The following morning, Minnie woke up to the sound of someone knocking at her door. She rolled off to find the time on her phone. It was seven-thirty in the morning. Why was someone knocking on her door at seven-thirty?
She kicked the sheets off, her feet touching the wooden floors. The person knocked on her door once again. She wanted to shout at them to go away but she didn’t want to be rude. Whoever the person was, they were going to have to deal with her morning breath and lack of bra. She stumbled to the door.
When she opened it, she found a black girl, around her age with her hair braided into thin cornrows. She had deep brown skin and she looked exhausted. She wore a black maids dress with a white apron, she was pushing a cart filled with breakfast food.
“Good morning.” She greeted, her English was forced with an underlying Township accent.
“Hi.” Minnie smiled, polite. “What’s going on?”
“This is for you.” The girl answered, “Are you not Minenhle Ntuli?”
“That’s me but I didn’t order breakfast.” She looked down at the cart in front of her. She ran through all the options, she couldn’t deny food, but she doubted that she wanted to pay extra for it.
“It’s part of your package, breakfast every morning at this time.” The girl didn’t have a nametag much to Minnie’s dismay.
“Oh.” She frowned at the cart, everything on it looked so delicious she didn’t want to waste. “Kebongile.” The girl smiled pushing the cart inside. “Thata.” She offered the girl a few twenty rands from the back of her phone cover. The girl was about argue against it when Minnie told her. “I can tell you’re tired, if you want you can take a quick nap here.”
“He’ll fire me.” The girl’s eyes widened in fear.
“I’ll tell them you were helping me.” She excused the girl, nobody should look that dead on their feet. It was unhealthy, as an art student she could vouch for it. She had spent many nights overworking herself and she knew how it felt to always be tired. The girl had the very same eye bags etched under her eyes.
“Usure?” The girl asked, her eyes darting between the bed and Minnie.
“Ya.” She nodded, removing herself from the path that blocked the way there.
“Dankie.” The girl made Minnie’s bed before crawling on top of it, resting her head on the soft pillows. The moment her head hit the soft pillow, she was out like a light. Minnie smiled at her, picking a pancake from the cart. She ate it slowly, before leaning over her bag to pick an outfit for the day.
Nic had told her to bring her swimsuit. She picked a pale blue bikini and a pair of grey shorts. She decided on a white crop top to match. She showered and dressed in the bathroom.
When she took a step back into the room, the girl was still sleeping. She tucked the two hundred she had offered her into her dress pocket. She sat down on the couch in the corner of the room, eating a fruit salad (from the cart), scrolling through her WhatsApp’s.
She had a quite a few from her friends. There was at least a thousand from their squad group chat, a few from her sibling group chat and one from her mother. The one from her mother was short, her mother was never a big fan of texting.
Please call.
She didn’t wustant the prospect of the day ahead of her ruined by her meddling parents. They would most likely find her another driver and a tour guide in two seconds flat.
I’ll call real, I’m in a loud place right now but I’m fine. Love you.
She sent an accompanying kissy face. She doubted that the would warm her mother up, but she had to try.
She scrolled down the friend group chat, everybody was laughing at something one of her best friend, Kiara had done. She was the clumsy one, tall and lean. Always stumbling over her own feet.
She had fallen over at the airport the day after Minnie had boarded her flight. She left herself out of the conversation. Her siblings were bickering over who had done what and who was in trouble. She didn’t say anything, she was on the other side of the country. What she was doing wouldn’t matter.
A few moments later, the girl asleep on the bed woke up. She looked around the room disoriented for a couple of seconds before glancing at Minnie. She sprang off the bed.
“Thank you.” The girl tugged at her dress, fixing it. It was slightly wrinkled on the side that she had slept on.
“What’s your name?” Minnie got up off her couch, placing her empty fruit salad bowl back onto the cart.
“Zinhle.” The girl studied her own toes, avoiding Minnie’s gaze.
“Buo phuna you can come here at anytime and just relax.” She told the girl, giving her a warm smile.
“That’s-” The girl began her protests before Minnie stopped her.
“I don’t mind at all.” She smiled at the girl who finally met her gaze. Her eyes were still tired, but she was looking a little better. “Just give me a heads-up.”
“Dankie.” The girl left the cart in the room, scrambling towards the door. “I must get back to work.”
“Have a good day.” Minnie said, sitting back down on her seat.
“You too, madam.” The girl called in reply. Minnie felt aged by the statement.
“Call me Minnie.” It was an instinctive thing she did without thinking about it.
“Nawe Minnie.” The girl gave her a small smile before closing the door gently behind herself.
****
She had at least an hour to kill before Nicholas would show up. Minnie picked up her sketchpad, studying the last drawing she had worked on before Nic had come along. It was mostly done, the sea a different shade to the sky. They met at a point, blending into each other. It was good, she had to hand herself that, but she wished she had done it in colour. She needed to capture it in colour. She started on a clean page before her attention shifted back to the other piece.
