Under Your Skin

Chapter 4

I wouldn't touch Carlos with a barge pole

“You’re late,” Carlos snapped at her as she got in the car and closed the door beside her. Seeing the look on her face, he felt like kicking himself for the tone of voice he used. Not that he liked her, but she was only a few minutes late so he could’ve been nicer. And it wasn’t even the fact that she was late that annoyed him; it was the fact that she wasn’t on her own. God knows why that bothered him.

“Sorry,” she replied, her voice quiet, which only made him feel even guiltier. He looked at her face, deep in thought, and then in a few seconds she exploded. “You know what, I’m not sorry. You were supposed to show me around, but you bailed, so don’t blame me if I’m late. Let’s just go.”

He didn’t speak to her again, just kept his eyes on the road as he manoeuvred out of the parking space and they headed off.

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“So, how was your morning Lana? Did Carlos manage to show you everything?” Mrs Carlson asked her before she popped a tomato in her mouth.

“Yeah, he did,” Lana answered quickly, absentmindedly moving the salad that she had spooned onto her plate from the big dish in the centre round and round. Her mind was on other things, like Jack, and Carlos. She noticed Victoria scowl at her whilst angrily drizzling oil onto the bread in front of her. What a stupid girl! If only Victoria knew that Carlos didn’t even want to be around her and was a complete jerk anyway who wasn’t even worth wasting a second on. She’d have to teach her that somehow, but right now she didn’t really care that Victoria hated her guts. It wasn’t really that important.

“Good,” Mrs Carlson, or Judith as she had insisted Lana call her, replied, “So, are you looking forward to school tomorrow?”

“Um, I guess.”

“Well I’m cer-tainly not!” Victoria butted in, drawing out the word ‘certainly’ to emphasise it, “Its crap: work, work and more work. But the boys are good, not that there’s many hotties there, but I’m sure you’ll find someone.”

“Victoria, could you please stop talking like that?”

“Yes mum. Sorry mum.”

“I apologise for my daughter, Lana. She’s going through a ‘stage’ at the moment. She’s not usually like this,” Judith told Lana, while Victoria maintained the same pout on her heavily made up face.

“Don’t worry.”

Lana was grateful that the waiters had now come to take their plates and bring the next course: it meant that she didn’t have to make any more small talk. A gigantic pizza was placed in front of her and she smiled up at the waiter before saying ‘gracias’. He was probably only a year older than her and had dark brown glistening eyes and quite long dark hair, but his eyes made her think of only one thing: Carlos. She shook her head, trying to get the image of him out of it, but it was only replaced with Jack. She’d only met him a few hours ago but he’d already become important to her, especially since he was the first person her own age who had actually welcomed her rather than annoyed her or had a go at her. He had been the best guide she could possibly have imagined; showing her everything she wanted to see, waiting patiently while she took pictures and acted like a crazy person over the beautiful views, and then buying her a drink afterwards before walking her back to where Carlos was waiting for her. That was when things went a bit weird. Lana noticed that something changed in Jack the minute she mentioned going back to Carlos, and then he wouldn’t even walk her the whole way: he left her round the corner from Carlos’ car. She hadn’t really thought much of it, but now it was on her mind.