A Summer Romance

Having left her parents in the hotel bar where they were talking and sipping beer over nachos, and her brother up in their room, watching TV and bugging each other, Elina found herself down at the beach just a couple of meters away from the small hotel they were currently residing at. Removing her shoes before she stepped into the soft sand, she’d walked down to the shoreline and as she was moving further away from the hotel, the cool water was washing over her bare feet every now and then, cleaning the sand off of them.

Letting the calm surroundings sweep her away as she soaked in the smells, the sounds, the feelings, she tried to let her thoughts run free, without touching on the memories of the past couple of weeks. It was harder than it should have been, but then again, it wouldn't have been called heartache if it wasn't...

Stopping for a moment, she glanced around at the remaining people. Unlike same places, his beach never really closed. The lifeguards went home, but the beach was open to whoever wanted to go there and a handful of people were still milling about.

Couples out on a late-night stroll, joggers making the most of the cooler temperatures and a few stragglers, who just like her, were simply wandering around.

Noticing something in the corner of her eye, she turned slightly and glanced over at the guy who was kicking around a football, clearly attempting to keep if from touching the ground between the kicks.

He seemed to be around her age, give or take a year or two, and unlike her he actually seemed to belong there...

Watching him for a moment longer, she tore her gaze away and looked back out over the dark ocean. Unlike during the day when it was bright blue and inviting, it looked somewhat scary and eerily dangerous in the evening.

Continuing further down the beach, she felt her phone vibrating in the pocket of her denim Bermuda shorts. Pulling it out and recognising the name flashing on the screen, she rolled her eyes before pressing ignore, sending the caller straight to voicemail.

Not bothered by the fact that the caller would inevitably know that she was ignoring them, she held onto the phone for a few more moments and like predicted, the device beeped, alerting her to the arrival of a new message.

Deleting the voicemail without listening to it, she stuffed the phone back into her pocket and ran her fingers through her loose hair as she headed up from the water.

Sinking down on a sun lounger, falling backwards on it after just a couple of moments, she tried ignoring the ache in her heart as the voice she didn't want to hear filtering through her head. She didn't need to listen to the message to know what he was saying, she didn't need to listen to it to hear his voice, and it sucked.

It sucked that even when she was across the continent, they couldn’t leave her alone....

Forcing herself to not think about anything, she lay there, watching as the sky grew darker by the minute and in the back of her mind she knew that she should probably head back to the hotel. But she didn't want to talk to anyone. She didn't want to paint a smile on her lips as she faced her parents and she didn't want to play nice as she hung out with her brothers, she didn't want to face what had happened, she didn't want to think about it and she really didn't want to have to ignore it and pretend that everything was fine.

Because it wasn't.

Nothing was fine. She wasn't fine, her relationships weren't fine and her life sure as hell wasn't fine.

But that’s kind of what happens when your boyfriend of over a year dumps you for your friend cause you're not putting out.

Enjoying the serenity and the calmness of the beach, she groaned when she suddenly felt like she’d been punched in the gut.

Reflexes from years of sports working overtime, she caught the offending football between her hands and groaned slightly as she couldn’t still feel the initial impact when she pushed herself up into a sitting position. Only to find the guy from earlier standing a couple of feet away, an apologetic look across his friendly-looking face.

“Lo siento mucho,” he apologised as he slowly approached her, the look in his dark eyes telling her that he wasn't sure she understood him correctly.

Not saying anything as she continued looking at him, taking in his slim build, the above average height and the short hair that was most likely not natural blonde. Her mind was still processing the football to her stomach, so she didn't make any acknowledgement to if she him understand him or not.

Watching as a frown spread across his face, she couldn’t help but smile slightly as he began stuttering out an apology in English, most likely a language he wasn't all that comfortable with. “Don’t worry about it,” she stopped him, showing off the language skills she’d earned after years of visiting the southern European country and years of Spanish lessons in school. “Just caught me by surprise,” she added as she threw the ball back towards him, watching as he easily caught it between strong hands.

“Still, I'm sorry,” he told her, slight smile stretched across his thin lips.

“Its fine,” she told him honestly as she sat up properly, her bare feet sinking into the cool sand as he easily went back to bouncing the ball on his foot. “You play football?” she asked curiously after a moment of awkward silence between them, she could recognise skill like that in her sleep if she had to.

“Yeah,” he answered, nodding slowly as realization flashed in his dark eyes – she had no idea who he was... “Do you want to play some one-on-one?” he asked hopefully as he took her in, the blonde hair, the curvy build, for the first time realising just who she was. She was the girl from the hotel...

“Ehrm...” she hesitated slightly. “Football really isn't my fort,” she settled on as she verily observed at the ball he was still bouncing up and down on his right foot. “I’m more of a volleyball, basketball kind of girl,” she admitted with a slight smile. “I enjoy watching it, but I'm not very good at it.”

“I’ve probably seen worse,” he urged her with a smile.

