at me to go in the sea with him that I’ve been spending my time with.

  “Jolie? Come on. It’s fun. I promise you.” He gives me a big smile that makes his green eyes glisten—even from my place on the sand I can see that he’s happy.

  Right here, right now, with me, the boy who makes my skin tingle when he says my name is happy. He’s a carefree teenager in this moment, and when he looks at me like that, the nervous butterflies in my belly go insane because all I want to do is kiss him. Only I daren’t. I’m scared that he only sees me as his friend.

  Deciding to take the plunge, I remove my denim shorts and T-shirt and strip down to my bright pink swimming costume before I make my way to the edge of the water that's lapping up against the sand. The coldness of the water makes me jump when it hits my toes, causing me to squeal out loud.

  “It’s not that cold. Stop being a big girl and get in. I’m here, Jolie. I’m not going let you freeze to death.” He isn’t laughing, but I can tell from the smirk he’s trying to hide from me that all he really wants to do is laugh at me right now.

  Shuffling further into the water, I don't get time to adjust to the temperature when out of nowhere I'm splashed and water drenches me from top to toe, leaving me a spluttering mess.

  My hair now plastered to my face, I pull it away with my hands before rubbing my eyes free of the salt water, only to find Matteo standing right in front of me laughing.

  “You're an arse, did you know that?” I joke.

  “E tu sei bellissimo, non lo sapevi?” he whispers as he strokes some of my wet hair behind my ear.

  He's spoken to me in Italian quite a bit, and I've learnt that bellissimo means beautiful but everything else is just gibberish to me.

  “English, please?”

  “I said: and you're beautiful, didn't you know?” he tells me, which causes my cold skin to heat up as I blush from head to foot.

  “Jolie, these past two weeks have been amazing for me. When I came here, I hated it. I still do in a way, but with you here, it's so much more bearable. I know that we both have to leave at the end of summer, but for now can we just enjoy being here and with each other?”

  I don't answer him verbally straight away, instead I bite the bullet and stand on my tiptoes before placing my lips on his cheek in a light kiss.

  “I would love nothing more than to spend my whole summer with you, Matteo,” I tell him as I pull away from him and lower myself back to my normal height. We don't say anything else; we just stand there in the sea, staring at each other with big goofy smiles on our faces. That is until he picks me up, turns and runs further into the water with me hanging on to him like a baby monkey does its mother. The entire time, I squeal like the big girl I am.

  Chapter Six

  “How's it going? Are you depressed yet like I am?” Lizzie asks down the phone as I sit on my towel and watch Matteo talking to his sister further down the beach.

  I still haven't told her about him, and it’s been three weeks since the day I kissed him in the sea. Feelings I didn't want to have for him have developed, and I know when this is all over my heart will never be the same again.

  “Helloooo… Earth to Jolie. Is anyone there?”

  “Yeah, sorry. I was miles away, but I was listening.”

  “If you say so. What’s got you all away with the fairies? This isn’t my best friend.”

  I know I can’t hide it from her: this girl can read me like a book and can spot a change in me instantly.

  Knowing I can’t keep it from her any longer, I tell her. “I met someone, Liz. Thing is, it’s just a summer thing, and I know I’m the one who’s going to be left in tears at the end of it.”

  Surprisingly, she doesn’t laugh like I expected her to. Instead, I’m met with silence.

  “Liz? Liz? Did you hear me?” I pull my phone from ear just to make sure the line hasn’t gone dead she’s that quiet for that long.

  “Yeah, I heard you, Jo. I’m just in shock.”

  Well, that I wasn’t expecting. She’s never not got anything to say about anything.

  We talk for a little bit longer until I notice that Matteo’s conversation with his sister is getting a little heated and he starts to storm away from her, heading back over to where he left me. Just as he gets to me, I’m tucking my phone away back into my bag that’s lying beside me.

  “Everything ok, il mio amore?”

  I look up at him as he stands hovering over me with a strained smile on his lips.

  “You can’t ask me that when you look like you want to do bodily harm to your sister.”

  He’s been calling me his love since the day we shared our first proper kiss, which happened the night after he threw me in the sea with him.

  “Oh, that? That’s nothing—she’s just sticking her nose where it’s not wanted. Don’t worry about it.”

  He comes to sit on my towel with me pulling me in between his legs before wrapping his arms around my waist. “I’m starting to think that we should just stay here forever—just you and me.” He sighs heavily against my shoulder and stares out at the rippling water.

