Chapter 6
‘Croissant?’ said a voice, pulling me from some weird dream the next morning. Someone was bouncing on my bed. I opened my eyes to see Rue about to land on my leg. And she was wearing her splints today so it would have been insanely painful if she succeeded.
‘Get off,’ I said and moved out of the way.
Rue launched a croissant at my face.
‘We’re going to the beach today and Dad says you’re coming.’ She slid carefully off the bed.
‘Fine,’ I sighed.
I knew there was no arguing with Dad when he was like this. And true to his word, he’d waited for me last night and made me promise that I’d spend some time with them. So I got up, had a shower and put on my black bikini.
‘I can see your bum, you know,’ said Wren when I walked into the kitchen to look for suncream.
‘Lucky you,’ I said, impatiently. Then felt bad. ‘I like your swimsuit,’ I said, knowing that Mum had finally given in to the pink Adidas one she’d been coveting for ages.
‘Really? Thanks, Gogo.’ She grinned.
I hung back as we walked to the beach. Mortifying. This big family walk together. Dad carrying a bag of towels and floats that were almost bigger than he was.
Passing the Brasserie, I saw Felix immediately. White T-shirt today with black jeans. His arms looked even more tanned in the morning light. He was talking animatedly to a table of people, and they were smiling back at him. I slowed down without thinking.
‘Margot, come on!’ Dad called.
I’d put on a dress over my bikini. And I told myself it was just because I liked the way the racer back exposed my shoulder blades, but I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t been thinking of Felix too, and how I wanted to look nice in case I ran into him again.
I remembered the way he’d looked at me yesterday.
Slowly, like he was taking all of me in.
The way he ran his eyes up my legs and how they hovered on my lips, making me wonder what it would be like to kiss him.
Hot sand seeped into the space between my feet and my flip-flops, burning me.
When I reached the end of the sandy lane, I took a minute to look out at the sea. Miles of beach. Way more crowded than yesterday evening. Kids everywhere.
I glanced over to see Rue and Wren walking towards the sea and Mum and Dad ambling slowly towards the sand dunes, probably trying to find some shade. I moved as slowly as possible after them, then changed direction and followed Rue and Wren to the water.
I stood at its edge and let the foam rush over my feet as the girls splashed each other in the shallows.
I looked out at the waves and watched the surfers.
The guy with tattoos from the hut yesterday was here again, in the sea up to his waist, instructing a bunch of kids on little multicoloured surfboards.
He was laughing with them. I couldn’t see his face, but I could hear him shouting good-naturedly in French.
His tattoos almost covered his whole back, stretching over wide shoulders, tracing down his lean waist. Some with words I couldn’t read, some just patterns.
‘Allez sur le sable!’ he called, and immediately the kids moved towards the shore, dragging their boards behind them once they reached the sand. I watched as he congratulated them, high-fiving each one as they walked past, and noticed how big their smiles were.
Rue and Wren had noticed them too. They came to my side.
‘We want to do that, Margot.’ Rue pointed at all the kids, lining up their surfboards on the rack beside the hut.
And just as she said it, he turned round. Dark hair, aviators, perfect child-friendly smile. ‘You want to learn to surf?’ he called. He walked over to Rue and Wren and bent down on his haunches. Rue’s level.
‘You can swim?’
‘Yep.’ Rue and Wren both nodded but he looked at me for confirmation. ‘I’m really good,’ added Rue.
‘They can swim,’ I confirmed.
Rue and Wren had gone to the same swimming club as me, but didn’t do as much as I had, and it was different for Rue. She had a special coach and everything. But they were both good swimmers.
‘And you can swim?’ He was looking at me over his aviators and gave me a half smile.
And the words were in my head, but they wouldn’t come out.
They couldn’t come out. He was beautiful.
The stubbled jawline, the intricate tattoos that decorated his hard chest …
I found my eyes settling on one beautiful work of art before being drawn to another.
‘Margot, why aren’t you talking?’ Rue said and punched my leg.
‘That hurt!’ I nudged her back but was glad of the distraction. ‘Sorry, yeah, I can swim.’ I shrugged.
‘So, les filles, you want to learn to surf?’ He was looking at Rue and Wren again, who both nodded enthusiastically. I tried to force myself not to look at his chest again, but the way the water dripped down off his hair and into the grooves of his abs made it impossible to tear my eyes away.
‘Bon! On commence demain. Ten o’clock?’ He looked at me as Rue and Wren walked off towards Mum and Dad.
‘My name is Antoine. Tell them at reception you want to pay for surf lessons with Antoine. Not Delphine.’ Delphine? I wondered if it was the same one as from the Brasserie.
‘OK,’ I said.
‘And you?’ he asked. The cheery tone that he’d used with Rue and Wren had disappeared into the searing-hot air. The way he spoke reminded me of Theo – unbothered, almost uncaring. It pissed me off.
‘What about me?’
‘You want to learn?’
‘No.’ My eyes flicked to the sea, bringing back memories of everything I’d left behind.
He made a noise. A sort of exhalation, accompanied by a shrug before looking me up and down. ‘Ah, OK, Princesse.’ And when he smirked like he had me all figured out, fire filled my veins.
Ari called me Princess sometimes, and it had always annoyed me. Usually when I didn’t want to do something, like drink Buckfast in the park or get my belly button pierced.
‘I’m not a princess,’ I said. ‘And I can probably swim better than you.’ I wondered why he had been so friendly to Rue and Wren and was treating me like this.
He grinned at that, then shook his head. ‘I do not think so.’
‘Well you think a lot of yourself,’ I said, squeezing my toes into the sand. Hard.
He shrugged. ‘I have experience.’ He turned away from me and started to walk up the beach towards the little hut.
I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. He’d just decided what I was like from looking at me?
‘You don’t know anything about me,’ I raged to the back of his head.
‘OK, Princesse,’ he called.
I turned back towards the sea with a furious knot in my stomach.
I didn’t follow Rue and Wren, who were sitting beside Mum and Dad; I pulled off my dress and sandals, threw them on to the sand, then walked deep into the water to cool down.