“I doubt it,” she smiled up at him, but nonetheless stood up from the lounger and dug her phone, her keys and other items from the pockets of her shorts and dropping them next to her ballerina flats. Wiping her hands on the back of her shorts, making sure that her bikini top was still securely fastened and that her tank top wasn't going anywhere, she jogged after him in the sand, silently wondering what the hell she was doing.



“Yeah, okay, so you really weren’t joking,” he smiled as the two of them were walking back along the beach, shoes in hand and water slowly rolling over their feet.

“Told you,” Elina shrugged with a smile as she looked over at him, wondering what his deal was.

“That you did,” he agreed with her, looking over at her and catching her ocean blue eyes with his chocolate brown ones. “I'm Fernando,” he introduced himself, just then remembering that he hadn't before.

“Elina,” she reciprocated.

“You're not from around here, are you?” he asked curiously as they continued walking. She didn't look like most people living on the island, her skin was too fair, even when it was tanned, her eyes were bright blue and her hair seemed to be naturally blonde.

“No I'm not,” she confirmed with a smiled. “I'm here on vacation, I'm from Sweden,” she revealed.

“I'm also here on vacation,” he told her. “I live in Madrid.”

“Really?” she asked interested. “I’ve always wanted to go there,” she explained as he arched his eyebrow at her. “What’s it like?”

Nodding slightly he contemplated how to best describe the bustling city he was born in. “It’s nice,” he shrugged slightly. “I mean, I grew up there, I've never lived anywhere else, I don't really know how to describe it,” he admitted sheepishly, hating the way his cheeks heated up slightly.

“I get that,” she replied easily, glad to find that there weren't really any awkwardness between them.

“Are you here with your family?” he asked as he shifted the football under his arm.

“Yeah, my mum, my stepdad and my stepbrothers,” she nodded once. “It’s the first time we’ve gone on a real vacation since they got married,” she revealed. “Or rather where my brothers and I aren’t attempting to kill each other in our sleep,” she joked slightly, but he could see the slight truth in her eye. He quickly learned that they were very expressive. “If they’d had a say, we would have been in Portugal by now,” she rolled her eyes slightly. “For the Euros, they’re football crazy.”

“You aren’t?” he asked curiously, finding that he enjoyed listening to her talk. Her accent was slightly off, but for someone who wasn't living in the country she was really good.

“No, I like it,” she smiled at him. “I’ve been to a few of the national team matches as of late, but with this kind of tournament...” she trailed off, licking her lips slightly. “I just feel like you have to have a ticket, you have to be in the arena to really experience it, not just be in the city. If you’re just going to watch it on TV, you might as well do it at home, the sports bars are full every night.”

“Have you watched any of it?” he inquired curiously as he looked over at her.

“Of course,” her smile grew bigger as she looked at him. “All of our games and a few of the England ones as well,” she told him honestly. “Usually I tend to lose interest when we are kicked out,” she admitted sheepishly, knowing that she would watch the final whoever made it there, but that was probably it. If it was up to her anyway... “Did you watch Spain’s matches?”

“Sort of,” he told her with a nod, making a split second decision that sometimes it’s okay to tell a white lie, to bend the truth a little....



Slowly walking along the shore, talking about anything that came up, time passed quickly and stopping to check the time on her phone, Elina frowned slightly. “I probably have to get back,” she said slowly as she looked up at him, realising just how much she didn't want the night to end. “I told them I was just going to go down to the beach for a while, and if I know them right they’re about to send out a search party for me.”

“Then I’ll walk you back,” Fernando stated simply as they turned around, beginning the walk back to the hotel she was staying at.

“Okay,” she watched him from the corner of her eye, wondering why he would do that, he didn't know her.

Silence spreading between then, she jumped slightly as she felt his hand brush against her own, but did nothing as he easily laced their fingers together, like it was the easiest thing in the world. Glancing over at him, his face completely at ease, she let a small smile spread across her lips and silently decided to just roll with the punches.

She was on an island in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, she was on vacation, she should just...seize the day...

A frown passing over her forehead at the thoughts her mind conjured up, she shook her head slightly and soon found them standing at the gates leading to the hotel grounds.

Turning towards Fernando – who still hadn't let go of her hand – she smiled slightly as she looked up at him; he was taller than her by at least a couple of inches. “Well, this is me.”

Nodding slightly, his dark eyes searched her face for...something. “Can I see you again?” he asked softly, surprising them both. “Tomorrow maybe?”

“Sure,” she nodded quickly, a soft blush spreading across her cheeks as her eyes flicked back out over the calm ocean. “I’d like that,” she added, looking back at him.

“I can come over here at around ten,” he suggested, reaching out and gently moving a strand of soft hair behind her ear, his thumb brushing against her cheek as he did.

“Sounds good,” she all but whispered. “We’ll probably be out by the pool around then so...”

“I’ll see you tomorrow then,” he told her with a smile before leaning over and lightly brushing his lips against her cheek, causing her blush to flair back up once again.

Lingering for a moment, she mumbled something under her breath before spinning around on her heel and walking through the gates before continuing across the pool-area. Watching her leave, he stayed till she disappeared through a door and into the hotel, a slight smile playing across his lips before he too turned around and headed down the board walk, in the direction of where he was staying.