Through the Lens

Phoenix

Hailey's POV

I stood on the edge of the dock, staring out at the ocean as the warm sun hit my face and the soft breeze blew through my hair. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath as I gripped my bag in my hand, preparing to head home for the first time in almost seven months.

We had extended the expedition by a few weeks, wanting to continue the work we'd been doing because we had found a new way of tracking dolphins without having to tag them and needed to test it out a little longer. We'd been at sea a lot more than we had intended, only coming into town twice in almost four months, and both times I'd just made a quick call home rather than waiting for the ancient internet to start up. I hadn't talked to anyone in almost two months, and the idea of going home was almost strange to me.

"I'm gonna miss this place." Isaac sighed as he threw his arm around me, leaning over to kiss me on the head as we stared out at the water.

"Me too." I said, shooting him a soft smile.

"You guys ready?" Matt asked, both of us turning to face him as he and Kali stood there looking sad.

"Ready as I'll ever be." I chuckled.

The four of us said goodbye to Mac, thanking him for everything he'd taught us over the past four months and promising to stay in touch, before we loaded all of our stuff into the car and headed towards the airport. The ride was pretty quiet, all of us staring out the window and taking it all in before we left to head home for good.

"You excited to see Cash?" Matt smiled at me from the front seat, doing his best to lighten the mood.

A huge smile spread across my face at the thought of it, and I realized just how excited I was to get home. I was sad to be leaving the places and people I'd made such amazing memories with, but in a lot of ways I'd just been hiding. Spending so much time on the ocean had been therapeutic for me, and I'd discovered a lot about myself and the reasons why I do things sometimes. I felt that I was in a really good space mentally, and although I was terrified to leave the safe oasis I'd found, I felt like I was ready to face some of the things I'd left behind and run away from.

"You have no idea." I laughed. "I miss them so much."

"I can't wait to see my Mom." Kali sighed. "It's been so long."

We pulled up at the airport and returned the rental car, the four of us heading inside to check in for our flights. We were all heading in different directions, so we knew our time together was coming to an end. I was the only one on the west coast, and I had a stop in Phoenix for a few hours, so I was at a gate that was on the opposite side of the terminal than everyone else. We all checked in before we went to stand in front of the security gate to say goodbye, and Kali and I were barely holding it together.

"Well...I guess this is it." I sighed, doing my best to smile as the tears pooled in my eyes. "It's gonna be weird not being with you guys every day."

"Yeah, but I'm gonna call you every day. Don't think you're getting away from me that easily." Matt laughed as he pulled me in for a hug. "I love you, Hails."

"Love you too." I sniffled as he pulled away and kissed my forehead.

"I'm not one for this mushy stuff, but I'll definitely miss annoying the shit out of you." Isaac smiled as he hugged me.

"You know, I think that's one thing I won't miss." I laughed as I pulled away. "Maybe a little."

"Take care of yourself, Hails. Stay in touch." He smiled. "And if you ever decide you wanna get married and have gorgeous babies, you just let me know."