Key to My Heart: An Anthology of Sweet Romance

by Alice La Roux

  Her head drops down, her hair falling forward instantly, shielding her face and so goes up her defences.

  “Don’t you know it’s rude to stare?” she snarks.

  “Don’t you know it’s hard not to when you see something spectacular.”

  Her head bolts upright, the expression of amazement pinked with a blush. “You like my eyes?” she gasps on a whisper. “Most people think they’re not normal.”

  “I think they are perfectly… you.”

  Chapter Seven

  Darcie

  He likes my eyes. I don’t know how to react to that. It is the total opposite of what I am used to.

  The hot topic of my school life and the constant jibes are always about my eyes. I’ve been called every name under the sun. A million and one different reasons have been passed around as to why I have ‘Creepy, weird, evil’ looking eyes: I was dropped on my head as a baby. The devil came down and poked me in the eye. I was a witch. Some sicko even put out a rumour that I had an incurable brain tumour and only had a few weeks to live. That hurt the most, because Mum had cancer and it only sparked my own fears of it been a genetic thing. That was until our doctor assured me that my Heterochromia Iridium, having two different coloured eyes, was just one of those things. It wasn’t linked to any underlying problem and had nothing to do with genetics. Nor did my mother’s illness.

  It takes me a few seconds to regain my composure.

  “Ice-cream?” I start walking again in the general direction of where he said the shop was.

  “Oh yeah,” he quick steps behind me until he’s level with my side. “We better be quick before it melts.”

  His simple silly joke is enough to break the awkwardness.

  Each day, we meet up after Samson has completed his home schooling. We walk the beach, looking for shells, and talk about random stuff. He teaches me how to skim stones across the shallow sea water when it’s calm. We walk down to the far side of the bay where he shows me a cave that you can only get to when the tide is out. He’s full of silly stories of pirates and smugglers from a trillion years ago. Samson’s funny and makes me laugh, which is something I only do on occasion with my dad. At the end of each day, before we both make our way home, we call to the shop for ice-cream.

  The evening before I’m due to leave, Samson insists I wait outside the shop while he goes in to get them. When he comes out, he’s holding the biggest cone I’ve ever seen. I count at least six half scoops, all arrays of colours and flavours.

  “Holy pee, Samson. That’s huge.”

  “Well, seeing as it’s your last day, I thought it only fitting that you get to taste the other flavours you’ve yet to try.” He holds it out towards me.

  As I take the cone from him, I catch hold of his now empty hand with my free one.

  “Come on,” I laugh, pulling him along behind me until we get to a low wall between the path and the sandy beach. Letting go of his hand, I sit on the edge and swing my feet over so I’m facing the sea. I pat the stone right beside me. “Sit down then.”

  I watch as he drops down onto the wall, sitting a foot away from me, with his back towards the sea view.

  “You need to shuffle closer if you’re going to help me eat this monstrous lump of deliciousness.”

  He moves closer but still not close enough, so I wave him nearer with my hand.

  “Hurry up, or it’s going to drip everywhere,” I laugh.

  When he’s right next to me, our legs touching, the ice-cream in my hand between us, I lick the side nearest to me. I tilt it slight towards him. My mouth full, I nod at him to go ahead. After a moment of hesitation, he licks his side.

  “This is so good,” I mutter around a mouth full of multi-flavour. “What’s the green coloured one?”

  “Pistachio,” he replies as he wipes his mouth with the back of his arm.

  I can feel the melting ice-cream begin to slide over my fingers at the far side and I’m just about to move to sort it, when Samson dips his head and runs his tongue from my little finger all the way up to my index one, catching every drip. The feelings that run rapidly around my body at the unexpected contact of his mouth on my fingers, causes me to let out a sharp gasp. Instantly his eyes shoot up to meet mine.

  “It was dripping. I didn’t want you to get it on your clothes,” he says quickly in his defence.

