Battered Waves

Chapter 6

Minutes blurred to hours, blurring in to days. In all honesty I had no idea how long I'd actually been here now but I'd worked out it was 3 weeks. I'd hardly been home, let alone spent time with my parents. Not that they would have particularly noticed, or minded, for that matter. They'd made friends with many people in the village, whilst I was still just hanging out with Luke. Although I seemed to be complaining about that less and less each day now.

Today was the first day where I wasn't really sure what to do with myself. Luke hadn't knocked on my door this morning. It didn't bother me too much, but it felt odd not having anything to do. And the question of what Luke was doing which seemed more important flitted across my mind.

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I stepped outside, closing the now-painted pastel green front door behind me and began to make my way up to the ice-cream shop where Luke and Alli worked. Looking around, only Alli was on a shift today. Each time I came here the boat decor on the ceiling had changed and been added to. I assumed that the fishermen brought things back to liven it up. Not that it was lacking in any way whatsoever. I waited for Alli to finish serving the customers before going up to the counter. 

"Talia," she smiled, "it's always nice to see you." It occured to me that I'd never seen her out of work, but she was always smiling and always had her hair in a pony tail and the pale blue apron hanging from her neck.

"You too," I replied. 

"No Luke today?" she asked, glancing outside the door. It also occured to me that she'd never seen me without Luke, which seemed strange.

I shook my head, "I haven't seen him...I was wondering if you had?"

She bit her lip, thinking. "Oh," she said, tapping her forehead with the palm of her hand, "he's fishing today. He should be back by lunchtime." I thanked her and began to leave the shop before she called me back. "Talia..."

"Hrm?" I mumbled, walking to the side of the counter.

"I like you."

I frowned, letting a small giggle pass my lips. "Thanks?"

She went back on her words. "I like you because you're a challenge for Luke. You stand your ground and from what I've seen you haven't fallen for his charm as most of them do."

I wanted to question her on 'them', but I felt I better not. It was easy to put two and two together really - Luke's norm was most probably hooking up with girls who came to stay here on holiday, seeing as that's all this place was good for. I'd always assumed that was how Luke's mind worked, but hearing it from someone else dampened my mood a little.

"He's kinda annyoing to be honest," I replied, trying to stay light-hearted.

Alli laughed, "I'll agree with you there." 

I left the shop and headed down to the beach, soaking in the golden rays and enjoying the clear blue sky, determined to stay happy.

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"Fishing huh?" I asked Luke as he jumped off the boat. It was old and rusty, but obviously still served a good purpose. 

"It's great, we caught loads today. You should come next time." 

I screwed my nose up, "maybe I'll pass." 

He laughed and came up to join me after bidding goodbye to the men he'd spent the morning with. "Sorry I didn't let you know."

I shrugged, "it's fine, I went and saw Alli."

He looked a little surprised, "you did?" 

I tried to read his expression, which was proving very hard. And right then I knew he was evidently guilty of something. "Yeah I did."