I was woken up by the bright sun. I was standing now in Shane's place on the couch and he was nowhere to be seen.

"Shane? Shane, where are you?"

I got no answer back so I stood up from the couch and just when I was about to leave the living room I saw a note on the table. It said: 'I felt like jogging for some minutes, I'll be back soon. Love you lots, Shane xxxxx.' I smiled and I went into the bedroom to look for a towel. After that I went straight into the shower. I let the hot water poor on me for about half an hour until it started to get colder. I turned it off and wrapped myself into the huge towel and I went into the hall. The smell of fresh coffee hit me right in the nose. I felt great.

"Good morning love! How are you this morning?" I heard Shane in the kitchen.

"Mornin'! I'm very well, what'd you do?"

"I picked up some croissants and I prepared breakfast. I made some scrambled eggs which I cannot guaranty you'll like, but it's the thought that counts, right?"

"Yeah, thanks for doing this!"

"You deserve anything, you deserve the best…" he said taking me into his arms and kissing my still wet shoulder and then my mouth.

I kissed him back for gratitude. And then I went to the bedroom to get dressed. When I got back everything was on the table and Shane was drinking his favourite drink, the milk. He stood up quickly and hold a chair for me to sit on.

"Sit here! Here you go!"

"Thanx!"

"Your scrambled eggs… Tell me what you think!"

I tasted the eggs. They were not bad at all.

"They're good!"

"No, you're just saying that…"

"I mean it, they are good. I like'em. Do we have any ketchup?"

"I think there is some in the fridge. I'll get it for you."

I finished the eggs and then I drank a huge cup of coffee with a lot of milk and I ate a croissant.

"What do you want to do today Shane?"

"I was thinking of going to the beach, catch a great tan. We're at the Mediterranean Sea after all."

"I don't have a bathing suit."

"We'll buy one, don't worry."

"No, I don't like people starring at me which they usually do even if I'm not in a bathing suit. But we'll go, I'll put some shorts on and a T-shirt and I'll be fine. I can't swim so I'll stay on the beach."

"You're sure?"

"Positive. What about you?"

"I'll wear a pair of boxers."

"OK then, let's go!"

We took some towels from a drawer and the sun umbrella and we left for the beach. It was 200 meters away from the building we were staying in. There weren't too many people coz Le Barcares isn't a big spa. We put the towels on the sand and Shane fixed the umbrella and then he ran right into the water. I went after him just to wet my legs. He was like a kid in a playground. I loved watching him doing things he liked to do. He was a good swimmer. I turned around and sat on the towel, but I kept on watching him. After about ten minutes he got back on the shore and came towards me.

"Oh it's fantastic!" he said throwing himself next to me.

He was looking so sexy with the wet hair and the water drops on him were shining in the sun. He closed his eyes and then took my hand without saying anything. I watched him for minutes. I was so lucky to have him. I knew he loved me and I was loving him back so much and he was looking so fine.

"I think I'm burning! Would you rub me with some cream?"

"Yeah sure, come here."

I started rubbing his back and then I got to the face. He wasn't the muscle-man type, but he had been working out a little, that was obvious. Probably when he was riding the horses as a sport. It was the most incredible sensation you could ever get doing that to him. I stopped, he was watching me right in the eyes. Then he leant over and started to kiss me slowly and then he put me on my back and continued kissing me.

"Hey, you two get a room!" we heard some voices not too far from us.

We stopped and we've seen a group of kids. They were speaking English and when they realized we understood what they said they ran away. We burst into laugh. Nobody else was watching us, nobody cares what you're doing on a beach. We spent a couple more hours on the beach, Shane swam a little more and then we got back to the apartment. We had lunch and then took an afternoon sleep in each other's arms.

We got up around 7pm and had dinner. Then we decided to take a walk through Le Barcares. I put a long skirt on and a blouse. I was the jeans & T-shirt type so when I got into the living room I got a real good reaction from Shane:

"Wow! You look so well! What happened?"

