Chapter 14
I took my drink and looked for Sébastian. It wasn’t hard to find him because he was so tall. He was standing with a group of kids I hadn’t met, so I walked round the outside and poked him gently on the arm.
‘Ah, Margot! You are OK?’ His face lit up when he saw me.
I nodded and gave him a smile.
‘Margot apprend le surf avec Antoine.’ Sébastian put his hands on my shoulders, and I sipped my beer as the group stared at me. Four pairs of French-boy eyes.
They laughed and talked between themselves, and I could only catch the name Antoine.
Sébastian shook his head when he saw the name had caught my attention. ‘Antoine never parties with us. Not any more. He likes to keep an eye on the ocean. I told you, le flic de la plage.’
I was trying to work out why Antoine would hide from the party, when the guy with the guitar started playing another song and everyone erupted in a cheer and moved towards him.
Then I found myself alone again. I looked down the beach, at the surf hut that seemed so lonely in the darkness, and without really thinking, I walked towards it.
The wind had picked up, and I was so far from the bonfire that I felt a bit cold for the first time since I’d got to France. I pulled my cardigan round me and gazed out at the waves that were crashing against the sand.
‘Les vagues,’ I whispered into the night. And I found myself walking towards them like they were calling me.
I slid off my sandals and walked into the water.
I stared up at the blanket of stars above me and wondered why I never saw this many in Belfast. I took small steps into deeper water, enjoying the coolness of the waves that swelled against my legs, then took another sip of my beer.
I breathed in the salted air, closing my eyes to really get lost in it.
And I nearly dropped my beer when a voice said out of nowhere, ‘What are you doing?’
I turned round to see Antoine on the sand, hands in the pockets of his board shorts, looking at me with a serious expression on his face.
I gave a small laugh. ‘Em, I was just looking at the stars.’
‘The stars are in the sky, non?’ Antoine pointed upwards. ‘So why is it that are you in the water? You need to come back to the sand.’
I was about to wade back but changed my mind. Why should I?
‘I’m in the water because I want to be in the water.’
‘Because you want to?’ Antoine repeated.
I turned round, taking a sip of beer and enjoying the view of the whole ocean.
‘The ocean is dangerous. I thought we had talked about this,’ Antoine said.
‘I’m not swimming,’ I said.
‘Not yet. I have seen it before. Les mecs, les filles who go into the water when they drink alcohol. It is stupid. It is dangerous.’
I squeezed my hand round my beer can then turned back to him. ‘So you think I’m just going to go for a swim right now? Why would I do that?’ I demanded.
‘I do not know. I do not know you,’ Antoine replied. ‘But I would like it if you came out of the water.’ He didn’t move towards me, just stood in the same place.
‘What’s in it for me?’ I asked playfully, thanks to the beer.
‘I will show you my hut,’ Antoine said. He didn’t return my smile.
‘What’s so special about your hut?’ I asked, stumbling slightly as a wave smashed into the back of my legs.
‘Come and find out.’
And then a million reasons flashed in my head about why I shouldn’t go into Antoine’s hut alone with him. Felix being one of them. And I don’t know why I didn’t just shut it down right there.
‘OK,’ I said and left the water, watching his shoulders visibly relax.
‘I can make you coffee?’ he offered.
‘I don’t like coffee,’ I replied.
‘Chocolat then. I have a feeling it is going to be hard work to teach you.’ He sounded more chilled-out now. The clipped tone from a few moments ago had morphed into something marginally softer.
‘Deal. I like hot chocolate.’ I picked up my sandals and we walked towards the hut.
‘Please no alcohol near the water,’ Antoine said.
I shook the almost empty beer can. ‘I don’t really like this beer anyway,’ I said. And I caught his smile as he tried to hide it by looking away.
When we got to the hut, Antoine unlocked it.
He pushed the door open, and we walked inside.
He flicked on a light, then hit another switch.
Fairy lights twinkled around the edges of the windows.
There wasn’t much apart from that. A bed.
A tiny kitchen with a mini fridge. A rusted locker, a sofa with worn-looking blankets and a corner full of floats, wetsuits and other surf paraphernalia.
The windows went all the way around the hut so you could see the entire beach.
‘Do you live here?’ I asked, scanning the room again. It looked lived-in, but it was tiny.
‘Yes. Well, I stay here most of the time. I like to be close to the water.’ He walked over to the little kitchen.
I put my beer can down and sat on the sofa, the sounds of singing at the bonfire in the distance. There was something charming about living on the beach. And it just added to the whole mystery of Antoine.
‘Cool,’ I nodded, thinking how fun it must be to live alone with nobody telling you what to do.
‘Chocolat?’ Antoine asked again and I nodded.
‘S’il te pla?t.’
Antoine made the hot chocolate on the little stove and handed it to me in a mug before sitting down beside me, leg against mine.
And it was the first time I’d seen his eyes. They were usually hidden behind black sunglasses, but here, in the soft light of the hut, they were a warm, deep blue, outlined with thick, dark lashes. Like a tide pool surrounded by water-soaked rocks.
‘It is nice?’ he asked, nodding at the mug.
I dragged my eyes away from his and blew on the hot chocolate before trying some. It was sweet, and rich, and perfect. Who knew an arrogant surfer held the secret to the best hot chocolate in the world.
‘Amazing – what’s in it?’ I asked. It was sweet and spicy and creamy all at the same time.
‘A secret. A secret family recipe,’ Antoine said before leaning back on the sofa. It was the most relaxed I’d seen him.
‘Sébastian and Lili are nice,’ I mused.
‘They are very special to me, they are my family,’ he said, and I could tell that he really meant it.
I’d turned to look at him and had let my knee keep leaning against his, but moved it when I had Felix déjà-vu.
‘And Delphine?’
‘Ah – Delphine. She is a bit more complicated. But underneath? She is who you want to save you if you are in trouble,’ Antoine said. He was looking right at me now and it was like I could feel his gaze, like some imaginary laser beam that ignited this heat inside my chest and made my heart race.
‘She’s good at surfing?’ I asked, knowing the answer.
‘She is more than good. She could be great, but she needs to do more training,’ Antoine said seriously, as if she was there to hear it.
‘Cool,’ I said. I thought about asking him why she was so cold towards me but didn’t want to ruin the mood. ‘When do I get to go in the water?’
‘Have you been practising at home? Your pop-up?’ he asked me matter-of-factly.
‘What? No, I don’t have a board.’
He shrugged and said something in French that sounded more like a noise than a word. ‘You do not need a board to practise.’
‘My sister would jump on me!’ I laughed.
‘Which? Rue? I would like to see that,’ he said, then laughed too, as if he was imagining it.
Then he stood up quickly. Like he’d sensed something or heard a noise that I hadn’t. He looked out the window.
‘Merde,’ he said simply, before opening the door and running down the beach towards the water.