Stranded

Chapter 23: Lessons (Part 2)

Louis’ POV

Since we somewhat needed to conserve the remaining supply of electricity, we didn’t stay inside the air-conditioned suite for long. Erin was only considerate enough to allow us to stay in Room 143 for an hour to bask in the luxury, which we somewhat can’t afford, again.

That one hour was spent doing a few things— Liz microwaved popcorns for Niall while he joined the girls cry over ‘Titanic’ for the nth time, and the boys just laid on the beds, sprawled, chilling out. Uptight Erin, on the other hand, spent her time staring intently at the clock hanging on the wall, timing our stay. Bizarrely, instead of doing the same thing as we fun people did, Harry stayed by Erin’s side, trying his best to engage her to a conversation every now and then. Much to my surprise, it seemed nothing like flirting.

Everyone groaned when Erin announced that our time was up, but even so, we got out at once. I guess that was because we already know what would happen if we drain the electricity from the solar panels at once. Since it is a little afternoon and the sun’s position made the beach scorching hot, we stayed on the deck, doing nothing. Rae and I sat on the secluded part of the canvas-material shaded deck, a bit farther from the rest. It was quiet. The only sounds we could hear were the sound of waves smashing into the part of the ship exposed to the ocean and the sound of crunching from Niall’s popcorn-filled mouth.

Suddenly, I remembered asking Rae why she was on a ship alone when we were still in search for the lads. Something about her made me want to know her story so I decided to ask her again.

She sighed, making me tense up, cautious of what she might do to me. I might have sounded too pushy that she might have found me annoying, but nonetheless, I took the risk.

She sighed again. “Crappy family problems. My boyfriend for almost a year flirted with some waitress in front of me, too.”

My mouth formed a big ‘o’. I wanted to tell her to stop but she went on. I let her, anyway. “You might think I’m too touchy but that wasn’t just it. He had been cheating on me with my bestfriend. My other friends also knew about them the entire time, but they hid everything from me.”

Hurt was evident in her voice. Her eyes looked at her fingers, which were twiddling with the fringe of her white sundress. She wiped a tear that trickled down her left cheek with the back of her hand.

“Turns out, no one was truly my friend.” She added. I felt pity towards her. All my cruel judgments about her in the past mocked me, telling me that she doesn’t deserve to be treated that way, indirectly reminding me how unkind I was to even think of her as an unpleasant person.

Unable to say anything, I stared at the vast ocean while she did the same. We stayed that way until she broke the silence that enveloped the two of us, asking me a question.

“Have you ever felt to alone, like you’re onstage but everyone’s just not paying attention, doing things of their own and disrespecting your presence?” She asked. I was about to answer it but she beat me to it. “Oh, sorry, I forgot. It was so silly of me to ask you that.”

“Forgot what?” It wasn’t what I planned to say first but it just blurted out of my mouth. For the hundredth time, she sighed.

Rae’s POV

My cheeks flushed into a bright shade of red as soon as I realized that I actually asked Louis the question that was just playing inside my mind. It was supposed to stay that way until I unintentionally asked it aloud.

“Oh, sorry, I forgot. It was so silly of me to ask you that.” I apologized immediately, before he could even answer my rubbish question, assuming that it was wrong of me to ask him that stupid question. I already know the answer, anyway. Obviously, it was a big ‘no’. I thought an apology would be enough to get rid of our awkward conversation, but unfortunately, he pressed on.