A date. She sat on the edge of her bed, hands lying limp in her lap. Somehow, improbably and beyond all reason, David wanted to be with her. She didn’t understand it, but she held onto it like a shimmering dream that would evaporate if she stopped thinking about it. He wanted to be with her. That she wanted to be with him was so obvious it didn’t even need stating—but that he wanted to be with her was hard to understand. Maybe he was only grateful for her timely intercession with the cell phone. Maybe he would come to his senses later, after yesterday faded away. She shook her head, trying to dispel those negative thoughts. Today, at least, they had a date.
She looked around her dimly lit room and saw the packages for the first time. Bags of what must be Tea’s shopping littered the floor of her room. She peeked inside one and found the tiny blue bathing suit that Tea had picked out for her—and promptly returned that one to the bag. The others had more reasonable contents: a couple of sleeveless shirts, a pool cover-up made of shear fabric, and a royal purple cocktail dress. Eliza’s mom must have helped slip all this into her room while she was out with David. She should probably check in with her mom to see what they had planned for the day.
She called Johnny and Mia and found them out by the pool, enjoying the sun-filled day. She unpacked the bags, hanging everything up in the tiny closet except for the bathing suit, which she stuck far into the back still in the bag. Then she ventured out onto the ship. Her mom had given her directions, up several flights of stairs to the twelfth deck, and she managed to make it to the outside deck in one shot. Emerging from the artificial light of the hallways into the brilliant tropical sun made her wish she had brought her sunglasses. The twelfth deck was so high up in the air it felt as though they were flying over the ocean, rather than sailing on it.
She carefully gave the pool a wide berth. Mia was soaking up rays, her book in one hand and a tropical drink with an umbrella in the other. Her mom always looked so at home in the sun, with her bronzed skin and blond wavy hair, as if she was a born beach bunny. Eliza looked like she needed shades and a hat just to avoid turning into a lobster. Even though she had her father’s pale skin, she still managed to avoid major sunburn thanks to her mom’s sun-resistant genes. Her mom had shown her the one photograph Mia owned of Eliza’s dad. They were sitting in a photo booth at the carnival where her mom had worked when they met. There were three shots, goofy faces all in succession. Her mom was the same, only more blond and beautiful. Her father was young and handsome, with dark eyes, pale skin, and a stern look that her mom insisted he only put on for the picture. Eliza looked just like him.
“Hey,” Eliza said, perching on a lounge chair next to her mom.
“Hi, sweetie!” Mia said, setting her drink down and pushing up her sunglasses.
“Where’s Johnny?” Eliza asked. She was surprised to see them separated.
“He’s in the pool, playing some kind of water game.” Mia gestured to the nearby pool where Johnny was playing a lively game of water volleyball with some younger, college-age guys. Johnny was easily the largest player there, but he was getting trounced. He looked like he was having a great time.
“So, how is David?” her mom asked, a conspiratorial hush to her voice.
“He’s fine. Great. We had coffee.” Her mom was smiling that knowing look again. “Mom, what?” she demanded. That look was starting to annoy her.
“He is pretty cute …” Mia said.
Eliza rolled her eyes and shook her head.
“Oh, c’mon, Bet.” Her mom edged closer, throwing a glance at Johnny to make sure he was still occupied in the pool. “You always talked to me about boys before.”
“Mom, I never talk to you about boys.”
“You always tell me about Nicolas.”
“Nicolas is a friend.”
“Well, you told me about Trevor, when he had that big crush on you. And what about that other boy—what’s his name? Carter?” She was fishing now. Carter. Eliza hadn’t thought about him in a long time—and didn’t care to. She had hoped Mia had forgotten about it.
“Mom, those guys are just friends.” Eliza was impatient for this conversation to be over.
“And David?” Mia probed.
Strangely, she couldn’t speak. “I, um …”
“He is very cute.”
She sighed, defeated. “He’s insanely gorgeous, Mom. Be real.”
Mia grinned. “So you do like him!” Sometimes her mom acted more like her best friend, Addison, than a mom, and it wasn’t good.
“Mom, please,” she protested. Mia turned more serious and took Eliza’s hand.
“Okay, you don’t have to tell me,” her mom said. “But I’m your mom, and I’m supposed to worry. You’re still so young, Bet. I want to make sure you’re being safe.” Ugh—definitely not where Eliza wanted this conversation to go.
“Mom!”
“Safe from what?” asked Johnny, making Eliza jump nearly out of her chair. She stood up unsteadily and glared at her mom, praying she wouldn’t say anything in front of Johnny. Mia smiled broadly.
“I just wanted to make sure Bet would be safe if she ever decided to try out one of the pools again.” Eliza was impressed—she didn’t think her mom could be that sly on the fly.
“The pool is great—just like bathwater. You should try it!”
“I think I’ll be sticking to water that only goes up to my knees.” Eliza thought that should be obvious to everyone. “So, what are you guys planning for today?”
“Your mom wants to go mini-golfing. What do you say, Bet?” Johnny asked.
“Um, actually, I’m having lunch with David,” she said, glancing nervously at her mom. “I’ll meet up with you guys later, okay?”
