[Sat.u.r.day, Evening]"As I stare out this window, with the breeze from the water splashing against my face, I can"t help but wonder. What exactly is wrong with my friends?"
"Oi, monologuing idiot," Ruby said to Owen who was speaking to himself.
"What"s up, red?"
"Not much. Just wondering what you were doing?" Ruby asked.
"Can"t you see? I"m staring out this window. I"m also guarding this table for when the others come back. We could only just find a table so I don"t want to lose it."
Ruby and Owen stared at each other for a while. Owen blindly looked at her with a forced smile in hopes she would get bored and leave. Except Ruby decided to sit down to which Owen joined her.
"My my, this is rather awkward" Owen thought to himself as they both avoided eye contact.
At the top of the boat was where everyone was dancing, left on their own was Sean and Ethan who were "tearing up the dance floor". They had one too many energy drinks and thought they were the inventors of dance. They said nothing to one another, but communicated through the power of dance and performed a flawless break dance together.
"That was great," Ethan said trying to catch his breath. "Let"s go again."
"Ethan?" Kaylee said from the sidelines with a sinister smile. Reminding Ethan of what he was originally planning in the first place. Some could say that he was using dance as a way to escape from what he had to do. Either way, there was no getting out of it now.
"What"s up?" He says as if he doesn"t already know.
"Why don"t you dance with me?" Kaylee asked sending Ethan into shock and out of this realm of existence.
"OF COURSE!" He said with the energy of a knight protecting the princess. "Shall I lead the way?"
The two of them danced to the music that was playing, Owen heard from the decks below the music and was informed when Sean joined him down below.
"THAT IDIOT!!!" Owen screamed. "WHY DIDN"T HE WAIT TILL LATER!!! THEY"LL PLAY SLOW SONGS THEN!!!"
"Why not go up and change the song? The DJ will probably change it." Ruby said.
"You know what. I will!"
Owen stormed off upstairs to which Ruby let out a disappointed sigh.
It wasn"t long before he returned and sunk in his chair.
"What happened?" Sean asked.
"They said no."
The night continued with nothing of interest happening. Sean moved to see the people from the football club and Owen and Ruby were left alone. It began to get dark and the lights came on. They could hear the music upstairs change to a slow ballad.
"Why don"t you go up there and dance?" Owen suggested.
"No point. I could ask the same of you."
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"Ha." Owen laughed. "You know I can"t dance."
"Yeah."
The two resumed the life of awkward silence they experienced before. With Owen eventually breaking it.
"So what"s up?" He asked looking at her directly in the eye.
"Nothing," she said ignoring him.
"Oh. It"s obvious that something is wrong. Why won"t you just tell me? You"re supposed to enjoy tonight. Don"t all girls look forward to tonight?"
"Not all girls," she said.
"... I don"t know how you want me to reply to that." Owen said.
"Don"t," Ruby said.
"I"ve known you for so many years and each year you become harder and harder to talk to. Is this that rebellious phase?" Owen attempted to get answers out of Ruby in the only way he knew how. Through non-stop annoyance.
"Why don"t people just explain their problems." He said. "Life would be easier if you just spoke once in a while. You"ve always been like this. Although, I guess I"m no better. I also have had a few awkward moments like this. It"s rather strange don"t you think? How we feel?"
"ALRIGHT SHUT UP!" Ruby snapped.
"Hehe. That"s the Ruby I know." Owen said laughing with a wide grin.
"Fine. I"ll tell you. Just shut up already." Ruby said. "It"s about what you said earlier."
"When I was monologuing?" Owen asked.
"No, back at school. About my stepdad. He was against me coming here. I"m only here because of my mum. She took me dress shopping in secret and managed to convince my stepdad to allow me to go. There was a lot of arguing."
Owen sat and listened to a story he had heard a thousand times in different ways.
"Well, from what I remember about him. He is rather unreasonable. I remember meeting him for the first time and he struck me with fear. I shat myself just by looking at him."
