“Hi, Rubio,” she said.
Some kind of invisible magnet pulled my eyes down to her skirt. Oh, God. I glanced over at Eve. She was laughing at something Ryan and Marco were saying. She didn’t appear to have noticed Catalina.
I shook off Cat’s hand and took a step away from her, back towards Eve. She grabbed my arm again.
“Hey.” Her mouth twisted into a smile. “Don’t you want having fun with me?”
I stared at her – at the mean glint in her eyes. “No,” I said.
The music swirled all around us. Loud and fast and hard.
“Por que?” she said. “Why?”
“Several reasons.” I pulled my arm free again. “Marco. Eve. Mostly me, actually.”
Cat shrugged. “So what? Who care Marco? He always come back to me.”
I shook my head. Turned away. And walked into Eve.
Our eyes met.
Catalina grabbed my arm for a third time. “Hey,” she snapped at Eve. “I am here first.”
The music pounded in my head. I kept my eyes fixed on Eve.
She stared back for a second, her expression unreadable, then shot an icy look at Catalina.
“Get your hands off my boyfriend.”
There was a long pause. Catalina’s eyes widened theatrically. She peeled her hand off my arm and held it in front of Eve’s face, fingers spread.
“Is all yours,” she hissed. She sashayed off into the crowd.
I didn’t even think about watching her. I just carried on looking at Eve. “I wasn’t going to. . .”
“I know,” she said. “But still. . .”
I grinned and put my arms around her. Across the room Catalina ran her silky fingers across the back of Marco’s neck. He turned and beamed at her. Poor bastard. I held Eve more tightly. People were pouring past us onto the dance floor as a new track pounded away. I leaned down and breathed her in.
She was beautiful. She was sexy. She was fun. She was sweet.
And she wanted me. No-one else.
There was no downside.
The last two days sped past. The last pool shift. The last waiting tables shift. The last evening.
I was waiting for Eve by the pool. It had gone eleven and she was supposed to have met me at ten-thirty. Even allowing for her notorious lateness, I was starting to get a little worried. Ryan and Chloe were off somewhere on the beach. I leaned impatiently back in my lounger. The underwater lights of the pool cast soft green shadows through the water.
I’d stationed myself at the end furthest away from the pool bar, which was still busy with hotel guests.
“Hola,” Alejandro’s voice behind me made me jump. I twisted and looked up. He was peering down at me from over the top of my lounger. “Hey. We must you know . . . how do you say . . . stop meeting like this.”
I stuck my middle finger up at him.
He chuckled and came and sat on the next lounger. “You are waiting for Eva?”
I nodded, then checked the time. “Why aren’t you playing? The band doesn’t finish for half an hour.”
Alejandro grinned. “I took the night off,” he said. “Jonno said it was okay. He has been great with me. He said nothing to my dad. But he said, like Eva, that I must speak with him. So I did. Today. I told my dad. Told him everything. Being gay. Everything.”
I stared at him. “How’d he take it?” I said.
Alejandro waggled his hand horizontally in the air. “Soso,” he said. “No happy but at least he did no kill me.” He stared at the pool, at the water lapping against the side. “I will be in the hotel for only a few more weeks. Then I will be free to tour. Get away from here.” He looked up. “Hey.” His voice was suddenly concerned. “Mira. Look. It’s Eva. Something is wrong.”
I shot up off the lounger.
Eve was running towards us out of the main lobby. Even in the dim glow of the terrace fairy lights I could see she was crying.
We reached each other on the grass between the pool and the terrace. She flung herself into my arms, now sobbing loudly.
“What is it?” I said, suddenly terrified. “What’s happened?”
“It’s my dad,” Eve said. “He’s . . . oh God . . . he’s making me stay.” She hugged me. “Oh, Luke, he’s making me stay here.”
What?
I held her away from me, trying to see her face.
“What d’you mean?” I said. “Making you stay in the hotel? He can’t. For how long?”
“No.” She wiped her eyes. “In Spain. In some school he’s got lined up. I don’t know for how long – he says until Christmas at least. He says now I’ve got my GCSEs it’s a good time for me to try something new. And . . . oh Luke . . . I have to go now. Tonight.”