“Sure, but you know we’re having dinner tonight with the Mareks, right?” Johnny asked, grabbing a towel and starting to dry off.
“Uh, no, you neglected to mention that.”
“Yeah, they invited us to join them. I guess they were pretty impressed with your heroics yesterday, kiddo.” He grinned and glanced at her mom. “We’re proud of you, Bet. You know that, right?”
“Um, yeah. It was nothing, really.” Her cheeks burned, and it wasn’t from the sun. She made an excuse about needing to get ready and left before things could get any more embarrassing.
They had agreed to meet for lunch at the Portofino restaurant, an Italian restaurant David said was on the seventh deck. It seemed like she should dress up for their date, but she couldn’t bring herself to change clothes given she had seen him only an hour ago. She settled on putting her hair up—it looked a little fancier, at least.
After a few false starts, she found her way to the seventh deck. Not all the stairs went to all the decks, making it even more challenging to navigate a straight path. She left early for this very reason—she didn’t want to be late just because she was directionally handicapped.
She was twitchy. Prom was a group thing, and Carter … well, that was simply a mistake. She had never been on a real date before, much less a date with a boy that hardly seemed real he was so unbelievably good looking. Her heart fluttered when she simply thought of his name, not to mention when they kissed. She flushed merely thinking about it.
The seventh deck looked like the atrium of an Italian villa, with an archway marking the entrance to the restaurant. A pianist played somewhere. She felt horribly underdressed for the white tablecloth, fine dining of the Portofino, but she didn’t have time to go back and change. A few minutes early, she leaned against the archway and floated with the music. She searched for the piano and found it tucked in the far corner of the lounge.
David was leaning against the piano, watching her from across the room. He had changed to a short sleeved, white collared shirt. He whispered something to the pianist before striding over to meet her. The pianist started playing a new song. Sweet, sad sou
nds drifted across the room. A strange quivering feeling took hold of her.
He reached her and quickly kissed her on the cheek. “Hi.”
“That song—it’s beautiful,” she said. “What is it?”
He smiled. “Moonlight Sonata. For some reason, it makes me think of you.”
She felt an unreasonable blush rising up in her cheeks. Fortunately, the host appeared from nowhere. David said they had a reservation, and they were whisked off to a window table at the far edge of the restaurant. The white table cloth, porcelain dishes, and David’s white shirt gleamed in the sun. She thought perhaps this was some kind of magical dream after all.
“I figured I would get a view of the horizon, just in case,” he teased her with a mischievous smile.
“Thanks a lot.”
She should have been hungry, having missed breakfast, but the butterflies in her stomach filled the space with their madly beating wings. Eliza perused the menu and tried to pick out something inoffensive to her stomach. She ordered pasta, and David picked out a pasta dish as well. She had a hard time taking her eyes off him. He entranced her the way he had on the deck that first night. He noticed her staring.
“What are you thinking?” he asked.
“Just remembering something.” She floundered for words. He gave her a quizzical look. “I just was thinking,” she said, “that you were wearing that same shirt the first night I saw you.”
He glanced down at his shirt and smiled. “You mean the night I scared you into falling into the pool?”
“Scared me? Unfortunately, I’m graceless enough to fall into pools all on my own.”
He laughed. “Well, I suppose we’re lucky, then. If you had any more grace, we might never have met. It would have been a much less interesting trip.”
Her heart fell with a thud on the butterflies. Strange girl, falls into pools and wards off criminals with cell phones. It’s just the sort of puzzle someone smart and analytical like David would find interesting. She sighed internally, resigned. He reached across the table and lightly held just her fingertips. It was terribly unfair that he could make her blood race with just that simple touch, and all she was to him was interesting.
“So, would you tell me something?” he asked. Oh, no. There was some other odd Eliza factoid that he was curious about.
“What?” She bit her lip and pulled her hand back.
“Do you have someone special? Back home, I mean.” He looked oddly nervous. “If I remember correctly, some poor guy named Nicolas is out of the running …”
She frowned—she regretted her unfortunate openness before about Nicolas. She didn’t want to talk about other guys, as if there were other guys to talk about. “Nicolas has been my friend since, well, forever. Since we were kids.” For some strange reason, this made David look sad. She pressed on. “We’re just friends, but we’ll be going to Princeton together, which I guess is good. At least I’ll know someone there when I start.” She stopped, looking for some way to change the subject.
“So, no one else?” His eyes drilled into hers. Ugh. He was going to make her come clean about the pathetic state of her love life. Odd, graceless, and dateless. A winning combination, to be sure.
“No. I guess I didn’t want to get involved with anyone since I’m leaving for college soon.” She hoped that was a plausible excuse. He had a bittersweet smile on his face.
“And you?” she asked. Tea said he didn’t have a girlfriend, but that seemed hard to believe. Perhaps he had more girlfriends than he could count. That seemed more likely, given his ridiculously good looks.
“No one I found interesting.” He smiled, taking her hand again and lacing their fingers. She was so distracted by his hand on hers, it took her a moment to process what he said. The butterflies spasmed to life.
“What do you find interesting?” she asked, breathless.
