Someday The Waves ✔ *Wattys15 Winner*

Chapter Four

Sunday evening, early June

        

        As the sun began to set, filtering the room with an orange tint, I continued to apply a thick layer of cooled, moisturiser to the ball of my nose and cheekbones. I winced again at the thought of my embarrassing earlier tumble and that fact that not only had I managed to bruise up my hands; I had also caught the sun rather badly on my face. Everything felt red hot to the touch, and when I'd first walked through the porch door, Poppy had unsympathetically laughed and called me Tomato Face.

"No thanks to you." I had snapped back, too hot and clammy to hold my temper at bay. "Your bicycle decided to almost kill me on the way back - one of the tires is completely gone and this is what happened." I'd held up my cut palms, showing her the already raised and visible purple bruising down my forearms.

"Bottom shelf in the bathroom - the green bottle, Aloe Vera for your new tan." Poppy had replied, pointing towards the bathroom. I really didn't appreciate her mocking tone and sly grin.

As the afternoon wore on, I'd resigned myself to the bedroom with cold flannels arranged over my face, hoping that I would be able to sleep, to forget about the stinging pain.

Poppy had stayed away thankfully, too wrapped up in a new batch of orders to ask me how the morning had gone. I'd briefly mentioned everything got there fine along with the reason as to why the bicycle was now back in the garage, deflated and unusable.

My little white lie had left Poppy content and none the wiser.

It was only when she ducked her head into my room, late in the day to announce that there was someone outside on the porch, asking to speak to me - a blonde haired guy, with a black bicycle proped up too close to her neat lawn, did I panic.

Hurriedly I rubbed the cream into my burning skin and put on some shoes, swallowing a deep breath before emerging from the hallway.

By the steps to the porch stood Noah, busy ruffling his hair and eyeing up the front of the bungalow. He looked nervous.

"Hey." I greeted him sheepishly, aware of Poppy hovering behind me.

"Hey, sorry if I've interrupted you, or your sis-" Noah struggled to finish, his eyes quickly flicking to Poppy and back to the ground.

Giving Poppy a look, I hoped expressed fully my desire for her to back off; I shut the swing door and stepped outside closer to Noah.

"My sister, Poppy." I whispered, finishing for him. "Sorry if she wasn't that friendly, she's probably in shock that someone has come to see me."

Reaching into his pocket, Noah pulled out the paper directions I'd given him earlier. "Package has been delivered." he spoke quietly. "Should we have a code name for it or something, as I'm guessing it was your sisters and you don't want her to know the real story."

"It's okay, I don't think she suspects anything." I smiled back, keeping my voice down, in case Poppy could hear us but still acknowledging his particular sense of humour. I liked it, and I enjoyed the way laughter easily slipped from my lips without coaxing when he spoke.

Taking back the directions from Noah, my fingertips stuck to the paper, smudging the ink, and I remembered why they had felt greasy.

Wiping away at my cheeks, I looked back at my white, creamy lotion covered hand and wished for the ground to swallow me. Completely.

How he'd managed to keep a straight face, whilst I spoke with gunk all over me was admirable, but still deeply embarrassing.

"Don't worry, I think we all caught the sun today." he assured, rolling up his sleeves to reveal a red line, shades darker than the rest of his skin.