Someday The Waves ✔ *Wattys15 Winner*

Chapter Five

Friday evening, early June

It had taken me less than ten minutes to walk to the towns only food establishment and yet I still managed to arrive looking a sticky mess - a sheen of perspiration coating my chest, and the nape of my neck.

I hoped, as I crossed sidewalks, that we wouldn't be going anywhere that required me to remove my footwear because the soles of my feet had stuck to the thick inners and I worried removing them could, be potentially hazardous.

My body really did not cope well with Pesmo's sweltering, nightly temperature.

Noah's didn't seem to either, because when I greeted him by the doorway he was busy fanning himself with one of the outside table menus. His light hair swept back and the creases of his forehead filled with sweat.

However hot, and uncomfortable he must have felt, Noah still greeted me once again with a warm, yet bashful smile.

"Hey." he said first, holding up the fan as if to say you caught me.

I replied with a polite hello, and let him lead me inside, feeling noticeably small behind his tall frame.

Even though it hadn't been that long since I'd last seen him, outside by my lawn I was still taken back by how oddly handsome he was, in such a way I could never be ready for.

His messy blonde hair, full lips and rosy cheeks didn't help to dispel my gaze away from him.

The diner was quiet, with only a few tables occupied by families and kids slurping shaved ice cones. Our waitress, with flame red hair and tired eyes walked us to a small booth by the large window that looked out onto the boardwalk, and the still, illuminated ocean.

My decision to wear a dress, for the first time in months had in hindsight not been my smartest move because as I slid onto the cream leather space, the backs of my thighs created a loud, cutting squeak. Loud enough to make me blush when a couple behind us put down their forks and spun their heads around, to see if their ears had deceived them into believing it was something else.

Noah laughed, and slid onto his side without any hassle, placing his brown satchel beside him before unbuttoning the cuffs on his flannel shirt.

When the heat from my face had subsided, I thanked him for meeting me.

Pondering over the menu, he replied. "You don't have to thank me Scarlett, in all honesty I thought you might have lost my number or thought better than to wanna hang out with someone like me."

I wasn't quite sure what to say to the last part, even if he had said it with humour because I didn't understand why he'd think he wasn't someone worthy of wanting to spend time with. Was he blind or just being modest?

"I didn't loose it." I smiled back, scanning the starters, trying to find something that was relatively cheap and easy to eat in his company. "I've just been busy helping out my sister, and I thought it would be nice to do something on a Friday, for a change." The lie came out so quick, it didn't even register until Noah nodded and said that's cool, I've been busy too. If I was to start this first, arranged encounter right I needed to stop with the white lies and try to be more honest.

"You seem very different from her," Noah remarked, pulling out a napkin. "your sister I mean." Carefully he began to fold in each side delicately whilst maintaining eye contact, still engaged in conversation.