  We look at each other intensely, each of us waiting for the other to make some kind of motion, say one single word.

  He gives me a flat, wide smile and blinks rapidly. It’s cheeky, funny and an unspoken kind of ‘Whoops’ moment.

  A deep belly laugh bursts from my mouth that takes both Samson and me by surprise and before we know it we are bent double, unable to keep ourselves upright as the laughter takes over.

  Chapter Eight

  Samson

  I’m not sure what time Darcie is due to leave, so I make sure I’m up early and I cycle my way over to where they’re staying. While riding, I think of how I snuck out last night and made my way down to the beach. With my torch, I had scoured the beach for hours, looking for something special. Just when I was about to give up, I witnessed some kind of godly intervention, a miracle maybe, who knows. I just happened to look down at my feet and there it was: cone shaped—the type that when you hold it to your ear, you can hear the sea, whiter than white background that only made the markings stand out even more. The coloured flecks were almost black at the base, then deep blue, then grey, getting smaller and lighter to tip, until they were almost like silver glitter. When my torchlight hit it, it had sparkled like nothing I’d seen before.

  I can see the taxi cab parked at the bottom of the path that leads to her door. I peddle faster when I see her walking towards the back of the car, struggling with a large dark holdall. Someone I assume to be her father follows close behind, pulling a suitcase, a laptop tucked under his arm.

  The breaks make a screeching noise as I pull hard on the handle bar. Jumping off, I let my bike fall sideward to the ground as I close the last bit of distance on foot.

  “Darc,” I pant out of breath.

  “Samson,” she gasps. Her face is red when she glances over at her father who just responds with a crooked smile while handing his bags over to the driver. It’s obvious that she’s not spoken of me to her dad. Is she embarrassed because of me? Of how I look?

  My heart drops but soon lifts when she takes a couple of steps towards me.

  “I didn’t expect to see you again,” she whispers.

  “I wanted to say goodbye and wish you a safe journey.” I take another step closer until we’re face to face. “I’m going to miss you Darc.”

  A smile adorns her face, but I can see a hint of sadness in her eyes. “It’s weird,” she laughs softly. “You are so… full of light with your positive and sunny attitude. Yet I’m…”

  “Dark, mysterious and unique,” I finish for her.

  “That’s not quite how I would put it.”

  “The perfect contradiction to each other. Sometimes that can be a good thing.”

  We both shuffle on our feet for a few moments until I swallow down all my inhabitations. Stepping forward, I put my arms around her waist and hug her tight. She hugs me back and my heart nearly takes flight from my chest. I move back a little, so I can see her face, but I keep my hands resting loosely on her hips.

  Taking my one last chance, I lean in and place my lips on hers, stealing a kiss.

  My first kiss.

  As quickly as it starts, it is finished, but I know the memory will last so much longer.

  “Goodbye Darc.” With that said, I turn and walk over to collect my bike. I don’t look back as I ride away because I know it will only hurt more.

  Chapter Nine

  Darcie

  I feel my father’s hand come to rest softly on my shoulder as I watch Samson ride away.

  “Come on Darcie, we need to go or we’ll miss our train.” Dad visibly cringes when he realises that he’s used my proper name. I let it g
o because at this moment, I don’t even care.

  I lift my backpack into the boot of the taxi, leaving the driver to slam it shut, and make my way around to the back-passenger door.

  When the taxi starts to move off, I reach up for the seatbelt, bringing it across my body and down to the catch at the other side. As I click it into place, I feel something in my hoodie pocket. Slipping my hand inside, I pull out a ball of paper and unravelling it, I find a ball of cotton wool. As I peel it open, the sight of the beautiful shell has a lump building in my throat. It’s the one from the rocks, or if it isn’t then it’s a twin. It’s perfect, just absolutely perfect.

  Through tears that I didn’t even realise I was shedding, I see words on the paper it is wrapped in.

  Swiping the sleeve of my hoody across my eyes, I smooth out the paper and try to focus on the written note.

