The Truth About Ever After (Three Girls)

by Rachel Schurig

  “Scared?” he called over the wind.

  “Not even close!” I yelled back.

  “Let’s SPIN!” Billy called from the front of the boat.

  Suddenly the world tilted around me as Carl pulled a complete three-sixty. The speed we had going into the spin combined with the suddenness of his execution created a giant splash of water to cover the boat. It was terrifying and exhilarating, just like being on an amusement park ride but faster—much faster.

  As we came out of the spin I heard laughing and cheering all around me. The other passengers had enjoyed it as much as I had.

  “How was that?” Billy called, standing again. We all hooted our approval.

  “Not very excited,” he said, shaking his head in mock sadness. “You must not have liked it. We’ll head to the beach now.”

  We all howled and screamed, making Billy grin. “Again?” he asked.

  For the next ten minutes or so Carl raced the little speedboat across the water, executing perfectly timed three-sixties. By the time he slowed down I felt dizzy and giddy—and was also soaking wet. No wonder they had us stow our belongings at the front of the boat.

  Carl took us smoothly to the small dock at the little island. “Thank you for being our passengers!” Billy called out. “We hope you enjoyed your time on the Ripper!”

  We applauded for Carl and Billy once more as they made their way through the boat, helping us undo our restraints. When I finally stood I felt a little shaky. That was intense.

  Off the boat we were led over to the beach, where another group of guides was standing next to several large bins. They waited for the entire group to join them before they began their explanation on snorkeling equipment and the proper way to handle the stingrays.

  “I’m not so sure about this,” Ginny was saying, eying the water with apprehension. “Aren’t stingrays dangerous?”

  “Our stingrays are as friendly as our locals,” a guide said, stopping in front of her to adjust the straps of her life belt. “You’re in no danger here, gorgeous.”

  He let his hands linger on her shoulders for a bit longer than was strictly necessary, causing Josh to grimace. I laughed to myself—Ginny was completely oblivious. Being ogled by every man she met was probably old news to her by now.

  The guides led us all out into the water. From here I could see that the area we were in was fenced off with nets in the water. I figured that must mean that the rays were already here, that we were, in fact, in their cage. The realization sent a little shiver of fear down my spine.

  “Okay,” the guide called out. “You can all head out and start swimming. Feel free to touch the rays as they pass, but make sure you don’t step on any of them or try to lift them out of the water. That’s the only way you’ll get hurt.”

  “Yeah, I have a feeling I’m not touching anything,” Nate muttered. “This is sounding like a pretty stupid move on our parts, guys.”

  “Don’t be such a wuss,” Annie said, popping her mask over her eyes. “I’m going to find some rays.”

  She dove gracefully into the water, using her flippers to propel herself smoothly along. I could see her snorkel jutting out above the water. Nate hesitated for a minute before following her.

  “You ready for this?” Eric asked, looking down at me. He looked excited, happy. I loved to see him so relaxed and carefree.

  “Yup,” I said, popping my own mask on. Once I had the snorkel in my mouth I couldn’t speak, so I gave him a thumbs up before diving into the water.

  Amazing, I thought to myself. I’d been snorkeling several times in my life, but I never got over how different everything looked under water. Sea grass spread out before me along the sand, with little, brightly colored fish flitting in and out of the blades. The water was amazingly clear. I would probably have been able to see the bottom even without putting my head underwater.

  I set out swimming, not really knowing where I was heading. Soon the grass gave way to a stretch of sand and suddenly I was face-to-face with a large, dark circle. Oh my. A stingray. It was swimming along the bottom, its graceful body flapping like wings in the water. Tentatively I reached out my hand. As the ray swam past, my fingers brushed over its skin and I gasped into my snorkel. It was amazing to touch, slightly leathery and not at all slimy. I grinned to myself and set off in search of more rays.

  I lost track of all time underwater. I had no idea if Eric was anywhere near me. I was only aware of the water around me, the fish and rays below. Every once in a while I would see a pair of flippers, but for the most part I felt completely alone in a foreign world below the waves.

