~ 4 ~
Rona
Sitting at the dining table outside the villa with my friends sharing a delicious meal, there was nowhere else I wanted to be.
I loved them dearly. I knew how lucky I was to have this group around me, and today I was feeling it even more.
Maybe it was having Lily here with us that was making me see our group dynamic through her eyes.
Music played in the background from the decks I’d set up outside the villa.
Earlier on, I’d mixed some music while everyone was hanging out by the pool. It was happy days.
“It’s really nice of you to cook tonight, Lily,” Mathilde said.
“It’s my pleasure and it’s the least I could do.”
Lily had insisted she cook. I’d gone with her to the market after we got back from the beach and my outrageous ice cream moment this morning.
I’d watched her at the market as she chose all her specific ingredients for tonight, in awe of how she went about everything.
There was something about her confidence, and her attention to detail that I liked.
She was open and deliberate in everything she did.
I felt pulled in. She seemed to move through the world with an ease I’d never had.
“I think this is the best paella I’ve ever tasted,” Kaira said.
Lily grinned. “I’m glad you like it.”
“When did you pick up these fine culinary skills, dude? I remember you always made a good omelette, but this is next level,” Vicky said.
“It was when I was playing for Barcelona. My Spanish teammates taught me.”
“Ah, makes sense,” Vicky said.
“Did you ever play at the Nou Camp stadium?” Nell asked Lily.
“Many times.”
“Wow,” Nell seemed starstruck. “What was it like?”
“It was incredible. We had a sell-out crowd once. It was a beautiful moment.”
“That’s so cool. It holds like nearly a hundred thousand people or something.”
“Did you learn any Spanish while you were there?” Kaira asked, now having finished her paella.
“Apprendi un poco. Pienso que es un idioma hermoso.”
“You have a beautiful Spanish accent,” I said, without thinking about it.
Lily met my eyes across the table. There was a flicker of something in them, before she looked away and took a sip of wine.
“And by very beautiful she means attractive,” Vicky said, in her usual playfully teasing tone.
I took a sip of my wine too, shooting a glare to Vicky and a hesitant glance back at Lily, unsure how she would take what Vicky had said.
“Sounds like you picked up a lot. Good for you,” Kaira said.
“What did you two get up to this morning?” Bouchra asked towards Lily and me, without hint of an agenda, which I appreciated.
I was about to answer when Lily jumped in.
“We went to the beach and saw a bunch of naked people.”
Everyone looked up.
“They have a scheduled time slot just at the bottom of the steps. I think it’s daily between nine and twelve. Be prepared to see some things if you dare to venture out early doors.”
“Right, I’m heading out tomorrow morning. Babe, you’re coming with,” Vicky said.
Mathilde laughed. “We have this in Germany. It’s no big deal. Nudists have rights just like everyone else.”
“I think it’s against the law in many countries,” Nell said. “Which is crazy.”
A debate took off about the right to freedom of individual expression in all its forms, versus the relative norms and moral expectations in different places.
If there was one thing my friends did well together, it was having a good debate and discussing the ins and outs of controversial topics.
Most of the time we agreed. We even agreed that we sounded like our very own echo chamber sometimes.
The times we didn’t agree, we did that well too.
We each brought our own views and experiences, and it fascinated me to see how we could speak about things without getting too upset by differences of opinion.
“I think anything people do which causes no harm to others is okay in my book,” Lily said.
“Exactly,” I agreed.
“Everything’s got so crazy in this digital age we’re in,” Mathilde said. She was the oldest in the group at forty. “How have we got into a situation where unelected tech companies are making decisions which affect millions of people across the world?”
Lily leaned forward, crossing her arms and resting her forearms on the table. The muscles in her arms were perfectly toned and strong. She was an athlete with brains. Could she get any hotter? “I don’t know. But it’s fucking terrible. It feels like all around us there is this lurch to the right.”
Kaira chimed in. “We shouldn’t take our rights for granted, that’s for sure.”
“Makes me feel even more proud and grateful for the sapphic festival here,” Bouchra said. “We’re literally in the home of Sappho, getting to be out and proud, safe to walk down the street holding our girlfriend’s hand.”
“Safe to be ourselves,” Lily said.
“Cheers to that!” Vicky held up her glass, the least keen out of the group on these heated discussions.
We all joined in.
“Who would like some more wine,” Mathilde said, in her German accent.
Lily caught my eyes and smiled as my friends ate or went to get more wine. Nell started talking to her and they disappeared into a conversation.
I found that I cared about her already – a lot.
We’d only just met yet there was inexplicable tenderness in my heart for her.
In some ways, I felt like I already knew her, or had known her sometime in the past. Everything about her felt familiar to me, but also like uncharted territory.
The way she made my pulse quicken and the way I hung off her every word was exhilarating.
Such a quick connection with someone wasn’t common for me.
It made me wary on some level because my excitement was growing with every moment I spent in her company.
