Chapter Fifteen #3
Ethan pushed his hair out of his eyes, then smiled at me.
It was a big, goofy smile, meant to ruin the shot.
I sighed, trying to sound irritated, but I couldn’t make myself stop smiling back at him.
At the beginning of the trip, him doing that would have made me nuts, but now, I found it—him, really—endearing.
I stopped recording and put the phone down.
Maybe I’d be able to get some more shots once we parked.
Ethan turned back to the road right as the song changed again, his eyes going wide as someone sang about how it might be nice to touch someone else’s body. He cleared his throat and pressed a button. “Not George Michael right now.”
“Wait.” I tilted my head as a funny thought struck me. “Is your old-man mixtape a little sexy? Because now I’m curious about the song and—”
“Oh look. We’re here,” Ethan said in mock surprise as he changed the subject. The parking lot was small yet packed. Ethan slowed down to a creep. “Watch for a parking—aha!”
White reverse lights came on an SUV, and Ethan floored it to get to the spot before any of the other cars circling could figure out what was happening.
Sliding into the spot at almost the same time that the SUV with Arizona plates pulled out, he grinned at me like he’d won us a prize at a fair.
We were parked on the edge of the lot facing the overlook.
If we wanted to, we could watch the sunset from the driver’s-side window.
Not that I wouldn’t get out of the car. The view was simply too good to miss.
I was about to grab my gear, when Ethan held up a DJI Osmo. “Since it’s crowded, maybe we just put my camera on the car and let it do the work. Then we can enjoy the sunset.”
“Oh, alright.” I felt strangely naked getting out of the car without my gear.
Ethan’s forehead wrinkled in concentration as he messed with the camera’s positioning and the suction mount he was using to hold it to the car.
Pink streaks started to trace the sky, gently highlighting his face. He was beautiful in this light.
Ethan must have felt me staring, because he said, “This will only take a second.”
“Right.”
Great. Now I was being a weirdo. I walked around to the front of the car and leaned on the hood with my hip, deciding to focus on the natural wonder we’d come to see.
In front of us, the craggy painted rock faces were transforming—the strips of mountain that had been a rust color became a deep red, while the strips of white in the stone almost mirrored the darkening sky.
Behind me, I could hear the doors’ hydraulics slowly shutting, meaning Ethan must have sorted out how to make the camera stay put.
I figured he’d let me know when he was ready to walk over to the railing, so I kept my eyes on the sky as little wisps of clouds began to turn magenta.
Below, the lights of Las Vegas started to sparkle.
“It’s beautiful.” Ethan appeared next to me. For a moment the two of us stood there, watching the sky. Then he asked, “Should we go over to the actual lookout?”
“I guess we should have the full experience.” I smiled up at him, and we headed toward the railing.
Ethan took a sharp breath and then pulled out his phone. “I almost forgot. I took this just now.”
I peeked at the phone. He’d taken a picture of the car at an angle that made it appear as if it were alone at the overlook, the sunset coming off in bright oranges and pinks against a deep-blue sky.
I was technically in the photo, but because of the shadowing, you couldn’t really tell it was me.
Mostly, I was a sheet of hair and a pair of sneakers.
It was a really good photo, like the kind a car company would pay big dollars to try to create.
“It’s amazing. Professional-car-photoshoot vibes.” I grinned.
“Would it be okay if I posted it? You can say no.”
“Go for it.”
“Really? I know you are choosey about what’s on social media and all.”
I waved a hand to signal that it was no big deal, even as Ethan’s eyebrows crept up in surprise. “My mom is not following you, so I’m less concerned about it.”
“Okay.” Ethan shrugged, a lopsided smile working its way across his face as we started walking again.
By the time we’d reached the outlook railing, the fence was crowded with other sunset watchers.
We managed to find a spot that probably would have fit one adult comfortably, but the two of us squeezed into it, our bodies pressed next to each other like we were standing at a concert.
This wasn’t the first time I’d stood this close to him, but that didn’t stop my brain from noticing every detail, from the feel of his arm pressed into mine to the steady rhythm of his breathing, the smell of his soap mixing with the desert air.
A comfortable silence settled between us as we watched the horizon.
Slowly, the sky changed again, the oranges and pinks replaced by blues and purples as the sun sank behind the mountains.
I shivered and tucked myself a little closer to Ethan, hoping to siphon off a bit of his body heat.
He pulled his attention away from the sunset to study me.
“Cold?” he asked.
“I should have brought BamBam’s sweater from the back seat.”
“Here.” Ethan rotated slightly, wrapping an arm around me and pulling me to his side. I leaned my head against his shoulder, letting the warmth of him wash over me.
There are moments when the world seems too beautiful to be real.
It’s a feeling so intense that the joy of being alive becomes overwhelming.
Where the best option is simply to breathe and soak in the idea that every single star had to align for this moment to happen.
This place, with this sunset, felt like that.
Like all the beauty in the world was wrapped into this sunset and tucked into my soul.
I could carry the memory of it with me, but no camera could ever re-create it.
Ethan rested his head on top of mine, and it felt like we could have stayed with that sunset and been happy forever.
In a way, I wished we could. I didn’t want to go home in two days.
This was a moment my parents would consider a diversion.
I was off track, off task, and out in the middle of nowhere with a boy.
Yet it was exactly the kind of imperfect that I wanted to last a lifetime.
Eventually, the sun disappeared entirely, and groups of people began to peel off and return to their cars. Ethan sighed, and my heart sank. I desperately did not want this night to end. “We should probably go. Don’t want to be late.”
“There’s more?” I asked, lifting my head off his shoulder. Even though he’d said we should go, he hadn’t let go of me yet, and I wasn’t about to make him. I smiled up at him and tried not to notice how close we were. Close enough that I could reach up on my toes and kiss him if he’d let me.
“Can you stay out later?” Ethan asked, his hand sliding lightly down my arm to rest on my waist. The feel of his touch there sent my pulse racing and made my mind fuzzy.
“Uh-huh.” I forced myself to keep my eyes fixed on him and my hands to myself, then held my breath, convinced he could feel the tension pulsing through me.
He bit down on his bottom lip and watched me for a moment, then nodded. “Good. You’ll like this next place.”
Ethan gently pressed on my hip, using his arm to guide us back to the car. My mind staggered even as my body started to move. If this was how the rest of the night went, I’d probably die from anticipation before he kissed me.
A little voice reminded me that while I couldn’t have forever with Ethan, I could have right now. And if that was all I could have, then I should enjoy every second of it before the night was over.