KISS Me I'm Irish

World Water Day

I walked up to Eric's front door, ringing the doorbell and waiting. He opened it practically right away, giving me an almost smile. "What's up?" he asked, leaning against the doorframe. I shrugged, running a hand through my hair. "Well it's World Water Day so I was wondering...wondering if maybe you wanted to go fishing? Because you know, that's...water," I said sheepishly. He arched an eyebrow, folding his arms across his chest. "Fishing? Isn't that like...notoriously the most boring past time?" he asked.

"I mean...maybe. But you know I'm not great at dates, I just...I dunno, just don't think the way you do I guess, I'm not super romantic. Y-you don't have to go if you don't want to, of course! Just a suggestion," I mumbled. He let out a sigh. "Yeah, yeah, I know. It's fine, I'll go," he grumbled, shutting the door behind him and walking to my car. With a small triumphant smile I trailed after him, driving us out of town to the spot that was great for fishing. Hoping that the lake wasn't frozen over, I pulled into the parking lot, grabbing the two fishing poles and the bait. 

Eric and I walked down the path, with him humming 'Beth' softly to himself before we reached the pond, thankfully a completely different one from the one I had proposed to him at. "So are you any good at this?" Eric asked, taking one of the poles from my hand and slipping some bait onto the hook. "Mm no not really," I said, and he chuckled. "I just like to do it to relax sometimes. What about you?" "Eh, I've gone a couple times, it's alright. Even if fishing itself is a bit boring, the scenery is usually nice," he said, looking at the water which was a beautiful shade of blue. "The water isn't even close to as pretty as your eyes," I murmured. "Don't push it," he muttered, but his cheeks went a warm pink and I could see the ghost of a smile on his lips. 

I cast the hook into the water, watching as it sank below the surface while Eric did likewise. We didn't say much, just sat on the edge of the dock and watched the water lapping at the shore, ducks swimming lazily through the pond. Eric let out a content sigh, resting his head on my shoulder, and I felt my heart leap. "This is surprisingly nice," he whispered, half to himself, and I barely bit back a smile. "I'm glad you're enjoying it," I said softly. "I'm enjoying the scenery, not you. Don't kid yourself," he grumbled, but he closed his eyes, shifting so he was more comfortable against me. I didn't move much, not wanting to disturb him, as he let out a yawn and dropped off to sleep. I sat like that for an hour or so before my legs started to go numb.

I turned to Eric who was still fast asleep, leaning on my shoulder. "Hey babe," I murmured, nudging him. He stirred, burying his face deeper into my side. "Five mor' minutes," he mumbled with a yawn. "Alright," I said, going back to fishing as he slumped over onto my lap, clutching my thighs. I let him sleep for more than five minutes, just watching the water and not really fishing, happy to just have him there. I looked at Eric with a faint smile, playing with his hair absentmindedly as he slept. The diamond on his engagement ring sparkled in the sunlight and I felt my heart sink. I was so close to losing him, and it was all my fault. And if I did lose him, if he did call off the engagement, I wouldn't have anyone to blame but myself. 

He slept for almost an hour before lifting his head from my lap, squinting at the water. "Hm?" he mumbled. "Sleep well?" I teased. He sat all the way up, looking at me in confusion as he yawned, rubbing his eyes. "What?" he asked through a yawn, before doing a double take. "Oh. Hey Tom." "Hey. Sorry the date was boring enough that you fell asleep," I mumbled. "Huh? Oh, no no it wasn't that. No sorry I just didn't get much sleep last night is all and I dunno, it was nice. Here, I mean. By the water and with..." He trailed off, leaving the sentence unfinished, and I swallowed the lump in my throat as he fidgeted with his engagement ring. 

"So did you catch anything while I was asleep?" he asked after a pause, going all cold again. "Nope. I'm not exactly great at fishing, it was just something fun to do with you," I said. "I mean I-I hope you had fun, I know that you're really angry at me and Eric I'm really--" "I told you, I don't want to hear it," he muttered. "Can I please just say s--" "No," he snapped. I nodded, looking back at the water. "Alright. Um if you change your mind please let me know. I want to make things right between us," I said. "Can you take me home?" he asked abruptly. I blinked, looking at him in surprise, but he wouldn't meet my eye. "Oh, y-yeah, sure," I said, rising to my feet. He stood up quickly and walked down the path, arms wrapped around himself.

Frowning, I followed after him, starting to get worried. He didn't look at me at all as we drove home, just stared out the window. His breathing was getting a lot more shaky by the time we reached his house. "If tomorrow is a holiday I'll see you then," he choked, stumbling up to his house and ducking inside. Getting even more worried, I walked up to his front door, knocking. "Eric? You okay?" I called. "I said I'll see you tomorrow!" he cried. "Just go away until then!" Closing my eyes, I rested my head on the door for a moment. "I'll see you tomorrow," I murmured, knowing he couldn't hear me. I saw the curtains twitch as he watched me drive off but he didn't respond to my parting wave. He had said he wanted to see me tomorrow though, so maybe I still had a chance to fix things.