I Dare You

Chapter 16

Marcel pulled the boat over towards the shore. He grabbed a rope and tied it on the boat, the other end he tied around one, 0f three, wooden posts. He took the key out and stuck it in his back pocket. Marcel jumped out of the boat and he held his hand for me. I gladly took it, as I climbed out of the boat. I dashed across the water quickly to avoid getting my shoes wet. Marcel did the same.

"Where did you learn to drive a boat?" I asked after we were on the sand, away from the water. We sat down in the sand, staring out at the waves.

"Erm, my step dad would always take me out here, every Sunday. It was just kind of our place." He told me about how they would go fishing and sit on the side of the boat with their poles in the water. He told me how they spent two weeks thinking if a name for the island. They finally named it 'Pointy Shore', after all the pointy rocks on the shore. He told me how they would spend hours looking for perfectly smooth rocks and take them home. In total he had 247 rocks when they stopped coming here together. It was more than I asked for, but I enjoyed the smile on his face when he told it to me.

"Why did you stop all that?" The smile faded as he concentrated on the tide coming towards us.

"He got a new job. Didn't have time for me anymore." He looked devastated and quickly shifted his position.

"Uh.. My dad would bring me here too. Well, not here, but up by the harbor. We would hunt for hermit crabs." I told my story of the trips to the lake I took with my dad and about the 17 crabs that I found. "But then he got a new job too. He travels everywhere so, he was never home for us to do it again." Marcel was quiet as he continued staring at the water.

"Crazy, huh?" He glanced at me quickly out of the side of his eye. "How similar our situations were." I chuckled nervously.

"Yeah," he mumbled, clearly still thinking about his childhood memories. He stood up quickly and brushed his pants trying to shake the sand off.

"Wanna go for a walk?" He asked. I nodded my head and stood up next to him, shaking the sand off the back of my pants. He wrapped his hand around mine, warming it from the wind that was blowing. We told each other more about our families. He told about how close he was with his sister, Gemma, and how they did everything together when they were growing up. I told him how Devon and I would comfort each other when our dad left and our mom worked late nights, so I had to take care of him.

"What's this?" I pointed to the trail of small glasses. "Well," he played with the end of his shirt with his free hand. "it was supposed to light the way to a surprise I had for you. But thanks to the wind, that plan is ruined." The candles were all blown out except for one that was still flickering, but was going to blow out any minute. At the end of the trail was a large box. "You did this...for me?" I still couldn't wrap my head around the set up and what Marcel did for me.

"Of course," he slurred. "I should probably clean it up though. I can't feel my fingers." He laughed as I agreed with him. We bent down and started picking up the candle trail that led to the box.

"What's in here?" He shrugged his shoulders, "It doesn't matter. I'll get you a some new ones." I would've asked him again, but he picked it up quickly and led us back to the boat. "I'm sorry that our first date was ruined," he apologized while setting everything in a compartment above his head. "It's not ruined." I told him. I helped him put away the rest of the candles and sat back down in my seat.

"Well, I'm glad you feel that way, but I will make it up to you anyways." He started the boat and the engine revved back to life. We sped back to the harbor and it got entirely dark. The lights on the harbor reflected on the water helping Marcel find the space reserved the boat. "Actually, I think I'll make it up to you now." He smiled. The boat stopped moving and we got out of it onto the harbor.

"So, now where are we going." He smiled at mischievously.

"You just can't handle a surprise can you?"

"I told you that I hate surprises," I laughed.

"Fine!" He groaned. "We are going right over there." He pointed to the little sweets shoppe that I saw earlier where the couple was arguing out front.

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