Chapter 35: Chapter 35

RUBY.

Regardless of how late we slept, I was able to wake up early for the first day of our Hawaii adventure. We had an early morning activity so if I hadn't woken up early we would have probably been late. I woke Toby after I had dressed up. I wore a bright yellow sundress over a blue two-piece swimsuit that had a flattering cut.

"Wake up, dear gorilla!" I said loudly as close to his ear as possible and tapped him lightly.

"What? The sun isn't even up yet."

"He finally wakes up. That's the whole point, we get to see the sunrise" I said.

"I never said I wanted to see the sunrise." He grumbled and covered the blanket over his head.

"Get up! You'll make us late," I said, dragging the blanket from him, "remember our deal or do we just go back to the cat and mouse era?"

"Okay! Okay! Fine, I'll go get ready."

"Hurry," I shouted after him as he made his way to the bathroom.

He got ready rather quickly so in a few minutes we were making our way to the lake port where we boarded our tour boat. We were signed up for the Sunrise Couples Dolphin Tour. There were two other couples on board, everyone seemed nice. They began swapping stories about how they met, the older couples were high school sweethearts while the other couple met on a trip.

"How did you guys meet?" The younger woman asked after she had narrated their meet.

"We were childhood friends, family friends, we lost touch with each other but later reconnected and the rest they say is history." Toby narrated as he glanced at me. They all seemed to be satisfied with our story, "how cute is that?" the older lady cooed.

Watching the sunrise was nothing short of breathtaking. We were all cuddled up in different comfy seats on the deck of the boat making small conversation one moment and the next everyone was staring up in awe as the sun made its appearance. Breakfast was served shortly after and it was a cheery affair with everybody eating to satisfaction.

It took us about two hours to get to the dive site, our tour guides told us about the history of the various islands we passed. Even as we approached we could already see a few dolphins and we were told that a larger pod would be sighted ahead. They gave us wetsuits and ushered us to changing rooms below deck. Each couple had to change in a cramped changing room with barely enough space to stretch their arms. When I figured out the changing arrangement, I wanted to let him use the room first but everyone else went in together so I followed suit. I took off my sundress and began to wear the wetsuit over my swimsuit, I avoided looking at Toby as I struggled to wear the wetsuit. Our hands kept hitting each other in the shared space, but the most painful part was when we knocked our heads against each other. We somehow managed to get dressed in record time and emerge from the dressing room mostly unharmed.

They took us through some basic safety drills before we took the dive and when we finally did it was amazing. Nothing prepares you for the beauty beneath the water, schools of colourful fish swam past us curiously, and we saw a few turtles and of course the dolphins. I was stunned by them, they had me swimming away each time they swam close to me. Toby took a few underwater pictures, showing off his waterproof.

"How could you be scared of dolphins?" Toby said to me as we returned to our room.

"I was not scared, the whole situation was just unnerving that's all."

"Lies, you were so scared and I have a video to prove it." He said as he lifted his phone in the air.

"Let me see it," I said as I tried to reach for his phone which he had lifted above his head.

"You'll see it after I post it, I don't trust you enough not to delete it." He said.

"That's not fair."

"Oh my goodness that feels so good," I said as I relished the feeling of the cool evening breeze against my skin and the firm hands that kneaded my back. Toby and I were having a couples massage and I could kiss whoever came up with this activity.

"You can say that again." Toby all but moaned.

I fell asleep at some point and slept for who knows how long before Toby woke me up for dinner. Dinner at the beach was grander than I thought. Our table was set to rival any five-star restaurant. Our waiter came up to our table with a lei, a necklace of flowers for each of us and our menus. Everything sounded so good it was so hard for me to order but then I finally did. As we started to eat hula dancers and flame throwers started the most captivating performance I have ever watched. I couldn't decide between eating the food or watching the show.

After our dinner and the show, I just laid on the beach and scrolled through social media when I came across a video of me trying to swim away from a few dolphins. The comment section was filled with laughing emojis and I would have added mine if I was not the star of the video. I had to admit that the way I shrieked and the look on my face when they approached me was hilarious. I clicked on his profile and saw that he had posted a video of me watching the sunrise that I had been unaware of him filming. He had captioned it "what a beauty to behold," and I blushed for a moment before I reminded myself that it was all for show as usual. I searched through the pictures I had taken today and chose a selfie we took when we had just got off the boat and captioned it with several heart emojis.

Just as I put my phone down to enjoy the view of the stars and water before me It made a sound notifying me that I had a message.

"Don't get too comfortable cuddling up with my man." It said, the message was from Yasmin.

"Are you jealous now, STALKER?" I replied to her.

I could see she was typing for a minute, she must be trying to find the right come back. Finally, she sends, "only trying to warn you, don't go catching feelings for a man that doesn't give a fuck about you, we both know that its all for show and if you start to think it's because he likes you then you know it won't end well, but of course, I'll be here to laugh at your ugly face when that happens." I sent her a thank you with a laughing emoji and then logged out.

But I knew she was right and it made my heart tug just a little.