"The spirits already took pity on me Paul, I don't want it from you."
in which Tama finds herself falling for her ex, again.
{pre-twilight-onwards}
{extended summary inside}
{book one in the 'heavenly bodies' series}
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ϟ
Tama surveyed her new surroundings with raised eyebrows as she exited the truck, the area unfamiliar to her. The smell of ocean salt and fishing bait hit her nose, a familiar scent that made her inhale and exhale deeply, watching her breath form a cloud in front of her. The sky had turned gray, as was normal this time of year but, the rain had stopped the moment she'd stopped crying earlier and let nature take its course.
They'd parked in a patch of dirt, near a quaint shop that had a small, dirt-carved path down to a dock that housed two boats. Only the larger one of the two stood out to her, painted a stark white that was surprisingly clean with a large orca painted onto its tail. Tama looked at the boat owl-eyed. "Are we..."
She looked up to see Paul smiling down at her, proud to have her so awestruck. "Can't believe you didn't guess this, it's your favorite thing to do besides paint. We used to go like every weekend, even skipped school a few times to go."
He gently nudged her with a smug smile and Tama shrugged him off, "Yeah and you'd complain about the smell of the sea and vomit half the time," she pointed out, trying to ignore that familiar feeling that was bubbling up within her, the one that made her remember why she fell for him so easily the first time.
Paul only shrugged, his smug smile turning into an honest, genuine one as he said, "still got on that boat though, every time."
He turned away from her once they saw an older man approach, conversing with him as they talked about the weather and the possibility of them seeing any sea life and Tama watched on with her stomach doing flips as she mumbled, "yeah."
He was right. No matter how much he complained about the smell of the sea or how often he emptied his guts overboard, he always agreed to accompany her whenever she even so much as hinted at wanting to go whale watching. Even when her friends begrudgingly agreed or when she tried to assure him he didn't have to do the very thing that made him sick, he always showed up early, with their favorite snacks, a new pack of film to capture what he could whenever he wasn't leaning over the railing, and a smile. Every single time.
The man Paul spoke to smiled and waved her over, greeting her with a cheery, "Happy birthday, you ready to see some orcas?" as well as a brief introduction and Tama couldn't help the grin that spread at his question and nodded enthusiastically, "it's been a while since I've seen them."
"We'll be leaving in eight minutes, we don't have any snacks on board so feel free to grab some up at the shop, my wife runs the place she's a real angel," he told them with a nod towards the nearly empty shop behind them. He left them without another word and Tama turned towards Paul, gesturing towards the shop, "I'm gonna grab a few things, did you want me to get you anything? Those sea sickness pills?"