"I'm wearing a skirt…"

"Oh, yes, that must be the reason. Why don't you wear skirts more often?"

"I don't feel very comfortable in skirts, I like wearing trousers."

"I like you whatever you wear or you don't…"

"Shane! You're such a big liar!"

"Erm… I saw that in a movie and I always wanted to say it."

"You've seen too many movies. Let's go!"

We got outside the apartment and we starting walking towards the square. The sun was setting slowly and the sky was coloured so beautifully. In the square we found a shop that sold over 30 different types of ice cream. I wanted a banana flavour one with a chocolate top and Shane took a vanilla one. We kept on walking holding hands. This big stage was settled in the square for karaoke. We went there and have a good laugh on almost everybody who was on the stage. Almost all them were off key. But there were some good ones too.

"I really have to sing something" said Shane moving away from me towards the guy in charge with the music.

They talked a lot and Shane seemed like refusing everything the guy was offering. Finally he was satisfied. He got the mike and went on the stage.

"This next song is dedicated to my girlfriend Lee over there! I love you!"

I felt tears in my eyes when I recognized the song. It was Take That's 'A million love songs', a great song that was so dear to me. I used to be a huge Take That fan. He began to sing very sure about what he was doing. He was a real talent and I was sure he was going to be big.

"Put your head against my life what do you hear?/A million words just trying to make the love song of the year/Close your eyes but don't forget what you have heard/A man who's trying to say three words, words that make me scared/A million loves songs are made up/Here I am trying to tell you that I care/A million love songs are made up here I am…" he kept on singing real good.

He was actually that good that everybody stopped to hear him and lots of them lighted their lighters up. It was his first concert… When he finished the music guy asked me to come on the stage and sing something too. I chose Whitney Houston's 'I will always love you' and I sang it from my heart coz I really meant it. It was a promise made to Shane. We got the biggest round of applause on that evening. We left the square and we went to the beach. It was empty. We sat on the sand next to each other and not saying a thing for a long time. We started to kiss and undress ourselves and made love on the wet sand. I had always dreamt of doing that when I saw it in the movies or I read it in the books, but nothing could be compared to the real thing. Heaven must've been the only thing comparable to what we felt. We watched the sunrise and then went to the apartment to take a short nap.

We woke up at 10am and we decided to go to Collioure, a small town pretty close to the Spanish border. I remembered that it was supposed to be Jean-Louis' birthday the next day so we had to look for a present. I knew that a boat was leaving from the small port at 11:30 and it took tourists on a cruise to the Spanish border and then leave them in Collioure. It was also supposed to pick everybody up at 18 hours. We ate something real fast and got dressed and then ran to the port. The boat's captain was making the last call for embarkment.

"We are going with you!"

"Hurry up!"

We got on the boat and found a little bench. We sat on it to catch our breath.

"Oof, I didn't think we were going to make it!"

"Me neither. It's a good thing he waited for us. So, how does Collioure look like?"

"It's a small old town, with houses built in the Catalan style, I think it used to be a port, an ancient one. It has a very old lighthouse. People are great, it's obvious that it's close to Spain by the way people look like, the way they dress, the way they are."

"I can't wait to get there. It's a beautiful day. I'm glad the weather is fine."

The cruise was great. The warm breeze was hitting our faces. Everybody was in a cheerful mood, they were taken photos and they were laughing. It was like everybody had left their problems back in Le Barcares. We arrived to the border and then turned around and stopped in Collioure. The captain reminded us one more time that we had to be back at exactly 6pm. We left holding hands. There was this old fort that reminded me a lot of 'Fort Boyard' the one that is the set for the greatest TV gameshow. I remembered visiting it two years before and I decided to take Shane to visit it too. It was pretty big and scary. We imagined the fights that took place there hundreds of years back, the ships with soldiers and the ones coming from the Far East with spices and silks and gold. We got into this kind of balcony and watched the clear water.

