The Light of the Blue Pearl (8 page)

Not wanting to have to think about this she
quietly responded, “I’m actually leaving in the morning.”

Ian slowed his pace to a speed a snail could
have kept up with. “Really?” he asked, obviously disappointed.
“That is a pretty short trip,” he said, quietly laughing to himself
at the absurdity. “Your friend couldn’t pay for more than one day
for you to be here?” he asked, not really expecting an answer.
“Almost seems cruel to make you travel all the way here, only to be
here one day.”

“Yeah,” was all she could muster as a reply.
She hadn’t wanted to even come on this trip. She had been
completely terrified, but now that she was here and saw how
incredibly magical and beautiful it was, she didn’t want to leave.
Add to that the fast friendship she had found with Ian and the
thought of going home in the morning almost made her cry.

“Well I’m kind of glad you didn’t go
straight to bed then,” he said, quickening his pace just slightly
and smiling again at her. “I’m exhausted and you are too, but you
have to see more of this place before you go, to do otherwise would
be criminal.”

“But it’s dark now,” she responded. “What
can I really see now?”

“Well we could go to a bar…or go dancing,
but I think we are both too tired for that,” he said.

“Yeah, definitely too tired for that,” she
said, smiling at the thought that he didn’t want to say goodnight
to her either.

“Well then we should just enjoy the beach.
It is beautiful, especially at night and much calmer for a couple
of old people like us,” he said with a laugh.

She laughed with him, and they continued
walking down the beach and seeing the stars look down at them.

They both tired after a little while and
decided to take a rest. Not having brought a blanket but not really
caring either they both plopped down on the sand and looked out at
the dark ocean in front of them.

“What time do you leave tomorrow?” he
asked.

“My flight’s at 9:00 a.m.,” she answered, a
bit sad that the subject had been brought up again. “And I have to
say I am not looking forward to the flight home, especially without
my moral support,” she said, nudging him a bit and smiling.

“Yeah, what are you going to do without my
boring stories about nothing to get you through?” he said, smiling
back at her.

“When do you head home?” she asked.

“I’m here until Tuesday,” he replied. “Not
too long, but a lot longer than one day. If I were you I’d give
your friend a right smacking for not letting you stay longer,” he
said, only marginally kidding. “I’m going to miss having you
around, it really was great to meet you, Ethne,” he said in a more
serious tone not befitting a young man on a vacation with his
friends.

“That’s very sweet, Ian, I will miss you
too,” she said, not really sure where the words had come from. Many
surprises had happened on this trip, the least of all being the
snorkeling and discovery of more notes. “It was nice crossing paths
with you; you made a difficult part of my trip a much more
enjoyable one, so thank you,” she said to him, feeling suddenly
unsure about the feelings she was having.

This was so far outside her comfort zone she
almost felt like a ventriloquist with someone else feeding her the
lines. And yet at the same time, they flowed naturally, she didn’t
have the same anxiety with him that she felt at home; but she was
sure that was only because there was no way this could go anywhere.
There was no threat of getting too close with Ian.

They were sitting side by side in the sand,
their arms touching, he was looking at her and before she could
object he took her hand in his.

She would have objected, but honestly, she
didn’t want to.

Instead she closed her hand around his and
laid her head on his shoulder. They stayed like that for a couple
of hours, talking a little bit about their lives back home, she
ultimately letting him tell her more about his life than sharing
much of hers, but nonetheless sharing more with him than she ever
had with anyone else.

When they were both getting too tired to
even make conversation he suggested they should probably get back
before they fell asleep on the beach and she missed her flight.

Half joking, but half actually wanting that
to happen, he stood up and helped her to her feet. When she stood
up she looked up into his eyes, their faces only inches from each
other.

He brushed his hand along her cheek and
tucked her hair behind her ear before slowly bringing his lips to
hers and kissing her, softly, unsure of how she would react. When
she kissed him back he pulled her closer to him and kissed her
deeply, passionately.

After a minute or so he stopped the kiss,
stepping back just slightly and apologized to her.

“That’s alright, Ian,” she said, surprised
but appreciative. She smiled. “I wanted to kiss you too.”

She came out of her blissful daze for a
second and in a small panic asked what time it was.

“It’s just after 10:00,” he answered. “Don’t
worry there is still plenty of time for you to get some much needed
rest before you brave the air once more,” he said, not quite
mockingly.

“Oh good,” she said, breathing a sigh of
relief.

When they reached her door she pulled out
her key and unlocked the door not having a clue how the returning
of his bag was going to go.

Ian had been nothing but a gentlemen this
entire time though and this was no different. He leaned down and
picked up his bag not leaving the frame of the door.

“Do you mind if I see you off tomorrow?” he
asked.

“Of course not,” she replied, surprisingly
feeling disappointment that the night with him was almost over.

She was holding the door open for him as he
put his backpack over his shoulder and turned to her before
leaving.

“Well, goodnight, Ethne,” he said, looking
intently into her eyes.

“Goodnight, Ian,” she said softly back to
him before taking his face in her hands and kissing his lips one
more time before closing the door.

Back in her room, alone again with the
sounds of the ocean, her mind was in a daze from everything that
had happened that day.

For a girl that nothing ever happened to,
today was definitely something to write home about. Had she anyone
to call she probably would have been on the phone that instant
retelling her tales.

But she didn’t, and it was late, and she was
still very much exhausted. She thought it best to have everything
ready for the morning. Like the morning before it, it was going to
come long before she was ready.

