Island Vibes

35. beach babe

We ended the night at Noah's place, the three of us drunkenly pouring enough fries out onto the tinfoil-covered tray to feed a small village. Noah added seasoning – paprika, salt, garlic – and then Melissa and I raided the fridge and grated cheese atop the fries for added deliciousness. In the end, it turned out that the amount we cooked wasn't just fit for a small village, but that it also served three tipsy island dwellers pretty well. 

Once we'd finished up our cheesy fries, we were all at least edging towards being sober. Noah and Melissa made me walk in a straight line and recite the alphabet backwards before they agreed to let me head home by myself. They'd offered me the couch, but I told them I wanted the comfort of my own bed – no offence to their couch. Really, it was that I knew I'd feel out of place in the morning, and I didn't really want to be in the next room over while they cuddled up to one another.

My parents' place was super close, anyway. It made sense to go get back into my own space, to give Melissa and Noah some privacy. After the night they'd had, I suspected they might've needed it, and if not now then maybe in the morning. I couldn't believe how smoothly Melissa had paved over the cracks in her relationship with Noah, honestly – part of me thought it was sure to come up between them soon.

Leaving them to it and promising to text them when I was safely home – which would literally be in a matter of minutes – I tried to shake the alcohol-doused cobwebs from my brain and take stock of matters. At least Melissa knew now, right? She knew her boyfriend had kissed me, and that was a good start. There was everything else Noah had confided still to go, though. His doubts, his worries. She was his girlfriend, and I understood that it was probably easier for him to tell me than it was to tell her, but that wasn't much of an excuse. He needed to have a conversation with her about their future one day, whatever it'd be.

Much as I liked Noah myself, I realized I was rooting for them. Melissa deserved to be happy, just as Noah did. Well, now that he'd apologized for the stunt he'd pulled, anyway. It was hard to believe he'd tried to blame me for the kiss, but he was clearly in a weird place at the moment, panicking over everything and not wanting to land himself in trouble. He'd made amends, as far as I was concerned, because the drinks he'd bought were not cheap, and the fries he'd graciously shared with us out of his freezer had really helped cement that, too. He'd seemed contrite, and I was willing to buy that he knew it'd been a mistake.

Door unlocked, I-made-it-home text sent, I flopped down onto the couch near-immediately, only hesitating so I could kick off my shoes. Still the tiniest bit tipsy, I was warm, comfortable, and emotionally drained from the evening's events. I had every intention of hauling my ass up and showering and cleaning up before falling into bed, but it got more and more difficult to move, until I drifted off to sleep all curled up in the living room.

***

Noah wasn't needed for any of the renovation work over the next few days, so I set about doing things by myself. The opening date was looming ever closer, and I was starting to get nervous that things wouldn't be ready, or that they'd disappoint everyone. I definitely liked the direction we were taking the café in, and my parents had approved my ideas, but... I don't know, something about it still had me on edge. I wouldn't really know until they saw the place.

Even though it was their money, their project, their place, I was more nervous about what my friends would think, honestly. A few of my besties from back home wanted to fly out and celebrate the opening with me. They'd assured me it was out of the kindness of their hearts, that they wanted to support me and help get the business off to a good start, but let's be real: they wanted the vacation. I'd been telling them all about the beautiful weather and the handsome locals from my first week on Kipuka, so I knew their game.

But like, who could blame them, right?

I spent my days ordering up décor and measuring sections of the space, trying to make sure everything would fit and look right. It was the sort of thing I'd have rather left to Noah, but it felt like a waste of his time when I knew perfectly well I could handle it myself. Working here, with him-- it'd taught me not to take on too much, honestly. My parents had been right to pair us together, because we'd been a good team, but I knew this was a Callie-sized amount of work.

I was just about to hit add to cart on a string of lights when I got a video call request. Speak (well, think) of the devil: Kayla_McCarthy wants to video chat. Devil was maybe overstating it. Kayla and I went way back. She was always down to chat, ready to party, and up for hitting on cute boys with me. She'd been the perfect partner in crime, growing up.

"Um, sorry," Kayla frowned, her face lighting up my screen, "I was looking for my friend Callie, not some total beach babe!"

I rolled my eyes at her, but a grin was tugging at my lips already. Ugh, she knew exactly what I wanted to hear. "You're a bad friend. It hasn't been that long! You can't have totally forgotten what I look like," I teased. 

Now it was Kayla's turn to roll her eyes, laughing along as she did so. "Whatever, just promise me I'm going to get a tan like that when I fly out?"

I grinned at the screen, raising a pinky finger to the camera and wiggling it for her to see. "Pinky promise," I said, laughing when she raised her pinky finger to her camera too.

"Lily and Court are already packed, can you believe?" I grinned. I could definitely believe. "They're way too keen. Not that I'm not! Obviously I'm, like, beyond excited to see you in person, you know," Kayla continued, and I watched as she played with her hair, fussing with it and eventually shoving her parting over to the other side. "Not as excited as I am to meet this Noah cutie your parents set you up with, though," she said, raising her eyebrows and giving me a devilish smile. (Maybe devil had been appropriate after all.)

"Okay, one? Hands off," I said, fixing her with a playful pretend-stern look, glaring at her right down the lens. "And two, you know my parents didn't set us up like that." Kayla's face on the screen frowned exaggeratedly, like I was ruining her fun. "Since you're visiting, I should come clean, anyway. He has a girlfriend, so like... it's a total non-starter."

I hadn't told my friends back home everything – they knew who Noah was because the whole thing had been set up before I'd gotten out to the island, but beyond that, it hadn't seemed particularly fun to fill them in on the less-than-blissful drama that'd been getting in the way of some summer fun.

"Well, maybe he'll leave her for me?"

"Kayla," I groaned, already a little drained at the thought of dealing with her and the rest of my friends while they were out here. 

"Kidding! God, relax. Isn't that literally what you're there for?" She started messing with her hair again, pushing it back the other way, clearly paying more attention to her own camera feed than anything else.

I sighed, thinking about that. I definitely thought I'd mellowed out a little – back home, I'd have probably been on Noah's case on the daily about this whole mess he'd created, bugging him to sort it out. Now, I knew better; I could leave it in his hands. I didn't want him to break up with Melissa, I didn't want him to stress about me. Old Callie would've wanted him to do both of those things, to make me a priority. Instead, I got it. He was he one with the decisions to make, and I'd just see where the chips fell. It was no big, really.

"Oh, shit," I hadn't even answered yet, thoughtfully wondering how best to tell her what good the island had done me, but Kayla piped up again. "Is that really the time? I shouldn't have called," she huffed, sitting forward and getting closer to the screen. "Listen, I gotta go, but I'll see you soon! I can't wait, Callie, really," she gushed.

"Same," I smiled, meaning it despite the mild dread she'd instilled in me. "Please promise me you're not gonna embarrass me in front of Noah and everyone though, okay?"

Kayla scrunched her nose up, messing around. "No promises, babe," she said, blowing a kiss to the camera before disconnecting the call.

I was definitely excited to get in some island time with her and the rest of our gang, but the thought of my worlds colliding? Of them meeting Noah, Melissa, Brie...? Uh, yikes.