“Well, it’s safe to say that Mason and I have broken up! I was going up on deck to break up with him and I was so worried he was going to make a scene or cause drama. Turns out he had his hands full…of Lisa! They were up there making out. This makes things so much better. Now he and Lisa can be together and I don’t have to worry about him making things difficult. It’s just really funny to me because I was so worried about hurting his feelings,” she explained to him.
David shook his head. “You’re not upset? I mean, about him cheating on you with Lisa?”
“Not at all, I was going to break up with him anyway. I’ve been an idiot all these months dating him. We really have nothing in common and him cheating on me just goes to show how different we are. Anyway, all I really feel is relief. Do you mind if I bunk in here with you tonight? I really don’t want to deal with either of them until tomorrow.”
“Yeah, of course, you take the bed and I’ll take the floor.” David stood up and grabbed a blanket.
Emily laughed, “David, don’t be silly. We can share the bed. We’ve been camping together for years. Sleeping together in a bed is no different than that.” She scooted over close to the wall and patted the space beside her on the bed.
David stood clutching the blanket in front of himself for a moment before giving his head a quick shake. “Yeah, you’re right.”
He settled into the bed with his back turned towards Emily. As he listened to her soft breathing, he wondered if he would ever have the courage to tell her how he felt.
** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** **
When Emily woke up the next morning, she was stretched out across the bed and David was gone. She stayed nestled in the warmth of the blankets and thought about what was to come that day. Dealing with Mason and Lisa wouldn’t be fun but she was determined to keep things calm. She had no hard feelings toward either of them and if they were happy together it would only make the rest of their trip home easier. Stretching out, she decided there was no point in prolonging it so she got out of bed and slipped on her shoes. What she didn’t expect was to come face to face with Mason the minute she opened the door. The intense expression on his face made her back up and he followed her into the room and shut the door behind him.
“Emily, you have to let me explain,” he said before she could even open her mouth. “What you saw doesn’t mean anything. I was frustrated because you keep putting me off. I just had a moment of weakness. Lisa threw herself at me and I got caught up. It didn’t mean anything! I love you and we can put this behind us!”
Emily’s mind was blank for a minute before anger flooded her. “Damn it! Now I have to break up with him anyway!” she thought.
“Mason, it’s you that doesn’t understand! I was coming up on deck to break up with you. You and Lisa would make a way better couple than us. I decided days ago that we shouldn’t be together. We have nothing in common and we don’t even think the same way about things. I was fooling myself these past few months. It’s better this way. We just don’t fit!” At his thunderous expression, she rushed on. “Please, Mason, you know that we don’t make a very good couple! We need to work together to get home, but I can’t be your girlfriend. Can we just be friends…please?” she begged him.
His face had gone blank. “Friends…you want to be friends.”
Emily stepped forward and took his hand. “Mason, we don’t need to fight or be angry. We can work together without tension. If I can manage to not be bitter about you and Lisa, you can be okay with this. Please, Mason, this boat isn’t big enough for us to be at odds with each other and we still have a long way to go together to get home.”
Mason studied her face and then pulled his hand away from her. “You’re right, Emily, we don’t make a good couple. At least Lisa puts out whenever I want it. I was getting tired of your little girl virgin issues anyway,” he said before turning and walking out.
Emily sighed in frustration and shook her head in disbelief. What an asshole! How did she ever think he was something more?
“I’m going to have to talk to David,” she thought. “It might be smarter to go our own way when we hit land.”
She left the bedroom and went into the bathroom to wash her face and brush her teeth. The cabin was empty when she came out and she was grateful she didn’t have to talk to anyone in her current state of mind. Emily grabbed a bottle of water and a granola bar out of the kitchen and carried it into the main bedroom that she had been sharing with Lisa. She was looking down when she entered the room so she didn’t see Lisa sitting on the bed waiting for her.
It was the exasperated tone when Lisa muttered “Finally” that alerted her and she almost dropped her water bottle.
Emily couldn’t muffle the groan at the sight of the girl. First Mason and now Lisa! Fine, better to get the whole thing over with and then they could all move on. She straightened her shoulders and faced Lisa with an expectant expression.
Lisa had her regular haughty look on her face but her eyes seemed to have a hard time meeting Emily’s and when they did it seemed to her that there was something almost like shame in them.
Lisa took a deep breath and blurted “You need to let Mason go! You’re not the right girlfriend for him. Last night wasn’t the first time we’ve been together. We’ve been hooking up for longer than you guys have been dating. You need to let him go so we can be together!” she stated defiantly.
Emily studied Lisa in silence. Lisa seemed almost desperate. Emily thought about the nasty things Mason had said about Lisa putting out and she shook her head. She just couldn’t understand how Lisa could let that jerk use her in that way. Her shoulders slumped and she sat down on the bed facing Lisa.
She tilted her head to the side and looked at Lisa with compassion. “Who lied to you? Who told you that you aren’t worth more?” she asked softly.
“What the hell are you talking about!” Lisa stormed.
