Chapter 71

                                    

                                          
Arriving to the destination of the directions given to him, Clay couldn't help but become excited as he easily found a parking space near the large facility. Hopping out of his new Jeep, the 19-year-old locked his car before making his way towards the main entrance doors of the building. Coming inside, the boy saw a few people right away as they were reading books, talking amongst each other, or even playing a card game of some sort. Glancing around the room a bit, the teenager smiled instantly when he spotted the one person he had come to see, and he soon walked up behind the girl as her back was currently turned to him. 
                          
Feeling someone wrap their arms around her shoulders from behind, Skye gently placed her hands on the person's arms and smiled to herself. "Hey, Mom." She greeted quietly as she stayed seated in her chair. "Try again." A male voice spoke quietly from beside her, causing the tattooed girl's eyes to widen when she recognized who's voice it was. "Clay?" The girl asked as she turned her head slightly to see the boy, utter surprise detectable in her tone. Seeing how happy she became at seeing him, Clay smiled brightly as he let go of the hug and moved to occupy the vacant chair next to her. "Hey, Skye." He said, his smile never leaving his face. "What are you doing here?" The girl asked, still sounding like she didn't believe he was actually here in front of her right now. "Well, I actually got back really late last night, and I wanted to surprise you. So, when I asked her, your mom gave me directions to this place, and here I am." The teenager said, causing his best friend to smile as she laughed a little at his last sentence. "I didn't see you pull up though." She added, thinking back to when she had been watching cars come and go. "Oh, yeah. That may be because my parents surprised me with a new set of wheels before I came here." The blue-eyed teen said with a small shrug of his shoulders. "New wheels, huh?" Skye asked, sounding a bit intrigued. "Yup. A blue Jeep, to be exact." Clay replied. 
                          
"Oh! And while I'm thinking about it, I might have picked up a little something from Hawaii for you." The young male added after a few seconds, becoming excited again as he reached into his unbuttoned shirt's chest pocket. "You did? You really didn't have to get me anything, Clay." Skye said as she watched her best friend. "Maybe not." the 19-year-old said in agreement. "But I wanted to." He added, as he proudly presented a braclet to his friend. It was a simple Sea Turtle stone braclet with an elastic band. The braclet had white smooth, circular semi-large beads with gray lined designed on them, and a lone blue or turquoise colored Sea Turtle in the mix. Accepting the small gift from him, Skye admired the casual, non-fancy piece of jewelry, and it only made her smile as she thought about how Clay possibly got it for her for a specific reason. "You and I both know how obsessed you are with Sea Turtles, and when I found that, it just instantly made me think of you, so I just had to get it for you, as well as maybe get one for myself." The boy explained, holding his right hand up and revealing the same braclet adorning his wrist. "I don't even know what to say." The tattooed girl said as she held the object in her hand before placing it on her wrist. "Thank you, Clay." She said as she looked back at her best friend, an appreciative smile on her face. Reciprocating the action, the boy returned a smile as he lightly shook his head. "You don't have to thank me." He said as he stood from his chair, soon followed by the girl as she stood as well. "Now. How about I get a tour of this fine facility?" The blue-eyed teen asked as he clasped his hands together, resulting in Skye laughing a little. "Sounds like a plan. I'll be your tour guide." She said, playing along as the two best friends began walking around the building together.
                          
After some time, the two teens found themselves outside as they walked along a paved pathway with a small lake-like body of water a little ways off behind them. As they walked along the asphalt path, the duo took turns talking about things going on. Clay was the first to talk as Skye wanted to hear all about his Summer vacation before getting into the "deeper stuff." Picking up on this, Clay was more than happy to take his friend's mind off of things for a bit by telling her all about his vacation. At one point, the girl had even noticed a halfway hidden decently dark bruise and small red scrape-like spot of her friend's right knee. "Is that from when a bird attacked you while you were on the phone with me?" She asked, causing the boy to glance down and tug up his shorts slightly to fully reveal the bruise and scrape. Chuckling to himself, Clay let go of his shorts and began walking again as Skye walked alongside him. "Yeah. That bird did a number on me." He said, causing the girl to chuckle a little. "But yeah. Between all the run-ins I had with animals down there, that bird was the only one to attack me." He explained. "Though there's a picture of me on my grandpa's boat next to a seal, and my Dad couldn't help but post it on Facebook and clarify which one was his son." He added, smiling as he shook his head a little.