After packing up the few items that had made
it out of her bag, she reached into it and pulled out her
medication. She drank it down with water and looked out at the
ocean one more time before crawling under the covers and drifting
off to a pleasant place reminiscent of the day she had just
had.

I
t hadn’t felt like
she had been sleeping long before the alarm was going off. But she
was getting used to that feeling, as loathsome as it was.

She rolled over and turned off the annoying
sound before it had the chance to ruin her day, and lay back down
just for a second to reminisce about the night before.

That put a smile on her face and enough
energy in her body to get out of bed completely and start preparing
herself for the departure from the island.

She was excited to see Ian again that
morning, but saddened at the same time at the realization that it
would probably be the last time she ever saw him. That final
thought made her suddenly sluggish.

The feeling was stupid she knew, she had
just met the guy and to feel a loss for something that a couple of
days ago hadn’t even been on her radar was silly. She did her best
to push the sad feelings aside and get herself ready to go.

She didn’t do much besides shower and apply
a small amount of makeup. She knew that that many hours on the
planes and waiting in airports was going to wear on her face no
matter how it started out. Working on pointless things was
generally not her style. So she finished getting dressed, packed up
the few things that managed to escape her suitcase during her short
stay and looked around the room one last time before opening the
door to leave.

Waiting outside her door was Ian. She
definitely hadn’t expected to see him standing there, even though
they had agreed upon a visit before leaving, it was really
early.

She closed the door to her oasis one last
time and turned toward Ian and smiled.

“Good morning,” she said.

“Good morning,” he said back, already
reaching for her belongings before she could object. “Did you sleep
well?” he asked, as they headed toward the stairs.

“Pretty well, although I am really sad to
leave already,” she answered.

“Yeah I can imagine,” he replied. “Do you
think you’ll ever come back?”

Yet another question that never entered her
mind, although now having spent a little time here she couldn’t
imagine herself ever staying away.

“Yeah, I think I will,” she replied. She
looked out at the ocean one last time before heading to the office
to officially check out.

She found it incredibly hard to believe that
after everything that she had been through in the last few days
that she was to say goodbye to a place that now took a prominent
place in her mind.

Since she didn’t travel often, she assumed
this feeling was fairly natural of a place that was as magnificent
as this; how could you not feel a loss for something beautiful,
relaxing and eye opening? If you didn’t she assumed there had to be
something seriously wrong with you.

As they made their way to the office to
check out she could tell Ian was holding his tongue and staying
quiet for some reason.

It was an uncomfortable silence with someone
who previously had only made her feel at ease.

Once she was checked out they made their way
out front to wait for the taxi that would arrive shortly.

“I don’t want you to leave,” Ian said
finally. Staring down at her feet he looked like a lost boy who had
run out of crumbs.

“Oh, Ian….I don’t want to go either, but I
don’t have much of a choice here,” she answered, trying to get him
to meet her gaze.

“Would you mind if I rode to the airport
with you?” he asked, finally looking up and staring into her eyes.
She doubted she would find it easy to forget the blue eyes gazing
back at her.

“I would love that,” she answered. Smiling
at him she added, “You know me, I’m going to be a complete mess
soon, freaking out every passenger on the plane. Your moral support
up until that point will be greatly appreciated.”

He laughed and finally seemed a little more
at ease. She had given him just a few minutes more before the final
goodbye would take place.

When the taxi pulled up they both
reluctantly climbed in and were swiftly off to the airport.

After removing her belongings from the taxi
and making their way to the airport terminal the uncomfortable
silence of what was about to come resumed.

Instead of talking as they sat there waiting
for her flight to be called, Ian took her hand in his and held it
tightly.

“This is so weird,” he finally said. “I
barely know you.”

“Yeah, I know,” she answered, looking down
at their fingers intertwined.

“Do you want to exchange numbers?” he
asked…obviously terrified of the question and what the response
might be.

She had anticipated this and was as scared
as he was of what her reply would be.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea, Ian,” she
answered, doing her very best to not let him see her chin
trembling.

“Oh,” was all he said in reply.

“I have a complicated life,” she said. “I
wouldn’t want to complicate yours.”

“Oh,” he said again. “Well, I wouldn’t
mind…I like complications.”

She laughed. “Well, I live in San Francisco,
that’s all I’m going to say,” she smiled hoping that would be
enough to appease him for now. This was harder for her than he
could imagine.

When they called her flight they both looked
at each other and reluctantly stood up. He carried her bag again
and they walked over to the line.

“I’m going to miss you,” he said. They were
still holding hands. She honestly couldn’t believe this was
happening. Three days ago she hadn’t even known who Ian was, and
now she was going to miss him… a lot.

She let go of his hand and shot up on her
tiptoes and hugged him tightly. “I’m going to miss you too,” she
whispered.

She relaxed her hug a little and looked into
his eyes. Without saying another word she kissed him passionately,
savoring the taste of his lips. She reached down and took her bag
from him, met his gaze one last time and said, “Goodbye Ian,” and
walked towards the gate.

She heard him faintly say “Goodbye
Ethne…good luck,” as she was walking away. She turned one last time
before heading through the door and saw him wave, she waved back
and tried to smile. As much as she didn’t want to say goodbye to
him, she wanted even less to be getting on another airplane; the
trip home was not high on her list.

After finding her seat and trying to settle
in she reached into her pocket to try and find some comfort in her
blue pearl.

The little container he had given her had
been pretty small and there were a few things in her pocket, but
she didn’t feel it.

Starting to panic she started taking
everything out of her pocket. Once everything was removed she saw
no little box.

This loss coupled with the one she had just
experienced with Ian was almost too much for her plane riding,
sleep deprived, stressed out self.