“What?” It came out as a whisper. My stomach felt like it had fallen out through my shoes.
Eve’s face crumpled again. “He says he can’t trust me to behave myself in England. He’s convinced you’re going to try and shag me once we’ve been back five minutes. It doesn’t matter what I say to him. He says he knows from something you said or how you looked at him or something. He’s mad. He won’t listen.” She leaned against my shoulder and wept.
My heart sank, remembering how I’d smirked at Jonno in his office.
And it’s going to happen soon, you bastard. Because she wants me. She really does. You should see the way she kisses me.
“What about your mother, Eva?” Alejandro stood beside me, his arms folded.
I nodded. He was right. Eve’s mum wouldn’t let this happen. She might be a bit pathetic where Jonno was concerned, but surely she’d stand up to him for Eve’s sake.
I held Eve away from me again. “Yeah, whatever your dad says, your mum’s got . . . got rights, hasn’t she?”
“It’s not that simple.” Eve’s lips trembled. “I mean, my mum’s got custody and all that, but my dad pays for everything. Mum hasn’t had a modelling job for five years. Without his money she’d go to pieces.”
“Can’t your mum get a different job? I mean, there must be lots of things she could do.”
“It’s no good, Luke. He owns our house and everything in it. He owns our car. And he says if I don’t do what he says he’ll take them all back. And he’ll take her to court and . . . oh, God, you know how threatening he can be.” Eve started sobbing. “I told him I wouldn’t go, but he just started going on about . . . about how Mum would be the one to suffer – like, how was she going to survive if he took all his money away. And . . . and I called Mum and she’s upset but . . . but Luke, she’s frightened of him. So she’s saying it’s just a few months, like that’s hardly any time at all.” She wiped her eyes. “I can’t bear it. It’ll be ages before I see you again.”
Fury surged through me. “I’m going to stop him.” I stormed towards the lobby door.
“How?” Alejandro grabbed my shoulder. “Hey. Luke. Stop. You will make everything worse for Eva.”
“Then I’ll stay too.” I turned back to Eve and pulled her towards me. “He can’t do all this, just to keep us apart.”
“He can.” Eve’s voice was shaky. “He says we’ll both lose interest once we’re apart.”
“I won’t.” My mind raced, trying to think of a way I could stay in Mallorca with her. Or come back and find her. “He must have said something about where you’re going?”
“No.” Eve looked up at me. “He won’t tell me where it is. He doesn’t want you to know.”
Alejandro whistled. “He must be really angry at you,” he said.
I hugged Eve tighter. This couldn’t be happening.
Over Eve’s shoulder I could see Ryan and Chloe walking up past the pool. Alejandro went over to them. I could hear him talking quietly, explaining everything. Ryan swore. Chloe gasped. I watched her hand fly up to her mouth. Then they both looked over at me and Eve.
I looked away, kissing Eve’s hair. It didn’t feel real. Surely, it wasn’t real.
“Come in now, Eve.” Jonno’s voice boomed out from the main
lobby doorway. He was standing with his legs apart, chewing on his cigar. I itched to walk over and ram it down his throat.
Eve disentangled herself from me.
“I have to say goodbye to everyone,” she sniffed.
I caught her hand. “Now?” I said. “Right now?”
“Eve’s leaving immediately,” Jonno said. “Best to avoid long goodbyes, I always think. So easy to get carried away with them.”
He glared at me.
Eve let go of my hand and walked down to the others. I watched her hug each of them in turn. I could see Chloe was crying.
I was numb. Surely I would wake up in a minute and this would be a dream.
Jonno clapped his hand on my shoulder. “Hope you enjoy next term, Mr Sensitive.” He took a big puff on his cigar.
“You bastard,” I said. “You can’t do this.”
Jonno grinned. “Watch me.”
Eve came back. She ignored her dad and took my hand. “We’re saying goodbye in private,” she said, tugging me away.
“You’ve got two minutes,” Jonno called out.
Clutching each other’s hands, we stumbled past the pool, past the others. Through the trees. Onto the beach.
