AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Wait. When did I stop thinking of others?
“What the f–?” Skye stutters. “You never pull crap like that, Isaiah. Are you going to start now? Should I be worried about you? Jude is freaking out, we–”
I shake my head. “Sorry,” I repeat, but there’s a final note in my voice this time.
His eyes snap to my face. “Something happened to you out there,” he says. I nod. He flinches. “Did you break the law or something? I’m on it.”
If I wasn’t so twisted up about Eden, I would laugh.
“No,” I reply, “you’re on nothing. I just needed a second to myself. But instead, I found these Greek musicians and I played with them. I had what I can only describe as a religious experience.” I jab at his chest. “I’ve invited them to play music with me. Nothing to freak out about.”
“What?”
I’m shivering now too. I need to get out of these wet clothes.
“Yeah,” I say. “Got caught in the rain, and I need to get warmed up. Find Jude, would you? Wouldn’t want him to keep freaking out.” He turns to go, sighing like the drama queen he is. “Also, tell him he’s coming as well!” I yell after his retreating form.
I begin peeling off my waterlogged sweater and throwing it on the floor. Gosh, that thing was freezing. Feeling lighter than I have in days, I run into my room to change into trunks. Right before I go in, I realize that I’m grinning from ear to ear. Which stops me in my tracks.What if this is who I am meant to be? Just a guy chilling in the pool with friends, talking about music?
What if it’s that simple?
Make a few right choices, and you’re one step closer to the surface of the dark pit you’ve thrown yourself in.
I’m light as air as I climb to the pool deck and cannonball feet first into the deep end without looking to see where I land. There’s a huge splash of warm, blue-green water, white froth reaching all the way to the star-studded sky, and when I surface, I hear screaming. Oh no. I think I landed on someone.
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” I start saying, spitting water. “Are you ok? Have I killed you?” I don’t even care how stupid I sound right now.
I reach out blindly under the water and I grab the person, bringing them over the surface. And I see who it is I’ve landed on.
It’s Eden. Of course it’s Eden. Seriously, what is up with this yacht? I’m beginning to think it’s conspiring to throw us together all the time. This is No Ordinary Boat, is it? Spencer has some explaining to do.
Eden is trying to wipe the plastered hair from her face so that she can spit out the water she swallowed and I’m terrified. I reach for her shoulders, steadying her, lifting her so she can get the air in more easily.
“I’m ok,” she says, sounding breathless. “Shouldn’t I… Shouldn’t I be here? I thought… Skye said I could come.”
Of course he did. I bet he was hoping that if he forced us to hang out together we would somehow magically click and start writing epic songs.
I didn’t tell her to come. But I wanted her to come.
She shouldn’t have come.
“We have to stop meeting like this,” I try to joke, but it comes out all awkward.
“I should go.” She turns around and swims to the steps to climb out.
“You’re good,” I say, trying to sound like it’s no big deal. I do that thing when you try to ‘shrug’ with your voice. I fail. “You should probably stay, get warm up.”
The pool is heated and it feels more like a hot tub than a pool right now. No complaints from me. I sink up to my lips in the warm water and look up at the black sky; it’s drizzling again.
“No, I should leave, I shouldn’t…”
Her one leg is on the stairs, and water is slithering down her body. What the hell is she trying to do? Kill me? She’s wearing a black bikini of all things and I get dizzy thinking how she probably had it on under her clothes when I nearly devoured her back in the pier a second ago. How can she stand there, one foot on the step, water pooling at her waist, and wait for me to make up my mind?
She’s not calm at all. She’s trembling slightly, as if she’s trying to keep herself together by the skin of her teeth. Before I can stop myself, I’ve swum to her and am grabbing her elbow. As soon as I touch her, she stops moving, her body tensing up under my fingers. She’s hardly breathing. Her slender body slides abruptly into the water, her knees giving way, and I’m scared that she won’t float once I let go.
“Hey,” I whisper. I have no idea what to say to her. My hair is in my eyes, and water is streaming down my face. Dammit, did pool chlorine always smell like damp air and rain and Christmas? Or is it just this one? “Breathe, ok? It’s fine, Eden, everything is fine.”
“It’s not,” she murmurs so low I barely catch the words. “And it never will be.”
