Sun Kissed [ON HOLD]

4: Sun Kissed

Wow uni life is hectic! Lectures have been pretty good but it's a lot of work, but I'm really enjoying it here :) 

Unfortunately I haven't had much time to write, but luckily I've had a couple of chapters written in advance for you guys - so I hope you guys like this next part! 

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Friday 28th June

Day Four

01:33pm

“You must meet my son,” Sol announces. The café is closed for siesta again – but we’re sat drinking coffee (well, Sol is drinking coffee – I’ve got a glass of cloudy lemonade, extra ice). The air-con is on full, but it’s so humid in here, like a solid wall of heat pressing all around me. It’s almost unbearable; and it makes me glad that Sol closes up at this time of day.

            “Your son?”

            “Sí, he is about your age. You would get on well, I think.”

            Oh, God, no. I’ve gone through this kind of thing before: a friend of my mom’s has a son/nephew my age, and they think it’s a good idea to throw us together on a date. Like I can’t find a date for myself. And every single time that’s happened (four, by my count) it’s been a complete disaster.

            So when Sol says I should ‘meet his son’, I begin to dread it.

            Then he adds, “I might be relying on you to keep my boy out of trouble, Avery.”

            Oh.

            His son must be a couple of years younger, I realize: Sol probably means he wants me to babysit him, or something. Keep an eye on him when Sol’s working.

            “Does he help out here?” I ask.

            “Yes – although I think helping his father out is perhaps not his preference when school is out and the beach so close,” he laughs.

06:27pm

Sol and I decide that I’ll work weekends; that’s his busiest time, because a lot of tourists to the island venture out to the little towns on weekends, he says. And I’ll work Thursdays and Fridays, too – that was my choice. I’d rather work four days in a block than four days scattered across the week.

            Oh, and Payton hasn’t replied.

            Why hasn’t she replied?

            There has to be some kind of reason – and not a good one – that she’s avoiding answering me. I know Payton: she’s just stalling, trying to downplay it or spin things a different way, so that it doesn’t sound so bad, so that I don’t get hurt.

            I can’t stand this waiting around.

            Maybe I should just email her, or Hannah, and ask again.

            I shake my head and snort at myself. I’m such an idiot. After all I wanted to forget about Tripp and what happened the other week, now I’m doing everything all wrong; I’m doing everything possible to make myself remember, in all too vivid detail.

            I can’t keep thinking about it.

            I just need to put it in the past, behind me, and forget.