We stood on the sand, the warm breeze salty in our faces. Dazed, I looked round. Only a few other people strolling about. You couldn’t even hear the Garito from here.
Eve hugged me. “Hold me,” she said.
I held her, my head starting to clear. “Let’s run away,” I said. “We can go right down the beach, onto the rocks. Climb up. Walk into Cala del Toro. Hide.”
Eve shook her head. “We wouldn’t get anywhere in two minutes. Anyway, we don’t have any money and my dad would find us.” She paused. “I’m doing what he says so he won’t hurt you, Luke.”
“I can look after mys—”
“Sssh.” Eve tilted her face up to me. Her eyes were red and puffy and her skin was marked with tear tracks. “Face it, Luke. He’s won. For now, he’s won.”
I stared at her, letting what she said sink in, accepting what had to happen now. I smiled, as an old thought reoccurred to me.
“What?” she said.
“You’re so beautiful,” I said. “Even when you’ve been crying. You’re more beautiful than anyone.”
I leaned down and kissed her. I put everything I had into that kiss. Everything I felt for her. All my desire. All my heart.
“Don’t forget me,” I said.
“EVE!” Jonno’s voice bellowed out from the hotel.
God, was he standing there with a stopwatch or something?
I raised my eyes.
Eve smiled. “Don’t come up to the hotel with me.” Her voice faltered. “I want to remember last seeing you here, like this.”
Something cracked in my chest. “We’ll see each other soon, yeah?”
Eve nodded. Her eyes were desperate. “Wait for me.”
“EVE!”
“I have to go,” she said. She stood for a moment, staring at me.
Then she reached up and kissed me one last time.
“I love you,” she said.
And she turned and ran away into the trees.
Ryan found me sitting on the sand ten minutes later. He took me down to the Garito. We sat on the step, listening to the music.
After a while, Chloe and Alejandro turned up with a bottle of tequila. We sat around drinking for hours.
At first, I thought the booze was helping. But then I was sick on the beach, walking back to the room – which, of course, felt totally rubbish.
Then it was morning. We had to leave before ten a.m. Jonno was still out, presumably wherever he had taken Eve. He had left instructions for one of the hotel clerks – an old guy who spoke very little English – to drive us to the airport.
I hardly said anything on the way home. I tried to text and call Eve several times, but her phone seemed to be permanently switched off.
Mum met us at the airport. I could see her looking round for Eve. Then Chloe explained what had happened.
Mum looked good. Really happy. And all fat round the middle. I told her I was pleased she was having a baby, and this time I meant it. She hugged me, but she didn’t say anything about Eve until we got home and we were on our own.
Then she listened sympathetically as I raged about how unreasonable Jonno had been.
“But four months isn’t such a long time, Luke.”
I glanced at her. What was she talking about?
Mum smiled. “I mean, I know it feels bad right now, but Eve’ll be back before you know it. And, you know, you’re both still pretty young to be getting so serious about each other.”
She just didn’t get it.
I got a call from Jonno the day after we got home.
“I wanted to let you know Eve’s settling in nicely.”
“Where?” I said.
Jonno snorted. “Not telling you, sunshine. And don’t bother asking Eve’s mum. I’ve told her not to say anything, especially to you. Anyway, I’m calling to say you can stop phoning. They don’t allow the girls to have mobiles where she is now.”
“Sounds like a prison.”
“Needs to be, mate,” Jonno chuckled. “Keep little shits like you out.”
“Why are you doing this?” I said, my temper rising. “Why is me being with Eve such a big deal? Such a big threat?”
Jonno laughed. I could hear him rolling his cigar around in his mouth. “You’ll work it out as you get older,” he said. “All other guys are a threat when it comes to girls like Eve.”
He hung up.
I stared at the phone. Then, slowly, I smiled.
Okay, Jonno, I thought. You win for now.
I’ll accept it. I’ll get on with my life. Go back to school.
But you can’t keep Eve locked up forever.
And when she’s free, I’ll still be waiting for her.
And there won’t be anything you can do about it.
Sophie McKenzie, Three's a Crowd
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