This chapter is dedicated to holliehannah because she reccomended this book to her followers and when I found out I nearly fainted. I'm so glad to know that she - and all you other readers - enjoy this. :)
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Fletcher was waiting outside my door when I left to go to the pool the next morning, he had – as per usual – a large smile on his face and he slipped his hand into mine without a word. I didn’t say anything in reply, my cheeks just flushed a light red and I gripped his hand tightly, there was no way I was letting go easily.
“Good morning,” Fletcher said when we were part way down the corridor.
“Morning,” I replied, “I see you got back alright last night.”
Fletcher had left just after midnight the night before, the sky was pitch black and it was only when I couldn’t stop yawning continuously for five minutes that Fletcher decided it might be a good idea to head back to his own room and leave me to get to sleep in peace. Not that I wanted him to leave, but all the excitement of the evening had worn me out and so I was more than ready to say hello to my bed.
“I got back fine, although I did nearly get attacked by a ninja turtle,” Fletcher teased.
Well then, next time I wouldn’t be so concerned about his wellbeing, I was only trying to be nice.
“Was it Raphael, Donatello, Michelangelo or Leonardo?” I replied with a small giggle.
Fletcher looked at me with a blank expression and I began to doubt my choice in friends, he couldn’t actually be clueless about my reference could he?
“What?” he asked me.
I shook my head and sighed deeply at him, making sure that my disappointment was clear not only in my tone but also in my actions.
“You know, like the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles? Those are their names.”
“Oh.”
“I despair, I honestly do. Surely they were an integral part of your childhood that you just can’t quite manage to forget,” I pointed out.
“Not really,” Fletcher replied, “I was more of a Scooby-doo kind of child.”
“You missed out then.”
“On ninja turtles?”
“Yeah.”
“Well then I didn’t miss out on much,” he replied.
I resisted the urge to hit him and instead decided to tug on his hand and urge him to walk quicker, at the pace we were going we would be lucky if we reached the pool by the time I was due to leave.
Speaking of which, it was only three days away and thinking of it scared me. Even last night, Fletcher and I had avoided talking about what we were going to do after our holidays were over. It was as if one subject that I wasn’t allowed to speak about had been replaced by another and I definitely did not like it.
“You walk like you have all the time in the world,” I mock scolded Fletcher.
“You walk like you’re running away from a giant ninja turtle,” he teased in reply.
I bumped into him with my hip and shot him an unimpressed look which was returned by a smile that was supposed to look innocent. I tried to continue to scowl but a smile of my own crept onto my face causing Fletcher to poke me in the cheek, my smile disappeared and my scowl deepened.
“Stop scowling,” Fletcher told me, “you should be in a good mood. Today is a sunny day!”
I didn’t tell Fletcher that he sounded like a four year old child – although he did – and instead carried on walking and paused before replying.
“Every day is a sunny day in the Cape Verde Islands,” I pointed out.
“You always have to find a way to ruin everything don’t you?”
“Of course I do,” I said, “it’s my life ambition.”
“Don’t quit your day job,” Fletcher told me, “that’s all I’m going to say on the matter.”
“I don’t have a day job.”
“Well then you good for nothing scoundrel, you better get one.”
“Whatever.”
“Whatever,” Fletcher mocked.
“I hate you,” I replied.
“No you don’t,” he said, “you admitted it tonight. You like me.”
Fletcher pronounced the word like in a sing-song voice and once again I was taken back to primary school and Fletcher seemed to fit right in.
“I don’t like you,” I retorted.
“Admit it Nell, you do. Oh wait, you already have admitted it! You like me and you can’t take that back now.”
“I may not be able to take it back, but I sure as hell regret it,” I replied.
“Ouch,” Fletcher said, “your words hurt you know.”
“That’s kind of the point.”
“Remind me why I like you again?”
“You don’t like me, you like me,” I repeated.
“Whatever,” Fletcher replied, “I’m pretty sure I still need reminding.”
“I’m awesome,” I stated as my first point, “I put up with you even when you are being insanely annoying and I even take the time to answer these stupid questions you ask me.”
Fletcher considered what I said for a few moments before turning to me with a satisfied smile.
“That was a pretty good answer,” he replied, “although you missed out one very important fact.”
“And what would that be?”
“You’re pretty damn cute.”
“I’m not sure that cute is the word I would use to describe me,” I said, “maybe you could use a different adjective.”
“Nah,” Fletcher told me, “I think you’re cute.”
“Like a kitten cute? Or you want to kiss me cute?” I asked.
