Page 35 of Playing the Field
‘There are worse things that could be our thing,’ he points out. So true.
‘And I presume it’s another race into the water?’ I check.
‘If you insist.’ Said with his usual grin.
But no sooner has he taken off across the shingle than he stops and turns back to me with a pained expression on his face. ‘Bloody hell, I’d forgotten how brutal these stones are on your feet. Let me give you a piggyback. We’ll call this one a draw.’
I don’t feel very sexy jiggling up and down against his back as he starts off across the beach again, but it’s a really sweet thing for him to do for me.
As Ben’s toes hit the water, he shudders and says, ‘I hope you’re ready for this.’
‘Is it cold?’ A silly question– it’s not the Med.
‘I’d like to say refreshing but I’m going to shoot for ball-numbing,’ he warns.
‘Maybe I’ll just head back and wait with our stuff on the beach.’
But he doesn’t release me– he’s already thigh-deep, the chilly water creeping up over my ankles. ‘On three?’ he asks.
‘Oh boy.’ I take a deep breath.
‘One, two...’
I shriek as he plunges us both into the waves.
Once the shock has subsided, it’s not as bad as he made it out to be. And when he wraps his arms around me I forget about the cold altogether. We kiss for a long time, tasting the salt on each other’s lips, and I forget about the other people on the beach too.
Once he’s established that his boxers will in fact stay in place, he shows off with handstands under the water. It’s only when we head back up the beach after a lazy swim that we remember we don’t have towels with us, so we stretch out on the pebbles to dry off, enjoying the warmth of the stones against our skin.
‘Could you see yourself ever properly dating a footballer?’ Ben asks, rolling on to his side to face me.
I turn my head towards him. ‘With all those lonely Saturdays and score-related mood swings?’ I don’t know why these are the first things that pop into my head, rather than thinking about why he might be asking.
‘I know it’s not ideal with all the weekends away and the strict regimes to contend with. And there’s the odd story in the media, but you do get used to ignoring them pretty quickly and it’s not like I’m on the same scale as David Beckham. On the flipside there’s the long summer break, the days off after match days and we don’t train round the clock twenty-four-seven. There is time for all the fun stuff as well,’ he says.
And the penny finally drops when I see how earnestly he’s looking at me. ‘Are you saying you want me to be your girlfriend?’
‘I want you to know I’m not just messing around. I know we haven’t known each other long, but I really like you, Lily. So what do you reckon? Do you think you could put up with all my madness on a more official basis?’
All thoughts of this just being a summer fling fly out of my head. ‘Well I do very much like all the fun stuff,’ I tell him.
He mini punches the air and whispers, ‘I think that’s a yes.’
I wriggle closer to him. ‘It’s a definite yes.’
He leans in to kiss me. ‘Does this mean I no longer have to keep my distance from you at the academy?’ he asks. ‘It’s so hard trying to make out like I don’t fancy the pants off you.’
But I still think we should stay under the radar and I tell him as much. Some people– Dad and Cassie specifically– might not be so cool with it, and I don’t want anyone else on the team to think I’m unprofessional. So Ben promises to behave himself and not give anything away.
Once we’re dry, we put our clothes back on and go for a stroll, hand in hand, along the coastal path, and I ask Ben which of the houses he’d want to live in if he didn’t have the Whitehouse, my nickname for his Redmarsh mansion. He picks a modern detached structure with a mostly glass front and a huge south-facing terrace on the first floor, giving a perfect view of the sea.
‘I’d choose that one for the balcony alone,’ he explains. ‘Imagine having a coffee there in the morning, a glass of wine to watch the sunset.’
‘For the six weeks when it’s warm enough.’
He laughs. ‘There’d be eight or nine at least. It doesn’t make me want to move abroad though. The weather might be better but I like the fact that I can pop home from Millford whenever I have time to. I couldn’t do that if I played for a club overseas.’
‘It’s not something I’ve ever seriously considered either. I do love holidays, but I didn’t even move to a different city for university. I’m pretty sure I’d get homesick.’
