Butterfly of Fire - Gabriel Brown

011 - You coming or not?

Naomi had walked the small group towards the junkyard and remembered she had totally forgotten to ask them what they were looking for. Maybe she could be of use.

"What are you guys looking for?" she wondered.

"A barrel," Noah said. She found he had more of an odd accent than the others. He had the habit of saying an s after the last word of his sentence and it made him sound a bit vague, "a large one, like an oil barrel."

"Other than that," Gabe added, "everything useful we can find."

The men went on looking, guided by Noah. She looked at him, finding him at least as much of an oddball as Kenny, but less scary. Noah used a cane to walk and seemed to have a bad limp.

Noah kept instructing the easily distracted brothers, while the sisters seemed to play around a bit. Materials were brought, but progress was slow. Most of all, Matt actually annoyed Naomi. He was laughing and fooling around, but she found his actions right out dumb and dangerous. She frowned and wondered how she didn't notice how annoying he was earlier.

"Is he really the oldest..?" she whispered to Noah, who laughed a little.

"Sadly, yes. He might actually be the youngest on mental level though," Noah said in a tone which made her wonder if he was serious or if he was joking.

After a few hours the boys were finally done finding and hauling all their stuff to the docks and boarded all their stuff onto the boat, which seemed smaller and smaller with the amount of trash being thrown in and onto it. Matt had the 'genius' idea to go and make a house of tires, so they took an incredible amount of tires with them, which actually made her scared that they might sink the boat. Surprisingly enough it held, but most likely it was just barely so.

"You coming or not?" Gabe grinned at Naomi.

"What?" she said, being quite surprised.

"I promised you a meal," he said, "didn't I? Or... do you have plans?"

She chuckled and slit her hand trough her hair. Then she nodded, "Hell, why not."

Casually she boarded and watched the boys as they struggled taking off due to the amount of tires. She soon went to sit on the bow of the boat for some peace and quiet. Gabe quickly joined here.

"May I?" he asked, on which she responded by some absentminded tapping next to her, inviting him to sit as well. He gladly sat down and was quiet for a bit as well. He just looked at her as she stared at the waters in front of her.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?" Gabe said, trying to break the silence.

"Yes it is," she said, having a bit of a dreamy smile.

"You should see our home," he said, feeling intrigued by her smile, "it's so beautiful. I couldn't imagine living anywhere else."

She smiled and looked at him, seeing he was honest. She looked in front of her again, "I'd love to see it."

"Glad you do," he chuckled, "as we are on our way there after all."

She laughed and nodded, "I think I should be scared if you guys took me somewhere else."

He laughed, "Don't worry, little miss," he said, obviously imitating someone but she couldn't put her thumb on who it was, "I'll protect you."

She laughed amusedly and softly stomped his shoulder, "You at least got the muscle for it."

He blushed and grinned at her, "Might need a strong man to protect a beautiful lady."

She laughed again, being quite amused. Her ego told her to went in against it, but she also kind of liked his flirts. They kept sitting like that for quite a while, having a bit of chitchats over time. That was until Gabe noticed how much Naomi was shivering.

"Hey," he said, gaining her attention, "want to come inside?"

"No," she shook her head, "not yet. It's so beautiful. It's not often that I'm on a boat..."

Her eyes looked at the waters again, enjoying the speed, wind and the sound of the water splashing against the boat and every to often splashing up a few drops into her face. Gabe couldn't agree more, although he liked his view better; looking at her. Her brown wavy hair danced as the wind blew trough it and she looked totally in place. As if she belonged out here, instead of in normal civilization.

"Here," Gabe said in a soft voice as he draped his jacked over her shoulders. She gladly put her arms trough the sleeves and pulled it closer around her, secretly sniffing up his smell at the collar of the jacket.

She tilted her head to look at him and smiled sweetly, "Thank you."

It was almost as if his heart missed a beat and his whole world stopped for a second. He only managed a dreamy smile.

"Hey lovebirds," Matt yelled, "we're home!"

o-8