Ibiza Summer (3 page)

I had hoped Toby might be different. He had seemed sensitive and caring when he had asked me about my dad and then suddenly, with no explanation, it was all over.

‘What do you expect?’ Willow had said. ‘He’s a boy!’

Maybe my expectations
had
been too high. I wanted romance; deep and meaningful conversations, putting the world to rights over endless cups of cappuccino as we gazed longingly into each
other’s eyes; I wanted friendship and trust.

I suppose I couldn’t entirely blame Toby. I couldn’t even find my voice around him half the time. Whenever I met anyone I fancied, I’d find myself tongue-tied and unable to
speak coherently. In the unlikely event that something
did
manage to pass my lips, I felt sure it was never that interesting and always sounded so stilted and unnatural.

Still, it seemed to me that whenever you started liking a lad back, that’s precisely the time you got dumped, so I decided I didn’t want to take any more chances. I was steering
clear of boys until I felt sure I wouldn’t have my heart broken.

‘
Ya estamos quí
,’ said the taxi driver, snapping me back to reality.

‘
Gracias
,’ said Ellie, and we watched as he pulled away back down towards the road. This was it. We had arrived.

I inhaled deeply and tried to erase my memory of Toby Parker. He could go jump in a lake for all I cared now. It was time to leave the past behind and have some fun.

he air smelled sweet and there was a gentle warm breeze blowing. Outside the door to the imposing house, illuminated
by a small night-light, was a white tiled sign that read,
Villa Paraíso
, and I was aware of the sound of loud music thumping in the distance.

We hadn’t even rung the bell before it swung open and a tall thick-set man dressed in a white linen shirt with no collar and designer-looking jeans stood with his arms outstretched. I
noticed he wasn’t wearing any shoes.

‘
Hola
, Ellie . . .
y
Rinda,’ he said loudly, kissing my sister and embracing Narinda simultaneously. ‘Lotte, Lotte . . .
y
Louisa.
Me alegro de volver a
verte . . . ¡Cuánto tiempo sin vernos!
An ooh is zis?’ he asked, pointing directly at me. I felt my face burn.

‘This is Izzy, my sister. Izzy this is Alfredo,’ Ellie said, pulling me in closer to her like a wayward toddler. I held out my hand for him to shake it, but he grabbed me with full
force and kissed me on both cheeks, his dark stubble scratching my face.

‘Izzy,
¡Bienvenida!
I am pleeeesed to meeeeet you . . . Beautiful, beautiful . . .
¡Pasa! Adelante
. . . come in, come in . . .’

Inside, the atmosphere hit me immediately. Everywhere around us people were laughing and chatting as dance music and thick cigarette smoke pumped through the air. ‘C’mon,’ said
Ellie, grabbing my hand excitedly, ‘let’s go outside to the pool and get a drink.’ I held on to her hand tightly as we fought our way through the throng of people, tanned naked
limbs making a thousand shapes around us.

‘Look at her!’ screamed Narinda, pointing excitedly to a girl who was wearing an elegant white dress which was almost see-through. On one arm she must’ve had at least fifty
small gold bangles and I noticed her belt was in the shape of a snake and her matching gold sandals were laced up high to her knee – she looked like Cleopatra.

Guys were standing around drinking and chatting to girls or to each other, their bronzed chests on display or covered in loose white shirts or T-shirts and three-quarter length trousers or
jeans, which seemed to be the uniform.

Outside appeared even bigger than inside and was just as lively, with a huge sunken swimming pool taking centre stage and a bar at the back surrounded by palm trees, where people were drinking
from large glasses decorated with pineapples and little sparklers. Stripy blue sun loungers cascaded around the edges of the pool and groups of girls and boys and kissing couples were draped over
them decadently. I had to remember to text Willow, take some pictures on my phone and send them to her. She would have a fit if she could see this!

‘Oh my God, there’s Lorna from last year!’ screamed Ellie, pointing in the direction of a small dark-haired girl. ‘Let’s go and say hello.’

‘We’ll be back in a bit.’ Narinda turned to me and smiled apologetically as Ellie dragged her off. I watched them as they went over, the dark-haired girl shrieking with delight
when she caught sight of my sister. Would I ever be as popular as Ellie? I wondered as I watched more and more people greet my sister with huge hugs and kisses. Ellie seemed to have a way about her
that made people feel happy and at ease, and I wanted people to feel that way about me too. She was funny and pretty and smart, having got a 2:1 in her English language degree before going on to
study law, and people admired her, not just for her looks but for her personality too.

Despite the six-year age gap, there had been a time when Ellie and I had been close, although these days she was always busy with her studies, with friends, with work, with Tom . . . and as a
result we saw less and less of each other. Mostly though, I wished I could talk to her about dad, but the few times I had plucked up enough courage to try, she had always swiftly changed the
subject or said, ‘Not now, Izzy,’ like I’d annoyed her. She didn’t want to talk to me about it and that was that. So once again, I was left with all these emotions that had
nowhere to go – they just stayed there, swimming around my head like goldfish trapped in a bowl.

I leaned back against a palm tree and closed my eyes for a second. I had to try not to think too much. I wanted to enjoy the moment.
Think happy thoughts, Iz, happy thoughts
.