Emily held her hand up in a stopping gesture. “No, really, Lisa, I’m not being mean. I used to think that you were this shallow, selfish, empty girl but I’ve seen that there is more to you on this trip. I mean, think about it. You know you’re gorgeous and I know you’re smart or you wouldn’t have had the grades to win this trip to Disney Land. I’ve seen you be thoughtful and funny too. So with all that going for you, why would you want that jerk to be your boyfriend when you deserve so much more?”
Lisa opened and closed her mouth half in anger and half in confusion. “I…you…if you just let him go, we can be together!” she finally said in desperation.
Emily shook her head, “You know that’s not true, Lisa. If you’ve been “hooking up” since before we started dating then why weren’t you guys a couple?” When Lisa didn’t answer her, Emily went on. “I did break up with Mason. I was actually going to do it when I came upstairs last night and found you guys together. This morning he tried to get me to forgive him and stay his girlfriend. He told me that you didn’t mean anything to him and when he saw that I wouldn’t change my mind, he told me that at least he could get you to put out! I’m really not trying to be mean. I just want to understand why you would let him treat you like that. He’s using you like…like…Kleenex! Every time he needs one, he uses it and then throws it away. You’re worth more than that!”
Lisa wouldn’t look at Emily. She stared at her hands folded into her lap but Emily could see the tears dripping off of her chin. She tried to find the words to reach the girl.
“Everything is different now. It doesn’t matter who was popular in high school. All that matters now is survival. Taking care of each other and getting home. If you really think that Mason is the guy for you then go for it, but make sure that he treats you right! You need to be able to count on him. I couldn’t and I deserve better, so do you,” she finished and slid off the bed. Emily left the room and Lisa to think over everything she had said. All she felt was sadness for a girl who could have it all but didn’t believe that she deserved it.
Chapter 10
Lisa laid in her canopied princess bed and looked around at her pink bedroom. The elegant white with gold accent furniture gleamed in the soft morning light. She loved her room and everything in it. From her walk in closet full of beautiful clothes to the spa-like ensuite bathroom that was hers alone, but nothing in the room could make her feel better this morning. She had caught a flu bug somewhere and had been up all night throwing up. Her hair was matted from sweat and her skin felt and looked greasy. Her normally tan skin had a greenish cast to it and she had deep dark bags under her eyes.
Lisa slowly rolled out of bed and staggered to the door. She needed to go to the kitchen for some water and crackers to soothe her aching stomach. She made her way down the hall to the stairs and clutched the gleaming banister to steady herself on the way down. Looking longingly at the stylish furnishing in the front sitting room, Lisa wanted to rest on one of the elegant Queen Anne chairs but knew her mother would shriek if she caught her on it. The front room was only for guests. Her head swam with dizziness and she had to take deep breaths to control the nausea that threatened to erupt. Getting sick on the imported African hardwood floor was not an option in this house.
She finally managed to make it into the kitchen and had to lay her head against the cool marble countertop before she could go any further. She had just closed her eyes briefly when her mother’s shrill voice cut through the air.
“Lisa, just what do you think you are doing!”
Lisa raised her head and looked at her mother through blurry eyes. As usual, she looked like she had just stepped out of a fashion magazine. Every hair was in place and her dress had not a wrinkle in it. The only thing not beautiful about her mother was the ugly scowl that was on her face as she looked in disgust at her daughter.
“I’m sick, Mom. I need some water and crackers and medicine,” she told her in a weary voice.
“Well, I can see that! You look absolutely haggard. You shouldn’t have come downstairs without cleaning yourself up first. What if we had company! Being sick is no excuse for looking like that. Now go to your room and I will bring you what you need and I don’t want to see you out of that room again until you look presentable, young lady. Really!” Her mother lectured with no compassion.
Lisa slowly made her way back to her room wondering what it would be like to feel her mother’s cool hand on her forehead like she had read in books. Her parents had always given her anything she wanted - clothes, trips to the spa and even a new little convertible car for her sixteenth birthday, but never affection. Image was everything to them, and as long as she looked the part of their little princess, they were happy. Lisa remembered when she was little and she wanted to join girl guides with her friends but her mother refused because she said the uniforms were too ugly. It was the same with school and sports. Soccer was a no because she would get too sweaty and good grades were a must but not extra credit projects because her mother said boys didn’t like brainy girls.
Collapsing onto her bed with the room spinning around her she wished briefly for different parents, ones that only cared about her happiness and not just how she looked to the outside world. Her mother came into her room carrying a breakfast tray with her sickroom supplies and placed it beside the bed. She studied her daughter with a frown.
“You will need to get past this quickly, Lisa. You have a football game tomorrow night and as Captain of the cheer squad you need to be there. Besides that, I’m sure Mason will miss you if you aren’t there.”
Lisa groaned, “Mom, Mason isn’t my boyfriend. I think he’s going to ask out Emily, his tutor.”