  I don’t question him, even though I want to ask him a million and one questions. Something is bothering him, and he’s not telling me what it is. I can’t push him on it, though, because I’m scared that if I do he will storm away from me the way he just did his sister.

  “Ti amo, il mio, bambino.” His arms tighten around me as he speaks, and I know whatever it is that he’s just said to me is serious. Turning my head to look up at him, I raise my eyebrows in a questioning look, which he laughs at.

  “I love you, my baby.” This time it’s only a whisper, but I hear it loud and clear.

  I’m sixteen. No one has ever said they love me—only my parents—but I know he’s serious when he kisses me gently and repeats his words just to make sure I understand him. I knew I was falling for this handsome Italian boy, but never in my life did I think he would ever feel the same about me.

  Taking one side of his face in my hand, I say, “I love you too, Matteo. Being here with you has been the best time of my life.”

  Placing his lips on mine softly once again, we share a kiss before lying in each other’s arms and watch the sun start to set behind the water.

  Chapter Seven

  “You have to be kidding me, right? You want me to go on that with you and not wet myself? Have you seen the size of it? What if I die?”

  “You’re not going to die, Jolie. I won’t let anything happen to you, I promise. You can trust me.” He tries to reassure me. I crane my neck back as far as it will go as I look up at the biggest roller coaster I’ve ever seen, and I don’t see how this is not going to end without me losing some sort of bodily fluid.

  “I will hold your hand the entire time. You will be ok.”

  Letting out a frustrated grunt, I let him take my hand and lead me around the barriers as we wait our turn in the queue.

  “I hope you know that you’re going to be cleaning my puke up after this: my stomach doesn’t handle heights well.” I bat my eyelashes, hoping it will convince him that this is a bad idea. It failed epically because the next thing I know, the queue of people is moving forwards and it’s our turn to get in an empty seat on the cart. Matteo buckles me in first before himself and once we’re all ready, the attendant catapults us off on what I’m certain is going to be the ride that may kill me.

  As we climb higher up the tilt that is going to plunge my stomach into my throat, I squeeze Matteo's hand even harder, to the point where I think I may have cut the blood supply off to his fingers. The bugger just laughs at me as I squeeze my eyes shut tight and scream blue bloody murder when we plunge down the other side at a speed that I didn’t even know was possible. When we’ve gone up, down and around every turn that’s imaginable to the point I think it’s never going to end, we finally come to a halt right back where we started. On wobbly legs, I climb from my seat and make my out of the exit.

  All the wh
ile, Matteo is still laughing behind me. “I have never known anyone scream like that before. You are so funny, bambino.” Wrapping his arm around my shoulder, he leads me over to a concessions vendor and buys us a tub of candy-floss. “Come on, bellissima. Let’s go eat this as my way of making it up to you for making you ride the scary rollercoaster.” He chuckles.

  We make our way over to a bench that’s empty, and sitting side by side in silence, we both help ourselves to the tub of pink, sticky stuff.

  “So what are we going on next?” He smiles over at me and I just glare my eyes at him.

  Fair rides and I are not friends and neither are he and I going to be if he makes me go on any more death traps.

  Our hands connect between us as we sit and watch people enjoying themselves, going on the rides, eating hot dogs and slurping slushies from plastic cups. My enjoyment of just sitting and people watching is cut short when Matteo's phone starts buzzing from his shorts’ pocket.

  “Are you going to answer that? It could be your parents.”

  His body stiffens next to me when I mention his parents, and it has me thinking that he’s never actually mentioned them to me. I just presumed he was here with them and his sister.

  “It won’t be my parents, trust me,” he mumbles. His phone rings off, only it starts up again straight away. This time he pulls it from his pocket and silences the call.

  “Why won’t you answer it?” I question.

  “Because it’s just my pain-in-the-butt sister; she drives me crazy, and I just want to be a carefree and in-love teenager a little bit longer. Is that ok, bambino?”

  I don’t ask any more questions, partly because I can tell he’s not happy about her calling him, but mostly because I’m scared of what he might say. Instead, I lean over to him and kiss his cheek as my form of an answer to his question.

  When we’ve finished watching the world go by for a little longer, we notice that the sky has started to go dark with clouds, and Matteo suggests that we leave the Pleasure Beach before we get soaked by the impending rain.