Grayson.
I followed her around, she walked as if she knew the whole island on the back of her hand but I hadn’t commented on it. Instead I just listened to her as she told me small facts about whatever plant, flower or animal we came across. I was 99% sure she purchased a book on these beings not too long ago. I think I saw the lobby had one and thinking about it made her seem so adorable for it.
“Stand there,” I told her when she was telling me about the Hawaiian Hibiscus. Mia raised a brow at me, clearly needing a bit more context. “We have to take photos as proof,” I explained to her. She frowned, resting her hands on her hips.
“Proof of what? Live? Are you kidnapping me?” Emilia asked, her brow arching more. I stared at her for a moment, wondering if she was being serious whether she really saw me as a monster or not. Her lips curling into a smile, she was teasing.
“Emilia-” I groaned, pinching the bridge of my nose.
“Take joke, maaan,” Emilia gently slapped my upper arm, her dainty fingers wrapping around my bicep.
“Photos for the office to add to albums and I suppose as next year’s motivation so smile wide to convince the others this is the best thing that ever happened to you,”I explained and took out my phone to take a photo of her.
“This good?” Emilia asked, flashing all of her teeth in the smile she put on. I’ve seen her genuine smiles before and what she was giving right now was nothing compared to them.
“Your normal smile is prettier, no teeth thank you,” I looked over at her. Emilia let out a sigh and dropped her hand from her sides, her lips curling into a soft smile, the summer breeze through her hair brought it over to her right, fitting perfectly as she was angled more to the front right, one hand on her knee. I took a photo then gave her a thumbs up and put my phone back in my pocket.
“How was it? Can you send it to me?” She asked and started walking again, leading me into this small open air cafe.
“The photo turned out decent,” I shrugged off. Lie, they were perfect. If we weren’t in a rush to get brunch I could’ve stayed there all day taking her photos. Emilia opened her mouth for a moment then just cleared her throat and started walking again. “I’ll send you it yea,” I added.
We arrived at the open air cafe she had been talking about, I looked around as I sat down. The place was a little busy, we got lucky there was still a table for two left. It wasn’t the best table at all means, we had the view of the road however it didn’t bother Emilia. She was just happy to be at this place.
After we both placed our order I remembered to send her the photos from before. I watched as her phone received my message, my contact name popping up. ‘Green eyed Devil’
“Seriously?” I blurted out.
“What?” She looked up at me innocently, her chipped nails tapping on the screen of her phone.
“Green eyed Devil?” I raised a brow at her, watching as she shook her head with a smile on her lips.
“You are a devil, Grayson, don’t deny it,” She winked at me and leaned over to boop my nose.
“Me? Such a sweet angel?” I gasped, only entertaining her more.
“An angel? With the things leaving your mouth I highly doubt it,” Mia was quick to say, amusement playing on her smile.
“I suppose you’re right. The things this mouth does at night has people worshipping me instead,” I shrugged without even thinking. Ever since last week I had been unable to control my mouth when it came to our conversations.
Mia went completely silent. Her mouth once again opened to say something but she decided to swallow it instead. My smirk remained intact as I watched her look around instead. The waiter came around with our food. After it all I knew one thing was assured, I’d be coming to this place again, very soon even. This time I’d make a reservation for table three, the table with the best view.
After our brunch we went back to the hotel and changed outfits so we could go play volleyball. Makani had invited us, well Mia but since we had a score to settle she told me to come with as if I’d let her go alone with Makani.
We were back to back in the room as we changed into something more appropriate for the beach and volley. I put on a navy swimming short that came down to my mid thigh and opened the buttons of the white shirt I wore. I found it enough and turned around, forgetting to ask first. The first thing I saw was Mia bent over, dressed in the shortest jean shorts I have ever seen, her smooth thighs on display. God damn when she stood straight I saw her back had a tiny navy string there from the bikini she wore.
Was it even appropriate for co-workers to see each other in such little clothes? I’m pretty sure neither of us has seen each other like this. She turned around and looked at me from top to toe before clearing her throat.
“Ready?” I asked as she fixed her ponytail then nodded at me.
By the time we got to the beach half of our water had been consumed already and we still needed to go through the whole volleyball thing.
“Makani, hey,” Mia walked towards him, leaving my side.
“Mia, great you came,” He grinned, wrapping his arms around her and holding her in a tight hug.
“Don’t we have a game to play?” I cleared my throat, everyone around us already nodding. We all got divided, Makani and Mia were on the other side of course along with a few other people. I was playing with strangers, but they seemed to know what they were doing.
I had a rough start but soon enough it turned better. This raven haired lady named Viv, was one of the best players I’ve ever seen. Our team work had us constantly making points to the point I could see smoke coming out of Makani and Mia’s ears. I noticed midway through the game Mia kept struggling with the bikini she wore. I decided to pause the game and handed her the whote button up I wore.
Soon enough we noticed the sun was beginning to set and decided to stop playing, there was no way Mia’s team could make a comeback. She had officially lost but still she was smiling, smiling with that douchebag Makani.
“You were on fire Grayson!” Vivian grabbed my biceps, a huge smile on her face. I turned around to look at her and smiled too.
