Island Vibes

20. candids

"This," Noah said grandly, "is the highest point on the island."

He smiled down at it all, proudly, as if it were his own creation. When I didn't say anything, he turned to look at me, the breeze blowing his hair into his eyes. He brushed it back off his still-half-blue face, and I shook my head. Why was I looking at him when I had a view like that in front of me?

I ignored his stupidly handsome grin and shot my gaze back out at the scenery. The trees looked as if they were rippling, the way the sunlight hit them in the wind. It was creating a wave of green, an ocean of flora.

Every now and then, a flash of silver would reflect back at us off in the distance, and it took me a moment to figure out what the vanishing and re-appearing blurs were: cars. They were shooting the sunlight back at us, from roads that were hidden among the greenery.

Further out, the sea was a bright, clear blue that begged to be swam in. Off to the left, I could see beaches that backed on to gently sprawling towns, and to the right, I was pretty sure that Maluhia, the town I was staying in, was the furthest settlement I could see. It was a small collection of scattered buildings, most of them pale and reasonably large, and it looked more beautiful than I'd thought.

Noah and the café had been majorly distracting me from what had been right in front of me all along: a kickass beach vacation. I resolved to start making the most of it.

"It's just..." I sighed, stepping forward and leaning heavily on the wooden barrier.

Noah grinned and sidled up beside me.

"Yep," he chuckled.

"How is this real?" I laughed, still trying to soak in the sight.

"Maybe it's not," Noah said. He shrugged and looked across at me, his uneven grin bright. "You know how good video game graphics have gotten, right?"

I rolled my eyes and stared back out at our view. It did look too perfect, but I was pretty sure it was because I'd been so busy downplaying how idyllic my surroundings were. I hadn't made time to enjoy the town I was in, let alone the rest of the island.

Minutes passed with the two of us in silence. The sun was beating down on my shoulders and warming up my dark hair, but the breeze was whipping the heat away. Eventually, Noah stepped back from the edge, away from the barrier. I turned to see if he was ready to leave, but all he did was stretch his toned arms up to the sky, then drop them and twist to stretch his back out, too.

I turned back to the view, hoping we could stay here forever... or at least another couple of minutes. Then I heard a quiet clicking noise.

Or, not clicking-- but like a camera shutter. And, not like a camera shutter... but exactly that. I turned around to look for the source, and heard the noise again as Noah had his phone aimed at me. His big smile was visible even as his phone was held up, hiding his eyes.

"Noah," I groaned. "At least let me fix my hair!"

Noah started laughing, and I heard the shutter sound again. I tried not to cringe, thinking about how my hair was flying in my face and how there was definitely still little blue flecks of paint visible all over me. I was so busy trying to re-arrange my hair into something photo-ready that I forgot about my outfit: Noah's overalls definitely weren't my chicest look.

I knew he was still taking photos, so I tried to keep smiling even while I spoke.

"Can we come back here another day? When I look cuter?"

Noah lowered his phone for a moment to give me an exasperated, pointed look.

"They're candids, Callie," he explained, a little condescendingly. "Also, we're not doing the whole flirting thing anymore, so I can't comment on your cuteness, but uh-- you're fine, trust me," he said, chuckling lightly. "Like, you look good," he shrugged, seemingly being intentionally mild.

I tutted and turned away from him, facing the wind to let it blow my hair back as I freed it from its hair-tie. It whipped around violently for a moment before I could start to control it with my hands, slowly sorting it out to fix it up in a reasonable enough bun.

"Okay," I said, turning back to him. "Now you can take a photo." I nodded, gesturing at him with a hand to raise up the camera again.

Noah blinked down at his phone, then up at the sky.

"Ahh, I don't know," he said, pulling a face. "The light's not quite right, y'know?" He waved his hand vaguely up at the blueness above. There wasn't a cloud in sight, and nothing had changed.

"It's... the exact same," I said, in disbelief.

"Nah, this looks terrible..." Noah said, frowning down at the display. He toyed with it for a second, then came closer. "See? It just looks bad," he said, a grin starting to crack his serious expression as he lifted the camera up for me to see he had it switched to selfie mode.

He took a few quick snaps of us while I laughed, shoving at him for messing with me.

"You're the worst," I said, shaking my head and trying to properly get into frame with him. Noah was a little too tall for it to be easy, and I wanted as much of the view in sight as possible, which was proving difficult.

"Look at that," he said, bringing up the last picture he'd taken. "That's postcard material, right there."

I appraised it, then scrunched my nose up.

"Nah. Look at this-- this big section here just ruins the whole photo," I said, pointing at his face on the screen.

"How dare you--" he began, stuffing his phone in his pocket and reaching out to grab me, the grin on his face entirely spelling trouble.

I cackled and started to run back to his van, hopping inside and slamming the door shut before he could pick me up or do whatever it was he was planning to do. I slid down in the seat, laughing breathlessly, and beamed across at Noah as he clambered in on the other side of the vehicle.

"You're mean," he said, pulling a pout and making the words sound as childish as possible. He still had his phone out, and he quickly tapped around a few times before putting the thing away. Moments later, my phone started to buzz.

"Is that you?" I asked, blinking down at my phone's display to confirm it.

I grinned down at the photos as Noah mmhmmed and started up the van, the radio blasting back to life.

I scrolled through all of his pictures, and found myself skipping over the ones that just had me in. I was looking at Noah, at how he looked as unreal as the view. Too handsome, too vibrant.

"You look like Braveheart," I teased, because, of course, we weren't doing the flirting thing anymore.

Noah cracked up, grinning out at the road as he started to pull away from the viewing point, and I couldn't stop thinking about how his smile was even better in real life.