Free Ibiza Summer by Anna-Louise Weatherley Page B

yet full of promise of what the rest of the night had in store. Soft, ambient music filled the warm air as everyone got into the pre-clubbing party spirit. I wondered if I
might spot some people from Alfredo’s party and if so, would they tell Ellie that they’d bumped into me? This lying business is extremely stressful, I thought to myself, so
many things to think about and tracks to cover. No wonder I was on edge.
    Café Del Sol had a huge patio which led right out on to the beach and I could see the bar staff inside busily fixing drinks, their heads bobbing up and down to the gentle sound of the
beats. I stood a little way back from the scene and composed myself.
    He’d said to meet him there at eight when I had called him earlier, and I was bang on time again because Mum had always said that being prompt would stand me in good stead in life –
and I hoped that this included my love life too. He’d sounded happy on the phone, dead chatty and friendly, which was so different to the one-word grunts and awkward silences that I was used
to with the lads I’d known back home. He had talked about our day together and how he’d stopped off to buy some fresh olives from this farmer on his way home. I’d said they
sounded delicious, the olives, even though I didn’t much like them – Willow and I were forever picking them off our pizzas in disgust – but Rex had this way of making everything
sound so fantastic that I found myself saying I’d like to try them.
    I looked around me at the throngs of clubbers and tried to spot Rex in amongst them. And then this guy suddenly came up behind me from nowhere.
    ‘Fancy coming to a club later, gorgeous?’ he asked, handing me a flyer that had Love in Paradise written on it. ‘You should come along; we could do with a higher babe
count.’ I smiled politely, which must’ve made him think I was interested in talking to him, because he came towards me and put his arm around my waist and started blathering on about
this party. It was such a relief to see Rex walking towards us, even though I was a bit worried about what he might think, me standing there with some other lad’s arm round my waist.
    ‘Hey, Davey, get your hands off my woman!’ Rex said, although I could tell he wasn’t angry because he was smiling.
    ‘Sorry, Rex, didn’t know she was taken,’ the guy smiled back, cheekily.
    It felt good that he’d referred to me as ‘my woman’ and I suddenly had this urge to run into his arms and hug him.
    ‘Don’t mind Davey.’ Rex smiled apologetically when the guy sloped off. ‘He’s always trying it on. Not that I can blame him – just look at you! You look . . .
you look stunning, Iz, really stunning.’ I was wearing a white strapless dress that I’d pinched from Ellie’s case, so I had to be careful not to spill anything down it. Yet
another thing to worry about.
    ‘Thanks.’ I smiled broadly, hoping I didn’t have any lipstick on my teeth.
    ‘Come on,’ he said, ‘I want you to meet some friends of mine.’
    So he introduced me to Steve ‘The Spin Doctor’ Jones, his DJ buddy and the one he lived with in Es Cana, and he was dead friendly and sweet and told me I looked ‘super
foxy’, which made me feel even more amazing, even if I did think he was probably just trying to be nice. Then he introduced me to Clare and Chloe, two blonde girls that were standing around
drinking and laughing and looking glamorous.
    ‘So where you from then?’ Chloe asked, smiling at me in a friendly way.
    ‘London,’ I replied coolly, desperately trying to hide my nerves.
    ‘Wicked place,’ Chloe nodded, smiling. ‘Been there twice. Clubs are ace.’
    ‘You working out here for the summer then?’ asked Clare.
    ‘Just here on holiday,’ I replied with a tentative smile, hoping I was being interesting enough.
    ‘We’re out here for the season; doing a bit of PR work for some clubs, handing out flyers and stuff. It’s been well heavy.’ Which I