Island Vibes

3. two batches

If nothing else, I'd certainly made a memorable impression.

The air was suddenly thick – and not with the humidity, but with almost pure tension, cut only with a dash of awkwardness.

I was hoping the ground would swallow me right up, but I had no such luck. Brie's dangerous, dagger-filled glare dropped to her work, currently just a glass she was drying off, and I had a quick vision of her smashing it and trying to gut me like a fish.

When I heard a second person laugh, I realised the clanking from the back of the bar had stopped at some point. "Give her a break, B," a voice called. "You're the reason I stood her up," the voice continued, bubbly and amused.

A figure appeared in gap between the private area behind the bar and the bar itself. He was tall, with dark, scruffy hair and a boyishly handsome wide grin.

Oh, no. My parents hadn't briefed me on how cute he was. I mean, sure, it would've been weird if they had, but a little heads up would've been nice.

This had to be Noah, after all. What a great way to meet the guy. Now we'd met, I could just go lock myself in the house for the rest of eternity, I supposed, and die of embarrassment slowly but surely in there – that'd be fine, and infinitely preferable to dealing with the social faux pas I had just committed.

My insides were slowly, nastily shrivelling up while I tried to suppress the panic that was rising in my throat. What could I say? How could I possibly make this better? It was one thing to have insulted him to his sister, but to have insulted him to his face? Well – kind of to his face. He'd definitely overheard. God, this was such an appalling start.

I tried to let some words stumble out, hopeful that I might find the right thing to say along the way. "Um. I didn't mean to-- uh--" My sentence ended abruptly, because I couldn't figure out how to finish what I'd started. 

I wanted to say something that would make this all blow over, but it wasn't like I'd said anything completely unfair or untrue; I'd just been a little bit... brash, perhaps. Maybe I was being too stubborn, but I wasn't about to say anything I didn't mean just to make Noah or his sister feel better.

And really – he should've been there to pick me up at the airport.

"It's cool," Noah grinned. "Don't sweat it." He gave a little shrug as he wiped clean the wrench he'd been using to make all the clanking noises.

"No, it's not," Brie insisted snippily.

"I--" couldn't get a word in. I felt out of place; they were too hard to talk over and I was still at a loss. Noah cut over my attempt to talk, but it seemed like he was more interested in keeping Brie quiet than me.

"Really, it's cool," he said, showing off by flipping the wrench deftly and catching it, all one-handed. He offered the tool to Brie with a grin so wide and charming that her icy aura melted.

"You're such a push-over," Brie said, fighting the smile that was brightening her features and bringing back echoes of my first impression of her.

Noah ignored her once she'd taken the wrench, and then set about unfastening the tool belt that was far too loosely slung over his hips.

"How much was the cab? Like, forty dollars?"

I winced. "Eighty."

Noah laughed uproariously, his eyes crinkling almost shut.

"And you're calling him an idiot?" Brie snorted, trying to suppress a laugh.

"Well, I didn't know--" I began, mumbling my protest, but Noah was already shaking his head.