It was a warm Saturday in the late afternoon in the middle of May. Summer holidays were just around the corner and school was nearly finished. We were at the creek, like we always were at this time of year on a saturday. I leant my head back against the rock and paddled my feet in the crystal clear water. I could feel my long dark hair tickling my bare back as i wore my bikini for the first time this year.
"Lettie, be careful you dont burn," I heard my friend, Taylor say to me. She laughed as she said it. I never burnt. I was over-cautious with suncream and had the darkest skin out of all my friends. My dad was from Mexico and my mother from France. So it was safe to say, my skin took well to the sun. My friends laughed at me when I would spend ages lathering myself in sunscreen, but after I realised how many people could be affected by cancer, I just couldnt allow myself any risks.
Both my parents had cancer. My Mother had breast cancer and died at Christmas two years ago. My father is currently in recovery of prostate cancer. This is his second time "recovering". I think doctors put a whole lot of false hope into familes who know people suffering from cancer. We celebrate then a few months later we grieve. It doesn't seem right. At all. So, Ive taken it upon myself to make sure I can be as healthy as possible, ad not fall into the horrid grasp of cancer.
"Look over there!" Lou, the blonde baby as she is more commonly known as, for her petite frame and blonde locks, pointed across the creek to a group of boys making their way to the creek edge.
"Oh hotties coming our way! Holiday romances starting pretty soon I think," Taylor always had boys on her mind. It was just the way her mind worked. We were 18, finishing school this summer, and since she was 13, Taylor had gone through seven boyfriends. The seventh fling only ending two weeks ago.
Lou and I laughed as we watced Taylor fluff up her short pixie haircut and apply more lipgloss to her already shimmering lips. I turned my attention to the group of five boys who were laughing and pushing eachother around like children. It didnt take me long to spot him. The most beautiful boy I had ever seen. His pale skin shimmered under the late afternoon sun, and his dark hair fell loosely over his eyes. His lips grasped a cigarrette perfectly still in his mouth as he manouvered himself to a comfortable position on the rocks directly across from us.
"Hey girls! is there any space fo a few men over there?" The big blonde guy at the front who resembled a jock-turned-badass shouted across the creek to us. I silently prayed that Taylor wouldnt invite them over. But as usual, my prayers went unanswered.
"Yeah, sure thing. As long as you guys have some booze and ciggs to keep us girls happy!" Taylor shouted across, pushing her chest out as she did so. She was something else thats for sure. Lou looked shepishly across to me, and I smiled back at her, winking.
"What are you doing, Tay?" I mock-hit her and she laughed aloud.
"What?? They're hot. Im sure you'll find a sexy brooding character out of the five of them. You love your sensitive types don't you, Lettie?" She splashed water over me and I ducked her into the lake right before she pulled me in after her.
"Guys, they're coming round!" Lou pointed to the five guys who were walking round the side of the creek, hands filled with booze and ciggarrettes just as Tay ordered.
"OK, act chilled girls, we are sexy so we have nothing to worry about," Lou and I laughed silently as Taylor rushed out of the water and over to her towel, attemptng to dry as fast as possible before the boys arrived.
I followed her out and stood still as Iet the water drip down my body. I loved that feeling. I turned round to see the boys approaching us and for one second I caught eyes with the dark haired guy. His eyes were a crystal blue colour. I couldnt decide, but I thought there was something eerie about him. I don't know. But whatever way he looked at me I felt somehow on edge.
"Now what are three beautiful ladies like yourselves doing out here on your own?" The blonde guy said to us, looking at Taylors curvacious body with greedy eyes.
"Sunbathing," she answered, her head cocked to one side. "What are you guys doing?"
"We came out to get smashed. You girls game?" Another guy with a ponytail said, staring right at my breasts. I immediatly looked for my towel and covered myself in it. These guys were dodgy, i could tell it from a mile off. Why couldn't Tay see it too?
I watched as the guys made theselves at home, pushing our bags around and making a mess of our area. I felt so angry with Tay in that moment that I stripped down to my bikini again and dived into the creek. If she wanted the boys she could have them. This was meant to be our spot. Just the three of us and she invites these strange guys over to invade what for years had been our summer spot. Eugh.
I swam over to the other side of the creek and got out of the water. Sitting on a rock I pulled my long hair round over my right shoulder and squeezed the water out of it. I sat there for a while, staring across the creek as Taylor and Lou made friends with the guys who had ruined our day out, all the while plaiting my wet hair. Once again I caught eyes with the crystal ones across the way. We stared at eachother for a while and then I watched as he stood up, took his black tshirt off revealing a toned torso with a massive red scar down the front of it. He dove into the water and swam across the creek to me.
My heart was beating heavy and fast as he got up out of the water and walked across to the rock I was sat on. His body was perfect, lean and toned and strong in all the right places. On his left shoulder there was a mandala tattoo with a swirl in the centre. I immediately felt overly aware and insecure of all my imperfections. The scar that ran from his chest to his bellybutton was intriguing. It didnt look ugly as most scars did. This one was beautiful.
Once he reached me, he said nothing. He just stood infront of me and stared. I smiled up at him, but he didnt return the smile. I felt as though his eyes were piercing through my body, right into my soul. I stared back at him, he was hypnotic.
"May I?" Finally the boy broke the silence, pointing to the space next to me on the rock. I nodded, feeling my cheeks go red as he sat next to me bringing his knees up close to his chest and wrapping his arms around them. Silence returned.
I stared out over the creek, hearing shrieks of laughter and splashes of crystal water coming from the opposite side of the creek. Was this guy going to sit in silence all day or what? I could feel his eyes on me, burning a hole into the side of my neck. I couldnt take it any longer so I turned to him, sharply.
"Well?" I asked, trying and failing to sound somewhat abrupt.
"Well, what?" he replied, a slow, sly grin appearing on his face. As he smiled I noticed two dimples form on each of his cheeks. His left eyebrow was also pierced with a ring in it. If i wasn't already so put off by this guy's obnoxious ways, Id probably have found him very attractive.
"Are you just going to come up here and ask to sit with me and not say anything?"
"Who needs words in a situation like this?" he replied gesturing with his arm to the water before us and the sun shining above us. "People forget to just enjoy the earth sometimes, we always feel we have to talk to one another, rather than just enjoy the presence of someone and the beauty of the earth around us."
What was this guy smoking, I thought to myself. But then, after a few seconds, I did just as he said; I looked back into his crystal eyes, the reflection of the sun and the water making them almost appear translucent. Then I looked around me taking in the earth with all my senses. We sat together like this for a while, I could hear him breathing next to me, slow and steady. I could hear the wind and the trees and the birds. I could smell him next to me. I could smell the creek; a smell I had grown used to over the years but never noticed again untill now. I could see beauty everywhere I looked. Even in the boy next to me. So much beauty in him.
I returned my gaze to him; I had a feeing within me that I could no longer tell the difference in my senses. They were all working so well together that I felt I could hear the colours and taste the sounds around me. I looked into his eyes again, and his eyes finally found mine. Those crystal eyes looked as though they could see more than I could see. If that even makes sense. I'd never seen eyes that looked so clear, like they could see every speck of dust or hair or ray of light that ever shone.
"Luca," he said, and he held his hand out to me.
"Lottie," I replied, smiling and taking a hold of his warm, rough yet gentle hand.
