Little Wonders ((Shansel))

Chapter 11 (pt.2) Day Three

Three hours later. . .

Ansel. . .

"Water break?" Shailene asks.

"Oh sure." I answer.

We had a two hour walk around the mountain and now we're going back to the car. The clouds are moving and it seems to be getting a little bit darker but I shrug it off.

I take a bottle from my pack and hand it to Shailene. She takes a mouthful of water and passes the bottle to me, I take a mouthful too.

I take a blanket out from the car and set it on the ground. I take out a basket and pull out from it, some sandwiches.

"Ooh." Shai gasps.

"I bought them like yesterday. They're probably still good." I inform her.

She shrugs. "They still look good." She unwraps a sandwich from the wrapping paper and takes a bite. "Not bad." She laughs, as she offers her sandwich to me.

I take a bite and swallow. "Good as new."I take a sip of water and so does Shailene. We eat until the food is all gone, then we pile everything back in the car, including ourselves.

I drive, again. The view is beautiful. Shailene has her window open. I glance at her. The wind is blowing at her hair, messing up her bob. She's squinting and I realize her lashes are long, not thick but long. I look back at the muddy road. The sun is high, now that its two in the afternoon. I turn up the Shailene's CD. I hear words like surrender and beauty, but I don't catch much of the song, I let myself focus on the steep road.

She holds the digital camera up to her face.

Snap.

She takes it down to looks at the picture. "Its like freezing a memory forever. Everything's just still."

I look at the picture over her shoulders. "Yeah. You're really good at photography." I say.

"Nah. Stand there." She points at a spot in front of the mountain and the lake.

I obey.

"Now smile."

I flash my signature grin.

Snap.

"Perfect!" Shailene esclaims once again, looking at the picture.

"Want me to take one for you?" I ask.

"Okay sure." She hands me the camera and takes my previous spot, I take her spot.

Snap

"Okay." I say taking the camera down from my face.

Shailene eagerly comes over to look at the picture. "Oh Ansel, it looks real good." She says taking the camera back and smiling at me.

"Genes." I say and shrug but I can't wipe the smile of my face.

"You're blushing again." She says as she pokes my cheek. "You like compliments don't you?"

"I do." I admit. "But I don't usually blush when I get them."

"Ah, so I'm somewhat special then." She says teasingly.

"Your compliments are just different." I reply. "Because you're my best friend." I add.

"I see, the best friend effect." She snaps a picture of me.

"What was that for?" I ask.

"Nothing, just capturing this moment."

She sits and I join her.

"Ansel." She says looking at me. "How are you?" She asks letting out a light laugh, like the thought of asking a person you see everyday how they are is funny, which it sort of is.

I shrug. "I don't know." What do I tell her? "Its been fun, this."

She smiles. "It has." Then she adds, "Ansel, don't be so hard on yourself, its what you always told me before when I felt like I messed up a shoot. Better forgive, and let go." She reaches for my hand and she places her hand on top of it. "I know she hurt you, but you get up." She brings her hand up to my cheek. "Okay?"

"Okay. Thanks." I say meeting her eyes. "Thanks for telling me that. I've been feeling better, really."

Shailene. . .

I have hope in Ansel. I'm glad he's having fun and trying to get up again. He looks happier now. I place my hands on both his shoulders. I stand up and he does to. "May I have this dance?" I ask cheekily.

"Of course, you may."

He takes my outstretched hand and places it on his shoulder, I place my other hand on his other shoulder. He places his hands on my back, supporting it.

Ansel is god at dancing with all his sophisticated moves while I'm like a goof just stepping on his toes. Being the good sport he is, Ansel didn't mind at all.

"So what would you like to eat?" He asks flipping through the menu.

"Vegetarian, I suppose."

"Of course, everything here is vegeatarian."

"Everything." I agree. This little cabin restaurant is where Ansel decided to take me. We decided we would try unique restaurants.

"Okay. I want the vegetarian special then." He announces.

"It it a set?"

"Yes."

"I'll have it too, then."

The waiter comes and Ansel orders.

When he leaves, I start out a conversation. "Books or movies?"

"Both." He replies.

"Okay, what if you had to pick?"

"I would pick both."

"Choose one."

"You can't make me!"

"I think I can."

"No!" He argues.

"Yes!" I say back.

"Okay. Fine. Movies."

"I'd go with books."

"That's betrayal! We're filmstars!"

"I would be a writer if I am not so horrible at it!"

"But you hardly ever write so it's not like you would know." He pauses, "you should."

"I should." I agree. "I'll write about us, okay?"

"Okay." He nods.

I smile. "So here we are two goofballs. We're on a roadtrip... like my story so far?"

"Mm. Yeah. What's next?"

"Thanks, So we do different things everyday. And we have the best adventure of our lives. We learn about each other and about the world. On day one, we visited a museum with big skeletons, and I realized... that the world is so much bigger than us, as humans we always think we are the biggest and we want to be known. Sometimes we forget that the world wants to be known and observed too. On day two, we hot cloud tattoos, symbolizing okay. Okay is a word that we use when something is in the middle and clouds are in the middle of sunshine and snow. Its okay to be in the middle. We also watched a horror movie the living daylights outta us." I laugh before continuing. "Scary moments in life are just like watching horror movies, they past, they may scar you a bit, but they pass. Move on. On the third day, we went to Mount Kau Kau, the view was breath-taking, but you shut my eyes before you brought me to see they view. Sometimes you have to close your eyes and relax, see where life leads you. Here we are now, the two of us, listening to my story."

The waiter comes with our dishes.

[A.N. Hai! Sorry the update took forever, I was caught up on my other book My Name is Amelee and this chapter was a lot. See you next! ♡Mads]