“You’re the only person who’s ever seen me like that, I think.”
“Really?”
“Most people think I seem too closed off, or damaged, or messy.”
“I don’t think you seem like that at all.”
We walk toward the back of the ship. No one is out here. I walk casually, less of the prim and proper ladylike way I’ve had to grow accustomed to lately. There is a small square platform in the walkway that is raised, large enough for someone to stand on to get a better view of the water.
“You don’t?”
“The woman I see is intelligent, independent, opinionated.” Charlie notices me looking at the platform and then around as if I’m calculating how to best get up there. I hop up unaided, for a moment forgetting that I should have done that a bit more gracefully. “Alice, be careful,” he says with a tone of concern, yet his face appears amused. “Maybe she’s a little stubborn too.”
The water is calm. The waves ebb and flow rhythmically, as if lulling us or even pushing us closer together. I tilt my head back and stare at the night sky, breathing in the cold air and letting the breeze blow the hair around my face. My arms stretched out at my sides. I just feel free.
I marvel at the sight of nothing around us but gentle waves. It’s hard to tell where the sparkling navy sky ends and the dark ocean begins.
“It’s so beautiful.”
“It is,” Charlie replies softly, but when I steal a glance in his direction, he is looking up at me and not at the water.
And his eyes.
Those goddamn eyes.
They flicker in the moonlight, still full of so much warmth even in the dark.
As I step down from the viewing platform, Charlie offers both hands to assist me. I take them and for the first time find my gloveless hands in his. They’re warm despite the cold air. His touch sends an electrical current through my body like I’ve never felt before. Something inside me has awakened. It's as if we have something inside each of us that has been waiting to be connected. It’s crazy, but it feels as if these are the hands I’m meant to hold for the rest of my life.That’s ridiculous, Ali.
We stand frozen for a moment, my hands in his, lost in time. I don’t know if thirty seconds have passed or thirty years. Neither of us wants to move, or perhaps neither of us can. I feel magnetically pulled to him, and all I want is to get even closer. We stand beneath a twinkling sky, and somehow the only stars I see are the ones in his eyes. It takes everything in me not to bring my lips to his. I am mesmerized by him. Our eyes remain locked together until we’re both jolted back to reality by a familiar voice.
“Alice!”
I hear Ben’s voice coming toward us. I drop Charlie’s hands and we separate like shrapnel. I feel like I’ve been caught after curfew in the backseat of a boy’s car.
Ben looks utterly confused.
“Alice, what are you doing out here?” I’m still not used to him saying my full name instead of Ali, though I admit I am growing to like it, especially when Charlie says it.
I struggle to find the words until Charlie steps in to rescue me. “Miss Turner had requested a tour of the ship, sir.”
Ben raises an eyebrow. “In the cold? Out in the dark?”
Charlie looks tongue tied and I realize it’s my turn to step in and aid. “Well, the tourwasinside, Benjamin. But then Charlie mentioned how clearly you can see the stars and constellations in the sky when out at sea. So we stepped outside so I could see them.”
Ben looks both of us up and down carefully, but appears to believe the story. “It’s late though Alice, we’d best retire for the evening.”
He turns toward the path back to our cabin and holds out his arm for me to take. I smile at Charlie. “Goodnight,” I whisper as I take Ben’s arm.
Ben leads me away, slowly at first, nodding politely in the hallways to other passengers. As we move closer toward our cabin, I notice he picks up a brisk speed. We reach our rooms quickly and Ben leads me inside. Barely a second after closing the door, he speaks, his tone altogether different from the politeness outside. His voice now sounds tense and concerned.
“Since when do you care about astrology?” Evidently, he saw straight through the constellation story we attempted to weave.
“It’s astronomy, Ben.”
He tilts his head and rolls his eyes. “Oh, come off it. You know what I mean. I don’t believe for a second that you were out there looking at the stars or whatever bullshit you said.”
“I don’t know what you mean.”