“Which one do you think?” he replied with a knowing smile.
“Damn it,” I said, “I knew I should have gone as a cat for Halloween.”
Fletcher looked at me as if in that moment he was really reconsidering his decision to say he liked me. I couldn’t blame him, I knew that at times I could be just as annoying as he was and that was a difficult thing to manage.
“Whatever,” he replied, “which sun-lounger do you want?”
It was only then that I noticed that we had – finally – arrived at the pool and therefore that I could dump my bags on the ground and finally begin to even think about relaxing. As Fletcher settled down on his own lounger I thought about the idea I’d had yesterday.
“Do you want to do something today than lying here for god knows how many hours?” I asked.
“We get up and have lunch,” Fletcher pointed out.
“You know what I mean,” I replied, “and the point is I’m bored of staying here.”
“Well what do you want to do then?”
“It doesn’t have to be anything big, we could just go for a swim in the sea.”
“Do we have to?” Fletcher pleaded.
“Please Fletch, I get so bored,” I whined.
Fletcher huffed but I saw the expression of defeat cross his face even before he replied to my question.
“Fine,” he said, “but only because you called me Fletch.”
“I always thought the way to a boys heart was through his stomach, but no, it’s through his nickname,” I teased.
“Go away.”
“Where to?”
“Do I look like I care, just go away,” he told me.
“Fine,” I pouted, “I’m going.”
I began to walk away from Fletcher with the intention of getting a drink – it was only ten o’clock in the morning but I was already boiling, I did not cope well with heat.
“No!” Fletcher shouted from behind me, “Nell come back!”
“You told me to go away,” I pointed out.
“Well I obviously didn’t mean it.”
“Well I’m sorry for not being psychic,” I huffed.
“You should be.”
A scowl crossed my face and I turned to glare at Fletcher. He noticed my expression, looked slightly scared and then pulled me to him so that the two of us were both lying awkwardly on his sun lounger with our legs tangled together and my head buried in his chest. It was not comfortable, my head was bent an awkward angle and something was digging into my side, but Fletcher held me tight none the less.
“Stop,” I scolded, “you’re squishing me.”
“But you’re my squishy.”
“Stop quoting Finding Nemo at me.”
“You can’t tell me how to live my life,” he told me, “I do what I want. And I’m older than you anyway.”
I shook my head, Fletcher was kind of ruining his point about being older than me by acting so immature. Instead of replying though I just pushed his arm off me and got off the sun-lounger.
“Come on then,” I said, “let’s go to the sea.”
“Wait we have to go now?” Fletcher asked.
“We might as well.”
“Might as well what? Get it over and done with because I am really not looking forward to this.”
“Stop complaining,” I ordered, “I’m looking forward to this even if you’re not.”
“Proves what a weirdo you are,” Fletcher replied.
“I’m the weirdo? I’m sorry who skipped pudding last night to show me some historical rap battles?”
“That’s not weird,” Fletcher told me, “what’s weird is the fact that you had never watched them before.”
“Go away,” I responded, “I’ve already told you that I don’t watch YouTube much at all.”
“You’re not really helping yourself in convincing me that you’re not a weirdo,” Fletcher teased.
“I’m not!”
“Whatever you say Nell, whatever you say.”
I pushed Fletcher to the side before grabbing his hand and leading him down the path that led to the beach.
“Can we still play volleyball later?” Fletcher asked pouting.
It was cute and I somehow managed to make myself answer his question rather than kiss him. It was a true test of my abilities.
“Yeah, of course. We can just go for a swim first.”
“I don’t see why we can’t swim in the pool instead,” Fletcher grumbled.
I bumped his hip with my own as we walked and turned to him with a smile on my face, I was trying to stop myself from laughing at his lack of enthusiasm.
“We can’t swim in the pool because that’s not as cool.”
“You’re a poet and you don’t know it.”
“Shut up Fletcher,” I replied.
“And there’s what I get for trying to release my inner artiste,” he said, “honestly, spending time with you is damaging my inner talent.”
“What inner talent?” I asked.
“My inner poet.”
“Hey,” I said, “I’m the poet round here, you’re the footballer.”
“That’s not fair,” Fletcher told me, “I’m not that good.”
“That’s not what you’re dad said.”
“And if you should have learnt anything from dinner with my parents, it’s that you shouldn’t listen to anything my dad says,” Fletcher joked.
We talked about random stuff the rest of the walk, the conversation occasionally interrupted by a staccato burst of laughter from Fletcher who for some reason seemed to find my appalling jokes absolutely hilarious.
