THE BOAT TRIP: Stampy And Squid

Out On The Ocean

10 YEARS LATER

STAMPYS POV

What a strange and blissful life I live at the fine age of seventy.
A beautiful cottage by the sea, a thatched roof and a garden of roses and pansies. Amy was always outside in the garden, I had been living with Amy Lee for the last ten years now. Albeit, not a relationship I had ever imagined in years gone by, we worked surprisingly well together. I enjoyed her company. It was a totally different relationship than that of which I had with Sqaishey in my twenties and early thirties. But I was an old man now, and I was happy, so was she.
That's why I asked her to marry me.

It was a bright and sunny August afternoon when I sat in the guest bedroom tying my tie. Myself and Amy had taken this wedding relatively seriously; we hadn't slept in the same room last night, however we had kept sneaking into each others rooms every hour or so; I just wanted to make sure she was okay.
As I combed my hair, I looked out the window to the wide ocean, seeing a few ships far in the distance. Then.
A very familiar looking motor yacht was pulling up to the docks, and a very familiar man in a suit was standing at the top of it in the drivers seat.
I couldn't help breaking into a smile, I ran immediately downstairs and out the front door, across the road to the dock to catch his rope.
"sorry you can't park your boat here!" I called out, seeing him laugh as he noticed me.
"Apoligies! Two old friends of mine are getting married!" he replied, throwing me the mooring line which I tied to the cleat.
Squid climbed off the boat and opened his arms out wide, a hug I took very gratuitously.
Behind I saw Nicole alongside the rest of the family, they had two grandchildren now; Katie, who was ten, and Joseph, who was five.
"Oh how are you my friend?" he murmured to me, his face pressed to my shoulder.
"I'm so happy, mate." I sighed, unable to keep in my smile.
"You're looking dapper!" chuckled Squid, standing back to look at me in my grey suit.
I laughed, "I look old!"
"You are old Stampy!" he replied as I kissed Nicole's cheeks and hugged Ollie and his wife Claire.
"How's the kids-oh my god you've grown!" I exclaimed, looking down at Ollie's kids, and my godchild Joseph, who I felt so touched to have had named after me, especially since I never had children of my own.

Suffice to say, I felt complete when I was with David. Albeit I am a happy man alone now, we are brothers, or tighter than that. We have a chemical bond that simply cannot be broken.

"I can't believe you came!" I exclaimed, drunk with surprise.
"of course we came! Unless you've another best man in mind?" said Squid, an arm around me as we stood on the pier, looking at the Stamping Squid. My favourite thing in the world.

"Joe?" interrupted a woman's voice from behind us.
I turned around to see an older lady, she had long white hair, but surely she wouldn't be any older than I was.. And she looked..
"Eva." breathed Squid.
He recognised her before I did.
But she's dead.
She was shot in Morocco.. Forty years ago.

I stood in complete shock and silence. It all came flooding back to me. Her eyes, her nose, her mouth, she was.. Her. She was Eva.
"Hello." she said, in an all too familiar voice.
"Hi." I breathed. Looking at the ghost. Only she wasn't a ghost. She was here, right in front of me. Real.
"you're all dressed up." she noted, looking me up and down. I almost laughed at the absurdity of her opening remark after forty years of silence.
"its my wedding day." I told her, clearing my dry throat.
"you don't know how long I've been searching for you." she said, her eyes locked on mine.
I loved you. I lost you. I grieved you. I moved on. I lived. I'm still alive. And you've been here all along.
"How..?" I questioned, completely lost.
"I was shot but I didn't die." she said, "I was in hospital for nine months, then in prison for five years. Then I went straight to England.. I tried every form of social media, I just couldn't get through to you."
I could tell that Squid was deliberating on whether he should stay or go. But he resumed silently beside me till Nicole and the others tried to join the conversation and he dragged them away, subtly patting my back.
I felt sick.
I just felt so confused.
I had so many questions to ask her but somehow the only one that could come out was,
"are you okay?"
She could see from the tired and grieving look in my eyes that it meant so much more than 'are you okay?' it meant how have you been? Where are you living? What happened to you? Have you got a family? Did you get married? Are you happy? Please.. Please tell me you're happy.
"I'm happy, Joe." she told me with a sad smile, her eyes beginning to glisten.
"I'm happy too." I told her, biting my lips together and looking up, feeling overwhelmed with emotions.
We have so much to talk about but so little to say.
"did you make it around the world?" she asked me, and suddenly she was that young girl I feel so quickly in love with all those years ago.
"I did." I told her, my heart beating loudly inside my nervous chest.
"I'm glad." she responded, unable to stop smiling at me, which made me laugh while I wiped a tear from my eye.
"sorry." I breathed, looking away as I lifted my steamed glasses and dried my eyes.
"it's alright, you better go, can't have you be late for your own wedding." she chuckled, placing a hand on my arm.
"y-you can join us if you like." I offered, knowing what her answer would be.
"I think I better give this one a miss. But congratulations." she told me, folding her arms, that's when I noticed a gold band around her ring finger.
I smiled back at her, "you too."
We stood with our eyes locked till she reached over and hugged me. A hug that completed me after forty years of guilt and confusion and unrecognised grief.

