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Emma watched him too. Was she smiling now? “A diet Coke for me.”
“Not this again,” Emma replied, her smile quickly replaced with an eye-roll. She huffed before adding, “I’ll be back in a sec with full-fat Cokes for both of us.” She’d emphasised the wordsfull-fat.
As she walked off, Chris asked, “What was that about?”
“I overheard some girls at school laughing about the way I looked so I was thinking I should lose some weight,” she confessed, unsure why she was telling him.
“Seriously? But you’re perfect,” he whispered.
“Stop giving me these lines. You can’t say something like that when you don’t know me,” Lucie hit back. “Stop trying to make me like you by saying all these nice things about me.”
Chris stared back, and he shoved his hands in his pockets. “I didn’t realise that was what I was doing. Fine, maybe perfect was too much. But everything I’ve seen about you so far, I like, apart from when you believe what everyone tells you about me. I want to help your confidence, but maybe you don’t want that from me.”
She hid her surprise with a cough. Even though Chris confused her at times, he brought her joy. A pride beyond anything she’d felt in her life covered her body. It was like little lights that she’d never found a switch for began to light up one after another. It reminded Lucie of Christmas when she and Emma screwed each bulb on the old tree lights tighter to understand why none of them would light up. But halfway around, they found that one of the bulbs had broken, and when they changed the broken bulb, all the lights came alive in reds, blues, and greens. Finally, she found her confidence. It was like finding her broken bulb. Did he say he liked everything he’d seen about her so far? No one said that to her. Usually, she was too lanky, short, skinny, fat, and always too dull.
“Okay,” she replied with a mouth so dry it came out as a rasp. What else did you say to that? “But I wish I had your confidence like all the time. I’ve never stood up to anyone else before.”
He laughed, not cruelly, but what was the meaning behind the sound? “Do you think so? I can tell you the secret to my confidence.”
She nodded with a half-smile.
“But not yet. How about you meet me tomorrow morning back at the beach around nine? It would be great to see you and, of course, get my drawing off you.”
Was he holding his breath as he waited?
As she adjusted her grip on the ball that was threatening to slip from her sweaty hands, she spied her dad. He was storming her way, his face still blotchy but now red too.
She had to make her decision quick. She wanted to say yes, but what would that mean? Her dad was getting closer. Noisy arcade machines decorated with plastic palm trees shouted in the background as if adding a soundtrack to her panic. Emma was on her way back too, and she was glaring at their dad. A fight was brewing.
Chris’s question hung in the air. Lucie’s heart sped up, and her hands trembled. If they didn’t meet tomorrow, they might never see each other again. Lucie took a breath and yanked her ponytail. Her heart thundered in her chest. She opened her mouth but still faltered.
“Is this where you’ve been all this time, talking to some boy? We’ve been waiting for you. It’s not just rude to me but also Jessica’s parents. Steve and Jacky have been very patient because you were supposed to be getting us all drinks, but this? Yet again, I’m ashamed of you,” he ranted.
“Seriously?” Chris jumped in before Lucie could speak. “Because she was talking to someone? Are you for real?”
“This doesn’t concern you, whoever you are. This conversation is between my unruly daughter and me. And you”—her dad was now pointing at Emma—“you were meant to bring her back. The pair of you are ruining this holiday with your silliness and impertinence.”
“Chill out, mate,” Chris said, bouncing on his feet. His laces were undone. Lucie focused on the trip hazard as a distraction from the confrontation.
“I am not your mate, and a punk like you doesn’t get to disrespect me. Now leave my family alone.” He dismissed him with a wave of his hand. Chris’s jaw was hard and his nostrils flared as her dad turned to her and Emma. “Get back to the lane and apologise to your mother.”
“No,” Lucie replied, surprising herself. “You’ve been rude to my friend.”
“Excuse me? You did not dare to answer me back,” he snapped as he stood closer to Lucie, crowding her and forcing her to stand back.
Chris jumped in, his feet slapping against the plastic floor. “Leave her alone.”
People were staring. Lucie winced as her face flamed hotter. The Stepford families were gawping, forcing her to dip her head, but she continued to see their judgement. Then, one by one, they turned their children away.
“It’s fine,” Lucie replied meekly as her mum walked towards them with a pale face.
“You’re making a scene. Are you proud of yourself?” her dad asked, drawing more attention. “Everyone is looking at the silly little girl who throws a tantrum because she wants to talk to a boy.”
Tears welled in her eyes as she walked back towards the lane, passing her mum, who whispered something at Emma. Lucie had tried to stand up to her dad, and it’d turned her into whathe’d said—a silly little girl. Jess was mouthing something to her, but Lucie focused on Jess’s disappointed parents, Steve and Jacky, who stood behind her. Everyone was embarrassed by her.
Chris wasn’t a good friend for her, and her dad had made sure that Chris wouldn’t want anything to do with her now anyway. Half a day around him, she was in trouble and hated herself more than usual.
Chapter Twelve – Present Day
