Under Blue Skies {Chapter 5}

That night, Alex rang Lily and persuaded her to get a taxi down to Bristol for a good night’s clubbing, so Lily threw on a cobalt blue, halter neck dress and some sparkly silver stilettos, grabbed a clutch bag and called a taxi.

A couple of hours later, after a little drinking and a lot of dancing, Lily and Alex were chilling at a table in the corner of a lively, packed out bar, rating the looks of passing men.
“Oh wow look at that guy by the window, on the left.” breathed Alex.
“He’s with a woman!” Lily exclaimed in her best fake disapproving voice.
“So what? I could take her.” said Alex proudly.
“Omigosh, guy two tables to the right! He’s so cute!” Lily gushed, resting her chin on her hand and sighing dreamily.
“Oh, yes please.” giggled Alex.
Lily looked round at Alex, and as she did, she caught sight of a guy sitting alone at the bar, looking around interestedly and drinking what looked like a dry martini.
“What do you think of the guy at the bar? Pinstripe shirt, no tie. Blonde.”
Alex shrugged. “Not my type; you know I don’t like pretty boys.”
“Yeah, but I do!” said Lily, grinning and glancing at Alex, before returning to staring at the guy.
“You look...intrigued.” observed Alex.
“Yeah...” Lily mumbled.”I dunno, there’s just something about him. Like he’s totally excited about being alive.”
“Well why wouldn’t he be? He’s about to meet you.” Alex chuckled.
“No way.” objected Lily. “You know I’m way too shy to just go up to a guy I don’t know and start a conversation.”
“Oh go on. If not because you want to then just so you can say you have. Besides, I need a refill.”
“Well I’ll go for drinks but I’m not promising I’ll talk to him.” Lily said, grabbing their empty glasses and heading towards the bar.

As she approached, Lily could see that her distant glances had proved accurate; the guy was really cute. He had floppy, golden blonde hair and gorgeous olive skin. His strong jawline contrasted beautifully with the soft lines of his neck and collar bones, just visible beneath the open collar of his pale blue and white pinstripe shirt, which he wore with the sleeves rolled up so that the fold sat just below his elbows. As Lily came to a couple of steps away from him, he turned and looked right at her. Lily felt her skin tingling. He had the purest blue eyes she had ever seen. They looked like light blue water under a clear sheet of ice on a sunny day. He smiled, and she noticed that he had small dimples in his cheeks when he smiled, and his face came alive. Lily stopped walking for a moment and exhaled suddenly and quietly.

The guy turned back to his drink, and Lily recovered herself and, glancing back at Alex, who was watching with a massive cheeky grin across her face, she walked to the bar and perched on a bar stool next to the guy to wait for a bartender. A few moments passed, Lily staring fixedly at the empty glasses in her hands, very much aware that the guy was watching her. It seemed like hours before the bartender finally saw Lily and came to her, and she was able to ask for one Long Island Iced Tea for Alex and one Cosmopolitan for herself.

“Here, let me pay for those.” said the guy, handing the bartender a note and smiling. His voice was soft, and when he spoke Lily thought if she closed her eyes it would feel like she was lying on velvet. He seemed to have some kind of accent, but it was hard to tell as he spoke so gently.
“Th-thanks.” she stuttered, realising speech was necessary.
“You’re very welcome.” he smiled, and Lily noticed more distinctly this time the French accent in his voice. “I’m Sébastian. Sébastian Lefevre.” he murmured, holding out his hand.
“Lily Sanchez.” she mumbled, not quite daring to look into his eyes again, for fear that she might gasp out loud in front of him.
“What do you do Miss Sanchez?” he asked, and whereas with any other guy she had just met, Lily would find this question suspect, with this guy it seemed like the most innocent question in the world.
“I’m a journalist.” Lily said automatically. “Erm, well, I work for The Daily Standard, but I just answer phones. I work on the enquiries line. It’s not great, I know.” She looked down at her hands as she fiddled with her necklace, feeling herself go red under the gaze of his beautiful eyes.
“But what would you like to do?” he asked.
“Well, really I’d like to be a field reporter, but I’d never be good enough. I do have a journalism degree though.”
“You’d like the excitement of it? Being out there, seeing the world; seeing life actually happen.”
“Exactly.” breathed Lily, unnerved by his perceptiveness. “What do you do? Do you live in England?”
“For now, yes.” he said, his smile making Lily immediately feel totally comfortable. “I’m on a gap year. I was at university in France, studying art, but after I finished my course I wanted to get out and see the world, like you, so I’ve been travelling around Europe for the last eight months, taking odd jobs here and there, staying anywhere I can find; seeing life actually happen.” He raised his glass to life and closed his eyes as he drank from it. Lily grinned as she followed suit.
“So are you staying in Bristol?” she asked, replacing her glass onto the bar.
“Yes. I settled here yesterday actually.”
“Well, erm, if you like I could maybe show you around a little. I know all the best cafés. If you like.” Lily stammered.
“I would like that very much Miss Sanchez.” he replied, smiling gently and placing his hand over hers. Flushed, but unable to stop herself smiling widely, Lily gathered herself.
“Well Mr...erm...”
“Lefevre”
“Lefevre, that was it. Well Mr Lefevre, I’m afraid you’ll have to excuse me; my friend is over there waiting for her drink, and I have left her sitting there alone far long enough.”
“Of course.” he purred. “It’s a pleasure to have met you. May I take your number so that I can call to make arrangements?”
“Erm, yeah, sure.” Lily grabbed a napkin, and ignoring the cliché scrawled her number on it with a pen the bartender had left by the till.

As she walked back to Alex at their table, drink in each hand, bag jammed between her arm and the side of her body, she turned her head back over her shoulder, and saw that he was smiling gently as he took a sip of his drink, his eyes closed again. Just as she was about to turn away, he put down his drink, twisted his neck a little and looked right into her eyes. Lily was aware for a moment that she was holding her breath, as visions of beautiful alpine lakes in France flashed through her head behind the image of those stunning eyes. Lily Sanchez was a self-proclaimed, idiot realist. But sometimes, sometimes she was an idealist, and she was always a romantic.