She turned and walked away while I continued to stare back at her.
"Stamps.." said Squids voice from behind me.
I took a deep breath and turned back to Squid who stood coldly behind me.
"yep." I breathed, sniffing my emotions back.
"Shes okay." he replied, putting a hand on my shoulder while a tear crept out.
"she's okay." I echoed, smiling, turning back as she walked farther away onto the pier. "She was always okay."
"You okay?" he asked me,
"I'm always okay, mate." I told him.
"come on, let's get you married at long last." he encouraged, patting my back.
She's okay. She's okay. She's okay.
God I'm so glad she's okay.

I did question, as I uttered the words "I do.", if I was marrying the right woman. If I had just let my second chance slip away right there. If things had been different, if the wedding was next week, would I still have married Amy?
But I am seventy years old, I have no time to fall in love again.

I sat between my new wife Amy and my best friend Squid. Just as we were chatting and drinking, I noticed a rather large mole on David's neck.
"you got that checked out, mate?" I asked him, taking a sip of champagne before I noticed the look he gave me.
"yeah- yeah." he replied, giving a sad smile before taking a gulp of wine. My heart stopped,
"Shit mate..." I breathed, my eyes wide with worry.
"Sure I'm an old man, mate. I've had my time." he laughed, suddenly standing up.
"Ladies and gentlemen and to those beyond the binary. I'd like to make a toast to the bride and groom." announced Squid, ringing a spoon against his champagne glass.
I beamed over to my old friend as he placed a hand in my shoulder.
Oh my god.. Am I going to lose you??
"Now believe it or not I have not always known this man. In fact he was fully functioning for over twenty years before I begged him to be my friend."
I chuckled at him, trying to listen while my mind spiralled the fact that he's got cancer and he might die.
"now stamps and I have been on many many endeavours together. One, most famously, involved a little boat and a big ocean. You may think you've heard all about this damn trip a thousand times, but I've saved up a few good stories for forty years waiting for this moment."
I looked up at him, biting my lip in anxiety about the tale he was going to share, but also.. I can't lose him. I can't lose you. Anyone but you.
"so on about our third day after the launch, Stamps and I decided to stop off in Spain and try and get WiFi. So I went off and found WiFi in a nightclub. This turned out to be a gay bar; but not your average gay bar -not that I've been to many- it was basically filled with creepy old men one of which tried to snog me until Joseph here saved me, but in order to disguise our straightness from what I now see as probably a straight up rapist, we decided the only option, ladies and gentlemen, was to kiss."
I started laughing alongside the other friends around us.
"You kissed him?!" exclaimed Amy while giggling.
"well I'm fairly sure he initiated it!" I joked, my eyes beginning to well up with tears of either laughter or sadness.
"I'll let that be your story considering it's your wedding day." he chuckled back at me, making eye contact with Amy while she placed her head on my shoulder.
"Another event that took place on that trip, was our trip to New York City. I'm sure you've all seen the interviews. We were in our prime- both lovers of the vodka martini and free shots. So when we fell asleep and got trapped in the conference centre, we came to the clever conclusion that the only way out was to climb to the very top of the skyscraper and jump to the roof of another building till we found a fire exit. Yes. I was actually convinced to jump off a building."
I laughed, looking down, remembering that absolutely amazing view, that whole experience seems so surreal now I think about it. We have so many memories together.
"you- you knew I was pregnant and still thought it was okay to jump off a building?" exclaimed Nicole, laughing while her two sons were both in awe.
"well, we live to tell the tale!" replied her husband while I beamed up at him, trying not to look at the cancerous mole on his neck.
"we do." I replied, smiling at him.
"Stamps, I owe my life to you, my job, my home, my friends, my wife my kids and grandkids. I would have none of this without you." he told me, making direct eye contact. Please don't think about leaving me. Please don't die. You are the other half of me. You made me.
I shook my head,
"Now come on you're being cheesy-"
"You know it's true, mate." Laughed Squid, I noticed him quickly wipe a tear away from his eye. "I am so so happy that this day has come for you. Amy, promise you'll look after this dude when I'm gone. Promise."
"course I will, David." insured Amy, I think she knew something was up too.
"Thank you so much for being my friend, we've had arguments worse than most, but we've had the best memories. And if we had just one more day out on the ocean, if we could do it all again, I really don't think I would change a single thing."

I exhaled a sigh of shock and sadness while my eyes glistened with tears.
"Don't leave me, mate." I whispered into his ear while we hugged.
"I'm here. I'm here." he replied, his head resting on my shoulder.
"I'm here."