  On one side of the paper is what must be his address, in clear and bold block letters. Turning it over I find…

  Something unique (just like you) to add to your pocket full of seashells.

  Write to me, please.

  Samson.

  Wrapping the shell back in the paper, I push the precious gift from my new friend deep into my pocket where it’s safe.

  “Dad.”

  “Yes, love?”

  “Can I borrow your notepad?”

  Chapter One

  As I walk along the golden sands with the clear blue ocean water rushing over my bare feet, the heat of the sun makes me feel warm. All I can think of is how beautiful it looks.

  The beaches in Scotland are beautiful, but the views are nothing like this. I’ve come to the Spanish country to spend the whole of the summer holidays here with my father and his family.

  I've only ever met them a few times. When my parents split up, my father came back to Benidorm to help with his parents’ business, and I didn't really see them much then.

  My mum is a nurse in the busy Dundee hospital and can't always get the time off to spend with me.

  It’s hard on both of them, especially as some of her shifts are overnight.

  I'm twelve and it will be my thirteenth birthday while I’m here. Due to that, it has been decided between my parents that I will get to spend the summer holidays here with my father and grandparents. I’ll also get to help out in the family restaurant, which I am really looking forward to.

  My father's apartment is situated above the restaurant. My grandparents own the whole building but rent out the rest of the apartments to other residents. I’m thankful that at least my father has his own apartment.

  I’m not great at speaking Spanish, but I have been assured that apparently, I will be by the time I leave. I’m actually looking forward to this Spanish adventure and getting to spend it in such an amazing place. The restaurant overlooks the La Vante beach, and the promenade is busy already, even though it's only nine am.

  I perk up when I hear my name being called. It’s my papa—he likes it when I call him that—and my grandparents, Abuela and Abuelo. My Aunt Sofia is Tia for short. I really don’t know if I’ll remember this all.

  I run over to my papa, who is standing with another man and a younger man. I guess you could say he was a boy. He looks my age, but he might be older. My papa introduces me to the man as Tomas and his son Mateo.

  “Hola,” I say quietly. It's about the only word I know so far.

  My Papa and Tomas are busy chatting, so Mateo turns to me and quickly speaks to me in Spanish. My face must say it all and he bursts out laughing.

  “You don't speak Spanish, do you?” he asks in a thick Spanish accent but with impeccable English.

  “Umm not yet.” I giggled. “Hopefully by the end of the six weeks, I will be able to speak a little more than ‘Hola’.” We both chuckle.

  “Do you want to go down to the beach?” he asks.

  “Of course.”

  Even though I've just walked it, I feel like this is a good idea, especially as he's friendly. I feel as though six weeks is going to be boring spending it with just my family.

  I'm going to need a friend.

  We sit chatting by the waterfront and it feels like I've known him for longer than just a few minutes. He’s so easy to talk to.

  We both love music, films and football.

  Of course, he likes all the Spanish clubs and mine are Scottish. He’s never heard of them, so I'm sitting there trying to explain the names to him, which is amusing as I start throwing in names from other Scottish leagues names that are hard to say. It probably sounds like another language to him.

  I know it's cruel but it's so funny.

  I think he eventually guesses what I'm doing as he bursts out laughing, promising revenge on me.

  Eventually, I'm called on again by my Papa to go and help set up for the lunchtime rush and clear up the breakfast dishes.

  Mateo turns to me. “It was lovely to meet you, Louisa. I hope we get to catch up again soon.”

  I’m hoping so as well.

  “Me too.”

  I've never really had a boy that was a friend before.

  I work for the next two hours in the restaurant, helping to clean up, and I am shown how to help prepare the vegetables and dishes for lunchtime. I’m given a half hour break to go freshen up and change into the restaurant’s uniform. I'm allowed to wear shorts, but I have a t-shirt with the restaurant's name on it and mine on the back so people can be more friendly, knowing my name.