  A loud whistle broke me from my reverie, and I surfaced. I pulled the mask up onto my forehead and squinted around. I had come quite a distance, nearly reaching the outer fence. I thought I could make out Eric across the paddock, and Ginny nearby. The guide was up near the shore, waving everyone over.

  “This is awesome,” Ginny said, coming up next to me as we paddled toward the guide. “Thank you for organizing it, Kiki. It’s been so cool!”

  “And there’s so much more to come,” I told her, feeling giddy.

  Everyone gathered in a loose semicircle around the guide. The water here came up to my neck, but I was amongst the shortest in our group.

  “We will now feed the rays,” the guide was saying. “Once the fish are in the water the rays will all approach. It is very important that you do not crowd them or pull on them in any way.”

  He demonstrated the correct way to feed the rays, holding the dead fish in his open palm as close to the sea floor as he could. Sure enough, a dark shape appeared under the water, flitting over his hand. It must have pulled the fish up from his hand because I could no longer see it after the ray had swam along.

  “Who would like a turn?” he called.

  “Me,” I squealed, raising my hand and jumping up and down a little. Eric laughed next to me, and looked at me with a fond smile. Well, could you blame me? How many times in my life was I going to get a chance to feed a stingray?

  The guide handed me a small, dead fish. It was pretty nasty-looking, and really slimy, so I tried not to think about it. I held the fish in my hand underwater, just as he had instructed. Suddenly a huge ray was approaching me, swimming directly over my hand. I felt a small suctioning feeling over my palm, almost like a vacuum hose had been applied to my skin.

  “He sucked it up!” I cried, amazed. The guide grinned at me, his white teeth flashing.

  “It’s what they do,” he said.

  “You guys have to try that,” I told my friends.

  We were able to swim with the rays for another half hour or so. After everyone had the chance to feed them, the guides showed us how you could hold the rays by laying your arms out flat in the water. They would put the ray right up against our chests, saying they were hugging us. The flesh of their underside was smoother than the top. As one fluttered its wings around my arm, “hugging” me, I couldn’t help but laugh and squeal.

  “You were right,” Nate said as we finally pulled ourselves from the water. “That was really, really cool.”

  “I’m so glad we came,” I said.

  “And now we get to chill on this gorgeous beach,” Annie said, looking around in approval.

  We found a row of loungers in the sun and settled in. Before long we were visited by a roving waiter. Even with a frozen daiquiri in my hand and the sun beating down on me, I found it hard to relax. I was still feeling so buzzy from the thrill of the boat ride and the amazing experience of swimming with stingrays.

  “You look happy,” Eric said quietly.

  I looked at him and couldn’t keep the grin off my face. “It’s been a good day.”

  Suddenly he leaned over and kissed me, surprising me. “What was that for?”

  “Because I love you,” he whispered in my ear. “I love your excitement and your enthusiasm for everything you do. You amaze me, Kiki Barker.”

  I got that lovely tummy swooping feeling Eric so often gave
me as I leaned in for another kiss. “That’s Barker-Thompson, buddy.”

  Chapter Six

  It was hard to believe, now that we were so happy, but there was a time when it didn’t look like Eric and I had much of a future together at all.

  I’d been excited for Matt Thompson to visit me at school for weeks. I hadn’t seen him much in the last year or so, not since he had gotten engaged. Matt was several years older than me and had been away at school for the past three years, on a hockey scholarship at the University of Michigan. My parents had insisted I go to Michigan State, as they had both graduated from there and had been giving quite a bit of money to the school over the years. There was a lecture hall named after my dad, for God’s sake.

  Though he was coming to visit his brother, Matt promised we would get to hang out, too. I already had a list of about six different parties we could try to hit.

  “Kiki!” Matt said happily as I threw open my dorm room door to reveal him standing in the hallway.

