Pictures of Lily

few strands of his hair are sticking to his forehead. I want to push them off his face.
    ‘Tonight?’ he murmurs.
    ‘Great. I’d like to go home and change first though.’
    He smiles, his eyes still closed. ‘Still hate our shorts?’
    ‘They look alright on you,’ I find myself saying. He opens his eyes and turns his head, a sleepy grin on his face as he squints up at me. My heart flips.
    ‘Have you been to the beach yet?’ he asks out of the blue.
    ‘No. That’s terrible, isn’t it? I’ve been in Australia for a month and haven’t even managed to get to the seaside.’
    ‘It’s because you can’t drive.’
    ‘And because I don’t have any friends to go with.’
    ‘I’m your friend.’
    ‘Yep, and you’re buggering off to England. Thanks for that.’ I try to sound glib and think I succeed.
    ‘I’ll take you tonight,’ he says, closing his eyes again and turning his face up to the blue sky amid the gum leaves.
    He arrives at Michael’s house at six o’clock and soon we’re heading down the winding road towards the city. My driving is definitely improving. I think these bends would have scared me a week ago. A jagged quarry juts out of the landscape, revealing naked stone instead of leafy tree cover. Chicken wire holds back the hills to stop stones from falling onto the road, but there’s mesh over parts of the central concrete barrier, too.
    ‘What’s that for?’ I ask.
    ‘Koalas. So they can get across,’ Ben replies.
    ‘Oh, of course.’ Pause. ‘Do they have koalas at London Zoo?’
    ‘No,’ he replies bluntly.
    ‘Kiss Me’ by Sixpence None the Richer comes on the radio. I turn up the volume.
    ‘How old is your girlfriend?’ I ask suddenly. ‘I mean fiancée,’ I correct myself.
    He stares out of the window, saying, ‘I hate that word.’
    ‘What word – fiancée?’
    ‘Yeah.’
    ‘Why?’
    ‘It sounds so . . . I don’t know – old.’
    ‘Yet here you are, getting married.’
    He sighs. ‘Scary.’
    ‘So how old is she?’
    ‘Twenty-three.’
    ‘Only twenty-three?’ I’m surprised. She’s not that much older than me! ‘What’s her name?’
    He looks confused. ‘Charlotte.’
    ‘No, I mean her full name.’
    ‘Oh. Charlotte Turner.’
    ‘Does she really look like Kate Winslet?’
    ‘Hey? No .’ He brushes me off.
    ‘What colour is her hair?’
    ‘Er, brown. Or sort of dark-blonde.’
    ‘Curly?’
    ‘A bit. Come on now, eyes on the road, missy.’ He points ahead and turns the volume down on the stereo. ‘You need to concentrate.’
    The sun is on its certain descent towards the horizon as we approach Henley Beach. Ben directs me into the car park, asking as he does so, ‘Do you want some fish and chips?’
    ‘Er, sure.’
    ‘I’ll get them,’ he tells me as I climb out of the car. ‘Meet you on the beach by the jetty.’
    ‘Do you want some money?’
    He waves me away. ‘Of course not.’
    I smile after him as he walks across the grass in the direction of some cafés, bars and restaurants. Ahead of me there’s a long wooden jetty stretching out over the pale-blue stillness of the water. I head down the steps to the beach and take off my shoes. The soft white sand is cool between my toes, having lost its heat from the sun an hour ago. I sit down and stare out at the ocean. It’s beautiful here. Ben joins me after a few minutes.
    ‘Here you go.’
    ‘Thanks.’ I take my bundle and unwrap it. The battered fish pieces are long and thin, unlike the cod I’d have back home. ‘What sort of fish is this?’
    ‘Whiting,’ he replies.
    ‘Aha!’ He smirks. ‘You never did take me fishing,’ I point out.
    ‘I haven’t gone yet,’ he replies. ‘When do you want to go fishing?’
    ‘When are you next going?’
    ‘We could go Sunday, if you’re not at work?’
    ‘I’m supposed to be, but I’ll see if I can change my day off.’
    ‘It’s an early start.’
    ‘How early?’
    ‘We’d have to set off from the hills at four-thirty.’
    ‘Are you taking the piss?’
    He chuckles. ‘Afraid not.’
    ‘Why so early? Are they vampire fish or something? Do they only come out at night?’
    He glances at me sideways. ‘Want to give it a miss?’
    ‘No way. You promised.’
    ‘Okay, that’s that settled then.’
    We sit and eat in silence for a while, staring out at the sky as it turns from yellowy-blue to pinky-orange. A couple of sunset stragglers wander past us towards the steps, their feet kicking up sand as they go. Ben