  I still haven't met my Aunt Tia and I can't wait to meet her. She’s only twenty-one, so I think we will get along for the short time I will get to see her. She’s moving to London to study to become a midwife.

  I wake early the next morning to someone bouncing on my bed.

  “Get up, sleepy head,” says a beautiful young woman that I’m guessing is Sofia.

  “I’m awake, I think.” I giggle.

  “Come on up and meet me properly before breakfast is served.”

  I walk into the living room to get a bear hug from her.

  “Hello, my niece. It's so nice to eventually meet you.”

  “You too, Tia. I can’t believe I’m meeting you and then you’re leaving.“

  “I know, but we can keep in contact.”

  I am so happy to finally have all my Spanish family around me.

  “So your father tells me you met Mateo,” she says with the widest grin.

  “Yes I did,” I say through my red face. “I can see you two will become good friends hopefully.” She giggles.

  I can see my aunt is trouble already but I love it. My papa has made breakfast and the three of us sit around eating and catching up on what Sofia has been up to and how excited she is to go to London to train. She’s hoping she meets a dishy doctor or two which makes me giggle—my papa not so much.

  It's what she’s always wanted to do. My papa always wanted to be a chef and that's what he did in the UK and what he does here.

  My grandfather, Abuelo, is an amazing chef as well, so I think my papa takes after his papa.

  Today, Sofia is helping in the restaurant, and I can't wait to spend the day with her. I’m sure I will be laughing most of the days with her there. Not that we don’t laugh and joke. I just see her as more and I’ll probably get in trouble as well.

  Chapter Two

  I haven't seen Mateo for two days now. I've quickly learned how the restaurant works and Abuelo and Abuela are proud of me. I'm hoping I can do this every summer holiday. It's amazing so far.

  It’s Friday night, and my papa has informed me I’m not working tonight. I don't know if I'm happy about that. Sitting in the apartment on my own will be pretty boring.

  We all just finished cleaning up after the lunchtime rush when my papa tells me to go clean up and shower as we are going out. I’m super excited about this as I haven't really done much since I got here so far.

  When I’m ready my papa takes my arm and leads me down the promenade to a fish restaurant. My face lights up when I realize the restaurant is owned by M
ateo’s family, and then even better when I see we are eating with them.

  His family is lovely and so funny. His Mama Camila is a beautiful woman whom I feel like I'm gonna be close to. Not like my own mother but while I'm here in Benidorm.

  “So Louisa, what is it you want to do when you finish school?” she asks sweetly.

  “I want to become a veterinary nurse and work with the animals,” I say.

  “Ahh, Mateo wanted to work with animals as well,” she says, “but unfortunately he has to help in the family business.”

  I can see Mateo’s face drop, and I can tell it’s his dream, which he hopefully can do someday.

  It's not until I hear the ‘happy birthday’ that I suddenly remember it's my birthday. I've been so busy since I got here that I totally forgot all about it. Everyone comes and says happy birthday and gives me a kiss. When its Mateo’s turn, I think he will just say happy birthday but he gives me a kiss on the cheek.

  “Happy birthday my friend,” he says quietly.

  Wow. My cheek is all tingly. I've never had a kiss from a boy before.

  It has been the best birthday ever.

  My mum is gonna call in a bit as she’s been working all day. I've just realized if I come here every summer holidays then I will get to spend my birthday every year with them.

  July 1st will be special every year.

  I’ve had to say goodbye to my fun-loving, quirky aunt Sofia. I’m sad but happy that she will be off living out her dream and having as much fun as she can. I still have the rest of my family and Mateo’s, and I know I will see her as much as she can. She will call and keep in touch.

  Every spare minute that I'm not working, I’m with Mateo. We watch a lot of our favourite films or play football on the beach, or sometimes we just sit on the promenade wall that overhangs the beach in our favorite spot, chatting or just sitting watching the sunset.