Suicide, Skittles and Skates [✓]

Chapter 21

CHAPTER TWENTY ONE

"I'll race you!" Alex yelled back at Kalila, shaking his head side to side to get rid of all the water lodged in it much like a dog would do. She grumbled, knowing perfectly well that he would win considering he was much taller than her 5'5" frame but not being able to do anything about it due to the heavy downpour

They had been having a great time making lopsided sandcastles and throwing a beach ball at each other when the clouds had opened up and practically thrown down the rain at them. Quickly pulling their jeans on and grabbing hold of all their other stuff, they ran from the coast towards the small high streets in hope of some shelter along with some decent food.

Thankfully, before long they reached a café almost hidden in the shadows. It was so eloquently named 'The Café' but although small and in need of a good lick of paint, it looked homely.

Pushing the door open to reveal a boy about their age with a black apron tied over a blue shirt, they hurried inside the empty café.

"Oh hello... urm can I help you?" he asked, evidently surprised to see two laughing, completely soaked teenagers half clothed and covered in sand enter the café.

Kalila grinned at the waiter, before dragging Alex along to a table in the corner. "Hi!" she chirped. "Can we have a menu please?"

The boy – Jacob according to his name tag – complied, trying but failing to avert his eyes as Kalila pulled her Paris jumper back on over her swimsuit, a fact which didn't go unnoticed by Alex.

While Kalila ordered some food and a hot chocolate for them both, Alex had an internal battle with himself. He felt angry that the waiter – 'stupid pervert waiter asshole guy ugh' – was flirting with her but also felt annoyed at himself for caring. After all, he didn't really have any right to feel jealous did he? They were just friends, Kalila had made it clear that her entire concept of love and relationships had been tarnished by Eric and Natalie and their problems. He knew she didn't want a boyfriend and he had been perfectly happy with them being only friends. Up until now anyway.

And all it took was some random guy checking her out for him to realise he wasn't okay with just being friends. Alex felt like slapping himself, it wasn't like she was his girlfriend that he had the right to be jealous and could he really blame the guy? She was beautiful after all.

And with that thought he remembered something interesting.

The very first day they met, the day she handed him the skittles, he hadn't thought her beautiful. In fact, he distinctly remembered thinking how ordinary she was with her brown hair and brown eyes. She never was ugly but he knew he had looked at her and thought she was average in every sense of the word. So what had changed, did she really look any different now from then?

Of course not.

Other than different hairstyles and the occasional bit of makeup, she looked exactly the same. Except now he knew how kind and funny she was, how gentle her voice was and how sparkly her eyes were when she smiled. Now he knew her strengths and weaknesses, her dreams and hopes and the way she carried on despite the demons she carried on her shoulders.

She hadn't changed a bit but his perception of her had. Ever since Kalila had walked into his life she had unknowingly begun to change him; she had helped him heal and that's what made her be all the more attractive to him.

Before he could dwell on this thought process longer however, he was distracted by a mug of steaming hot chocolate placed in front of him by the waiter who thankfully had finally stopped flirting with her.

"So do you reckon it was worth waking up at six in the morning then?" Kalila asked Alex, a red and white striped straw between her teeth.

He laughed, all negative thoughts of the waiter forgotten as he remembered how much he had been complaining in the morning when she woke him up. "Well... The day wasn't that bad," he said, shrugging his shoulders nonchalantly as though he was feeling indifferent about the entire day.

Kalila raised one eyebrow slightly, knowing perfectly well that they both had a great time but he was far too stubborn to admit it. She stopped playing with the straw in her drink long enough to say something but accidentally flicked a dollop of whipped cream towards him, landing in the middle of his forehead.

"What the..." he started saying in surprise before realising what it was when he raised a hand to touch it. Before Kalila could protest, he quickly leaned forward and wiped his fingers on her cheek that was closest to him. There was a second of silence between them before they both started chuckling, Alex pulling out his camera from his bag in order to take a picture.

They had used the self-timer mode to take one of the two of them in the water at the beach but now he wanted a proper one taken by someone else. However, there wasn't much people in the café – no doubt everyone was hiding from the rain in the safety of their homes – and so he had no choice but to grudgingly call the same waiter over.

"Er... 'Scuse me but could you take a picture please?" Alex asked, not wanting to force the 'please' out when he saw him not-so-subtly checking out Kalila again. Thankfully, that managed to distract him from her and he happily took the camera to take a quick picture of the two friends grinning, still wet and covered in sand with cream on Kalila's face.

"Thanks!" she chirped when he was done and the camera had been handed back to them, standing up to grab all her things from all over the place and stuff them in her bag. Thankfully, the rain had lessened by now and so they made their way out of the café, both deciding to look around the few shops for a short while before heading home.

Most of the shops were clearly aimed to attract tourists with their tacky 'I heart Brighton' tops and never ending collection of gaudy key-rings and fridge magnets that had lost most of their magnetism. They did however manage to find an old lady making and selling small bracelets made of wire twisted intricately to form words. Although they politely refused to buy one each at first, she wouldn't let them go and before long they were choosing between the words available. Although Kalila had selected a 'faith' one a while ago, Alex couldn't seem to decide. All the words seemed too fake to him.

Hope. Have hope in what?

Believe. Believe in whom?

Nothing seemed quite right and Kalila – getting rather fed up of his unsure expression – just randomly picked one out for him without really looking at it properly.

Before long the two of them where walking back to the train station, both eager to get back to London before it became too dark. They chattered away as they dragged their exhausted feet the journey home, the orange hue of the setting sun illuminating the city. Although Kalila insisted he didn't, Alex walked her home as they tried to think of a final picture for their art project, both aware that the deadline was looming over their heads. Tomorrow was New Year's Eve and although they couldn't believe that time had gone by so fast, it had been around three whole months since that fateful day on the rooftop in which they had met.

Sometimes Alex couldn't believe how much things had changed since she had walked into his life – Skittles and all. He had enjoyed himself a lot today and wished Alice had been there to experience it as well, there was something that would always be magical about the beach.

He smiled slightly to himself as he fell asleep that night, the silver letters wrapped around his wrist delicately spelling out two words.

Live life.

A/N: I can't believe how late I am in updating D: Sorry! I was on holiday and just reaaally lazy so yeah, no excuses but I hope you like it anyway. I'll be updating regularly again hopefully :}