A Canvas of Vanilla

                       V A N I L L A   |   O N E   S H O T

[] n o t   j u s t   a   f l a v o u r,   b u t   a   w a y   o f   l i f e. []

                 |||   a   c a n v a s   o f   v a n i l l a   |||

                      *                 *                *

There was something magical that hung in the salty air.

I wasn’t sure whether it was the golden red of the sunset’s rays, dipped in a twilight orange, coating the dusty blue sky that gave the cove its enigmatic glow or whether it was the sound of cheerful laughter that resonated in the air, accompanied with the rhythmic pitter-patter of numerous pairs of feet running on the chalky cliff to only jump off it and land into the cerulean blue sea with resounding splashes. Perhaps, that magical something wasn’t just seen in the way the waves breathed in and out along the shoreline or heard when Erin screamed ''Geronimo!'' at the top of her lungs as she and the rest of the crew leaped, rather valiantly, into the sea; even that magical something wasn't just felt in the grainy sands of the cove's beach.

Rather, it was the mere untouched essence of the cove itself personified by the presence of five people; five magical people: Scott, Collette, Erin, Jay and Daniel.

They all had tainted me with their laughter, tears, an unfathomable love for ice cream (especially Vanilla), flirtatiousness, love and memorable moments, but it seemed as though the confidence they all seemed to uphold when leaping off a cliff couldn't rub off onto me.

As I stood there, at the top of the chalky cliff, looking down at the four figures in the sea below, I couldn't stop my legs from trembling every now and then. "You ready?" Collette shouted, causing my head to shake fervently and, truth be told, I wasn't. In the single moment that I pictured myself sprinting across the cliff as a head start, onto the wooden bench (turned sideways to act as a step) where I'd leap off, I couldn't block out the image of me tripping over the rusty chain, that was there to prevent people from jumping off the cliff (not that it was doing a very good job of that), and tumbling all the way down where I'd most likely hit my head against an underwater rock ending in a concussion.

My heat beat increased frantically.

There were no underwater rocks, however, and I knew this because not only had Collette, Jay, Erin and Scott survived their free fall, but also because we'd all done this before at the start of summer. Where I mustered up the courage back then, I'll never know and whether I wanted the spasm of exhilaration exploding inside my ribcage all over again (probably enough to cause me a heart attack, mind you), I was still debating inside myself although team opposition was in the lead, by a mudslide of course.

A hand slipped into mine: my fingers fitted perfectly in the spaces between Daniel’s large hands. I looked up at him.

"We could always go down the long way and enter the water from the beach." He suggested.

"Yeah. That seems like a pretty good idea right about now." I replied hastily. We turned around and started walking.

"You know..." He started.

"Um... No I don't know..." I finished with a smirk.

"Ha, ha... Very funny."

"I know right." I joked causing Daniel to grunt.

"So as I was saying... Before I was so rudely interrupted—"

"Hey! I did not rudely interrupt you!"