After All These Years | ✔

22 - CARLIE

The water was cold and refreshing on Carlie's sunburnt skin, and it washed away every grain of dirt from her body, taking with it all her many cares.

They couldn't touch her here.

She came to the surface and lay on her back, closing her eyes to savour the feel of the lake holding her and keeping her afloat. She quickly peeked out of one eye to Louis, standing above her.

"You're missing out." She said in a sing-song voice, moving her arms in and out at her sides as she slowly floated further out from the bank. She soaked up the feel of the sun on her face, listening only to the sound of water crashing softly against her skin.

Though the peaceful silence was quickly broken as a howl rang across the valley, a large splash following as Louis broke the surface of the lake. She laughed and treaded water, wiping the drops from her eyes and waiting for him to resurface; aiming to spray him at the earliest possible moment.

But he was nowhere to be seen.

Suddenly, she let out a scream as a hand grasped her leg and pulled her underwater.

When they came up for air, he grinned at her. Quickly putting up his hands to shield himself from the water Carlie sprayed at him.

"Alright, alright! I'm sorry!" He begged, and she stopped, putting distance between them in case he decided to try anything else.

Happiness radiated from them.

Seven months ago, these feelings were impossible, yet here they were now. And as they swam in the lake that day, everything else seemed to leave them. Only one fact remained; it was summer, and she was free.

_______

"Tell me something I don't know about you."

Carlie rolled her eyes and sat down by the rock to let the sun dry up her damp clothes. Louis ringed his white shirt and pulled it back on over his head, sitting down in front of her.

"Oh c'mon. That's so cliché." She pursed her lips jokingly and raised an eyebrow, imitating him being flirtatious, "Tell me something about you."

He laughed and shrugged a shoulder, then leaned back on his hands, soaking up the heat. "What? I'm curious as to what you do. Well, besides getting drunk and getting hurt."

"That was one time!" She reached for her sunglasses inside her bag. As she did so, it tipped over and everything inside scattered across the rock between them.

Before Carlie could grasp anything, Louis already had his hands on her sketchbook and was in the process of examining the cover. She got up and quickly gathered everything. Zipping up her bag and sitting back down on the hot rock. Carlie held out her hand expectantly.

"So, the girl is un artiste." He opened the book, ignoring her glare. The creases between his eyebrows deepened as he rotated his head and examined her work; the same small lines, she realised, which appeared when he was working on difficult problems in chemistry.

Carlie cleared her throat to get his attention. Louis lifted his eyes over the paper and got her message, but resisted for a bit – quickly flipping the pages to try to catch a glimpse of the rest of its contents – before placing it back in her palm.

She seized it, breathing out long and hard as she turned to put it away.

"You're really good, Carlie." He sounded sincere, but Carlie shook her head slightly in disagreement, even though, quietly, she took and relished the compliment.

"Now, you must be drunk."

It wasn't Louis that made her cautious when it came to her art; it was hard to explain why she didn't share it around, or post a lot of it on social media like she'd seen others doing. Majority of the time, she penciled what was on her mind, no matter what it was, and she'd rather keep quiet about it than have to explain her thoughts. Most of the time she thought it impossible to put into words what went on up there.

Carlie slid her glasses back onto her head to only the sound of the birds circling above them, their black shapes gliding slowly over the pale blue sky. Like so many things, she was captivated by them. Pulling her old camera from the bag, she snapped a few pictures of them. The summer sun leaked light into the old lens, causing stripes of colour to mark the image. But that's why she liked it.

She had found the camera at a vintage shop in the city. With some work, she could still take great photos on film and get them developed. She didn't consider herself a great photographer, but the light leaks from the reassembled camera body helped her fool people into thinking that she was.

When she looked down from the sky, Louis squinted his eyes slightly, a playful smile pulling on his lips.

She raised an eyebrow, returning the gesture; "What are you looking at?"

Lifting her head, she took a couple more shots, spending a few seconds between each one to zoom out and watch for the birds to fly back around. Then she rested the camera in her lap and combed her drying hair back from her face with her hand.

He clenched his jaw in thought and shrugged, linking his arms around the front of his knees as he looked back out at the view. "Nothing."

Carlie didn't retort like she usually would have. She held the camera up to her face instead, focused, and snapped a picture of him sitting just the way he was. She caught him in the perfect position; with the afternoon sun's rays coming out from behind his shoulder.

He turned his head when he heard the click of the camera shutters,

"Did you just...?" Carlie smirked and nodded, turning to put away her camera and lay down on the rock, partially facing him.

"I've been told it lasts longer." She said sarcastically. He smiled and blinked, seeming to let her strange ways be, and remained in a peaceful silence.

She broke the peace though, bringing her hands up to shield her eyes from the sun, "Are you coming to night swim with us on Friday?"

"Who's 'us'?"

"Just Ash and the gang, I'm pretty sure."

To this, he briefly looked away and breathed deeply, "Mmm, I don't know."

She pulled a stray hair from across her cheek, back behind her ear, "Jarrod's not going to be there. So you won't feel threatened."

Louis showed a small smile, then spoke fluent sarcasm, "Oh I'm so glad; that earring and the ski-jump haircut, just, you know, really intimidates me. I just can't face him again."

She smiled at that. "Then what are you so afraid of?"

"Nothing. I mean, I just don't really know them." He corrected.

His comment made Carlie drift back to the conversation she and Ashley had at school, the day she was introduced to everyone. When she asked about Louis reading on the lawn, Ashley gave her honest opinion. Everyone thinks he's strange. But now, after spending time with him, Carlie couldn't find any sense in it.

Carlie rose on her elbow, "Does it matter?" She cocked her head, pleading with him, "Come, it'll be fun."

He thought about it for a minute before pointing to her and replying, "Only if you can go a whole night without getting into some sort of trouble and let me off the hook here."

She laughed and leaned forward to offer her hand, "Deal."