“In the rain?” he asked with a raised brow.
I looked up into the gray sky and shrugged. “It’s perfect for what I have in mind. What are you doing out here in this weather?” I repeated his words with a smile, then looked back into his eyes.
“I was at Benji’s. It’s his wife’s birthday,” he replied, not adding any more to his answer. Do teachers always hang out on a Saturday?
“Well, I gotta go or else I’ll have to wait for the ferry to get back.” I pressed my lips into a thin line.
“Mind if I join you?” he asked, surprising me.
I furrowed my brows, then tilted my head to the side. “Why?”
“I’ve never been to Clark Island. And I can also see what you’re doing for school,” he said with a shrug.
It seemed odd that he wanted to spend time with me on an abandoned island. He’s my teacher. Didn’t he have better things to do?
“Okay,” I replied. I didn’t want to be rude. If he wanted to come, then he could. “You should get a ticket. It’s five dollars.” I nodded to the booth Marcus was sitting in. He has worked here for years.
I walked over to him, and Ezra followed. “Hi, Marcus,” I greeted, and he smiled at me as wrinkles covered his face.
“Hello, Juniper,” he replied, then nodded to Ezra who was now standing next to me. “Need a ticket?” he asked.
“Uh, yes. A two-way ticket, please,” he said, and Marcus quickly tapped one button on the screen in front of him and printed a ticket for Ezra. After paying, I said bye to Marcus and walked on board of the ferry, with Ezra close behind me.
“How often do you go to the island?” he asked as we entered the covered seating area on the boat.
“Once a week or so. I love it over there. Pixie and I used to visit it every day in summer when we were little.” I sat down on one of the chairs, and Ezra took a seat opposite of me. His umbrella was now closed, and he leaned it against the chair next to him, letting the water drip to the floor.
“I see.” He looked around and took in everything. Then, his eyes moved to my backpack, which was already soaking wet. I didn’t mind, since I wrapped a plastic bag around the camera on the inside. His eyes lifted, and as they met mine, I put the hood of my raincoat down.
I smiled, not wanting to frown at him without even noticing, and he smiled back. Ezra was a handsome guy. He was calm, and I could tell that he had a lot on his mind. “What do you do if you’re not following one of your students to an abandoned island?” I asked.
He chuckled softly, leaning back in his seat and putting his right ankle up on his left knee. “I’m usually home. Playing my guitar or reading a good book.” He stopped, then eyed me for a while before he continued to talk. “Is this too awkward for you?” he asked.
“No. I didn’t think you would wanna come with me. I enjoy company,” I told him, keeping my smile in place.
He nodded, and one corner of his mouth curled up as his eyes stayed on mine. “How’s sculpting going?”
“Great. I’ve tried different types of clay this morning with my moms,” I replied.
“Moms?” he asked amused.
“Yes. I have two moms,” I replied briefly, not wanting to go into it more. Some people were downright disgusted when I told them my parents were lesbians. When I was younger, I used to call people out on their ignorance and nasty words they threw my way when they heard about Mom and Aggie, but as I got older, I started to just ignore the weird looks we got when we were out together. I loved them, and they were my everything.
“How’s that?” Ezra asked with a soft smile, sounding interested in my family.
“It’s fun. I don’t know what it’s like to have a father, but…I’ve learned just as much as Pixie, who does have a dad.”
Ezra didn’t move his eyes away from me, and the longer his gaze lingered on me, the more I started to enjoy it. There was something about him that made me relax and not overthink for once. Something about him was incredibly soothing. But it shouldn’t have been.
Chapter Six
Juno
We arrived on the island, and as if it was planned, the rain stopped falling. I turned my head to look at Ezra as we walked along the path toward the amusement park, and I could tell that he was fascinated by his surroundings.
“Do you like it?” I asked.
“It’s nice, yeah. I see why you come here often. It’s…a peaceful place,” he said.
I nodded. I enjoyed every second I spent here, and sometimes, I wished I didn’t have to go back home. This place was deserted most days, but some tourists or elderly couples like to come here to spend a day, walk around, and enjoy the silence.
“Pixie and I often go for a swim here in the summer. There’s a little beach close to the Ferris wheel.”
“Take me there,” he told me with a smile, and I couldn’t resist him. He was so damn sweet, yet there was some sort of control in his voice making me want to do whatever he wanted.
I nodded, and as we walked along the water, I pulled my camera out of the bag to get some videos. The trees and bushes were turning yellow and red, and I then remembered how pretty this island was in autumn.
Turning the camera on, I held it up to my eye and looked through the viewfinder. While it was recording, Ezra kept quiet. I could feel his eyes on me, and I was starting to feel a little uncomfortable.
Why was he staring? He was my teacher. Teachers shouldn’t stare, right? But after a while, and after feeling my cheeks heat up, I started to enjoy his eyes on me. No man has ever looked at me the way Ezra had.
I put the camera down to look at him, and as I caught him look at my lips, he didn’t bother to look away. He kept his eyes right there, and after a few seconds, they moved up to mine.
“What’s the movie about?” he asked, not acknowledging the fact that he had just been staring at me.
“Uh, I haven’t finished the script yet, but it’s about nostalgia. That’s what I feel when I’m here,” I told him. “It’s silly, but in a place this empty, my heart couldn’t get any fuller.” I looked around, watching the trees sway in the wind and single drops of rain falling around us.
We stopped by the Ferris wheel, and as I looked up, I could feel Ezra’s eyes on me again. “What else do you feel when you’re here?”
I smiled at his question and turned to look into his eyes. “Joy. Tranquility. Comfort.”
“And what do you feel when you’re not here?”
He was trying to help me with my project, and I appreciated it. His questions made me think, and it helped me set the mood for the movie I wanted to shoot.
“Nervousness,” I replied, keeping my eyes on his. “As if there’s a storm inside of me.”
*
Ezra
There was a lot going on in her head. Her way of talking fascinated me. She chose her words carefully, yet it seemed as if she just let them run free without thinking too much about it.
Maybe it was a mistake coming here with her, but there was something so fucking intriguing about Juno that I couldn’t stay away from. She pulled me in, and I let her. Of course, I worried about someone seeing us hang out, but on Clark Island, I felt that we were hidden from the world.