She shut that page of the book, looking at the new sketch of Nic. It was half-done. It was an outline, mainly of his face. Nothing much besides that but she decided to make it more. She added the texture to his face. The shadow along his jaw, the odd twinkle in his eyes and the way his smirk was glued to his face by magical forces.
She lost herself in it, the motions of her hand. She started her shading light before pulling darker pencils from her bag. Each defining him even more until her hands were covered in graphite, drawing up and down her skin. She worked herself further, he came alive under her hands and when she pulled away. She saw him, in the drawing. He was real, immortalized in the paper.
But she could never do him justice.
She could try but she could never reach a level of artistry where her drawing would beat seeing his face in real life. She checked the time on her phone and saw she still had a few minutes till ten. She packed away her sketch pad, opting for a smaller one in her bag. She tried to wash off the graphite and whirled to the elevator.
When she exited the front door of the hotel, she found his 4x4 truck parked right there. She ran up to it, only to find him not in it. She looked beyond it, on the beach and there he was. Laying down a sea blue towel onto the sand, his surfboard standing in the sand.
She stood there, watching him as he checked his phone and turned back to the hotel building. She swore their eyes connected over the road and she wanted to sprint across the street to him. But she held herself, contained her excitement and safely crossed the road. He gave her a warm smile once she reached him.
He was wearing his full body swimsuit once again, this time he was dry. Not a drop anywhere on him. It framed his muscles and she wondered how good he would look without it.
“Hey.” He greeted.
“Hey yourself.” She walked with confidence, knowing and feeling his gaze on her. “Am I late?”
“Not by much.” He told her, “Slept in?”
“I may have gotten distracted.” She placed her bag down, next to the blue towel. She didn’t feel like sitting down, she had been for so long, she was worried her butt might fall off.
“By what?” His head was leaned to one side, his gaze studying her.
“What do my hands suggest?” She held them up for his inspection. She knew that even after she had scrubbed them hard, it would still be visible and most likely also stuck onto some other part of her body.
“Ahhhh, I would know that substance anywhere.” Nic nodded his head, “Graphite. Was it troubling you, my lady?”
“Terribly so.” She feigned a faint, “I might have washed off my nail polish.”
“I will make it pay.” He proclaimed, a wide smile on his face. He was so dramatic, but she liked it.
“But you’re a pirate.” She reminded him. Pirates weren’t known for their care to ladies.
“I will steal its treasure.” They both started laughing.
“So, what are we doing?” She looked around the near empty beach. The sky was a clear blue, the sun beat down on them and she grateful that she was wearing sunblock.
“Have you been out surfing before?” He asked, nodding at his board.
“No.” She shook her head, looking out at the waves. She wasn’t scared of the sea, but she wasn’t fond of it either. It was odd, but she had never wanted to go surfing up until that moment.
“Well today, I’ll be your instructor.” He said, grabbing his surfboard under his arm. “Try not to stare too much, you might fall off the board.” And as if he forgot he added onto the end. “I also only accept one payment method.”
“Which is?” Minnie raised an eyebrow in question, the glint in his eyes seemed to glow whenever he was about to say suggestive things and she knew what his payment would be.
“A kiss from the fair lady.” Nic gave her a noteworthy smirk. She would have wet her underwear had she remembered she wasn’t wearing any and hoped that her knees weren’t going to give way. But she rolled her eyes at him, punching him gently on his arm. “It was worth a shot.”
“Keep trying, captain.” She danced around a little giddy. “I wanna ride the waves.” She pulled the shirt over her head and the shorts down her legs, exposing her to the view of everybody.
He watched her every movement, she didn’t mean to make it seem sexual. He bit into his bottom lip and she wanted it to be her teeth that did it, or his teeth that bit into hers. She wasn’t picky, but she wanted him, she couldn’t deny it.
She took a step towards him. He must have been naked underneath the skin-tight suit and she was practically in easy to remove underwear. Her eyes stuck to his lips. They looked thin and smooth. She could bet they were like velvet. He didn’t seem to mind the closeness, as he realized the affect he was having on her. He smirked.
It made his lips looked even better, she wanted to get closer but before she could, he did. The space between them was shrinking as the sparks and electricity was flying. She looked up to meet his eyes.
They looked better from this close, everything looked much better from that close. His eyes had blue and grey specks mixed with their sea green hue. His jawline, his cheeks. He had a mole right underneath his chin, a few freckles scattered on his face, all small and blended in with his tan skin.
“How is the water?” She asked for the sake of her sanity. She was losing it, the closeness, his face and the fact that she was close enough to smell the fact that he smelled like the sea. Being close enough to see small freckles. She didn’t want to know what ideas ran wicked in his head. Maybe they could compare ideas. His arms wrapped around her waist, holding her tight against his washboard abs. How soft his lips would feel against her and if she would be able to breath, at any time after it at all.
“Warm enough.” His lips moved slowly, his voice was thick and vibrated through her whole body. She was melting, she was almost there. Just one more move…
“We should get out there.” The minute she said it, she wanted to hit herself. She had cockblocked herself. He didn’t object, turned to the sea and walked down, the surfboard tucked under his left arm.
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