22

The next day passed like a breeze. They were packed and ready for their flight the next morning when Jason looked out at the night sky and grabbed their jackets. Despite the fact that Jean was wearing nothing but a tank top and a pair of shorts, he pushed her out of the hotel room and shrugged his jacket on while she did the same.
Not wanting to drive Jean's car and not wanting to give her directions on where they were going, Jason called a cab and whispered their destination to the man. The cab driver nodded and drove in silence with a small smile on his face.
All of Jean's attempts to find out their destination fell on deaf ears. She was shocked when they stopped at the beach. The beach was still lit and a little bit packed but Jean wasn’t up to having fun. Like she had said, she wanted a lazy day and besides, she was freezing in her clothes which were not covering her body from knees down. She was about to complain when Jason dragged her in a direction away from the crowd and away from civilization towards some big stones arranged together on a deserted part of the beach.
“Jason, are we here so you can murder me?” Jean asked with just a hint of humor.
“Ha-ha, very funny,” Jason said sarcastically.
When they got to the rocks, Jason started climbing them and Jean followed, hooking her fingers and feet into the crevices in the stones. After some climbing, there was a downward slope which led to a small cave that they had to bend to enter. Using the flashlight on her phone to look around, Jean noticed that the cave was actually quite large on the inside.
“Lay down,” Jason said.
She snapped her head at him and exclaimed, “What?”
Jason rolled his eyes, “Come on, scaredy-cat.” To show that it was perfectly safe, he lay down on the ground himself and patted the ground beside him, “I want to show you something.”
Jean hesitantly lay down and looked in the upwards direction in which he pointed. She gasped at the beautiful sight before her. The position they were in was one where they could easily see the sky outside the warm cave and it was the most painstakingly amazing thing she had ever seen. She was flabbergasted by the aura which enveloped every star like a safety bubble and the way the auras kissed each other in the cluster of stars. She could not believe that her view of the night sky was as clear as this. She felt like she had moved into a bubble and now had the first-hand view of the starry night.
“Wha…. When…. Wher…. HOW???” She couldn’t bring herself to say anything sensible apart from that.
“Well, I saw this cave from afar that day we came to the beach and when I saw the night, I just guessed it would have a wonderful view of the night sky and I guess I was more than right; this view is awesome.” He breathed. He himself couldn’t seem to understand how nature could be so wonderful, so detailed and so entailing. Just staring at the sky this way made him feel like all his problems were solved.
Wrong, he said to himself, I have a little personal problem here and that is the kind of love I find myself in with this woman. He looked over at her and saw the way her white eyeballs widened at the sight of the stars. She looked beautiful to him in every way possible and he felt such satisfaction just staying with her and having the ability to make her laugh and smile with awe at what he just showed her. He enjoyed showing her his love in the little ways she didn’t notice and he dreamt about her almost every night and she made his dreams so sweet.
He didn’t notice that she had seen him staring and was now looking at him like he was a crazed fellow.
“Why are you looking at me like that?” she asked with a raised eyebrow.
Jason quickly saved himself, “I thought you had something on your face but turns out its just the shadows against your dark skin.”
He turned away and so did she. They concentrated on the night sky or rather tried to. Jason's mind was on Jean while Jean thought of the look she had seen on Jason's face when he was staring at her. it was the same look she had seen on James’ face anytime she was engulfed by or engrossed in something and she caught him looking at her.
It's not possible, she thought. She shook her head in an attempt to get rid of the thought of Jason falling in love with her. it just wasn’t possible, she didn’t want him to love her. He was her best friend and it would spoil a perfectly good friendship if she had to reject him because she wasn’t ready to enter any sort of relationship with anybody at all. She just hoped and prayed that even if he loved her, he wouldn’t act on it. But what if he did? Things would get uncomfortable between them and God knew how long it would take them to finish their project and she could say she wanted to cut off all connections with him.
Suddenly feeling uncomfortable, she got off and announced that she was tired and wanted to sleep after a ‘long day’.
“What? A long day? You must be kidding me. You precisely said that today was a lazy day and trust me, it was.”
“I don’t care. I want to go back to the hotel.”
“Fine. Let's go. I just assumed you would want to enjoy the view a little bit more.”
Jean didn’t answer but turned her back, sad to leave the beautiful view.
When they were walking towards the main road so they could hail a cab, Jason noticed that there was something wrong with Jean. She walked in front of him instead of beside him as always and as she walked, she squared her shoulders and stomped her feet just slightly. He reached out for her hand and halted her footsteps.
“Is it something I said?” he asked.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“Don’t play dumb, you’re one of the most intelligent women I know if not the most. Of course, you know what I mean.”
Despite the fact that his compliment warmed her heart, she kept her gaze cold and she was unreadable to Jason. No matter how much he tried to study her eyes and body language, he couldn’t find anything.
“Wow, what they say about you is true.” He said, “You hide emotions like a pro. But I don’t understand, you’ve been an open book to me till now and the change is so drastic.”
She had no reply so she snatched her hand from his and continued walking. Jason shook his head and followed her. he guessed it was her time of the month because, despite the fact that he had ever had a sister, he knew from his ex-girlfriends that they usually had mood swings during that time.
The cab ride was as silent as death.

The next morning, they greeted each other with smiles like the last night had never happened but Jean knew better. She was going to go back to her normal life once she arrived in New York. There would be no special friendship between her and Jason and if she could, she would hurry up their project; but she knew that she was never to hurry a project or there would be a lot of rush work. Instead, she would make their interactions solely business.
With their luggage safely in her plane, Jean and Jason took their seats and settled down for a long flight. Jean brought out her newly purchased iPod and plugged her ears. She had discovered a new liking for soul and country music and she had lately been exhibiting her newly found love.
With her mind made up and her ears plugged, she leaned into the expensive leather seat and smiled, remembering how much she had actually enjoyed her short vacation in Hawaii.