  I squealed, making Matty wince, but I just couldn’t help myself. He’d been such a good friend to me in high school, and it was so nice to see him now. I threw my arms around his neck and hugged him tight.

  “It’s good to see you,” he said, smiling down at me when I had finally released him.

  “You too, Matty,” I told him, grinning. The truth was, I’d had a bit of a crush on Matt when I first met him. He was always so handsome, even as a teenager. Plus he had that whole loner, sensitive-guy thing going for him. When he had first started at Country Day, the exclusive private school I attended, he didn’t have a friend to his name. He had transferred when he got a hockey scholarship, and I think he always felt somewhat out of place amongst our student body. He walked the halls alone, exuding an air of not caring about anyone else or what they thought. It was kind of hot.

  I think I felt a little bit sorry for him, to be honest. So I didn’t wait too long before I invited him to come and sit with my group of friends at lunch. Though he was older than me, I tended to run with a pretty mixed crowd and I was determined he would fit in. I don’t know that he made many life-long friends the year he was at Country Day, but he and I hit it off from the start and always remained close.

  “I can’t believe you’re here!” I told him, grabbing his hand to pull him into my dorm room. “It’s been ages!”

  “Wow, Kiks,” he said, looking into the room. “You’re really slumming it, huh? This place is about the size of your closet at home.”

  I stuck my tongue out at him, but it was good-natured. There were very few people in the world who seemed comfortable enough with me to tease me about my parents’ money. I actually kind of appreciated it. “Get in here, Thompson.”

  “Hang on,” he said, turning away from the door to peer down the hall. “Eric was gonna follow me up; I want to make sure he sees me.”

  “I get to meet your brother?” I asked, feeling excited.

  “Yeah,” Matt said, straining his neck. “He was just gonna stop off to say hi to someone and then—ah, here he is.”

  You know how they talk about love at first sight? That arrow shot through the heart to tell you that this is the one for you, the man you’re supposed to be with?

  I totally got that with Eric.

  “Hi,” I breathed, staring in awe at the man in front of me. He was tall and broad, like Matt, but the comparison ended there. Where Matt was dark and serious-looking, Eric was fair and blond, his face open and pleasant.

  “What’s up?” Eric said, sounding kind of distracted. He glanced around my room but didn’t really make eye contact with me. Hmm, maybe the bolt of lightning had been one-sided. The massive swelling I felt in the heart region seemed to deflate a little bit.

  “Eric, this is my friend Kiki. Kiki, my brother Eric.”

  Eric looked at me then, his mouth turning up a little. “Is that your real name?” he asked, sounding amused. “Matt swore it was, but he’s got to be joking, right?”

  “It’s a nickname,” I said, feeling a little stung. Was my dream man making fun of me? This wasn’t going well so far. “My real name is Kimberly.”

  “But Kiki suits her better,” Matt said, grinning. “So, what do you have planned for us tonight?”

  “Planned?” I asked, trying to sound innocent. I was finding it a little bit hard to concentrate with Eric standing right there. He was so gorgeous! I wished he would look at me for more than five seconds.

  Matt snorted. “Yeah, right, Kiks. I know you have the whole night arranged already. No use pretending.”

  I made a face at him. “I have some ideas,” I said with dignity. “But I was going to ask what you wanted to do first.”

  Matt held up his hands. “You’re the expert. I’m in your hands.”

  “Are you going to be joining us, Eric?” I asked, turning to him with my brightest smile.

  “Sure,” he said, shrugging slightly.

  “I was thinking we could head over to Grand River, maybe meet some friends of mine for food? Then there’s a bunch of house parties within walking distance.”

  “Wait, wait, wait,” Matt said. “When you say house parties, do you mean sorority houses?”

  “Oh, God,” Eric muttered. I glared at him. Maybe I had misread the signs. Surely this was not the way true love began. It was one thing for Matty to give me a hard time, but who did this guy think he was, judging me? He didn’t even know me.

  “No, actually,” I said, my voice growing colder. “I know how you feel about sororities, Matt. I wouldn’t take you there.”

