Emerald Skies

Optical Phenomena

Ch 18; Optical Phenomena

The restaurant wasn't all too crowded actually. I was a little surprised; this beach is fairly popular, especially on Tuesdays and Thursdays, when the rituals are performed. Typically you'd have to wait at least half an hour to get in; but once Ross chose where he wanted to go, we were able to snag seats on the roof without any trouble at all! Now we were enjoying milkshakes and appetizers while waiting for our food. Ross was staring out at the ocean. We had a fantastic view from up here, and the restaurant is out on a pier which makes it all the better. I check behind me to and note how calm the water was behaving today. There's absolutely no trace of the storm that hit a few days ago. I glance over at Ross, who was smiling.

"Dolphins!" He gleams.

I turn around again and look in the distance. "Where?" I question.

Ross points near the north end of the shore. "There." He claims, and I turn again and squint my eyes.

There were a few of them hopping in and out of the water's surface. I watch them for a moment before being interrupted.

"Hey- move your head Riker!"

Ross was trying to get a picture of them on his phone. I move to the seat over, and am sitting next to him now. I look over and note that he's actually taking a video of them, and I lean my head in to watch his screen.

"Did you get a new phone?" I ask him.

"Hm?" He stops recording. "Oh- yeah. That girl I was dating took mine, so-"

"She took it?!" I stammer.

"W-well, technically I left it with her." He says quieter now.

~~~flashback~~~

"You've been talking about your brother all day Ross, and I'm getting sick of it!" His girl (whose name Ross can't even remember) says to him.

"Have I?" Ross pauses to reflect on it. "I have." He answers for himself. "Sorry, I guess my mind is still heavy on what he said to me yesterday."

"And you keep doing that- bringing up that he talked to you or something yesterday. I talked to you yesterday too, why is what he was saying so significant?" She adds viciously.

"Well-"

"I don't want to hear another word about that brother of yours. It sounds to me that he's causing you so much grief that you can't even focus, and you don't need to be clouding your thoughts with that." She reasons.

I guess she's right. Ross thinks to himself. Riker's just been tormenting me with this on-again off-again crap he's been pulling. I need to stop worrying about him and start thinking about what's best for-

"Me." The girl states, cutting off Ross' thought process. "I'm the one who matters in your life now Ross, and you need to take my feelings into consideration here. I mean... how do you think it makes me feel when you just sit there and talk about Riker when I just want you to kiss me, and pay attention to me?" She says in a melodramatic tone.

She's still nagging on and running her mouth? Oh, whatever. I need an excuse to get out of the house anyway. His phone buzzes. From Rydel...?

Ross looks at his text, and his eyes widen.

"Are you even listening to me Ross Lynch?" The girl peers over at Ross' phone. "Who are you texting? What's sooooo important that you can't pay attention to me?"

"R-Riker..." He stutters. "Oh my god- he's hurt! I- I gotta get to the hospital right now!" Ross says, scrambling to his feet.

"You sit yourself right back down!" The girl demands. "You promised me you'd take me out today and all you've been talking about all day is 'Riker this' or 'Riker that'. What about (enter girl's name here)? Don't I matter to you?!"