Hearts At Sea

Chapter 4: June 13th, 5:20 pm

'Cause all I know is we said, "Hello"/ And your eyes look like comin' home

("Everything Has Changed")

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The Soul Cat Lounge is a New York-themed restaurant/bar, based on the Disney movie "Soul." There are deep red leather booths and hairpin cafe chairs, light green and brick walls with music-themed posters and photos covering them, a purplish bar, and small light bulbs lighting the place in a dim glow. Big portholes along one side provide the main source of light. We plonk into the armchairs in front of the stage that held a single, grand piano where an older man is playing a light tune.

Sean had gone to find a waiter so he could get food and my parents and I were just settling in when I heard a little voice squeal, "Sasha!" I turn around just in time to see a girl in long pigtails fly at me and squeeze me to death.

"Emmy!" I squeeze back. I haven't seen Carter's sister in two years, but it feels like two centuries. I barely recognized her!

"Oh, my gosh, look at you!" She's still clinging to me so I observe the top of her head. "You're so big!"

"You too," she replies, voice muffled in my neck.

"Em, lay off. Let her breathe," a deeper voice says. I slowly look up, sure I know who it is, but not sure at the same time. But yup, there's Carter. "Hey." He lifts his hand in greeting while I go on staring like a creep because this was not even close to any of the scenarios I prepared myself for.

I know this is Carter — he has his signature amber eyes, has the same Carter air about him, and, if I look closely, the same scar he got from his Fast & Furious phase — but he's gotten more... handsome? His noodle arms have been toned, he has a shadow of dark stubble along his jaw from traveling, and the hair he grew out forever so he could have dyed micro dreads had been cut short with the sides buzzed. Not to mention, his fashion has greatly improved from his uniform of an old T-shirt and basketball shorts.

"Hi," I smile shyly. We watch each other for another minute, taking in just how much we've changed in two years. I'm (unsuccessfully) trying to convince myself the squeezing and fluttering happening in my stomach is due to the ship's rocking motion. I realize that my hopes of picking up where we left off were crushed in 2.2 seconds. There's just no way.

"Yo, yo! Sasha!" a voice booms.

"Hey, Beau," I mumble, turning my gaze to anywhere but the two boys in the room.

Carter's older brother, Beau, and I have had beef with each other since my unfortunate crush in sixth grade. When he found out, he wouldn't stop teasing me — even long after the feelings faded away. So I started fighting back. However, I want this trip to be a good one and I'm not excited to see what snarky comments he's been cooking up.

He comes over and takes my hand to fist-bump it as if we were old pals. "Look at you! A lot has changed in two years," he adds with a raised eyebrow. Yuck, how suggestive.

I ignore him and turn back to Emily. "So, if you were six last time I saw you, that means now you're..." I pretend to calculate this in my head. "Ten?"

"No!" she exclaims. "Eight!"

I widen my eyes. "Eight? Wow, that's a lot older than six."

"Yeah. How old are you?"

"Seventeen, almost eighteen."

"Oh, just like Carter," she announces, looking between the two of us. I take this as an invitation to look at him too. We lock eyes and that fluttery feeling reappears, causing me to quickly look away and work on squashing the butterflies. There should be no butterflies happening, Sasha. He's your best friend.