I was watching everyone dancing and chatting and laughing from a distance, gearing myself up to maybe go and start a conversation with someone and help take my mind off things, when Ellie
suddenly remembered I existed and beckoned me over to meet her friends. There was Lorna, twenty-three from Oxford, who they’d met at Alfredo’s party two years ago, and her friends, Kaz,
Leigh and Rebecca, also twenty-three, who all seemed really friendly and as excited to be there as I was.

Ellie explained that this was my first time in Ibiza, which caused much oohing and ahhing as they all scrabbled to tell me about all the fabulous places I should see and what clubs to go to and
which ones to avoid. Rebecca asked me which uni I went to, which made me feel pretty good as obviously she must’ve thought I was older, and seemed surprised when Ellie annoyingly butted in
and told her I was still at secondary school, albeit on my way to Sixth Form. I would have told the truth anyway and felt irked that Ellie had felt so compelled to interject.

We all chatted for a while and I began to feel a bit more relaxed, although I was conscious of what I was saying and chose to ask a lot of questions so as to avoid having to answer any
myself.

Eventually everyone began to tail off and move on to other people and conversations and I was left on my own again, not that I minded too much as by now my head was buzzing with names and words
and places and I was a bit overawed by it all – besides, I needed the loo.

I made my way through the maze of people in the main room and up the winding staircase, which was littered with bodies. I was pretty desperate for a wee by now, but with so many people and so
many bedrooms and doors to open, I realised I would have to bite the bullet and ask someone.

‘Are you lost?’ a voice from behind me said, and I spun round.

‘Do I look lost?’ I replied, realising immediately that this could’ve sounded a bit defensive, even though I hadn’t meant it like that.

‘Yeah, you do a bit,’ he said, smiling.

I was immediately struck by his eyes. Emerald green. That was the only way I could describe them. They were bright and piercing and they seemed to be looking deep inside me, which made me feel
uncomfortable and excited at the same time. ‘If you’re looking for the loo, it’s just through here,’ he said, pointing to his left and clearly reading my mind. ‘Shall
I show you?’

‘No, no!’ I said a little too quickly. ‘It’s fine, no problem. I’ll find it.’

‘Cool,’ he said, still smiling as he walked away, and I couldn’t help but notice what a beautiful smile he had.

Back downstairs the party was kicking off harder than before, with even more people dancing and cheering and throwing shapes to the constant boom, boom, bass of the beats. I
looked around to see if I could spot Ellie and Co., but they were nowhere to be seen. I reckoned they were probably outside so decided to brave the ravers in the main room and go and find them.

I’d almost made it to the door when I heard a voice over the microphone say, ‘Hey, the girl in the black dress – you!’ I turned round to look, but couldn’t see
anyone and didn’t think they would be talking about me anyway; it wasn’t as if I was the only girl wearing a black dress.

‘Hey! Toilet girl!’

I froze. Oh. My. God. Was someone talking to me?

I looked over the crowd and clocked the guy with the green eyes who’d directed me to the loo. He was standing up on the DJ booth waving his hands at me and smiling that lovely smile . . .
I wasn’t sure what to do, so I half-heartedly waved back at him, feeling like a total chump.

‘I hope you found the bathroom to your liking!’ he shouted over the mike at me and people began to giggle and stare.

I wanted to turn and run but I was rooted to the floor and each time I went to move my legs it felt as though I was treading water in a bucket of treacle.

Toilet girl! How embarrassing is that?
I thought as I finally managed to make my way outside. I wasn’t sure which way I was going as it was dark by now and somehow I must’ve
made a wrong turn – I ended up round what seemed like the back of the villa and on to a small patio area. There were huge beanbags strewn everywhere with people sitting in them, chatting and
laughing. It was quieter and the music was softer, more ambient than in the rest of the villa. There was a gentle glow coming from the candle lanterns that were randomly scattered around and I
could hear the sound of crickets in the grass, reminding me that it was summer and I was on holiday and should be happy.

I noticed a group of people leaning over the edge of the patio, looking out to the distance. They sounded excited about something and I was intrigued to know what, so, having spotted a space far
enough away from them so it didn’t look like I was trying to gatecrash their moment, I went over to take a look.

‘Wow!’ I gasped involuntarily. Below me and stretched out for what looked like miles were hundreds of tiny lights igniting the dark night like little sparkly glow-worms. I could just
about see the shoreline in the distance as the light from the town below caught the sea’s reflections, making the waves twinkle and shine like it had been scattered with a thousand diamonds.
I guessed it must be Ibiza Town and I wondered if there was anyone down there looking up at me looking down at them.

‘I think you dropped something,’ a voice behind me said quietly, although it still made me jump.

Flippin’ heck.
It was the green-eyed guy from before.

I turned round and, to my horror, I saw that I’d left a trail of stuff in my wake: my lip-gloss, comb, money, phone, old tissues, my little photo wallet and a half-eaten packet of cherry
drops were strewn across the floor behind me. My bag must’ve broken. Embarrassed, I bent down on my hands and knees and frantically began scrabbling on the ground to retrieve it all.

He knelt down in front of me and did the same.

‘Think your bag may have sprung a leak,’ he said, smiling as he handed me some loose coins and my photo wallet. His skin touched mine, only fleetingly and so lightly it felt like a
whisper, but it was enough to stiffen my spine and cause my skin to prickle all over.

‘Yes,’ I agreed, feeling myself blush. I looked at my bag and saw that the bottom stitching had all but come apart.

‘I’m sure you can get it mended,’ he said reassuringly as I stuffed the remains of the contents back in and turned it upside down to prevent a similar occurrence.