Never Again

Chapter 13: Conversations

She thought about that for a moment, not really sure what she wanted to share with him. He knew her name already, so that was not going to cut it. 'I have a sister,' she decided on in the end.

'Only one?' he sounded curious and his bright eyes had captured Keira's attention again.

'Yes, I think that after she was born my parents realised how annoying we both were,' she sniggered. 'How about you?' she was as interested in him as he was in her.

He let out a sigh. 'We're with four, I'm the third one. I have two older sisters and one little brother, but he is quite a bit younger than the rest of us. The annoying little shit,' he muttered the final sentence under his breath and he rolled his eyes.

'How old is he then?' she grinned, she had spotted his annoyance.

'Fourteen, hitting puberty and annoying the hell out of my parents,' exasperation was clearly noticeable in his voice and he threw his hands in the air.

She laughed, she had gone through the same with her sister. Although she had gone through puberty almost at the same time with her, so she hadn't really experienced it as annoying as Sebastian clearly did. Her sister had been a rebel though, dying her hair all different kind of colours and doing everything their parents had forbidden her. She herself had always been more reserved, too afraid to upset her parents. However, Louise had often included her in her wicked ways and it had been a lot of fun.

'Do you parents also live close? Or do you still live at home?' she thought he probably was too old to live at home, but with boys you never knew.

'Oh no, my parents live back home in Germany,' he said and a sadness was suddenly visible on his face.

Keira raised an eyebrow. 'You are not from here?' For her he seemed like the typical Swiss guy. Blonde hair, blue eyes and he spoke German, what else should she have expected then?

'No, I grew up in Germany and just moved here a couple of years ago,' he answered her question and he followed a bird with his eyes.

She could see his face turning into a smile when he thought about his family. 'Do you miss them?' she asked. When she had moved to London she had missed her family terribly, especially her sister. Not being able to pop in for a visit whenever she liked had been really hard to get to grips with.

He rolled up the sleeves of his shirt he was wearing and revealed his strong arms. 'Yeah, I do, but life here is good.'

Keira had her eyes focused on his arms, they looked good. Sebastian in a whole looked good, she thought, not just his arms. The way he ran his fingers through his blonde hair when he was talking was something else that had captured her attention. She tried to focus on the conversation again and not letting herself get distracted by his behaviour.

'So why did you move here? What's the difference with Germany?' she asked. She herself had moved to another country and she knew the feeling of missing home.

He chewed on his lip and turned his head back to the lake. 'I moved here for work, but I always really liked Switzerland. People don't bother you as much as back home and I like the peace and quiet,' he said with a voice that revealed that something about that was nagging him.

She could understand that, she herself had came to appreciate how easy life was here. You could go anywhere unnoticed if you wanted to and people were all very friendly and not pushy to start conversations. It certainly had its perks living here.

The wind picked up a little and the branches of the trees were squeaking because of it. Small waves rippled the surface of the water and the sounds of the water lapping against the banks made for a peaceful summer's day. The two people sitting on rocks at the side of the lake were engaged in an animated conversation, judging by the laughs and smiles on their faces. When one was looking at the lake, the other one shot a sneaky peek at his neighbour. They sat there talking for a while, until Sebastian told Keira he had to go home. When he had gone, she was left on her own. The corners of her mouth had turned into a smile again and her pale skin looked a little less pale than when she had left home.