Smooth Sailing

July 22, 2018

July 22, 2018

A week went by, and I tried my best to fix everything that had gone wrong. Aunt Holly, Uncle Chad, Chase, Scott, and Julianna left the day after the first race of the regatta, and I spent most of Monday afternoon saying my goodbyes to them, knowing that I probably wouldn't see them again until next year. It was a shame that I didn't get to see my cousins more often, but to me, it was a small price to pay to be able to live in Clearwater Lake. As much as I sometimes complained about losing races and irritating people in the yacht club, I couldn't imagine living anywhere other than Clearwater Lake.

After they left, I tried to spend more time with Eden. That week, I spent several afternoons in Eden's living room, watching movies with her and telling her all about my relationship with Véro. It wasn't enough to make up for the month and a half that I had ignored her, and our relationship still felt a little distant, but it was a start. At least Eden was talking to me again.

However, I spent most of my time that week sailing with Véro. We had only placed second in the last race, and if we wanted to win, we had to do better in the second race. We practiced everyday, and it seemed like our sailing skills were better than ever. We could sail in perfect harmony, and by the end of the week, I felt like no matter what the race threw at us, we could take it on.

On Sunday, I woke up early and met Véro at the pier to set up our boat. As we got ready to sail, Véro told me about how her father had thrown a World Cup party the day before. "I don't understand it," Véro said. "France won the World Cup a week ago. He should have invited all of his friends over then."

I looked back at the shore and saw both of Véro's parents sitting on the porch, watching us sail. "Maybe you shouldn't criticize your parents so much," I said. "They seem like nice people."

"They're nice, but that doesn't mean that I can't criticize them," Véro said.

Véro and I set sail, and as we headed away from shore, Mr. Arkoun shouted, "Good luck!"

"Thank you, Papa!" Véro shouted back. We sailed toward the starting line, and on our way there, Véro said, "There is something that I want to talk to you about, Sylvie."

"What is it?" I asked.

"You told Julianna last week that I was your friend," Véro said.

"Isn't that true?" I responded. "We are friends. Maybe we're also a little bit more than friends, but we're still friends."

"Are you ashamed of me, Sylvie?" Véro asked.

"Of course not!" I exclaimed.

"It seems like you are," Véro said. "You can't even admit that we're together."

"Yes I can," I said.

"Then why couldn't you tell Julianna that I was your girlfriend?" Véro said.

I paused, considering what to tell Véro. "It's complicated," I finally answered.

"I'm just not good enough for you, Sylvie," Véro said, on the brink of tears. "You can't tell your cousin about me because she will think that you can find someone better. Just tell me the truth, Sylvie. Tell me that you'd rather have some pretty American girl."

"Véro, none of that is true," I said.

"Then tell me the truth," Véro said. "Why can't you recognize that we're together?"

I couldn't answer that in a way that had any chance of satisfying Véro. I didn't want to tell her about my homophobic grandfather - both of us had far too much to worry about without thinking about Grandpa. I didn't want to hide anything from her either, especially considering how badly that had gone with Eden. There was no easy answer to Véro's question, so I simply said, "Let's just focus on sailing," as we approached the starting line.