Her mother waved her hand dismissively. “Don’t be ridiculous! He’s the quarterback and you are the captain of the cheerleaders. You two are supposed to be a couple. You just need to be more persuasive. What reason would Mason have for dating this brainy little farm girl? Unless…she’s giving him something that he really wants!” She raised her eyebrows at Lisa until she looked up from the cracker she was nibbling. “Lisa, there are certain things that a woman has to sacrifice to get what she wants…Keep that in mind. I expect you to be with Mason on stage for prom. You two will make a beautiful Queen and King. Don’t let me down. Now, get some rest and then clean yourself up. I will see you at breakfast tomorrow.” With a sharp nod of her head, she turned on her stylish high heels, and left her daughter’s room.
** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** **
Lisa sat on the bed with her arms wrapped around her drawn up knees. Tears streamed down her cheeks as Emily’s words rang in her head. Lisa found herself reevaluating her life and the decisions she had made. She thought about her beautiful, perfect mother and the things she expected from her daughter. She remembered how her mother had taken her to the doctor for birth control and how she had reminded Lisa to do whatever it took to get Mason. She felt shame wash over her at the memory of the first time she had sex with Mason and the heart-stopping humiliation of seeing him walk the hallways two days later holding Emily’s hand. The sharp, biting remarks from her mother encouraged her to make herself available to Mason whenever he wanted her that way. Lisa saw all of that in a new light thanks to Emily’s words. She had let him use her and she was a fool. At that moment, Lisa hated her mother with every fiber of her damaged soul.
Rage filled her. Rage against her mother for not caring about her happiness, only her image. Rage against Mason for the casual way he used and discarded her. Never again would she allow others to dictate her actions. Emily was right, she was worth more and she would never settle for less again.
Lisa stayed in the bedroom for the rest of the day thinking about the person she wanted to be and the choices she would have to make to survive in this new world. She knew that the others thought that she was oblivious to the situation they were in but she had heard every word of the grim future that they had painted. Things would be different when they got home. High school was over and the main things in life would be finding or growing food. She would not be her mother. She would never again sell herself to some man to provide for her. Lisa vowed to make amends to Emily and David and beg them to teach and help her to learn the things she would need to provide for herself. Spa treatments and manicures would no longer be in her future. She looked over to the nightstand where there was a bottle of pink nail polish sitting. She reached over and picked it up. Slowly turning it in her hand she said goodbye to Princess Lisa and leaned over and dropped it into the waste can beside the bed.
No one on deck knew of the major shift going on under their feet. Emily and David sat talking quietly at the front of the boat. They were making plans to go their own way once they got to land. They did this while Mason kept stealing looks at them. Mark sat beside Mason with an amused smirk on his face. He was enjoying the tension coming off of Mason. It wasn’t very often that his golden-boy best friend got shot down and it was a nice change for Mark.
Mark was one of five boys in his family. He was the second youngest and was often ignored. His older brothers were all big like him, and until he hit his growth spurt, had often bullied him. He had to learn to fight back and took out his frustrations on his only little brother. His mother was always tired and never seemed to have time for all of her children. She worked long hours and the boys were often left to fend for themselves. Mark’s father was also absent most of the time. He worked on oil rigs up in the northern part of Alberta and stayed in camps. When he did come home, he only wanted quiet in the house so he could watch sports on TV and drink huge amounts of beer. Mark had intimate knowledge of the back of his father’s hand from getting between him and the TV.
Never first place with five other boys at home to compete against; Mark was often filled with rage and bitterness. He was smart enough to know that he didn’t have the looks or the right clothing to be popular at school so he joined the football team in junior high and let his size take out anyone in front of him. Even back then he saw how Mason shone and how everyone wanted to be near him. It had been easy to get in with the star of the team and he stuck l
ike glue all the way into high school, earning himself a spot in the popular crowd by association. But once again Mark was not first. Always in Mason’s shadow, he had learned to temper down his bitterness.
Now was his chance. Good looks and sports talent wouldn’t be enough in this new world and Mark knew that with his size and brutal nature he would finally have his spot as number one. He wasn’t ready to make his move yet but it would be soon and in the meantime he enjoyed watching Mason stew in defeat.
Tim stood at the wheel and watched all of this unfold on his boat. He didn’t regret taking all these kids along but he would be happy when they landed and he would go his own way. He had put his time in and had no desire to relive high school politics. He really liked Emily and David and he suspected that they were planning on going their own way. It would probably make the difference between surviving or not. From all that he had observed so far, Lisa would be a dead weight that they would have to carry and Mark was volatile enough that there would be a power struggle somewhere down the road. Mason could go either way. He could man up and be the team player that they needed or stay petulant now that he was no longer the star of the show.
“Hard to tell what will happen.” he mused. “I hope they make out okay, but I’m glad I won’t be around to deal with it.”
Tim breathed in the salty tang of the sea air and tilted his head up to the sun. They had been incredibly lucky with the weather so far but he knew it wouldn’t last. The closer they got to home, the greater the chances of a storm. Springtime in Washington wasn’t known for its sunny skies. Scanning the ocean ahead of him, he also knew that they would start to see more stranded vessels soon. Four or five days to go and he’d be headed to his family cabin. He sent a prayer up that his family would be there waiting for him.
Sea (A Stranded Novel) Page 9
