campfire | joshua

three

"i'll give you a ride."

he offered, then again, without a doubt. it was a first for him, giving someone a ride when most of his road trips were done with him alone. 

she immediately glanced up to meet his face. "really?"

"yeah. why not?"

she was hesitant and unsure at first, but who is she to reject his kind offer. it would benefit her too, she was in the middle of nowhere where taxi's or anything are clearly not easy to spot.

she gave him a smile, this time bigger and there goes the thing inside his chest again, pounding for reasons he wasn't sure about.

"where are you headed to?", he asked her as soon as she seated herself inside at the front seat beside him. she pointed his side of the window using his index finger, and his eyes automatically followed; it was the visible part of the sea from where they were at.

his forehead creased as he faced her. "you are headed there?", she nodded with an innocent look. what got joshua astounded is that it was the same as his route.

a person who seemed to be carrying the weight of the world on her shoulder, a person he couldn't deny that seemed to be cold as ice, and he couldn't deny even more that he got attracted to the moment he saw how her face shifted from sullen to bright.

the thought of going at the same place with her, unconsciously and somehow, placed a smile on his face.

even when he started to drive their way again, his smile was still visible. and she who occasionally looked at him, found it weird too, but she just reckoned that it was a great day for him, going to the beach is, and it's super normal to be happy when you do go.

they arrived at the beach after about half an hour of drive. joshua parked his car on the sands not that far away from the sea.

"thank you for the ride. I really owe you.", she said the very moment joshua turned off the engine.

joshua smiled at her, and he swore that he could do that everyday.  "it's my pleasure."

she took off her seatbelt as she opened the door and went out, Joshua followed as well. they both stretched their numb arms as they enjoyed the salty fresh breeze coming from the sea.

"ahhh~ this is nice. .", she unconsciously uttered in satisfaction, closing her eyes in pure delight as she lets out a sweet smile.

finally. . ,she said inwardly. after her troublesome morning, she finally got to her destination, and swore that whatever may happen, she will enjoy every moment of it.

"where will you be staying. .", joshua could just prolong the last word, he couldn't continue what he was going to ask her as in the most perfect and right time, he turned to look at her while she was in the middle of enjoying herself.

he stared at her, her face now that was ever so bright, and her lips that was formed into a bright smile.

he couldn't believe himself with his sudden conclusion as well, he knew it was too soon for it, but, he might already be catching feelings.

"what is it that you were about to say?", he instantly diverted his eyes back to the sea when she opened her eyes to ask. lucky for him, she failed to catch him staring at her.

"uhm. . i was about to uh. . ask if you have a place to stay at. for tonight.", he managed to form words to answer to her, despite almost being caught of something not so illegal.

but addicting.

she shook her head. "i'm going back home later this afternoon. it took me a lot to get here but it's definitely worth it.", he couldn't help but had his feelings go down.

it disheartened him that she was going sooner that he had initially expected.

well, what did he actually expect?

for once in awhile, a thing had gone the way he didn't wanted it to be.