I looked away and finished the rest of the delicious meal she’d made us – the first paella I’d ever had.
***
Lily and I woke while it was still dark on Tuesday morning and set off on our hike up the hill across the road from the villa.
We didn’t say much. I followed her along the trail, grateful she had found and brought a torch.
My sense of direction wasn’t great at the best of times, and in the early morning dark, I felt safe with her.
“I did a quick run yesterday to check out the trail. It’s well marked and not too long,” Lily said, pointing the torch a bit further ahead.
Yesterday, Lily had gone off and done her own thing for the day. I hadn’t known it included this trail too. “That was really thoughtful of you. And prepared.”
“Wait till we get to the top. It’s going to be spectacular.”
We walked for another thirty minutes or so, side by side. Lily matched my pace, which I appreciated. I hadn’t slept well again because I knew I was getting up early so I wasn’t feeling my most energetic. The fresh air was good though. The walk itself was invigorating.
At the top of the hill, the darkness of night was beginning to lift.
We could see the sea almost all around us.
It felt like we were jutting out onto the sea, with a panoramic view of the inlet and the hills around the villas.
Flecks of light pushed through from the east, but no sign of the sun yet.
We sat on a bench.
Lily switched off the torch.
We waited for sunrise. I became aware of my breath and the stillness around us.
As an orange glow hung low on the horizon, I was grateful to Lily for suggesting this. Becca, my ex, would never have been interested in doing something like this. But none of that mattered anymore. I’d moved on, although I was still getting used to being single.
“It’s amazing how quickly it happens,” Lily said, quietly, looking off into the distance towards the sunrise. “How fast it comes up.”
“I know. Seeing it move so fast reminds me of the fact we’re on a spinning rock hurtling through space at a million miles an hour.”
She turned to me then, as if thinking something.
More early morning light had made its way onto her face, casting soft rays all over her.
She was the loveliest thing I’d ever seen.
“I’ve never thought of it that way before.
I mean, I know we are on a planet, but I never think that we’re moving, you know? ”
“It’s easy to forget.”
Lily got out a box from her backpack and placed it on the bench between us. She opened the lid like she was revealing a magic trick.
“You brought pastries!”
“And coffee.” She got out a flask from her backpack too. “I got a selection from the bakery.”
She poured us each a small cup of coffee and handed me a tissue for my sweet treat. I chose a chocolate filled croissant. “This is so fire.”
“This is pure sugar. Enjoy!”
And I did enjoy that first bite and first sip. A reward for dragging myself out of bed, but not quite as sweet as seeing the majesty of our surroundings and getting to spend time like this with Lily. She was fascinating me more and more.
“So you’ve never done this before either?” I said, interested to know what she did do in her life.
“Nope,” she said, with a glimmer of something in her eyes. She had charisma, that was for sure. “Catching sunrise on a flight or while travelling to a match somewhere doesn’t count. I’m really glad I’m making something of it and doing it with you, right here. I feel it’s perfect.”
I started smiling. It did feel perfect. I held up my coffee cup. “To a new experience for both of us.”
She did the same, smiling. “Yeah.”
We sat for a while longer, not saying anything, looking out over the water and the curve of the beaches below us, off into the distance.
“So what’s next in our little adventure?” Lily crossed her legs and shifted her whole body to face me. “What’s going to help replenish those creative juices of yours?”
“I don’t know. Do you have any ideas?”
“That depends. How do you like to let your hair down, as you put it?”
I shook my head. The game was my idea yet I had no clue what to do. “Get drunk, probably. Pretty basic.”
“Okay then. We’ll get drunk tonight. Anything else?”
My thoughts went somewhere sexual. I could feel myself blush as I hesitated to reply. In the end I simply shrugged.
“I don’t quite believe there isn’t more, but I won’t push you on it. Do you want to hear mine?”
“Please.”
“Skinny-dipping.”
“Oh.”
“It’s more that I’d like to go swimming in the sea at night. Preferably with a full moon beaming down. I think it’d feel amazing, really freeing.”
“Where?”
“By the little bay over there. I think it’d be a good spot.”
I looked towards what I could see of the bay from here, which was the top of a few boats, trying my best to keep calm while my heart started beating harder.
“Would you like to do that with me, as part of our challenge?” Lily’s innocent question belied the spiciness of what she was suggesting.
Butterflies swept through my stomach. My heart was pounding now. The idea of taking off all our clothes and swimming in the sea under moonlight sounded like such a romantic thing for us to do. I was so in. “Yeah. When?”
“I don’t know, maybe just when the moment takes us?”
“Should we get the whole gang involved?” Instantly, I regretted my suggestion.
Lily looked disappointed for a second before forcing a smile. “Yeah. Of course. Do you think they will?”
I nodded, wishing I hadn’t mentioned everyone else. “They might.”
The sun rose as we finished talking. It was going to be another hot day and as far as I knew, the only plan was to lie by the pool, which sounded more than perfect after this early morning adventure.