"Exactly," Ruby said. "He doesn"t listen to me, or my mum."
"I can"t really do anything about that," Owen said. "We are just some teenagers. Adults are strange, but if you ever want to talk then you can talk to me."
"Yeah right. You always call me annoying."
"Oh please, do you believe that? If I found you annoying I wouldn"t have picked level music for the next two years."
Ruby looked up at Owen for the first time that night.
"Really? You picked Music?" She said unable to sit still.
"Well, I asked the teachers and they said it would be best for me considering there aren"t many other options I can do."
The two of them spent the remainder of the night sitting at the bottom of the boat. They sat opposite one another with a table between them and drinks in their hand. Next to them were windows as they pa.s.sed by buildings and listened to the faint music coming from above. Talking about whatever came to mind.
# # #
After several minutes of dancing, Ethan and Kaylee stopped dancing to rest on the side whilst the sun continued to set.
"I wonder what Owen said to the DJ?" Ethan said.
"I don"t know," Kaylee replied. "He seemed kinda down afterwards."
The two of them sat next to each other and couldn"t make eye contact. The number of people that couldn"t make eye contact on this boat was almost 90%. Teenagers were experiencing moments that would last a lifetime and could find love that would last even longer.
"S...So," Ethan said as his face turned red.
"Y...yeah," Kaylee replied whilst the same happened.
"How are you?" Ethan said because it was the first thing to come to his mind.
"I"m fine." She replied.
"That"s good to hear."
This went on for some time. The two of them sat next to each other but facing apart.
"S...so," Ethan repeated.
"Y...yeah," Kaylee said.
"Sha..shall we dance? No that isn"t right? Would you dance with me? No? Would you like to dance with me?" Ethan got fl.u.s.tered at his attempt to finally achieve the victory he was after. He began to panic but Kaylee let at a little giggle that filled Ethan with rea.s.surance.
"Hehe. I get what you are trying to say, and yes. I will dance with you."
The two of them walked up to the dance floor as a slow ballad began to play, they danced hand in hand and slowly moved around with the other couples. Ethan stared into Kaylee"s eyes as he attempted to lead and smiled. Only one thought was going through his head, he thought to himself, that even if he can"t say it, he was happy enough to have come this far.
"OW!" Kaylee said as Ethan crushed her foot.
"Ah!" Ethan panicked. "Sorry, sorry sorry sorry."
"Hehe, don"t worry about it," Kaylee said taking the lead. "Just follow what I do."
Although it some may consider it embarra.s.sing that wasn"t what mattered right now. Ethan followed along perfectly and looked into Kaylee"s emerald eyes as the lights on the deck began to dim.
"How long do we dance fo-"
"I love you," Ethan said interrupting Kaylee who pushed herself away from Ethan.
Kaylee looked up to Ethan who had his eyes closed antic.i.p.ating a response. She looked at his face closely but couldn"t help but hold back tears.
"I"m sorry." She said running off.
Ethan opened his eyes and bit his bottom lip. He attempted to smile and dance off the stage where he moved back downstairs to where Owen was sitting on his own.
"Where"s Ruby?" Ethan asked.
"Kaylee asked her to go to the toilet together. You know how it is."
"I see," Ethan replied. "So, you"ll never guess what I heard upstairs. There was this teacher who drank to much and basically he."
Owen listened to Ethan and watched him as he talked non-stop.
"Ethan?" Owen said. "It"s ok to be sad."
Ethan looked at Owen"s smile which made his bottom lip quiver. The warmth from Owen"s caring smile caused tears to fall as he buried his face in Owen"s suit to cover his bawling eyes.
"S-sorry…" Ethan said. "I know you probably feel embarra.s.sed."
"It"s ok," Owen said. "I"ll let you off this once."
And so, at only a few minutes before midnight, their prom ended. An event that most look forward and most will remember for their lives. Ended right in front of them, full of memories that they wish they could forget.