Chapter 17
Ripley
I cup my hand around the phone so Anna can hear me. ‘No, I don’t want to watch it.’ I hold my arms in tight as I squeeze through the crowds gathered in the Perilous Sea to view the ice-skating show they put on at night.
‘Why not? It’s the first episode. Don’t you want to see all your hard work?’ Anna is trying to convince me to watch the show’s premiere on YouTube with her later.
Seeing our futures crash or succeed in real time is just not a torment I’m willing to put myself through.
‘Sure, but I don’t want to see the live chat, and plus – sorry, excuse me,’ I say when I nearly collide with a guy who’s trying to carry three plates of funnel cakes. It would have been a million times less busy at Olive Garden.
‘Ripley …’ Anna prompts.
‘Right. Plus, I have Nathan’s party, so I can’t anyway.’ I finally breathe as I approach the restaurant, leaving the figure skater crowds behind.
‘Is this the one you let your karaoke buddy plan?’ I hear the teasing in her voice. ‘You two really make a great team.’
‘Bye, I have to go.’
‘Wait, Rip, I was just kidding.’
‘Loveyoubye.’ I hang up before she can say more.
When I walk into the restaurant, Garrick greets me in his knight getup – the chocolate-brown leather adorned with his cape and sword makes for a rather impressive display.
‘I didn’t realize it was a costume party.’ I run my hand over the loose, white button-down tucked into my faded high-rise jeans.
Garrick straightens his leathers. ‘I didn’t get Nathan a present, so I figured a night with a knight was a decent substitute.’
‘Hope you trademarked that line.’ I hold in my laugh, still worried about giving him too much.
I wouldn’t want to be mistaken for one of the adoring contestants he gets praised by all day.
‘It’s perfect, though. He’ll love it. Is everything set up?
’ I glance around the crowded restaurant, adjusting the gift bag looped around my wrist. Unsurprisingly, the place smells like fish, but not as bad as I assumed it would, masked somewhat by the garlicky fried undernotes.
‘Yup. We’re in the back.’ Garrick grabs my hand and leads me through the restaurant. I’m so taken aback by the sudden jolt of electricity from his touch that it takes me a second to remember that guests in this restaurant are watching us.
Quickly, I pull my hand away, squeezing mine together instead. Garrick glances back, a tiny frown appearing before he turns forward.
The restaurant is divided into sections to represent different parts of seafaring life.
The largest area resembles the docks, with wooden crates and painted ships on the walls.
To the right, we have an under-the-sea theme, with deep-blue walls and sea creatures decorating the space – it feels a little macabre to be chowing down on popcorn shrimp while their smiling cartoon counterparts stare at you.
The left is decorated like you’re on a great sailing vessel, complete with creaking ship noises as an accompaniment to your dinner.
‘Garrick? Oh my god, it is him.’ We pass a table with a family of five. The parents and little brother look confused, but the two girls have gone all doe-eyed.
My body tenses, ready to turn on intern Ripley mode, but Garrick swoops in with ease. ‘Ladies, how’s dinner?’ He leans against the backs of their chairs.
They giggle, looking at each other. ‘Good, yeah … uh.’ The younger stops, deferring to her older sister.
‘We follow you on TikTok and are so excited for the show tonight.’ She’s clutching her phone so tight I’m worried she’ll break it.
‘Well –’ Garrick crouches between them – ‘how about a picture real quick to make all your friends jealous?’
They blush and nod. Their mom quickly snaps a picture and thanks us before we leave.
‘That was really nice.’
Garrick shrugs like it’s no biggie. But he’s always taking time to make sure everyone feels included. It’s not at all how I expected him to be before we met. In fact, he’s far less conceited.
Garrick leads us to the back, where French frosted-glass doors read ‘Captain’s Quarters’.
‘After you.’ Garrick opens the door and lets me through, hand grazing the small of my back. I swallow, mouth dry as his touch disappears, almost like I imagined it.
‘Oh, Garrick.’ My heart leaps, and I lay my hand over it to ease the fluttering.
Dozens of balloons and streamers, and a celebratory banner over the back window, decorate the room.
The center table is adorned with nautical-themed place settings like I saw in the other dining rooms, but each seat here has a party hat and horn.
In the middle is a cake with ‘Happy Birthday Nathan’ on top in bright-yellow frosting.
‘How did you have time to do all this?’ My chest expands, filled with gratitude. This is way more than I was anticipating.
I expect the cocky grin I’m familiar with, but instead it’s just a soft uptilt of his lips. ‘Magic. If you stick around, maybe I’ll tell you my secrets.’
‘Thank you,’ I whisper, tears prickling my eyes. I’m not used to someone putting so much effort into something for me. I’m usually the one doing it for others.
‘Any time, Ripley.’ We stare at each other in silence, eyes locked like we’re trying to communicate words neither of us can speak.
The moment is broken by my buzzing phone. Melika is keeping Nathan distracted until everyone gets here.