  “Good,” he said. He slung an arm around my shoulder. “This sounds fun, Kiks. Thanks.” I got the feeling that he could tell I was irritated and was trying to make me feel better.

  “Let me just grab my purse and lock up,” I said, slipping out from under his arm. I grabbed my things and gestured the boys out in front of me. Once we were in the hallway and on our way, Matt fell into step beside me, Eric lagging a few paces behind. God, even the way he walked was rude. What was with this guy?

  We passed several friends as we walked through the dorms and I stopped to chat with a few, doing my best to let go of my irritation. By the time we reached the front door, Matt was chuckling slightly.

  “What?” I asked, looking up at him. He grinned down at me.

  “You’re just the same,” he said.

  “Is that a bad thing?”

  “Of course not, Kiks,” he said, once again putting his arm loosely over my shoulders. “In fact, I was just thinking that I missed you.”

  It was a warm night for October. As we headed across campus toward the main street in town, I kept up a steady chatter with Matt. I was curious how he was getting on now that the hockey season was over. Matt was a phenomenal player; an NHL team had even drafted him. The last I heard, they had wanted him to start playing in the minor leagues, but he’d promised his parents he’d stay and finish his degree first. So hockey was on hold for now, and I imagined being stuck at school and not playing was really hard for him

  “Come on, Kiki,” he said, thrusting his hands into his pockets. “I was really hoping we could avoid the whole soul-searching conversation about my deferred dreams. Can we talk about something else?”

  “Sure, Matty,” I said quietly. But I reached over and squeezed his arm so that he would know I was there for him. “Wanna hear about my classes?”

  By the time we reached the restaurant, I had told Matt all about my classes and professors, as well as the work I was doing for the Student Activities Board and the Students Against Drunk Driving organization. As Matt held the restaurant door open for me, I caught sight of Eric’s face. He was wearing a bemused expression, and I was pretty sure I saw him roll his eyes.

  “Kiki!”

  I smiled as I caught sight of a large group of friends sitting at a cluster of tables by the window. “Come on,” I said to Matt, pulling him over to the gang. I introduced the boys to my friends and felt a bit pleased that they were all very welcoming, war
m even. That’s how you should behave when you meet someone new, Eric Thompson, I thought to myself.

  In no time at all, I was able to forget all about Eric. Matt was pleasant and seemed happy to talk to my friends. It was a good group of people, some of my sorority sisters, a few friends from my classes. I found I was having fun before our drinks even arrived.

  After we ate dinner, discussion turned to plans for the rest of the evening. Apparently one of the potential parties had already gotten busted, but in a college town like this it was easy to find a replacement.

  “I’m just gonna hit the bathroom first,” I said, jumping up from my seat. “Be back in a second.”

  In the ladies’ room I peered at myself in the mirror. I couldn’t help but wonder why Eric hadn’t reacted to me at all. I mean, I thought I looked pretty cute in my jean skirt and corduroy jacket. I leaned closer, baring my teeth to make sure I hadn’t smeared lipstick or anything.

  Whatever, I said to myself, trying to bolster my own confidence. Maybe he was just shy. Maybe if he got to know me a little better he might like me more. I reapplied my lipstick and pinched my cheeks to give them some color. I would just have to try again, that’s all.

  Walking out of the bathroom, I turned to head back to the table when I caught sight of Matt standing near the front door. He was talking to Eric and they both had their backs to me. I decided to put my try-harder plan into action and headed in their direction instead.

  “Can’t we do something else?”

  I paused where I stood, a few feet from them. That was Eric’s voice…

  “I told you I wanted to hang out with my friend tonight,” Matt was saying. Were they talking about me? “You said that was cool.”

  “Yeah, that was before I met her,” Eric said. “God, Matt, when you told me all the kids at Country Day were snobs, I thought you were exaggerating.”

  “Kiki is not a snob,” Matt said. “She might seem a little over the top—”