laugh » l.t {editing}{c.s}

( 22 )

22  -  c l o u d  i m a g e s  / /  l o u i s 

     AFTER Delaney had finished splashing me so much that water was coming out of my nostrils, we were finally able to have some proper fun. I had attempted to help her learn to swim, but the girl was petrified of going deeper than waist height, so I abandoned that idea very quickly. We just messed about in the water for a bit before we decided to walk round the caves. Most of them were extremely dark and the area was quite dangerous, so after a few times of ‘nearly’ falling to our deaths, we decided to head back to our little site and settle down on the sand.

       “Those caves were amazing, too bad they were too dangerous to explore.” Delaney said animatedly as we both dried ourselves off before sitting down on our adjacent beach towels. I nodded in agreement as I quickly wiped off the water droplets on my skin. “This has been great so far, thanks for bringing me here” she added as she laid back on her beach towel and I followed her lead; leaning back until my head touched the soft towel beneath me.

   I smiled and shrugged my shoulders. “It was no problem, you’re fun to hang out with.” I comment edgenuinely turning my head to face her. Red brushed her cheeks and she looked at me, offering me a smile and the chance to take in how beautiful she was. She then averted her gaze, looked up at the sky and her hazel irises widened prettily.

     “A rabbit.” she said suddenly and my forehead wrinkled with confusion.

      “What?” I asked her, adding a small chuckle at the end. I could see the corners of her lips etch into a smile.

     “A rabbit, that’s what that cloud looks like.” she explained, pointing upwards and I looked up to where she was pointing, and sure enough there was a puffy white cloud oddly rabbit-shaped.

     “Oh yeah, you’re right.” I said shifting to get a little more comfortable on my back. My eyes scanned the cloud-dotted sky and gleamed as I came across another shape. “That one looks like a carrot, for the rabbit. “ I declared to Delaney and she averted her gaze to where I gestured too and nodded in agreement.

    “Yeah.” she replied and I could tell her hazel eyes were scanning the sky for more odd shapes. “Oh and there’s an umbrella.” she announced.

      “Oh, and another carrot.” I added and she smiled.

     “And a bicycle too.” she added.

     “And another carrot.” I said and she turned her head to face me.

      “What’s your obsession with carrots?” she asked, amusement clear in her tone and I turned my head to face her, smiling.

      “We go way back love.” I replied and she grinned, a sort of ‘laugh-like’ sound emitting her delicate lips and my eyes widened to the size of golf balls. “Delaney!” I exclaimed and she gave me a startled look.

        “What, what’s wrong?” she asked, sitting up a little and I sat up also.

       “You just laughed!” I declared. “Sort of.” I added and she tilted her head to the side, perplex in her tone.

      “I did?” she asked incredulously and I nodded animatedly. She looked confused for a moment but slowly her face broke out into a smile. "I did!" she exclaimed, realisation dawning on her.  “That felt so weird…it’s like, like I haven’t felt this good in years…” she murmured, talking to herself more than me.

      This was amazing. Only two days with me and I’d gotten her to sort of, almost laugh. This progress was good and if I played my cards right, I’d have her ‘lol-ing’ in no time. The more she progressed and showed me her happy, fun side, the more curious I’d gotten. This whole depression thing was a mystery to me, and as far as I was concerned, Delaney was not depressed. She may be a girl with a dark past, but there was now way she could be that badly hurt and I was going to make sure of that.