The day was humid and despite the unrelenting sun that hung in the sky, dark clouds were starting to form offshore and I worried that it was going to pour down that afternoon. We had managed to avoid rain completely for the duration of the holiday so far and I had hoped that the luck would continue until our flight home.
“Would you rather ear mouldy bread for the rest of your life or live in a sweaty giant’s pocket?” Fletcher asked me suddenly.
The question was completely random – we had been talking about films beforehand and not sweaty giant’s pockets – and so I faltered for a moment before replying, to be fair it did require quite a bit of thought.
“The mouldy bread,” I replied eventually, “after all, if this giant is really sweaty then the bread will be mouldy wherever I go.”
“Fair point,” Fletcher told me.
He didn’t say another word and seemed to be immersed in whatever thought process he was in the middle of and so we reached the beach in silence.
It was busy, it seemed that every family at the hotel – plus their baggage – had decided to make the most of the heat – as they did most days – and make their way down to the beach. Who knew, perhaps there was some event on that I did not know about?
“It’s busy,” Fletcher said, voicing my thoughts aloud.
“Yeah,” I said in agreement.
The two of us pushed through crowds of people to get to the oceanfront only to be greeted by the sight of people gathered around a small group with panicked expression on their face.
I quickly noticed that my Dad was one of them.
I started to push people harder; wanting to know what on earth was going on. All I knew was that Dad looked worried and that I desperately wanted to know why, he didn’t usually look that concerned.
“What’s wrong?” I asked when I reached the small huddle, “is everything okay?”
A second glance told me that everything was not okay. Kyle was lying on the floor, with a towel wrapped around his shoulders, coughing and spitting water out of his mouth.
“Everything is most definitely not okay,” Dad told me sternly, “your brother nearly drowned Nell, and where were you? I thought you were supposed to be looking after him for me!”
A lump formed in my throat, it was indeed true that I was supposed to be keeping an eye on Kyle but I did not know that something like this was going to happen.
“I was with Fletcher,” I admitted.
“That stupid boy,” Dad replied, “you’re putting him over your own brother. It’s not going to last you know.”
Dad’s words hit me like a blow to the chest and I blinked back tears before he noticed.
“You’re right,” I heard myself say, “is there anything I can do to help?”
“Just pack everything away from the sun-loungers and go wait in the room. I’m going up with your brother to see the doctor up at reception; if we’re not back by lunch then you can go get some food. Please stay in your room Nell, I don’t want to have to worry about you too,” he said.
I found myself nodding and making my way out of the group and back in the direction of the pool. I felt a small tap on my shoulder and turned around to see Fletcher.
“Is everything okay?” he asked me.
“Not really,” was the only reply I could muster.
“What’s wrong?”
“Kyle got into a bit of trouble in the sea,” I replied my voice in a simple monotone.
I could see that Fletcher noticed my change in mood and he looked concerned as if he was trying to read my mind to see what was the right thing to say.
“Look Fletcher,” I began, “I really need to be alone right now.”
“Okay, that’s fine, whatever you want,” he told me.
“Thanks,” I said with a small smile.
“Do you want me to do anything?”
“No thanks. See you tonight though.”
“Right, tonight?”
“Yeah, tonight.”
I collected the bags from where we had been sat and dragged my feet to my room, thoughts and words on repeat in my mind. I kept on thinking about what Dad had said, he had voiced my fears aloud and I couldn’t help but think that he was right, it was never going to last with Fletcher, but that did mean that it was wrong to make the most of it now. Dad made me think that maybe it was, I mean it had gotten Kyle into trouble after all.
The room was cold when I stepped into it, the air condition not welcoming but rather repulsive and I quickly dropped my bags and reached to turn it off before collapsing onto my bed.
I wanted to sleep but instead my mind was busy worrying about Kyle and hoping to god that he was alright.
I should have told him not to swim in the sea, I knew that he was not a strong swimmer and if I didn’t do that then I should have at least kept an eye on him rather than gallivanting around with Fletcher all day. I couldn’t help but think about the fact that the two of us had probably been laughing and joking whilst Kyle was in trouble. It was official, I was a terrible sister.
In my mind there was only one question left for me to resolve and it revolved around a certain blonde Australian boy who my mind just couldn’t see to shake. Was it fair to say that all my problems stemmed from him? Not really, but the thing is we are all just human and humans like to search for people to blame, it’s in our nature and right at that moment Fletcher seemed like the best candidate.
It was eleven o’clock in the morning and I already couldn’t wait for this day to end.