where the water meets the moon | e.d.

eight

ethan

i avoid addison's eyes at breakfast that consists of bottled water and three granola bars. evan starts to go into a long conversation with avery about his high school play of the ship and the sailer, and i try to tune that out as well.

i'm just not feeling it today.

i wrote a letter to grayson, my mom, my sister, two of my friends, and attempted one to kendall. it just felt like i wasn't saying what i really meant, so there was no point in writing anything at all.

i'll finish it later today when my head is cleared.

on the observation deck, captain avery looks at the three of us working hard and hyper focused on taking water samples, collecting data, and discussing the possibilities of the reef.

"god, you're all giving me a headache," he grimaces and wipes his forehead of sweat. "isn't this supposed to be fun?"

addison's tongue slips out the corner of her mouth as she writes something in a notebook. her focus doesn't waiver as she replies blandly, "no. this is research. it's not supposed to be fun."

"how about we go out deeper— away from the reef— and fish?" he offers. "swim?"

we all look at him curiously.
"aren't you supposed to be encouraging us to work?" i ask.

he shrugs, brushing off the concern. "not really. i'm just here to steer the boat."

evan nods, looking relieved at an excuse to stop writing down descriptions of water samples. "please. let's go do something. i'm bored already, and we literally have the entire summer."

i surprisingly turn to addison, and she shrugs. "whatever is fine with me."

and so we disappear into our rooms as captain avery steers is out of the reef so we don't catch any of the endangered fish or swim over any sharp coral.

evan is already on the deck as i appear in my swim trunks, and i notice him looking tentatively at the water while leaning over the stern.

"what's up?" i ask, taking my place next to him and staring down where he is.

there's a ladder leading down into the dark blue water and the railing opens partially.

"what if it's cold?" he asks. "this is the middle of the ocean, for god's sake. we should be wearing wetsuits."

"don't suck the fun out of this, evan," i groan. "just get in. it's probably cold, but at least it'll take your mind off the sharks."

his terrified face turns to me. "i forgot about those."

"yeah, well too late," i mumble before pushing him forcefully off the boat.

he screeches as he hits the water, plunges down, and then comes back up, spitting.

before he can curse me out, i laugh loudly and cannonball in as well.

the cold water engulfs me, and i let myself float for a moment before reaching back up to the surface.

there's something so peaceful about it being dead silent and the only thing you see above you is the sun beaming down into the water.

but i close my way back up and emerge to the surface, already flipping my hair back.

"you asshole," evan spits, wiping water from his eyes.

"loosen up, bro," i shake my hair out. "it's fine. see? not that cold."

he opens his mouth to respond when addison catches our eye from the deck.

her arms are crossed, right hip jutted out in a way that clearly expresses her annoyance.

"couldn't have waited for me?" she asks. "really?"

evan grins. "do a flip!"

she laughs, tugging a long t shirt over her body to reveal that she's rather toned in the light pink bikini.

i'd say if we're cold, she'll be ten times worse off.

and as promised, she takes a grinning, energetic run off the back of the boat and does a sloppy flip in midair.

water splashes on the both of us, and i turn away to wipe it from my eyes as she bursts back up to the surface.

"did you see that?" she gushes, paddling over to evan. her hair sticks onto her forehead, but she doesn't seem to notice nor care. "oh my god that was fun! it's kind cold but—"

"addy," i grimace, still ridding my eyes of the burning salt water. "really? did you have to do that?"

she doesn't respond, which makes me look up confusedly.

"addy," she smiles. "you called me addy."

"no i didn't."

her eyebrows furrow. "yeah, you did."

she's so gullible.
i could actually have fun with this.

"mmm, no i didn't," i pretend to have no idea what she's talking about. "are you okay? confusion is a sign of early on dementia. maybe we should get that checked out?"

evan rolls his eyes, knowing my game already.

and she's completely oblivious.

addison chews on her bottom lip and seems to contemplate it. "okay, yeah. if you said you didn't then i believe you."

i hide my smirk as i swim back to the boat and pull myself up on the ladder. i notice captain avery sitting near the edge with a fishing pole and a bucket of bait.

"hey," i nod and stand next to him.

"ever caught a shark?"

the question takes me by surprise, and i flinch a little bit, screwing up my face. "no."

"yeah, me neither," he sighs sadly, reeling in his pole a little. "i've been trying for a couple years to catch them small little things. but for now, i stick to fish."

"what kind of fish?"

"triggerfish, mostly. sometimes an occasional ruby snapper," he grunts. 

i nod, not really knowing what else to say.

"well," i give the railing a little slap. "nice talking to you."

such an odd guy.

he dismisses me with a slight hand wave and i'm faced with the open water, infested with not sharks— but two gossiping shipmates.

i can tell they're talking about something secretive when i spot then whispering and using hand gestures.

and when i jump in to join them—

— their conversation stops.