The Cave

Day Four: Annaliese

The other night, Elle had told me all about the guy she’d met at the beach. Despite what she said, I couldn’t help suspecting that she was at least a little bit interested in him. Sure, she wasn’t saying nice things about him; but she talked about him non-stop for half an hour, and I couldn’t see why she’d spend so much time about someone she didn’t like.

She, Amber and I went into town in the afternoon of our fourth day in Crafton, while the boys and Beth decided to go to the beach again. We’d barely left the campsite when Elle stopped in her tracks.

“Oh, no,” she said. “Hide me.”

“What?” I said, bemused. I looked round at her, but she’d positioned herself directly behind me and I couldn’t see her.

“Elle!” I moved so that I was no longer blocking her from whatever I was hiding from, and looked at her. “What are you doing?”

“It’s Ryan!” she said, “Look!”

Ryan was the guy from the beach. I looked to where she was pointing. Walking towards us was a group of five guys, about our age. Elle had described Ryan to me, but all she’d said was that he was tall, blonde and wearing a green t-shirt. Well, all but one of the guys were tall, two of them were blonde and none of them were wearing green.

“Which one?” I asked, but Elle didn’t have to answer because at that moment, one of the blonde guys spotted Elle, and smiled at her.

Ryan may not have been Elle’s type, but he certainly was mine. I wasn’t exactly picky, but I couldn’t see why Elle, who had ridiculously high standards, wouldn’t be totally flattered by this guy taking an interest in her.

“Hey,” Ryan said as he as his mates came to a stop in front of us. “Elle, right?”

Oh, like he didn’t remember.

Elle nodded. She was smiling, but it was polite, reserved smile. “Mmhmm. Hi.”

“You going into town?” he asked.

“Yeah, we’re just going to look around...um, these are my friends, Amber and Annaliese.” She gestured to us.

“Hi,” Amber and I said simultaneously.

“Hey,” Ryan replied casually. I thought he might introduce his friends, who, incidentally, were not bad looking either, but he didn’t. “Are you guys doing anything tonight?” He was looking at Elle but when she hesitated, not being able to think up a good lie quick enough, he turned to Amber and me.

“No,” I said. I could feel Elle’s glare burning into my side. “Why?”

“I’m having a party tonight at my house,” said Ryan. “You three can come if you want, and bring whoever else you’re with.”

“That sounds cool,” I said. I was still talking, partly because Elle was silent and partly because I knew that if she managed to get her voice back, she’d say no, and I really wanted to go. “Where do you live?”

“It’s just down the road actually...hang on, I’ll write it down...has any got a pen and paper?” I took a pen out of my shoulder bag, whilst one of Ryan’s mates gave him an old receipt.

“Cheers,” Ryan said. He scribbled something down and handed it to Elle, even though she hadn’t said anything for a while. Elle took the paper and shoved it in her skirt pocket.

“It’s basically just on the other end of town, once you walk down the high street,” Ryan said. “But I’ll give you my number in case you get lost.”

With a little reluctance, Elle took her mobile out and swapped numbers with Ryan.

“See you tonight then,” I said brightly, wanting to make up for Elle’s rudeness.