Below Deck || C. Leclerc

ix

Charles took a deep breath as he looked at his reflection in the mirror. He needed to stop letting everything involved and happening around Lili get to his head so much. It's ruining his holiday, Lili's work and the mood between him and his friends. Charles moved his fingers through his hair as he applied some gel to the freshly washed strands and then brushed his teeth. It was dinnertime soon. Carlos and Pierre texted him that they just sat down at the dining table outside, so Charles didn't delay his appearance any further and decided to go out and push his jealousy of Liliana and Collin aside. They were just co-workers after all, right? The doors to the bridge deck opened as he stepped in front of it, making Carlos and Pierre look up as he stepped onto the deck and neared the table. 

"Hello, friends," Charles spoke up, placing his phone on the table. 

"Hello, mate," Pierre said as the Monegasque sat down next to him. Pierre placed a hand on his friend's shoulder, squeezing it firmly. "Nice and fresh?" he asked. 

"For sure," Charles replied. It didn't take long before the table was filled. 

Sophie soon came out of the interior for the water and wine service. She filled up their glasses with either still or sparkling water. She also took their wine or cocktail orders and went back downstairs as Liliana was preparing them. 

"Let me guess, two Cuba Libre and a Bloody Mary?" Liliana muttered, brushing strands behind her ear that had fallen out of her braid. 

"Quite exactly, yes, how'd you know?" Sophie chuckled. 

"That's what they've been ordering the past two days," Liliana laughed. "And also because I know them longer than you think," she muttered under her breath when Sophie was out of hearing range. Liliana mixed the cocktails and poured them into a glass, putting some straws in it on the way and taking the plate up to serve them to the guests.

At this point, she was just tired. She wanted to get through the night. She didn't really care about who was at the table anymore. And maybe she should have handled the whole situation with Charles like that from the beginning. It was childish of them to take more than two days for that. "Good evening, guys. Did you enjoy the hike?" Liliana asked as she carried the plate around the table. She handed Pierre one of the Cuba Libre's, knowing that he's a rum kind of person. And so was Charles. The summer flavour of the drink was what he liked about it, she obviously remembered. 

"Yeah, it was nice! You organised it well," Carlos replied first. 

"Well, you had a tour guide for that, of course. I only made the call to him," Liliana smiled, having her hand under the plate for balance as she took the last glass off for Charles. 

He reached out for it at the same time, making them hold onto the glass at the same moment, too. Liliana's heart skipped a beat as their fingers brushed together, making him pull back as he realised he wasn't helping her at all.

The sudden withdrawal of Charles' hand around the glass caused it to go sideways, and a part of the cocktail splashed over Charles' shirt. 

"Oh my god, I'm so sorry," Liliana said, putting the glass down to prevent any more from spilling over. 

"No, it's okay, I shouldn't have tried to help you," Charles said, sitting there with the cocktail spilt over him, unsure what to do. 

Without a thought, Liliana picked up the napkin and started to clean his shirt, not aware of how close they were standing together and how Charles was gazing up at her as if he was either in awe by her or just in complete shock by the moment. 

"You know how weird this looks from my perspective?" Carlos broke the silence, who could only see the rubbing movements of the napkin near Charles' lap, the rest seemed to be under the table for him.