Meet me where the sky meets the sea
—jennifer donelly
▬▬▬ ♫ : ▬▬▬
Oceans - Hillsong United
▬▬▬ ✦ ▬▬▬
AUDREY
She took her classic dark beige trench coat off and stepped aside to hang it on the coat rack.
"Hi Mom! I uh. . .this is Cameron," I began fossicking for words awkwardly. "We were just uh. . ."
"We're doing a school project—" Cameron stepped in shortly before I interrupted him, as unconfidently as myself, his hands cemented in his pockets.
"Yes, we had to do this school project together, and yeah," my phrases were coming out rather abruptly edged than coherent, for some reason. Oh Audrey, whatever it is that's wrong with you.
"Mm-hmm," my mom responded calmly and almost nonchalantly, "And is that project about investigating the effect of baking powder in dough?"
I blinked. "Uh, no—it's a French project. . ." When she turned around and I fathomed the hint of a smile tugging at her lips was when I realized that she wasn't being serious. Or was she? I often struggled to identify my mother's kind of witty remarks.
"Very well, you two get on with what you were doing then, I'm heading upstairs," her voice flowed tranquilly as she indeed turned to head upstairs. "Nice to meet you, Cameron," she added in an even milder tone.
"You too, Mrs. . .Olsen," he uttered timidly. I jerked my head at him sharply. How did he know my surname?!
"You can call me Nichole, Cameron," her soft-spoken words emptied onto the floor like powder and she was gone.
Both I and Cameron remained frozen for a couple of instants. Then I darted and squinted my eyes at Cameron harshly, "how is it that you know my surname? Stalker!"
He blinked a few times, as if recovering from the slightly startling experience and then simply shrugged, "lucky guess?"
"Oh no, I'm not having that."
He let out a harsh gust of air through his nose—something close to a chuckle. "Fine. I don't even remember, to be honest. Prolly saw it on some school test or whatever." Approaching the counter, he placed the pan back on its place. "Your mom is nice. She seemed very chill."
I snorted, with a half-shrug, as I went back to frying the pancakes. "Yeah, she mostly is. But dunno, aren't all moms?"
I asked it in a throwaway manner, thoughtlessly, but noticed Cameron turn rigid and tense beside me. He cleared his throat, "yeah, I guess," he muttered, his voice thin and sodden with some unfathomable emotion.
I was puzzled, to say the least. Did I do something wrong again? Was it something I said?
Maybe that's why I was socially awkward—engaging in conversation with people I didn't know very well never tended to end successfully. I seemed to infect them with my own uncomfortability. Should I have just shut my problematic ass up?
Or should I have just stopped overthinking and brought my mind back to earth to focus on these pancakes, and the strange smell I was beginning to recognize—
"Shoot!" I burst out, reaching for the spatula and rescuing the almost burnt pancake. Phew. How could I have behaved so inattentively at the stove?
"Yeah, I was gonna say something but then thought maybe that's how it's supposed to be—"
"No—my mistake, sorry. Won't happen again."
"Hey, I was kidding. It's only a pancake, Audrey, no need to stress over it," he stressed his arms out with a cool look in his eyes and I had to divert my gaze away from his well-defined arm muscles.
"Right," I pronounced, finally coming back down from the clouds.
We finished frying the rest of the pancakes in the civilized way, like normal people: using a spatula to flip them. The air between us seemed to have cleared out of the unnecessary tension and I have to admit, I was glad the cocky and teasing Cameron was back.
"Fluffy on the inside, crunchy on the outside! Audrey's recipe," I presented the plate complacently. "So now you could add 'making pancakes' to your vast list of talents."
He let out a bitter chuckle. "Surely a skill that'll mean the difference between life and death one day."
"You never know," I quipped, climbing onto the counter to reach a high shelf in the pantry. The disadvantages of being short as a nail. "Are you a classic?" I took the small jug of maple syrup with one hand, then opened the fridge and got the chocolate syrup out. "Maple or chocolate?" I asked, holding out both bottles. "I'm also pretty sure there's some berry compote in the fridge, my mom makes it frequently. . ."
