A Can of Coke

The Lucky Compass part 1

John B

For the past year, everyone has been trying to get me to believe that my dad was dead. They all claimed that I'm was in denial. Whatever. Denial's underrated. You should try it sometime. It's highly effective, and it's only denial if you're wrong. 

I awkwardly began clanging onto the Cameron's boat with all the borrowed scuba gear in tow. It was early morning, so I didn't expect to see anyone. 

It didn't make any sense. My dad was the last guy who would ever get lost at sea. This compass coming back to me, my father's compass, which was passed down for generations, was a sign. My dad was still alive, and I was gonna find him.

Clanging some more, I was startled by a voice coming from the hearth of the boat. 

"Wheezie, shut up!"  Sarah groaned and then locked eyes with me. "God. You're not Wheezie."

Trying to play off the fact I was here, I stayed calm and cool: "Correct. Yeah. I'm sorry."

"What are you doing?" She interrogated, eyeing the gear in my arms. 

"Uh... I'm just dropping off some scuba gear. What are... what are you doing... here?" I threw the question back. 

"It's our boat. It's also the only place with air conditioning." 

"Right." My face burned red from embarrassment. 

"Did you, um... top up the tanks?" 

"Uh... No. No, power's down, so the compressors were off." She kept staring at me with her golden honey eyes and I had to force myself to look away from her gaze. 

"So, you're sneaking onto our boat at 5:00 am with empty tanks? I'll make sure to tell Ward."

"Okay. Okay. Cool. Cool. Just drop these off." I dropped all the stuff right at my feet, antsing to leave this situation as soon as possible. 

"Yeah, yeah, the middle of the room is fine." She rolled her eyes, causing me to instinctively defend my actions saying:

"Yeah, this is pretty much what he told me to do."

"Bye."

As I was about to leave, I realized that kook princess over there probably wasn't the most trustworthy person, so I stopped to try and clarify what she was gonna do. 

"Actually, you know, what... what exactly were you gonna tell your dad?" I awkwardly laughed, scared this would all get me fired. 

"Nothing much...." she trailed off "just that you poached our scuba gear."

"Okay, fuck. I borrowed it for a few hours, okay?" I defended, unable to fathom how my fate was in this little kook's hands. "And then I brought it back intact and unharmed."

"Minus air." She laughed.

She thought this was entertaining, I bet she just loved torturing me like this, knowing that she had all the power. 

"Look, please don't tell him, okay? He'll fire me." 

Cocking her eyebrow, Sarah continued: "What are you gonna do? Pull a gun on me?"

"I didn't know JJ would do that."

"That's convenient to believe. Maybe you should get better friends." She scoffed. 

"Well, maybe you should get a better boyfriend." I snapped back. 

"Like one who doesn't poach?"