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Jack considered this for a few moments, but he pushed the thought away. Nora wouldn’t be angry that he had a secret writing identity.
Not what I am talking about, you dummy. I’m talking about the other thing. The…
Jack slammed his laptop shut and quickly slid on his shoes, heading for the rental cabin. If his lion was going to be yammering on about the past, Jack wouldn’t even try to sit at his laptop to write a couple of chapters.
Whenever his lion decided not to cooperate, it made writing that much harder.
The rental cabin was empty, but the sunny, warm morning had been busy. Nearly all the watercraft were rented out, and Sammy, the young teen who worked for him, was stacking containers of worms for the fishermen.
“Hey, boss,” Sammy called out. “How’s it going?”
“Just fine,” he answered. “Anything to report?”
The teen shook his head. “Nope. Nothing. Emily is here with some of her friends, and there are a few tourists and a few locals out on the water.”
“That’s good.”
Sammy shrugged before returning to his task.
“Did you ask Emily out yet?” Jack went to the counter and fiddled with some of the brochures stacked for their patrons to peruse.
Sammy’s head moved with such speed that Jack knew the snap of the neck must have hurt him. “What? Have I what?” he asked.
“Have you asked her out yet?”
The teen snorted dryly. “No! Of course not. Why would I embarrass myself like that?”
Jack shrugged. “There’s no reason why it should be embarrassing to ask out a girl you like. This is your senior year, right? You should make a move unless you want to regret it later.”
Sammy sighed, gripping one of the tackle boxes in his hands. “It is gonna be prom this year,” he conceded.
“Exactly. You should show Emily that you’re a real contender for her heart.”
“A contender for her heart,” Sammy repeated. “What does that even mean?”
Jack laughed softly. “The way I see it, you’ve got two choices. You can pretend to be totally cool with the friend zone, or you can take a shot and tell her how you feel.”
“How would I do that?”
“You ask her to prom. You say something like, Emily, you’re the only girl I want to take to prom, and I know school hasn’t started yet, but I want you to know I am all in. I will take you to prom and show you the best time.”
Sammy’s jaw was wide open. “I can’t say that to her. That makes it sound like I want her to be my girlfriend.”
Jack laughed again. “And is that so bad?”
The young man thought about this for a little bit before his head started to shake, almost as if he wasn’t aware his head was moving without his consent. “I mean, if Emily wanted to be my girlfriend, I wouldn’t be mad about it.”
“You’ve had a crush on her since middle school, Sam. It’s time you made your move. Go get her.”
“Okay,” he responded. “I will.”
“Good. Go.”
Sammy went a little pale and green with nerves. “What? Like,now?”
Jack chuckled. “There is no better time than the present. Go on, now. You go do your thing. I’ll cover for you.”
Sammy wiped his hands on his board shorts, spun on himself in confusion, went behind the desk to clock out, and he continued to stumble around in the cabin until Jack led him to the door, wishing him luck.
