Eddie, Rachel and Carly sat silently around the lit campfire, whilst Eddie was cooking some sort of evening meal that Rachel had never seen in her life. To her, it looked like slush, and at first, she believed that she saw something wriggle in the sludge as it cooked, but she dismissed it, telling herself that she was seeing things, which wasn't really unusual for her, and quietly sat in awe of Eddie's cooking. After around 10 minutes, the meal was finally cooked and 3 plates were passed around to each person, topped with whatever it was she was about to eat. She sniffed it at first, and to her surprise, it smelt.. decent. But smell wasn't everything, it was the taste she was more worried about.
'Um.. what is this we're about to eat? If you don't mind me asking.'
Eddie laughed slightly. 'It's called Gumbaloo, it's got gumba beans, bits of tea leaves and these.' He held a handful of a dozen worms. 'Meal worms.'
Rachel clasped her hand over her mouth, forcing herself not to be sick. 'Oh, right.. ok.' She picked a bit of the sludge up with her fork, scrunching her nose as she put it to her mouth.
'How is it?' Eddie asked eagerly, seeing that she had eaten it.
'Abit more.. chewy than I expected.. but not so bad I guess.'
'That's my special recipe you're eating there. Made it up myself.'
'Oh, really? Well I can see your very.. creative.'
Eddie smiled at her as he carried on eating, gulping each bit down rather quickly, just as Carly was doing. By the looks of them, you could see that it was obvious they were used to this kind of food. Rachel on the other hand, was not. But she didn't want to seem rude or a pushover, so she decided to swallow all of the Gumbaloo that was given to her, despite her stomach not agreeing with it. As they'd all finished, they all put their plates away, washing them out by the river before heading back to the house, sitting on the balcony as they appreciated the stunning view of the shore over the trees.
'It's a lovely view..' Rachel said, breaking the silence around them.
'Hmm, I've always loved this place. Lived here since I was a young boy.'
'Oh really..? So, you were born here?'
'Oh no, no. I'm originally from Rochdale, England. But we emigrated here when I was 5.'
'Rochdale..? I- I live in Rochdale.'
'Really? Well that's a funny coincidence. Where abouts you living?'
'Sunrise Terrace, number 22.'
'You're kidding! That used to be my house!'
'Wow, really? Well.. this is pretty ironic.'
Carly stood up, grinning at the two of them. 'I think I'll leave you two to it. See ya later.'
'Where you going?' Eddie stated, frowning at her slightly.
'I'm only going surfing for abit! I'll be back, don't worry dad.' She kissed him on the cheek. 'Bye.. Bye Rachel.' And she jumped onto a vine, swinging onto the shore before running out to the sea with her surfboard.
'She's quite the adventurer.' Eddie chuckled.
'So I see. I can see abit of my character in her.'
He smiled. 'So.. how long have you been a writer?'
'My main job is a head teacher at a comprehensive school. But I've been a writer for.. 15 years now I'd say.'
'Wow, so you must have alot on your hands then.'
'Not really. As the years have gone by, I've gotten used to everything now, so it's not really a problem for me.'
He grinned. 'You're quite a woman, Rachel Mason.'
'And you're quite a man, Eddie Lawson.'
He grinned, turning his body more to face her. 'I feel like I've seen you before.. your face seems familiar.'
'Maybe we used to play with each other when we were kids, we just can't remember.' She laughed.
'I wish I could remember.. I bet we had fun.'
'Oh, I'm sure we did.'
'But if that is the case.. I'm glad that I've seen you again.' He smiled softly.
'Same here. You're very charming.'
'Why thank you, you're not so bad yourself.'
He laughed, looking up at her as their eyes met. The both of them fell silent, continually gazing into each others eyes as the sun set. Without even thinking, he began to move closer, the gap between them becoming smaller as his face stopped, inches away from hers.
'You're beautiful, Rachel. I don't think I've ever met such an.. extraordinary woman like you before.' He chuckled.
She laughed. 'Well.. that's me. I'm not your average girl.'
'I like it.'
Eddie's brown eyes were fixated on hers, shining in the moonlit sky as the sun totally disappeared. His hand moved up to her face, cautiously moving a strand of Rachel's hair behind her ear. Her hand rested on his cheek as their lips brushed, closing the gap between them. For a moment, she hesitated, pulling back slightly before moving back in, closing her eyes as she kissed him, this time with added passion. Her arms slowly moved around to his back, resting gently on his shoulders as his wrapped around her waist, pulling her closer to him. They gently kissed for what seemed forever before he finally pulled away, getting his breath back. She put her hands to her cheeks, blushing slightly as she became all flustered.
'Wow that was..'
'Unexpected..?'
'Lovely, was what I was going to say.' She smirked. 'You don't think that bad of me, do you?'
'No! No, of course not. I was just assuming-'
'I was kidding!' She laughed, standing up as she wrapped a shawl around her shoulders. 'Do you want to.. go down to the beach? See what Carly's up to?'
Eddie nodded. 'Yeah.. Yeah, that would be nice.' The two of them walked down the slope that led towards the house, walking out of the forest and onto the white sand. She'd never been on a beach in the night time before, it was beautiful. As the two of them took their time walking along the shore, Eddie moved his hand, linking it with hers as she smiled at him, entwining their fingers as they watched Carly surfing the waves.
