But then she gets a serious look on her face, and tells me we’re going to really go for it, so I stop laughing too. Then we get into a rhythm, sending each other easy shots, and concentrating more on the counting, and suddenly it’s easy.
We get to ninety four shots, and it seems we’re going to sail past one hundred. But then it’s my turn, and I hit it back to her too carefully, so she has to lurch forward to get it before it bounces twice. She just manages to send it back to me.
“Ninety five. Don’t mess this up!”
I hit it back to her, better this time.
“Ninety seven!” she says, as she gets to the ball.
The tension is actually getting to me, but this time my shot back is OK, she sends number ninety nine back towards me, with a little bit of a triumphant whack, but she mis-hits it this time, and I have to jump forward to reach it, but by now the sand is scuffed up, and I trip on a hole, and I completely miss the ball.
“Billy!” She yells at me, and then she runs forward, and she starts mock hitting me with her bat. And then somehow she’s sort of holding onto me and sort of leaning on me and groaning, and I can feel the strap of her bikini top pressing into my chest – and I don’t know where I should put my arms.
“You don’t have an ounce of fat on you do you?” she says all of a sudden, and then breaks away. I wonder if she wants to start again, like before, but this time she gives up, and wanders back to the little camp. Oscar and Jennifer take the bats, and they have a go too.
I don’t really know what’s going on. I can feel there’s some awkwardness, mainly around James, who’s really sulky now. But I’m still a bit disappointed when, a little while later, he suggests to her that they go off for a walk. I kind of expect her to say no, but she doesn’t. And they wander off, along the shoreline together. That just leaves me and Eric alone for a while, since the other two are still playing tennis. I don’t say anything at first, instead I watch Lily as she gets smaller and smaller, walking down the beach.
“You’re playing a dangerous game Mr Wheatley.” Eric says. Surprised, I spin around to face him.
“What? What do you mean?”
“You know exactly what I mean.”
“No I don’t.”
He raises his eyebrows at me, but then turns away, and I think he’s dropped it. Until a moment later when he speaks again.
“She is beautiful though, isn’t she?”
For a second I think about denying it, or pretending I don’t know who he’s talking about. After all, it could just as easily apply to Jennifer. But I notice he’s looking at me again, and I sense he’ll see if I lied. I nod.
“And lithe, and vivacious, and oh so sexy in that little white bikini. And let’s not forget, insanely rich.” Eric’s not looking at me now, he seems lost in his own head. “And yet somehow she’s still more than the sum of those parts.” He smiles sadly, and a funny realization hits me, Eric likes Lily as much as I do. Though actually it’s the second part of that thought that really impacts me. I like Lily. I really like Lily.
“But she belongs to James, and James belongs to her. And that’s how it’s always going to be.” He says it with a real finality. I don’t know why, but it grates with me.
“Why?”
It’s Eric’s turn to look confused. He turns back to me, his forehead screwed up. “Why?”
“Yes. Why?”
He doesn’t reply for a moment, but the frown stays on his face. “Just because. That’s why. They’ll come back from their little walk, and they’ll be hand in hand, and no-one will know what was said, apart from them, but Lily will stop her ridiculously obvious flirting with you, and James will stop moping about like an angry teenager, and all will be well again, in the golden couple. At least for now.”
I don’t reply, then he sighs, and – unexpectedly – smiles.
“Let me tell you something about the lovely Lily and the juicy James. They started dating when they were both fourteen, and they’ve known each other long before that. Plus their families approve of each other.” He gives me a sickly smile. “He gets the Bellafonte seal of approval, in a way that you never will Billy. You never could.”
“You like her too, don’t you?” I say, feeling my face flush hot. I expect him to look shocked that I’ve worked it out. But instead he looks sad. He closes his eyes for a while, then opens them and shakes his head.
“No Billy. I don’t.”
“Yes you do, the way you’re talking about her, it’s obvious.”
“There are none so blind as those who will not see.”
“What?”
Eric reaches out a hand and with a shock I realize he means to touch my face, but he’s slow and gentle, and I feel him pull open my eyes. It’s totally weird, but I’m so surprised I don’t do anything.
“Open them, Billy. Open your eyes. There’s so much that you don’t see.”
I
