Floreville

Chapter 3: The shack

Neville sat on the steps of his shack in silence wishing the world would swallow him whole, he had been just a moment away from telling Florence that he liked her and now he was alone.
He felt himself blaming Florence's school friend for his loneliness, but Neville knew he could blame no one but himself, he'd known for weeks how he felt about Florence and he'd chosen not to tell her, he had been a coward.

Neville wasn't sure if 30 seconds or 30 years had passed when he was finally set free from his daydream by the slam of a car door, it took every bit of strength for Neville to allow himself to look at his mystery visitor.

Neville's heart was pounding, why was she here at his house? Why wasn't she on her date? He couldn't bring himself to speak as the beautiful girl in the yellow dress walked towards him.

"Hi" Florence sat down on the step beside the detective, "So my date didn't go well." She chuckled, the tension between the two so thick it could be felt back in England.
"I'm sorry. What happened?" Neville squeaked
"As soon as I got to the restaurant I just knew I didn't want to be there." Silence crept its way to the shack, the pair not knowing quite what to say, until Florence spoke again "It didn't feel right sitting across the table from him."
Neville looked up from his feet, his eyes meeting the deep brown of Florence's.

The waves continued to crash to shore, the birds continued to sing and the sun continued to set but for Neville and Florence time had stopped, they sat side by side, eyes locked to each other. Neville slowly moved his hand towards Florence, gently moving her hair from her face, Florence did not break eye contact as she removed the distance between them. Neville felt he should say something, yet despite there being 26 letters of the English alphabet he could only think of one four letter word 'kiss'.

Eyes closed, hearts pounding Neville leaned in and kissed Florence, ensuring he was delicate and respectful, the kiss broke just as panic crept in. Neville couldn't believe what just happened, he'd need to move back to England, how could he possibly carry on in Saint Marie after he just kissed his co-worker?

As Neville thought of every way to escape the island, his mind unable to process properly what had just happened he spoke. "Florence I am so sorry, I shouldn't have, I-" Nevilles words spluttered out so quickly they had merged into one barely audible noise. He gasped for air before continuing, "I don't know what I was think-." He had been cut off by Florence's lips meeting his.

Neville kissed her back passionately, almost knocking the pair off the shack's step, he had waited his whole life for this moment. Florence's hands moved through his hair, his hands on her hip and the small of her back, he never wanted his moment to end. With a smile the kiss was broken, neither wanting to let go of each other they sat nose to nose.

"It's okay Sir." Blushed Florence.