Noelani asked as she stared down at the rocky cliffs below her feet.

Alex had won the impromptu surfing contest after Noelani had misplaced her footing and promptly fell mid wave.

The two were on the Leeward Coast, in bathing suits, shorts for him and a sarong for her to cover them and their shoes and cell phones were left in his car parked a mile away.

"This," Alex peered down at the ground and then gestured to a hole carved in the rock, that was wide enough to fit both of them.

"You want me to go down into a hole? With no clear way out?" Noelani asked in a blank tone.

"Where's your sense of adventure?" Alex grinned, putting his feet in the hole then slowly lowering himself down.

Noelani took in a deep breath, inhaling the scent of salt and seaweed from the ocean below them then slid herself into the cavern.

"What's wrong? You've been like off all day." Alex leaned a hand up to help her.

"It's my ex. I thought we were gonna get back together but," Noelani shook her head, "We got into an argument a couple days ago. He said some things, I said some things... Us working it out is completely off the table."

It was slightly dark in the cavern with a steep slide and jagged rocks placed interchangeably on the wall.

"Whoever he is. He's dumb." Alex said, "Come on."

"This isn't it? What did you get me into?" Noelani asked, looking around.

"Stop asking so many questions, Lani."

At the nickname, Noelani stopped in her tracks, "Please don't call me that."

Alex glanced back at her due to how grave her tone was, "Sorry, I was just..."

"It's all good, just please don't call me that." Noelani tightened her high ponytail as she followed the boy further into the caverns.

"Can I have a hint, at least? Before I trip on one of these sharp ass rocks and die?" Noelani asked.

"You're mad dramatic. Anyone ever told you that?" Alex asked without looking back.

"I'm an Aries." Noelani shrugged.

"We're almost there. A few more steps." Alex stood in front of a cave entrance where faint blue light trailed underneath him.

"A cave. We drove towards the other side of the island for about an hour for a cave." Noelani raised a brow.

"Shush. Come on, cynic." Alex extended a hand to help her forward.

Noelani slid her hand into his to allow Alex to lead her further.

Once they got to his destination, Noelani widened her eyes at what she saw.

There was a crystal clear pool of sea green water at the base of the final cavern. The depth of the pool seemed to be about ten feet and some change, as Noelani couldn't directly see the bottom.

Along the side of the cave was ever green colored moss and vines while a natural skylight showed the sun and blue sky above them.

Opal and moonstones, iridescent rocks, laid sporadically around the entrance of the pool, creating rainbow colored light that reflected off of the water.

"Wow... This might be the prettiest place I've ever seen." Noelani let go of Alex's hand to step closer to the pool.

"Yeah. I found it a couple of months ago. It's freshwater. All that rainwater comes here." Alex said.

"You were right. This place is special," Noelani untied her sarong to reveal a sage green bikini, "Come on."

Without waiting for Alex, Noelani stepped into the pool and waded in until the water reached her belly button.

She took the red scrunchie out of her hair and then dipped her head back to examine the banyan tree branches that hung over the edge of the skylight.

Noelani turned to see Alex standing there, watching her move around in the pool, "You're not coming in?"

"Yeah," Alex smiled, starting to wade in as well.

"You know what we should do?" Noelani gave him a mischievous grin.

"What?" Alex asked as he came closer to where she floating underneath the sunlight.

"See who can hold their breath the longest." Noelani nodded, "Ready, set-."

"Wait, Noel. Wait." Alex put a hand on her shoulder before she could go underwater.

"What? What's wrong?" Noelani furrowed her brows.

"I don't wanna do that. Can we just enjoy this?" Alex inquired.

"Yeah. Yeah, sure." Noelani waded in a little deeper, unnerved by how deep Alex was making his voice unnecessarily.

Noelani leaned her head back again to get the ends of her hair wet then looked at Alex to see him watching her again.

"Are you okay? You're acting kinda off too." Noelani commented.

"It's nothing." Alex came closer until he was standing in front of her.

Noelani would've missed the way Alex leaned in if his shadow didn't alter the angle of the sunlight.

"Alex! What are you doing?" Noelani immediately backed away.

"I-I'm sorry. I-I thought-." Alex stammered, his face red.

"I just told you how I'm nowhere close to getting over my ex. I'm sorry if I gave you the wrong impression but I thought we were on the same page." Noelani shook her head.

Alex was cute, a surfer and understood her deep love for her island, her home.

If Noelani had met him a year or so ago, Alex kissing her wouldn't have been a problem.

Hell, she might've welcomed it but Alex had came in too late.

Jalen had come first and no matter how he had fucked up, Noelani just couldn't forget how much she was in love with him, how much love she held for him.

At least not fast enough to kiss a guy she had only known for about a month.

"I don't want this to fuck up our friendship," Alex tried as Noelani got out of the pool.

"It won't," Noelani reassured him, "I just... I think I should go home. I'll find my own way."

Then she scooped up her sarong from the ground alongside the pool and started to scramble back up to the cliffs.

only a couple of chapters left 🤧

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