Life After Dinosaurs

9 - Friend

After that, people noticed Alicia. There were murmurs and pointing and people taking pictures. I'm pretty sure that half of them didn't even know who she was. It got to the point that before we got onto the boat people weren't just asking Alicia for autographs, they were asking for MINE.

I was so relieved when we finally got on the motor boat. Alicia was resting her head on my chest and her arm was draped across me. It would've been comforting if the boast wasn't so choppy. Of course it wasn't so fast that Rodger and Penny stopped making out on the other side of the motorboat.

I put my skull against Alicia's and spoke, "How do you put up with that?"

"You make it easier." Alicia's words were like a dagger in my heart.

Why wasn't I dating her? By the time the night was done all of the internet would be circulating pictures of me and her anyway. We had been close for awhile and I hadn't tried to force myself onto her. Maybe I wasn't the monster I thought I was.

The motor boat pulled up to the side of the luxury liner. They had some kind of makeshift elevator set up to bring people up, but everyone was going up one at a time. The contraption was really little more than a harness. I let Penny, Rodger, and the others passengers go up first. During that time, I just stood behind Alicia with my arms around her shoulders.

I knew that she liked me, and I knew that she wanted to kiss me. All I had to do was tell her and things would be okay. I just had to keep myself from losing control like when I was kissing Kay.

I let go of Alicia and she went up to the top of the boat. The ocean was pure black beneath me, and the wind swept across my arms as I waited my turn. It made me shiver. I could still feel where her body lay against mine.

When I got pulled up to the top, all I had to do was look at Alicia and I knew something was wrong. She was scowling and holding the jacket out to me. The workers undid the harness and I walked over to Alicia who was standing a reasonable distance away. She tossed the leather jacket at me.

"Here's your jacket!" Alicia growled and turned around.

What was going on?

I rushed over to catch up with Alicia.

"Alicia! What's going on? Are you mad at me?" I asked, desperately.

"No. I'm not mad at you. I'm mad at myself," Alicia said with a scowl. She couldn't even look me in the eyes. "You TOLD me that you had problems, but I was stupid enough to think it was something small. So, no, I'm not mad at you? I just don't want to talk to you ever again!"

She took one step away from me before turning back to say "friend." With more spite than I thought possible.

"Alicia, please!" I grabbed her upper arm.

She smacked my hand away and turned around. "Don't touch me!"

I held my hands up and then she got right in my face. She pointing an accusatory finger at me growled out her words, "I say one word and I could have you literally tossed overboard. I say five and my father would find a hole to bury you in that no one would ever find."

"Alicia, I don't know what you're talking about!" I pleaded with her. "What did I do?"

"You're a fucking druggy that's what!" she shouted and I looked around.

There was a sizable number of security guards surrounding us. They were talking into walkie talkies.

"What are you talking about?" I asked before my brain had pieced things together.

"I'm talking about your jacket," she said as I remembered the bag of weed Rodger had taken out of his jacket. "You have a lighter, and marijuana in your pockets. You think I don't know what pot looks like?"

I checked the pocket and found the trace amounts of marijuana in it. I looked around and of course Rodger was nowhere to be seen.

"Alicia, listen to me. This isn't my jacket, it's Rodger's." I pleaded, but I knew it was too late. That viscous look on her face was unmistakable.

"Oh, give me some credit, Ian," she said and turned away. "I'm not a complete idiot."

Alicia walked away from me and there was nothing I could do about it.

--

I feel like I could've contrived a better way to separate them. Lol. Oof, parts of this were a little rough, I'm not going to lie. It's nice and bombastic drama though.

If I was gonna rewrite it all, how would I fix it? I'm not sure.

Maybe the way to fix the ugliness in the scene is to scrap the forced separation. They have enough time on the boat for Ian to naval gaze, for her to find the drugs, and get upset at him. They could even have the entire fight leading up to her getting onto the boat. But then there'd be the question of why Ian didn't just go back to the beach.

Honestly, an easier way to split them up is to just have Ian go to the restroom. He can primp his hair, try to talk himself into taking a chance with her and the scene plays out in more or less the same way. I don't know.

I think a bigger problem I have with this scene is their growing relationship falling apart because of miscommunication and jumping to conclusions. I'm not a fan of this trope in general, so I'm pretty surprised to see it in my work. Maybe I was vibing with the momentum of the rom com story. In general, I don't like this trope because there's almost always philosophical or behavioral reasons for people to get into fights. So much of being in a relationship is just figuring out what you are and aren't okay with and trying to find some middle ground with the person you love. Instead there's this whole thing with the jacket and it all feels a little forced.

I mean, I guess there's the whole larger issue with drugs and how it connects with the plot, but all things considered, it really isn't that major. Besides, I could've just had Rodger smoke by him. They patted them down before letting them in, but teenagers are absurdly good at stashing things where they can't be found.

This section just leaves a bitter taste in my mouth, but hey, this is a novella and the plot must go on.