Island Vibes

31. cocktails

The rest of the day, I tried to shake everything off. So Brie was still a nightmare, Noah still hadn't spoken to Melissa, and Melissa was still in the dark. Not ideal.

The café was, at least, coming along nicely. We didn't have too much left to take care of, especially considering some of our work was waiting on deliveries from other companies. I felt bad, slacking off, even though I knew my parents had wanted me to learn to relax and kick back during this whole process. If only they knew how messy things had gotten.

Since I wasn't actually sick, I decided to spend the rest of the day taking care of things around the house. I fixed the way the bedframe was uneven, stopping one of its feet from rocking. I put some of my laundry out to dry – not that it took very long, given the heat of the island – and put a fresh load in. Then, deciding to stock up the fridge, I got a bus to the next town over and spent a while shopping at the markets, coming home with way too much food because it'd all looked so good.

Although the island was small, my visit wasn't exactly newsworthy outside of Maluhia. Shopping in a different place was idyllic – I felt anonymous, in the best possible way. Lost among the locals, the sun warming my skin.

While I was busy soaking up how good it felt, it struck me that Noah was having the exact reverse experience. The island was small enough that everyone knew him – whether it was through work or school or his family – no matter where he went. 

He really didn't have anywhere to escape to, and I knew what gossip was like in small communities. There was no way every single acquaintance of his didn't know every last detail there was to know about him and his life – relationship with Melissa included.

I started to really get it. How claustrophobic he must've felt, especially in contrast to the way I was walking around, free, nameless and faceless.

I spent the afternoon making lunch and then sunbathing out on the back patio of the house. I should've tried to be more productive – to stay busy – because lazing around in the sun just gave me more time to overthink things. 

Because, like, if Noah felt trapped here, how did Melissa feel? Wasn't she basically in the same boat? Did she want to leave, too? God, Noah really needed to talk to her. His inaction was starting to eat away at me.

Noah sent me a text, while I was out in the sun. I had to squint to read it, cupping my hands around my phone screen, the glow not bright enough. All it said was that they'd pick me up at 8pm, and that we'd go somewhere casual, so I sent back a see you then! and a thumbs up and spent a little while longer taking advantage of the weather.

After a shower and a stress over what to wear – a floaty, floral button-down dress won out – I picked at the leftovers of my lunch before quickly covering the plate up again and shoving it back in the fridge to answer the sharp knock at the door.

Melissa stood there, beaming.

"There she is!" Melissa chuckled, wrapping an arm around me as a greeting.

I smiled and hugged her back, before raising one of my hands to wave around her at Noah, who I could see peeking over at us from his truck. He raised two fingers in a lazy wave, then went back to drumming his fingertips on the steering wheel.

"Are you ready? We were thinking of heading out to the smoothie bar," she explained. "It's more like a real bar, in the evening."

I raised my eyebrows, wondering what the vibe was like, but nodded. "Yeah! That sounds good," I said, before quickly spinning around and dashing back into the main room. "Wait-- I almost forgot my bag," I laughed, snatching my purse from the table and quickly rifling through its contents to make sure I had everything. Wallet, phone, keys, lipstick, mints, scrunchie. Perfect.