“Thank you Viv, you did great,” I smiled at her. Vivian was a bit taller than and didn’t need to look up and strain her neck. She was dressed in some jean shorts and a red bikini top that was tied up quite well considering the amount of moving we had to do during volleyball. Her porcelain skin turned a little red from the sun, thank god for sunscreen which Vivian had been applying after every round.
“Are you here on vacation?” She then asked, adjusting the straps of her bikini then ran her fingers through her hair.
“Something like that, yeah, you?” I wondered. I could tell she wasn’t from around here so perhaps she too was on vacation?
“I’ve been sent here for my job for a few months, I’m supposed to head back to San Fran though,” She replied, catching me by surprise.
“Oh, we’re from San Francisco,” I watched as her face lit up at that. Sure it was a big city but still we were a lot closer if we ever wanted to meet up- not that I was interested but Vivian sure was.
“Then perhaps once I’m in town we can meet,” She chirped. She sure was a happy person, she made me think of sunshines.
“Sure,” I shrugged. Vivian seemed like a nice person. Since the pandemic I haven’t exactly made new friends and I didn’t have many to begin with anyways.
“I can show you around the island,” Vivian offered, giving me her phone to put my contact info into.
“I’ll keep that in mind, have a great day Viv,” I handed back the phone after putting in my number. I turned to Mia and saw her standing quite close to Makani who was laughing and leaning in closely to Mia.
“What now?” I cleared my throat, standing next to Mia now.
“Beach, come along,” Mia poked my shoulder. “Are you joining us Makani?” She wondered, looking at him with hope in those chocolate-colored eyes of hers.
“Sorry Doll, I can’t,” Makani pouted, his eyes focused on Mia as she removed the shirt I lent her.
“No worries, see you around,” Mia shrugged and led the way to the beach which wasn’t too far from where we played volleyball. We left the shirt and slippers at a random spot then rushed towards the water.
“Doll?” I looked over at her. Mia’s face changed when she felt the cold water under her feet.
“Shut up, Mr.You-were-on-fire,” She shoved me gently into the water.
“Oh don’t be jealous, you’re still the only woman who makes me want to jump in fire,” I dragged her with me, causing her to almost fall down.
“Aw how sweet,” She rolled her eyes and stood on her feet by herself. “Wait, is that a Metallica reference?” She asked.
“Perhaps,” Of course it was, I also knew it was also her favourite band which impressed me when I first found out two years ago.
“You’re full of surprises, Solace,” Mia muttered, swimming further and further into the depth. The water now pooled around her neckline whilst for me it was at my mid chest.
“Of course I am,” I hummed, following behind her. We stopped once I couldn’t feel the sand under my feet anymore. Now she was keeping herself from drowning by moving around.
“We came at the right time,” Mia’s eyes were focused on the sight of the sun slowly setting down. “The sunset is so beautiful,” She hummed. If she wasn’t in the waters right now she’d most definitely take a photo for her instagram stories. She had a whole separate story archive with just sunsets.
“Mhm,” I hummed, unable to peel my eyes away from her. “You know I won at volley right?” Her head turned to me immediately, her dazzling daze now turned into a glare now.
“It wasn’t fair,” Mia pouted.
“Hey, you had one person extra,” I reminded her, looking as she took a hold of my hands. Her small hands rested in the palms of mine.
“If that even counts as a person, he was so short,” She rolled her eyes. I couldn’t help but laugh hard at her words.
“He was taller than you,” I reminded her. Mia opened her mouth to say something but soon accepted her defeat and instead said, “Whatever, you won.”
“Of course I did, you know what that means right?” I pulled her closer to me, helping her stay up. She’d be no use for me if she drowned plus she’d ruin my vacation…
“You pick our activities for the next few days,” She sighed dramatically.
“Yes I do, now tell me what you hate doing,” I teased. Though I knew deep down I’d pick activities she’d like. I couldn’t spend time with someone whilst they’re not enjoying themselves.
“I hate you,” She glared at me. Cute.
“Hate is a strong word easily confused with love shortstack, do you mean that?” I asked, a smirk on my lips.
“Of course I do,” Mia splashed water into my face, the salt water in my eyes causing me to groan.
“Splash me again and there will be consequences,” I warned, my grip on her a bit tighter now but she didn’t seem to mind.
“Same consequences like this morning,” She leaned over to whisper into my ears, the hairs on my neck stood up at her warm breath on my skin.
“Mhm,” I hummed, watching as she pulled away. Her eyes staring straight into mine, a sweet timid smile on her lips before she ruined it all by splashing more water into my face. Mia laughed and broke free from my hold and attempted to swim away. I grabbed her by the waist to stop her from swimming away. Her legs wrapped around my waist without a second thought. My hands slid up from her waist to her sides, one cupping her face. Her eyes were set on my lips for a moment as her own lips parted. Before I knew it Mia’s full lips were moving against mine. It took me a minute to register what was happening but once I caught on I kissed her back with just as much passion. One hand slipping to the small of her back to hold her close to me. Mia hummed into the kiss, one hand fisted in my hair as the other gripped my bicep.
“Grayson…”
