uʻi - beautiful
Emerson began to feel nervous as soon as Alex suggested playing two truths and a lie. His heart almost leapt out of his chest when everyone agreed.
"You go first, Rosalind." Alex grins cheekily at her. Her hat is now gone, safely tucked away in a black bag at her feet, long blonde hair twisted into a bun atop her head.
She looks at him with a displeased frown but nods reluctantly, "Alright, if you insist." She sighs, brushing her sticky hands onto her jeans shorts, "When I was little, I once jumped out of a tree because I truly believed that I could fly. When I was sixteen, I accidentally went skinny dipping with my friends in someone's private pond and they called the cops. And...I've never been in love with a guy before." She finishes her third statement, her ocean eyes set on the dancing flames before her.
Rhyme hums as he thinks, tapping his finger against his chin, "I highly doubt you were stupid enough to throw yourself out of a tree."
Isaac takes a swig of his soda, shaking his head, "I bet you've never even been skinny dipping." He argues.
Alex scoffs, leaning forward as he looks at her closely. "There's no way you've never been in love."
She looks away with a shrug, a poker face of a smile on her full lips. "What's your guys' guess?" She looks at the rest of the group.
"Definitely that you've never been in love." Claire guesses confidently.
"I agree." Gwen pitches in before looking over at Emerson who has remained quiet and contemplative, "Emerson?"
He looks up from the fire, all eyes on him. "I don't think you've been skinny dipping." He clears his throat.
"Okay, what's the lie?" Claire asks, ready to know the answer.
Rosalind looks around the group before admitting, "The truth is...I've never been skinny dipping." She laughs, looking at Emerson and Isaac, "Looks like you guys are winning."
"You've never been in love." Alex says in awe, his mouth open slightly as he watches her.
Emerson examines her guarded expression and, as he catches her eyes, he jumps in with, "You mean to say that you actually were stupid enough to jump out of a tree?" He laughs at her grateful smile.
"Don't judge me." She tells him, "I was nine and obsessed with Peter Pan."
"That's explains it." Rhyme chuckles, "Okay, who's next?"
"It's Rosalind's choice." Claire speaks up, "Go on." She grins at the still blushing blonde across the way.
Rosalind shifts in her seat, looking around the campfire before her eyes land curiously on Emerson, "Emerson." She says calmly, "You hardly speak, I'd like to hear what you'd have to say."
"Uh...no I'm okay." He holds up his hand with a chuckle.
Claire nudges him, "Go ahead, Em." He looks at her with subtly wide and declining eyes as she looks back with a stubborn smirk.
"Fine." He sighs, "Uh...well, once when I was three, I swallowed a Lego and had to get it surgically removed when I was four. I've been cliff jumping and...I used to want to be a pilot." His heart pounds.
"You're so boring, you couldn't think of anything juicier?" Alex asks with a laugh before Rhyme elbows him in the stomach, effectively shutting him up, giving him a warning look.
"Well I for one don't ever remember you telling me about swallowing a Lego." Claire raises her thin brows, giving him a soft smile.
"You're not cool enough to be a pilot." Alex smirks.
"Agreed." Isaac chuckles smartly, earning a joking glare from Emerson.
Once Gwen and Rhyme agree with Claire, all eyes are on Rosalind for the last guess. She looks around, confused. "Why hasn't anyone guessed cliff jumping? No offense, Emerson, but you don't seem like the adrenaline junky type." She laughs lightly.
"None taken." He mumbles, "Is that your guess?"
"It is indeed." She nods once, taking a drink from a plastic water bottle, "So what's the lie?"
He looks at her, a boldness alight in her eyes a he says, "I've always hated flying. Being a pilot was my worst nightmare. My real friends should have known that." He looks pointedly at Rhyme, Gwen, and Claire with a teasing sneer.
"Hey!" Claire laughs loudly, shoving him slightly.
"When have you been cliff jumping?" Rosalind asks, clearly shocked, before her interest peaks, "I had no idea you were so adventurous."
"I'm not." He clears his throat, "Rhyme, you're next." Quickly changing the subject, Emerson looks away.
"This will be good." Alex laughs loudly as Emerson's eyes set themselves on the orange and blue hot flames licking at the edges of the wood, memories tossing around his mind like a game of soccer. Only he feels as if he's the ball being kicked over and over until finally being entangled in a net of defeat.
Being so consumed in his own thoughts, he doesn't notice the pair of eyes that watch him curiously. Waiting for a moment where she might better understand him and his diverse ways. When she may know the true nature behind his constant reign and control.
ⅼ ❝ a moment is simply a moment until you choose to make it a fond memory. ❞ ⅼ
Once the fire has dimmed, stories have been told, laughter has died down, and the snack supply has run dry, Emerson's eyelids begin to grow heavy. He fights the exhaustion as he examines everyone's awake expressions.
"I'm bored." Gwen announces as she lays her head upon Isaac's shoulder, his fingers drawling circles on her arm.
"Well then make a suggestion." Alex rolls his eyes, "We're all dying to hear your grand ideas." He mumbles dryly.
"Shut up you dolt." Gwen scoffs, "But since you insist, I vouch that we go swimming. Did you bring those glow sticks, Rosalind?" She grins.
"I sure did." She replies, leaning over to reach into the bag at her feet before coming up with a plastic pouch and ripping it open.
"I call the pink ones." Claire jumps up, grabbing three sticks from Rosalind before bounding back to her seat happily and snapping each one several times.
