Heaven Bay Island

Chapter 1

"I'm pregnant" I say, they all pause and look at me until Isabella gets the courage to say "congratulations!" and everybody else smiles and nods accordingly. I am about four months in, and keeping track very often helps the stress of the birth to fade from my mind. I wonder sometimes how the baby will look, if he or she might take after my eyes or Noah's nose. I hope it's a boy, even though I have Caleb, my first, all I want are boys and maybe one or two girls. I manage to get up from the group circle my friends have formed in the old convenience store and walk my way up to the vending machine with the broken  door. I filter out all the candy and chocolate I don't particularly crave and land on three choices. Kit kat, Snickers and Cadbury chocolate bars, I take a glance at the bars and choose the one with blueberries and nuts. I feel my growing bump and everything else disappears. Maternal instincts are there even when you feel you don't have any, it's primal and built within a human's structure. This little tiny thing is something I'm responsible for, it will depend on me for most of its life and that's when it hit me. When you grow a baby inside you, you feed it as best you can and do things you know will benefit them, the feeling of doing something for the greater good is what fulfills you as a mother. Almost like you're doing it for someone else, even though it's your baby. In the most basic terms, it's similar to the feeling of doing charitable work.

As I bite down on the chocolate bar, I hear footsteps behind me and feel swift hands wrap around my stomach.

Noah.
I love that feeling of knowing you can trust a person who's reciprocated loyalty and effort you've shown. All famous love stories, especially teen ones, don't talk about the amount of work a relationship is. Love is not the most important within a relationship and certainly won't hold it together when times are at their worst. Trust and loyalty are the seams that hold two people in place, the love and admiration comes along with it.

"I thought you were watching Caleb" I ask
"Yeah but the little guy wanted to see his dad and Dante kept asking, I figure it gives me a little time to see you, beautiful"
I smile and plant a small kiss on his cheek and we watch each other in the reflection of the vending machine.
When I first came to the island, my high school (and elementary school) classmate Dante had been a familiar face I'd been longing since I hadn't become acquainted with anybody else. I came alone to Heaven Bay and was lonely for some company and along came Dante, a friend who I had known for years and was one of the first friends I had.

During the Ailani Moon festival people were their happiest, with music to drown out the loud crashing of the beach waves, people dancing, and all kinds of fresh food the islands plants and livestock provide for. After most of the festivities I made my way to the beach, where the crystal blue waters glistened in moonlight. I lay underneath the palm tree closest to the shore and I'm presented by a corona beer.

"They import things to the island now?"
I ask

He gives me a blank look and shakes his head
"Not now, they always have"

"But I thought they made it so we wouldn't have to rely on other countries for things"

"We're not relying, we're trading"
He smiles softly and places a piece of lime  within the opening of my beer bottle

"What the hell does this island have that other countries don't?"
I say jokingly

He laughs and takes another sip of his beer
"Fish that only rich people can afford"

"I had to leave, you know. I couldn't stand to be around people I hated anymore"
I begin to say

"I don't care. We were never close anyways, you had your friends I had mine"
He interrupts swiftly

"Then why come here and offer me a beer like we're best buddies?"
I ask, confused and annoyed

"You look like you could use a friend"
He smirks and begins to leave but not before I tackle him, bringing him to the sand.