It’s another twenty minutes before all the guests arrive. The room is filled with noise and excitement as we dim the lights and wait for Nathan to walk in. I stand beside Garrick in the dark, hands brushing as we’re jostled around among the excited group.
‘They’re here,’ I tell the room, and we go silent.
The door opens, and we flip on the lights. ‘Surprise!’ we all yell, not precisely in unison, but close enough.
Nathan’s face glows with shock as he takes in the scene, the biggest smile I’ve ever seen exploding from him.
When I look over at Garrick, he’s not watching Nathan, he’s studying me.
‘You know how to bring a boy to tears.’ Nathan pulls me into a hug. ‘Thanks, Rip.’
I nuzzle my face into his sweater. ‘Anything for you, always. You smell amazing, by the way.’
‘Don’t I?’ Nathan puts his wrist to his nose. ‘Melika got it for me.’
‘It’s very manly. Like you’ve been in the forest chopping wood and wearing flannel while holding fresh linen.’ I take his arm, leading us to the head of the table.
‘Soooo, you know how for my present you said we could see whatever movie I wanted?’ Nathan puts his party hat on, then grabs mine and places it on my head.
‘Yes …’ When he elongates the soooo at the start of a sentence, I know to prepare myself.
‘I was thinking maybe we could see an improv show instead?’
‘Improv? I didn’t know you were into that.’ We’ve been friends for years and he’s never mentioned it before.
He blows into his horn, which sets the rest of the table off to using theirs. ‘After dipping my toes into this elf presenter game … I don’t know, I think I might like to try out for the spring play. But I need to see a few more actors first.’
I smile, heart warming. Nathan wanted to come here to get out of class and spend weeks at a theme park. I didn’t realize he might actually get something even more meaningful out of it.
‘I will look into the best ones.’ I squeeze his wrist.
‘I love you, Ripley.’ He kisses the back of my hand.
The dinner is delicious. I know Garrick said they had Italian, but I wasn’t holding out high hopes, but just like all the food I’ve had in FTG, it’s spectacular.
Heaping portions of garlic bread, meatballs, chicken parm, and every type of pasta/sauce combo you could think of.
Despite all those carbs, we manage to save room for the strawberries and cream dessert.
I grab two plates with cake and ice cream, heading over to Garrick, who sits at the far end of the long table, staring intently at the other end.
‘Practicing your X-ray vision?’ I ask, placing the plate in front of him and taking a seat.
‘Monitoring my protégé.’ He pokes his fork into the cake and shovels a huge bite into his mouth without breaking his gaze.
‘Aldrich?’ I ask. His younger brother and a Black girl his age in a cute baby doll-style blue dress are chatting.
‘Mm-hmm.’
‘Are they on a date?’ Aldrich’s cheeks are tinged pink as he draws something on a notepad. The girl tucks a strand of hair behind her ear, a sweet smile gracing her features.
‘Yup. It’s his first one.’ I’ve never seen Garrick focus this much on anything.
They share a laugh as Aldrich points to the drawing.
‘It seems to be going well.’
‘The kid’s super shaky when it comes to talking to girls, so I figured I’d help him out. This seemed less stressful than a one-on-one.’
‘Speaking from experience?’ I run my fork through the frosting, then lick it off slowly. Frosting is the best part of a cake.
Garrick finally looks over at me. ‘Nah, I’m a natural when it comes to talking.’
‘You do seem to like the sound of your own voice.’ I bite my fork to stop from smiling, but freaking Garrick spies it anyway.
He cracks a grin. ‘Guess that makes two of us.’ He really does have an answer for everything.
I force my eyes from his and back to Aldrich, who, at that exact moment, spills soda down the front of him. ‘Yikes, your protégé is in jeopardy.’
‘I wouldn’t count a Walton out so quickly. Look.’ He points as Aldrich’s date helps to clean up the mess. Despite the red flush on Aldrich, they’re each smiling. They say something I can’t hear over the noise, both laughing after.
‘You’re a good brother.’
‘The world throws a lot of punches. I just want my family to know I’ll always be there to have their back.’
Those inconvenient butterflies are back, zooming in my stomach. Which barely has room for them after all the food. ‘I feel the same way about my sister, Anna. When we were little, it felt like us against the world sometimes.’
He drags his gaze from Aldrich and back to me. ‘I always loved having brothers because it’s like having a ready-made best friend.’ He resumes eating his cake. Doing that thing he’s so good at – making you feel like the only person in the room.
‘Someone you can share all your secrets with.’
‘Yeah.’ He plays with his ice cream.
‘I miss having her at home.’ My chest tightens as I smooth the frosting over the plate.
Garrick nudges me with his shoulder as if he can sense my dipping mood. ‘You can share some of those secrets with me, if you want.’
I open my mouth to say – what, I’m not sure – but Nathan saves me from having to work it out. ‘Ripley! Come here, we’re doing a photoshoot.’
‘Duty calls.’ I stand, but Garrick grabs my hand before I can walk away.
‘To be continued?’
I only offer a shrug, leaving him to keep a watchful eye over his brother. I run my fingers over the place where his hand just was, wondering what I’ve got myself into.