As soon as they begin to glow, she turns to Emerson. "Can you help me?" She asks, biting her lower lip hopefully, "You know how hopeless I am with these."
"Sure." He smiles, securing one around each of her wrists before allowing her to fasten the last one around her neck.
He watches with a soft smile as everyone stands up and begin chattering amongst each other.
After everyone has claimed a color, Alex pulls his shirt off swirly and looks back at everyone with a mischievous smile, "I don't suppose we make Rosie's lie come true tonight?"
"Oh my gosh, shut up." Rosalind laughs loudly.
"I'm kidding, I'm kidding." He chuckles, "Everyone coming? Emerson, come on, join in on the fun." Alex spots Emerson still sitting with his fingers playing at the glow stick bound around his wrist.
He looks around at all of his friends before shaking and lowering his head, "No, I'm okay. I'm pretty tired but you guys go ahead."
"Are you sure?" Rhyme frowns.
"Yeah, I'm sure." Emerson swallows, looking out at the dark water as the wind brushes back his hair gently, the taste of the salt in the air on his tongue.
"Okay well...if you change your mind - "
"Just leave him be, guys." Claire gives everyone a warning look before they all nod in disappointment and jog off, entering the shallow water.
He gives her a grateful smile and she responds with a sad frown, "I wish you were up to it." She says quietly once she's sees that everyone is out of earshot.
Looking up at her from his place on the sand, Emerson senses a deep unfeeling pit in his chest as she shrugs wryly, "So do I." He waits for her to respond but she remains silent. After a few moments, he finally looks over to see her already walking away to join everyone else.
Now truly alone, Emerson watches the lights in the water appear and disappear as they're emerged in water, laughter and boisterous conversation coming in waves off of the water.
With a sigh Emerson lays back in the sand, the fire beside him barely alive. He watches as the light grows weaker and weaker as if fighting to keep on. Looking away, his eyes are set on the sky, his arms behind his head.
"Mind if I keep you company?" A voice makes him jump as he looks in its direction, Rosalind standing above him with a shy smile.
He pauses, observing her with caution, before replying, "Yeah, sure."
Looking back at the constellation of stars above, Emerson pays no attention to Rosalind as she crouches and lays next to him with a few grunts before finally resting and releasing a sigh.
"It's beautiful, isn't it?" She mutters. When he says nothing she continues, "The first night I stayed in Kauai, I looked up at the stars and knew that I was home." The pain in her voice is what forces his head to the side to look at her quizzically.
"What brought you here?" He asks her.
Rosalind is quiet for a moment before saying, "After I graduated, I needed a change. To get away from everything I used to know and to...find myself I guess. Stupid, I know." She laughs lightly.
"That's not stupid." He comments, turning back to the night sky as he wracks his brain for constellations he may know.
"Do you really believe that stars are just balls of gas?" Rosalind asks him quietly as she watches the clusters of light above.
Emerson's brows furrow, "Of course, why wouldn't I?"
She shrugs, her hands laid over her stomach comfortably. "I find it hard to think that something so beautiful could be so simple."
"I would hardly call giant balls of burning gas in the middle of space simple but I guess I get what you mean." He mumbles, adjusting his head as his arms begin to ache.
In the quietness of the pause in conversation, Emerson focuses on the sound of the wind coming off of the water and the ringing in his own ears.
"I think that they're gifts from God." She tells him suddenly. This earns his attention, facing her with surprise.
"Why?"
She smiles a little at his reaction, "I feel like every time I look up there it's like it's His way of reassuring me that if He can hold the universe together, then He can take care of my worries." As she finishes, her eyes meet his, "I know that probably sounds crazy to you." She chuckles.
"I guess that makes sense. No one has ever said it that way to me." He explains his reaction with a small shrug, "The world probably needs more people who believe like that."
Rosalind studies him and, for a moment, Emerson squirms on the inside, feeling as if she can see right through him. "I agree. Most people think it's just belief and religion that makes Christians...well - Christians." She says quietly, "I think of it more as...a relationship. Someone to rely on and to always know is there no matter what. Religion just sounds like a bunch of rules to me. No room for expression or love."
"Love." Emerson echoes with disbelief, "You mean you actually feel love for God?"
"Of course." She says, not appearing offended by his cool attitude, "Is that hard for you to believe?"
Emerson looks away, not wanting to tell Rosalind that as soon as he almost lost his life, it became impossible for him to believe there was a God worthy of his trust. "I suppose it is." He replies softly, "To those of us who don't know how to love."
"Well I hope one day you learn how."
Emerson remains silent, Rosalind remaining quiet, "I'm sorry," He rushes with a sigh, "I guess I have a hard time hearing that kind of stuff. No one likes confronting their fears or thoughts I guess."
"It's alright." She replies, "I understand. I didn't know it would make you feel uncomfortable."
Emerson doesn't reply as he stares up at the burning balls of gas, willing himself to see something else. The only thing harder than dealing with his own thoughts are the thoughts of other's contradicting his own.
"I'll see you later." Rosalind tells him before sitting up and standing, brushing the sand from her clothes as she walks off to meet the rest of his friends.
"See you." He mumbles, a small frown upon his lips.
✭✭✭
I apologize if their conversation seemed random but Rosalind's faith is something I wanted to make known as part of her story. The subject is also near and dear to my heart as it is the biggest part of my life. I hope you enjoy the story nonetheless!
Much love.