“You.” The way he was looking at her made it difficult to breathe. Their server arrived with drinks at that moment, forcing them out of their private, intense repartee. She looked out the window for a moment, trying to collect her thoughts. The endless ocean reflected cotton ball clouds in a royal blue sky.
“How is Tomasz?” she asked, regretting it took her so long to remember to do so.
“He was still groggy when I looked in on him, but I think he’ll be fine by dinner.”
“Yeah, I heard our families are having dinner together tonight.” She gave him a tight smile.
“That’s my mom,” he said. “She’s been talking non-stop about you and your amazing rescue.” He smiled, seeming to know that she wouldn’t like hearing that.
“There’s no way we can get out of it?” she asked.
“I doubt it—although I would rather just the two of us have dinner.”
“You would?” The butterflies took flight again.
“Yes, it would give me more time to grill you about your boyfriends.” He was grinning now, teasing her. “If I torture you long enough, maybe you’ll tell me the truth.”
“You first,” she threw back.
“What? I’m being totally honest with you.” He looked a little affronted, and that brought out his lilting accent. She swallowed. Carter had seemed sweet in the beginning, too. But if she had paid attention to his reputation as a player, she might have spared herself the trauma.
“Seriously? There’s no one interesting at Lakeland College? I’m sure there were plenty of girls that found you interesting.” She didn’t really want to hear the demoralizing answer. Of course someone as gorgeous as David would have women all over him, just like Carter.
“Do you find me interesting?” He leaned in closer, hands resting on his drink and eyes intense. He caught her completely off guard, and somehow the truth slipped out.
“Yes,” she whispered. She felt the heat rising up in her face. He smiled and was about to say something when their server arrived with food, rescuing her from her discomfort.
They ate in silence. She was afraid to speak, wondering what in the world she could embarrass herself with next. He asked her how her food was, and she said fine, and they continued in their silence.
“Tell me about Johnny and your mom,” he said conversationally, and she sighed in relief that the grilling was over. “You said they just got married?”
“Yeah. Johnny’s okay. Mia’s had worse boyfriends, by far. But I never really had a dad, so I guess I don’t have much to compare him with.” She smiled. It was an old scar, and it didn’t hurt to poke it anymore. David frowned and moved on.
“Your mom said something about traveling?” he asked.
“Johnny’s a professional wrestler. Which really seems more like a professional clown, if you ask me. But if he gets picked up by one of the big promotions this summer, then they’ll be on the road pretty much all the time.”
“So, you’d be alone for the summer?” He seemed concerned about that, although she couldn’t see why.
“I can take care of myself.”
He smiled suddenly. “Of that, I have no doubt.”
“What about your mom and dad?” she asked, trying to steer the conversation safely away from her again. “Will they stay in Green Bay after you leave?” Thinking about David leaving made her cringe inside—he would be leaving the ship well before he left Green Bay.
“The amazing Dr. Marek and his wife will be in Green Bay forever, I imagine. I don’t know what my mom’s going to do after we leave, though.”
“We?”
“Tea just graduated, too. She’s going to CSU Monterey Bay in the fall, so Mom’s losing both of us in the next couple of months. That’s why we’re here, on this cruise—one last family outing before we leave.”
“Did you say Monterey Bay?” she asked, shocked at the coincidence.
“Yes?”
“That’s ama
zing. My friend Addison is going to Monterey Bay in the fall as well. She’s going to major in journalism—she’s been the editor of our school paper since she was a freshman. What’s Tea going to major in?”
“I don’t think she has any idea. Can you major in tanning?”
She smirked. “Not officially. Maybe she could pick Kinesiology with a minor in Health Studies.”
He smiled in return. “After Basic, I’ll be close by at the Language Institute, and I think my mom wants me to keep an eye on her. But if she believes that’s possible, I don’t think she understands Tea very well. You should introduce your friend to Tea; maybe she can keep Tea on the straight and narrow.”
“More likely, Tea will drag Addy off on some adventure.” They slowly made their way through lunch without any further traumas. The sun glittered on the sea, reflecting jewels of light into the restaurant, which was slowly filling with other passengers. Occasionally he would touch the back of her hand or stare into her eyes again and send the butterflies fluttering. She really didn’t know what to make of it, but she didn’t want it to stop.
As they finished their meal, she looked at David, her hands folded under her chin. She could imagine scores of college girls sitting in class next to him, ogling him as she was. He must have left many broken hearts behind—anything else just didn’t make sense. She couldn’t help but be curious about who he was leaving behind in Green Bay. He caught her staring at him.
“What are you thinking?” he asked softly.
“I was wondering what classes you took at school,” she improvised.
“Well, I took a couple of English Lit classes.” He smiled. “And some Biology. I thought I might go pre-med for a while.”
“Why did you change your mind?”
He looked down at his hands folded on the table, then up at her from under those long lashes. “It’s not the easiest thing, being the son of a very successful doctor in a small city.” A crease shadowed his brow. “Tomasz seems to manage it, but I always felt like I wasn’t quite measuring up to the famous Dr. Marek.” A small smile quirked at the corners of his lips. “You know, I’ve never really told anyone that before.”
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