You, Me and the Open Sea

The Pool Side

It's the difference in smell that hits her first, Venice smells so different compared to the breeze back home, it smelt of the sea and something else she couldn't quite put her finger on, but Thalia couldn't get enough. She always thought travelling from one country to another felt like entering an entirely different world, unfamiliar but welcomed.

They all boarded a bus that took them to the hotel they would stay in until the departure of the ship the next day. Shreya and her family were in the room just beside them while Leonard was a few doors down, the newlyweds were in the room directly opposite theirs and Thalia was happy with their room arrangements and how close they were to everyone.

Their itinerary for the day included brunch at the hotel once all the passengers had arrived and then a tour of the city. Thalia was excited, brunch would be the first time most of the people who would accompany them on the cruise would be in the same room. She was curios to see how they were, there would be people from around the world on this trip and Thalia had always been interested in understanding other cultures and their traditions. She knew her ideals were unrealistic considering there would 1,503 people in total on the cruise liner and getting to know every one of them would be impossible especially considering her fear of socializing, she still for some reason found herself awaiting 11:30.

They had arrived in Venice at 7:00am and by the time they had settled down it was 9:16am. Thalia had noticed that the pool seemed especially welcoming and asked her parents if they wished to go, they said they felt like resting and weren't in the mood of swimming.

"Can I go then?" she asked hopefully.

"Alone?" asked her mother.

After a moment of silence they agreed (unwillingly) and Thalia was off. She stopped by Shreya and Leonard's rooms to ask if they were coming, Shreya said she wanted to try out the bath bomb she found in the bathroom but that she'd be down afterwards and Leonard said he was wanted to skype his girlfriend and tell her he saw an old building that had Freddie Mercury painted on its walls.

'Leave it up to me to fine two of the craziest people to make friends with' Thought Thalia as she shook her head and made her way to the pool, book in hand.

As she walked over to one of the open beach chairs (one that had an umbrella to protect her from the sun of course) she layer down and opened up her book, 'The Diary of a Young Girl', she had always known the story of Anne Frank's life but when she started to read the book she was pleasantly surprised and the way she viewed the young legend changed forever. Thalia had always thought of Anne as a girl who wallowed in self pity and was only treated specially because she wrote a diary, but now she understands that the journal is not some plain old diary dramatically recording the life of a teenage girl, rather it is an example of an exceptionally good writer who unknowingly pens down information that would otherwise be almost impossible to acquire. Anne Frank's entries accurately describe the day to day lives of people in hiding, but what Thalia admires most of all was this girl's ability to strongly hold onto her ideals even though every person she ever came in contact with for two years told her otherwise, she never changed (even though she tried to) until the very end. She never pitied herself and made the most of her situation.

"Anne Frank huh?" said a deep and unfamiliar voice from behind, giving Thalia a start.

She turned around to find a tall figure towering over her, the figure moved to sit in the chair beside her and she got a better look at the person's face, with just one glance she was mesmerized, he had piercing, light grey eyes and a jaw line that could cut through ice and the best part; he looked to be her age. Although his face was great, one look at his smirk and Thalia knew that this boy was full of himself.

"Yep" she replied.

"Do you not wanna know how I knew what book it was?" he asked, smirk going wider.

"There aren't many books that consist of diary entries beginning with 'Dear Kitty', either that or you're stalking me" she said expressionless.

He just replied with a laugh.

"There you are!" came a familiar voice.

"Who's the friend?" asked Leonard, the two joining them in neighboring lounge chairs.

Thalia looked at the stranger blankly.

"Eli" he said. 

A/N: Hello! this is a very spontaneous story that I'm writing in quite the hurry, feel free to point out any grammatical errors or spelling mistakes if they bother you...I don't think a lot of people will read this story but if you do feel like you want something more to be added or if you have any suggestions don't hesitate to bring them up. Constructive criticism is appreciated!

Thank you for taking the time out of your lives to read this amateur author's work!

-E