"Can you believe how clear it is?"

"Yes, it's exactly like I remembered it. Crystal clear."

"Why can't we have a home here and live in peace with nobody bothering us?"

"Coz it's impossible…"

We left the fort and went walking through the small streets of Collioure entering every shop that sold souvenirs and antiques. I knew Jean-Louis was really into the Asian antiques so when I saw the Tibetan bell I knew it had to be the perfect present. It was hand-made and it sounded for a long time and it had an energetic charge. It was kind of expensive but that didn't matter. Monique and him were always nice to me and he deserved a great present. The seller wrapped it very nice, we had told him it was a birthday present. We were pretty hungry and we decided to have a late lunch in one restaurant next to the beach. Our waiter was a tall dark guy with long hair and black eyes, the pure Latin type. He was looking great and Shane noticed I was looking at him.

"Earth to Lee, earth to Lee!"

"Wha'…?"

"Hey, I'm getting jealous here!"

"Oops, sorry… Only that I was thinking he's wasting his time here being a waiter when he could be a successful model some place else."

"Yeah… He looks OK… But can you stop looking at him?"

"I'll try…" I said with a naughty smile on my face.

Six o'clock was approaching real fast so we had to get back to the port. We were the first to get there and the boat wasn't even there. We sat on a bench and Shane put his head on my lap. For the zillionth time I was admiring him in silence not being able to understand my luck. I ran my fingers through his hair for many times. I loved the touch of his hair on my fingers and I think he loved the touch of my fingers on his head coz I got a "mmmmmm" as reaction.

"What?"

"It's great… Keep on doing what you're doing, but if I fall asleep don't leave me here alone on this bench. OK?"

"Don't worry about that. I wouldn't let you here in a million years."

"That's nice to know… mmmm."

I saw the boat approaching the shore and the people that were on it that morning coming to the port.

"Shane, the boat is here…"

"Just one more minute please…"

"OK, but when everybody gets on it we'll have to be on it too. 'K?"

"'K…"

"You kids are looking so sweet like that" said the captain smiling.

"Thanks! Come on Shane, let's go."

He stood up and we got on the boat and then again we sat on a bench and Shane got in the same position as before. He took a lovely nap until we got back to Le Barcares. I was tired too, but I didn't fell asleep. I figured I could do that back home. We got to Le Barcares around 7pm. I woke up Shane and he wasn't quite happy about that. We walked back to the apartment.

"Oh God, I completely forgot about Celine and the others. Let's call them!" I said moving towards the phone.

I picked it up and dialled Celine's mobile number.

"Alo?"

"Hi Celine! It's Lee."

"How are you? It's Lee, Kian… Are you OK?"

"Yeah, we're fine. We've just got back in."

"What have you been doing for the last days?"

"Wouldn't you like to know that?"

"Wow, wow, wow! So it's been good as I understand…"

"It's been fantastic. We're having a great time. Howz everybody?"

"We're fine. We kept on walking through Paris these days. Kian got all cultural in the last moment and wanted to see the Louvre, but after waiting in line for an hour and a half to get inside and then not being able to see even a tenth of the museum he gave up."

"Poor Kian…"

"What happened to him?"

"Nothing Shane. I'll tell you later."

"Take care of you two and call me again. OK?"

"OK Celine. Give a kiss and hug to everybody from us."

"I will, bye!"

"Bye!"

"So, what happened to Kian?"

I repeated him the whole story from the beginning and he laughed a lot.

"Lee, there's a message on the answering machine."

"Maybe it's from Monique…"

And it was. She was wondering how we were and if we would have liked to go to the party thrown for Jean-Louis' birthday the next day. I called her and told her we were OK and accepted their invitation. She told us that before the evening party he was taking his work mates to a restaurant on a lagoon and we were welcomed to come there too. We said yes and she promised to come and pick us up around ten the next morning.