"Whatever you choose, I honestly don't mind," he said, getting plates out and serving the pancakes, I was guessing.
I pursed my lips to think, settling on both. "Coffee? Tea? Milk?" I suggested, considering my own lonesome mug of cold Earl Grey.
"No thanks, I'm good." All of his attention was trained on the two plates he was diligently preparing. He snatched the maple syrup from my hand muttering an 'excuse me' and started pouring it on the neatly stacked pancakes in an unduly artful manner. "Ah, the final touch. Wonderful, innit?"
"Actually yes—looks striking. You really have to be good at everything, don't you?"
"In reality, I've to confess, this is ridiculously coincidental. I copied this scene from a commercial I'd seen ages ago." He took both plates in his two hands. "So, to 'Cozy Corner'?"
"Uh actually, I've a better idea," I signalled for him to follow me, leading the way upstairs. If there were a contest for the Day of the Most Reckless Decisions, today would certainly win it, but at this point, I can't say I cared.
"Are we going to your room?" He asked warily, appearing very bemused. I mean he had to be—just an hour ago I wasn't even letting him past my porch.
"We're going through my room," I replied, probably perplexing him even more.
"Eh?"
Light flooded my room at the flick of the switch. I headed straight towards the window, drawing the smoky blue curtains open. The sun was about to set at any given moment, the cloudless sky nearing its first stage of twilight.
"Classy," Cameron remarked, staring in wonder at the framed photo collage hanging against the ivory wall. "Where is this?"
It was that one photoshoot when Syd and I stumbled upon a little fox. The name swiper surged into my brain at the same time as a minuscule smile crept onto my lips. It seemed like just yesterday. "Oh, that's a funny story. You know that little park by the lake? Me and my friend found a fox cub there this summer."
"No way. That's close to my place. You're telling me there're foxes next to where I live?"
"Yeah, pretty cool, huh? Anyway," I slid my window open, "you balancing those plates alright?"
"What? Why?"
What I did next could've easily freaked out anyone so I was prepared for any sort of reaction. My room was in the attic so accessing the rooftop meant literally stepping out of my window. Given that the surface was flat and even, and I'd done this countless times, there was nothing to worry about in terms of hazard.
"Are you out of your mind?!" Cameron burst out.
"Am not. Come, the view from here is fantastic."
"Yeah and so is the chance of downfall!"
"If you finally come out here you'll see that it's not as dangerous as you think," I said and helped him climb out while balancing the plates. "See—the surface isn't slippery and there's plenty of room. And even if we do manage to fall, the height is minimal and there's grass. I do this often. Everything's thought out."
"You do this often?"
I nodded, smiling as we both sat down and prepared to devour the evening snack while they were still warm.
"See, the sunset from this roof looks spectacular."
"You're a strange girl, Audrey Olsen," he came out with, all of a sudden.
"Why's that now?"
"I don't know. You're afraid of skipping class but you're alright with climbing on roofs."
I shook my head against his words. "Whatever."
As the sun sank into the western oceanside, the sky transformed into a palette of ethereal hues of reds, oranges and purples. An afterglow of magical fireworks. It really was an enthralling thing to watch.
"I take it your mom doesn't know about your rooftop adventures?" He asked, interrupting the silence that was beginning to embrace us.
"I doubt it. This is like my secret place. You're the only one who knows about it now."
"I'd be honored to keep it," he stated, earnestness resonating in his voice.
"Yeah, it kinda felt wrong not showing you after you took me to your childhood playground. However scanty it was," I murmured the last phrase, managing to hold back a smile.
"Uh, scanty? You better take that back."
"I won't."
"No?"
"Look," I redirected his attention to the last streak of light the sun let loose before hiding behind the shadows of the horizon. We both fell silent, entranced by the marvels of this sundown.
I had watched the sunset like this alone an innumerable amount of times, but never before had it felt so unique.
I wondered whether it had something to do with the hazel-eyed boy sitting by my side that day.
▬▬▬ ✦ ▬▬▬
hiiii :)
the way i (more or less) picture audrey's room (you don't have to imagine it that way at all):
thanks for everything guys. remember to drink water and stay safe.
bye :)
please tap the star if you liked this chapter :)