where the water meets the moon | e.d.

eleven

addison

"i'll make an outline of each of our background essays that we have to write after the trip is over," evan mumbles, already typing swiftly on his computer that is powered up to a portable wifi box that we only get minimal connection from.

"ah yes," ethan sarcastically sighs happily, pulling out some research samples from the mini fridge. "i do enjoy writing about how my life has changed and how i'm such a better person after being stuck at sea for an entire summer."

i hide my eye roll as i help captain avery fill out a mission log of our progress so far. we've explored about 5% of the surface in the area we were assigned, and later in the month we'll get a diving instruction.

"this doesn't make any sense," i mutter, pushing my hair back and setting down my pen. pointing down at the map i say, "why does boat 5 get so much more water? how come they are doing so much more than us?"

he shrugs. "don't know. don't care. what's the plan for today?"

"we need to try to scrape up as many slimy samples as we possibly can from the rocks near the surface, so one of us will have to go in the water today," ethan reports, looking down at a clipboard with our research timeline on it.

"if one of you is in the water, someone else has to be too," avery says. "it's the rules."

"i'm not doing it," evan states, eyes still glued to his computer screen. "we get about two hours of wifi each month, and i am going to waste it on today."

so that means i'm going in with ethan.

i gulp and turn to him, and by his set jaw and narrowed eyes, he's not very happy about it either.

we haven't spoken about what happened friday night. i don't even know if he remembers most of it, but i do.

evan notices our silence and finally looks up. "look, guys. this could be like... water therapy. that's a thing, right?"

"i don't know," ethan replies blandly, uncrossing his arms across his chest. "but i'm not going in with her."

"and i'm not going in with him."

"yes... you are," captain avery comes up behind us both, clapping a hand down on each of our shoulders. he then pushes us together, and i scramble away before my left side can brush ethan's right.

"i don't want to," ethan scoffs, brushing off his shoulder like i have some sort of disease that he can catch.

"you're acting like a child," avery rolls his eyes. "how old are you? 21? get a grip, kid."

i hide my laughter as ethan's face turns red at the captain's embarrassing accusations.

"i- i'm not a child," he sputters out.

"then act like an adult."

𓇽 𓆉𓇽 𓆉

"were the ropes really necessary?" i ask, tugging at the strings that tie ethan and i together, fastened securely on a life jacket.