You promised we’d stick it out through thick and thin,
But then the walls came down, my world’s tumbling in,
And I’m left picking up the pieces of this mess you made,
You left my heart all broken and frayed.
The hum of the crowd had quietened, heads turning towards the stage, shoulders swaying as they listened to the words that hit so deep inside me it was as though Luca had seen inside my very soul.
When I smell your perfume on a stranger in the street,
My heart breaks in two, it forgets to beat,
I thought all love ever did was break and end,
But on the Monday when I met you .?.?.
Luca’s breath echoed down the microphone as he paused, just long enough for his eyes – heavy with too many emotions to name – found mine once more.
.?.?. I watched it begin again.
Luca’s fingers strummed with finality across the strings, everyone around me jumping to their feet as the crowd broke out into rapturous applause. But I couldn’t move. My heart was thumping in my chest as if I’d just run a marathon, my fingersgripping the edge of the table as my brain whirred into rewind, a rush of speeded-up colours and memories as I flicked back to that day. The day I’d first met Luca. I was on my way to work so it had to be a weekday. But was it aMonday? Even if it was, it didn’t mean it wasthatMonday. The one Luca was talking about. Statistically, in fact, it was highly unlikely.
‘You OK?’ Jacob mouthed at me when he saw I was the only one still seated.
I nodded with a smile, jumping to my feet before he could put two and two together. I reached for my wine glass, downing its contents in one, but I’d misjudged quite how much was left and a trickle of wine escaped out the corner of my mouth, running down my chin.
‘Hi,’ came a familiar voice behind me.
I swallowed audibly, quickly wiping my chin on the neckline of my t-shirt before spinning around. Only I forgot I was still stood in the gap between the table and the connecting bench, the wood slamming into my shins as my top half buckled over. My cheek landed hard against Luca’s chest, his hands gripping the bare skin of my arms to cushion my fall.
‘Woah, easy there. People might think you’re falling for me, Thompson,’ Luca teased, the left side of his mouth curling upwards. I straightened up, but not before I felt his heart thumping against my ear, beating double time in tandem with my own. I suddenly didn’t know where to look, faffing about with tucking my hair behind my ear even though it was already there. Luca dipped his mouth closer to me so I could hear him better over the crowd.
‘I’m glad you came.’ His voice was low. Husky.
‘Me too.’
‘What did you think of the set?’
I nodded enthusiastically, giving a dorky thumbs up which instantly made my cheeks warm with regret. But I didn’t knowhow to articulate it. That feeling of having witnessed someone perfectly express how I’d been feeling for so long. Luca opened his mouth as if to say something else, but another band had already taken to the stage, the sound of an electric guitar playing the opening bars of Kings of Leon’s ‘Sex on Fire’ sending everyone flocking onto the dance floor.
‘Ohmygod, Ilovethis song!’ Jacob squealed with delight, grabbing my hand and dragging me along after him. I looked back helplessly and saw that Jasmine had done the same to Luca, whose protests she either couldn’t hear or was choosing to ignore as she pushed him after us. We found a small circle of space among the throng of bodies, Jacob jumping on the spot in time with the beat. As the chorus kicked in, he grabbed both my wrists, raising them skywards as he sang up at the stars like they were paid spectators at his own concert. He dropped to one knee, performing some sort of air guitar solo, much to the delight of the surrounding crowd. I giggled, feeling any remaining tension melt away, my hips loosening as they started to sway in time with the music. At first Luca and I were on opposite sides of the tiny circle that our group had formed, but the space between us got smaller and smaller with each new song and it wasn’t long before my hips were bumping against his, skin sparking against skin as our arms touched. I stumbled slightly as someone tried to push their way past, but Luca steadied me, his hand against my hipbone. And suddenly, we were no longer just dancing. We were dancingtogether, his hand still on my hip, mine finding its way to his shoulder. It felt right, natural even, our bodies moving as one as if we didn’t even have to think about it.
It was becoming harder to concentrate on what song was playing, where Jacob was, anything that wasn’t the feeling of Luca’s hand against the dimples at the base of my spine. A gentle yet firm pressure that made me want to press my body evencloser against his, to take his little finger – which was brushing against the bare skin above the waistband of my skirt – between my teeth and see if he tasted like he smelt. Warm and spicy, like aged leather.
People started to drift apart around us, limbs stilling by their sides, and I realised with a surge of disappointment that the song was over. Luca took a small step back, his hand falling from my hip as he swept his curls out of his face. But then his mouth was against the sensitive bit of skin behind my ear, his breath sending shivers down my spine.
‘Do you want to get some air?’
I nodded, suddenly dizzy, and let him take my hand, leading me away from the dance floor, round a barrier, past a security guard who Luca greeted with a lift of his chin, and out onto the promenade. A couple sat with their feet dangling over the edge of the esplanade, shoes mere inches from the pebbles on the beach below, a grease-stained bag of chips ripped open between them. Smokers congregated against the wall, cigarette tips illuminating their faces as a cloud of grey smoke hovered above them. But the further we walked, the fewer people there were until, eventually, it was just us. Like we were the last two people left in this world.
‘I like to walk along here after a gig, come back down to earth a little bit. Just me and the ocean.’ Luca exhaled, running his fingers along the metal railings as we walked.
‘Oh, sorry; should I leave you to it?’
‘No, no,’ he said quickly, his fingers weaving themselves through mine as I hesitated, unsure whether to turn back or keep going. He pulled me along after him, making the decision for me. ‘It’s nice to have the company for once.’
And so we walked, listening to the sound of the music growing fainter with each step, but it wasn’t until we’d passed three beaches that I realised our fingers were still interlinked. Ilooked down at my hand in his, surprised to see how natural it looked, like two pieces of a puzzle slotted together. Luca seemed to realise at the same time, his own eyes dropping to the space between us with a frown, and we both let go with a shy, blinking-too-fast smile.
