unsolved disappearances » otis and ruby

Part 19

Ruby POV

"Hey, Ruby!" Noah calls my name from across the staffroom, gaining my attention. "Can you send me that picture of us on the last waterfall walk we went on?"

Confused, I walk over to him carrying my cup of tea. I take a seat at the table and was glad I was still wearing the thick jacket as my stomach was starting to grow more. "What do you need said photo for?" I ask pulling out my own cellphone to look through my camera roll.

"Was it this one?" I asked showing him the photo of him looking at the camera with a cheesy grin on the photo with me running towards my camera I had placed in the grass.

"No," He says grabbing my phone from my hands and scrolling through to find the one where he was holding up his hand in a phone signal towards the waterfall and I was enjoying the sight of the waterfall in front of us. "This one."

I had begun to start taking photos from the backside of me to hide the appearance that I was pregnant. 

"You're welcome then," I say harshly as Noah is sending the picture from my device to his. "It's crazy to think we only have a week left of work, then two weeks allocated travel time."

"Hey! You were the one that volunteered us both to stay behind. We could've had two more weeks travelling rather than sitting around here being bored as fuck." He complains as I notice he had the chat open with Eric's Instagram profile.

"What are you doing?" I ask, taking his phone from his hand and seeing he had sent a message to Eric. Along with the image he had sent to himself. "Well, you weren't too much of an asshole with your message."

"Thank you." He says holding his hand over his chest. "A lot of thought went into my letter, I was going to say I loved him but that would've been overkill."

"You'll just give him false hope, he might get on a plane to come to hunt you down," I say, with a fearful look on Noah's face.

"I don't like the little ones still in high school." He reasons making me laugh. "You're the exception to the rule." Quickly added on.

"I'm flattered," I say expressionless, rolling my eyes at his laughter. 

"But remember our deal, if we're both still single in eight years. We marry each other, my mother already loves you." He reminds me.

Noah had invited me to spend the weekend in his hometown, it was a small beach town on the North Island. It happened to be a lot warmer than the weather in Queenstown. His family had been so kind to me in the short stay we had there.

"I think she was happy it wasn't one of your boyfriends," I explain. "She was worried she was only to get grandchildren from your sister."

"I could've adopted." He reasons. "You eaten today?"

"I tried early this morning but the beast inside me wasn't cooperating," I say, sighing.

"Beast sounds like a great name for the baby." Noah suggestions, making my mood more positive. "Beast Noah."

"That's just setting up my spawn for a lifetime of bullying," I explain.

"Building strong character development." He reasons with his decision for the name of my child. "A lot of kids don't get enough these days."

At the end of the workday, Noah offers to take me out for some proper food in a local burger joint. World-famous burgers he called them when he had made the suggestion when he forced me into his truck. "The beast demands to be fed!" As my stomach growls.

Sometimes the hard habits of starving myself were hard to give up.

When we sat at a table Noah dramatically pulls out the chair for me. "Such a gentleman." I compliment before sitting down.

Noah sits opposite me, as he reads through the menu. "So what would you recommend?" I ask, I was still not sure what some of the local food tasted like. 

"Start with a mini burger and I recommend you try the seafood platter. That gives you a lot of the locally sourced fish that are both found in the lake and the seas nearby." He explains pointing to them on the menu.

When it came to ordering I took Noah's suggestion of ordering a small cheeseburger and the seafood platter that also featured hot chips. That was the odd thing I had been craving lately. Noah ordered a steak burger and fries. 

When our food arrived we both got stuck into the food. "This is really good." I compliment trying some salt and pepper squid that was on the plate. "The thought of eating squid never occurred to me to taste nice."

"Us Kiwi's just know our food." Noah reasons shrugging his shoulders as he takes a massive bite out of his burger. "So because of you, all the girls have backed off from me."

"Must be my resting bitch face." I casually suggest.

"I only ever see you with a smile, all the boys are secretly thinking we're dating." He explains.

"Wow, it's like just because people from the opposite gender enjoy each other's company, it must mean they're dating," I say with sarcasm laced in my words, making Noah laugh. "You're just an annoying older brother I can't get rid of."

"I know all your dirty secrets, I'm too valuable to get rid of." He says placing a finger in front of his lips.

"You and a lot of people I've met have proved that acting like an immature bitch isn't the best course of action to take," I explain. "I really cannot believe how much I have learned from old people like you."

"There's that sick burn, I missed those Ruby." He says, dramatically wiping a tear from his eye. "I missed it so much."