Candid Kisses✔

22| voilà

"Livii, Wake up," my aunt whispered in my ear. "Wake up Livii."

Wait, my Aunt? I peered my eyes open to find Lydia sitting on top of me with her legs straddling my waist and her face just mere inches away from mine.

If I wasn't used to Lydia's shenanigans I would've probably been scared shitless. I groaned in response to the harsh sunlight peering in through the bedroom window. I could've sworn I had shut those.

"Good morning beautiful," Lydia beamed, rolling off me and settling in on the left side of the bed. "Isn't it just a wonderful day for adventure?"

"Why are you so chipper at..." I turned to face the small clock resting on my bedside table, "...7am? Why are you waking me this early Lyd?" I groaned again, rolling over and burying my head into my pillows.

Just then Naomi appeared, leaning against the frame of my bedroom door. "We're leaving early, it's like a six-hour drive to the beach hour, excluding bathroom and gas stops. We're hoping to get there by evening so get your lazy asses up and ready."

"At least you got a nicer wakeup call. She came into my room and literally shoved me out of bed," Lydia said, folding her arms, feigning upset.

"You have an hour and a half to get ready. The boys should be here in the next 45 minutes. The next time I walk past this door I expect to see you out of that bed." Naomi instructed, walking out of the room.

Soon after Lydia had left as well to start getting ready.

I had somehow managed to muster up the strength to get out of bed and made my way to the bathroom. No way am I getting on Naomi's bad side.

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After about 50 minutes of showering and tugging at my hair and makeup, my only remaining task was getting dressed. I entered my closet and rummaged through the racks of clothes. Eventually, I opted for a yellow floral print summer dress that stopped a few good inches above my knee, a sun hat, and strappy sandals.

I grabbed the pieces of clothing and made my way back into my bedroom, this time to find none other than Noah McCoy seated on the edge of my bed, scrolling through his phone.

I cleared my throat and instantly his attention shifted from the device and on to me.

"Hey, Angel," he said. His lips tugging upward to form his award-winning smile.

"Hey. What are you doing in here?" I asked, genuinely puzzled as to why he decided to sit around in my room.

He placed his phone on the bed and stood up, "I thought I'd come say hello. I can only imagine how much you've missed my presence," he joked, earning a chuckle and an eye roll from me. " I can leave if you want though."

"It's fine. Just turn around so I can get changed real quick."

Obeying my command, he turned around to focus his attention on the pictures littering my study desk as I began removing my bathrobe to get dressed.

"Are you bringing a camera with you on the trip?"

"I am. I just can't decide which one. Or if I even want to bring just one." I answered.

I was just about done with getting ready so I made my way over to where he was standing. His fingers brushing against the different cameras lined out on the desk.

"Is this a Onestep 2?" He asked, picking the camera up and removing it from its case and observing it.

"Yeah. I had no idea you knew about polaroid cameras?" From his first visit here I got the impression that he didn't acquire much knowledge on polaroids.

"I didn't. I just started looking into them like a week ago," he said picking up another camera and handing it to me. "Here. Take this one. I like the color."

I laughed a little at the reason behind his decision of what camera I should take with me but decided to pack it along with the rest of my stuff anyway.

"Here's an idea. Why don't you take one as well? Then we can both be photographers on this trip." I suggested.

"Really? I don't really know how to use one," his eyebrows furrowed in confusion as he inspected an Instax mini 9.

"It's quite simple. Here, I'll teach you," I said, placing the camera in his hand. "So, you push this to turn it on. Then you just look through here, ensure the camera is focused on your subject, press this button. And voilà." I instructed, pointing to the different parts of the camera.

"Okay. Let me try," he said, instantly lifting the camera and directing it towards me.

"Wait no I'm not ready!" I exclaimed, using one hand to cover my face just as the click when off.

He laughed as he grabbed the polaroid with the image starting forming. "Let me see that," I said, tugging it from his grasp. It had not fully developed but as far as first tries go he did a pretty good job. Though I must admit he did not choose a good subject.

The picture had captured me with my head slightly turned away from the camera, my eyes crinkled and a small smile on my face that I hadn't noticed was even there. My right arm was held out in a failed attempt at stopping him from capturing me in what I thought would've been bad lighting but actually turned out to be not as awful.

"I look hideous." I laughed, still looking down at the now fully developed polaroid picture.

"I think you look beautiful," he replied in a whisper, standing closely behind me and peering over my shoulder.

I turned my head to the side to flash him a small smile, not noticing the lack of space between our faces. His eyes fixated on mine as mine did the same with his. Staring into Noah's eyes is like stargazing. It's so easy to get lost in the beauty of it all. For a moment I completely forgot about the world around us.

My eyes searched his for any signs of emotion. I'm not sure what I was looking for but I could tell he was doing the same with mine. For a split second his attention drifted to my lips then back to my eyes and admittedly mine did the same shortly after.

I'm not sure what was happening but at this point, the space between us was basically non-existent. I could feel his breath fanning against my lips, our breathing matching each other's.

My eyes had just began to flutter shut when, "Liv, c'mon. I told you...." Naomi said walking into my room, causing Noah and me to jump apart as if we'd just been burnt.

"I'm so sorry. Am I interrupting something? I'll just go and come back later," she said turning to leave again.

"No no. It's fine N. What were you saying?" I asked, keeping my eyes focused on anything but Noah.

"Uh, we're all packed and ready to go. We're just waiting on you two," she informed, using her left hand to run up and down on her right arm, a habit I know she does when placed in an uncomfortable position.

"Well then, I guess it's time to go," Noah finally spoke. Hanging the strap of the camera around his neck, he moved to grab his phone and my bags, carrying them out the room with Naomi and I following close behind.

Naomi shot me a look as if to ask "what was that?" to which I mouthed, "I have no idea."