The Burden of Proof

Chapter 23

Falling in love is like slipping into the body of the one you love. No wonder people say "under your skin".

I had this thought while walking along the boardwalk on my final night on the ship. I let the laughter of my new friends fade into a murmur and I stood by the balcony in silence. I let the wind whip my hair across my face and took a deep breath. Emotions rose up in my throat and I swallowed it back. I looked fondly at the backs of the people that I was certain I never was gonna see again after this night and smiled sadly.

I hated the thought of losing anyone, especially when we were all going back to completely different corners of the earth. I better make the most of my last day , I realized and I forced a grin onto my face and ran ahead to swing my arms around the wonderful people I was privileged to know.

. . . . . . . . . . . .

tap tap tap tap tap
I felt an insistent tapping on my shoulder and groaned with a smile.
"WHAT" I shouted while laughing at the innocent expression on Toms face.

"Jacuzzi time ?" He asked hopefully, glancing at all of us in turn.

"Jacuzzi time !" We all yelled back in response. We started walking towards the back of the boat before we realized that we probably needed our swimming costumes before we attempted to swim. We all seperated to go get our costumes, however when I exited my room sometime later in my bikini with my dress over, I came face to face with a sheepish Dan standing right outside my door.

"I figured you could come with me to get my bathers?" He said with a shy grin. Mentally I cheered , but being so coy myself , I just smiled back and started walking down the hallway with him.

We were laughing (gods know what about) and I was mildly unfocused and rather focusing on the curls at the back of his neck and I kind of distractedly laughed and sighed and said : "I can't believe you didn't know I like you , I mean its so obvious everyone knew, but you" and I continued laughing because it really was funny, until I realized I was the only one laughing. I glanced back at him to see eyes wide when it suddenly hit me that he actually wouldn't know I liked him because I hadn't actually told him yet. And this just happened to be the first time he has heard of my feelings which was pretty obvious by the look on his face.

The carpeted corridor suddenly seems a lot smaller and I quickened my pace or as much as I could without seeming frantic to get some square footage between me and the increasingly awkward confession. I heard his footsteps thumping behind me and the clearing of his throat.

"I honestly had no idea so you-you really like me?"

"I thought it was pretty obvious actually"

And then he began stammering something about signs and being blind and I realized that once again , I had won.