Chapter 13 #2
Not entirely convinced, Charlotte spins to jam the key into the ignition of the speedboat. She turns it and it sputters a few times before the engine roars to life. For all the bad luck she’s had with this trip so far, at least the boat has a steering wheel that seems fairly easy to manage.
“You good?” she asks over her shoulder.
“Have you driven a boat before?” Riley shouts over the noise of the engine.
Charlotte doesn’t want to lie, but she knows the truth isn’t comforting either. “I have a car, and this seems less complicated,” she says. “Less things to bump into!”
“Sure!” Riley calls out, shaking her head as she readjusts her hat. “I am putting all my faith in you, I hope you know that.”
“Can you get the line?” Charlotte points at the rope connecting the boat to the dock, and watches with an endeared smile as Riley bravely reels it in while trying to keep her balance.
“Look at you, sailor,” she compliments her.
When she winks at Riley, she can see it has the same effect on her as it does the other way around.
“Let’s go find some turtles!”
A good twenty minutes later, Charlotte gently rubs Riley’s back as she hangs over the side of the boat, seconds away from spilling her breakfast into the ocean. “It’s alright, you’re doing amazing.”
“There goes my sexy image.” Riley’s hooded eyes give away how miserable she feels under the scorching sun. Her hat lies somewhere forgotten on the floor of the boat.
“Assuming you had one in the first place,” Charlotte jokes, leaving her hand connected to the skin of Riley’s back as she rummages through her tote in search of a bottle of water.
“Hey, I am sexy,” Riley counters, slightly offended, but her knuckles whiten around the edge of the boat and it looks like her lights are about to go out any minute.
“Sorry I went too fast,” Charlotte says, screwing the cap off the bottle and handing it to Riley.
“Too slow,” Riley murmurs between a couple of grateful sips. “Your body can’t really feel the waves if you go fast enough.” She puts the bottle on the bench and slumps down, dipping her wrists in the cool ocean water. At least she seems to be able to keep her stomach contents to herself.
“Didn’t think I’d have you begging to go harder this early into the date,” Charlotte snickers, which turns into a cackle when Riley turns her head to scowl at her.
“Not sure I’m a fan of this sudden role reversal,” she says, dropping her forehead against her shoulder. “I like being the cool one.”
“What do you know, so do I,” Charlotte says, rubbing soothing circles along Riley’s spine.
“So this was your plan the whole time? Take me out to gain an advantage?”
Charlotte presses her lips together as she watches Riley wallow in her misery. She shrugs mysteriously.
“Are we far enough out? I might just jump in,” Riley continues, already moving to take off her shirt.
“I think so,” Charlotte nods, squinting into the sun to look out over the ocean. Then she turns back to Riley, and realizes with a jolt that this means she gets to see her in her bikini again. “Can I help?”
“No, I got it,” Riley says, chucking her shirt to the side before untying the strings of her shorts.
It isn’t until she catches Charlotte’s gaze that she understands what her implication was.
“Oh,” she says dumbly. “Wait, if I put my shirt back on, will you take it off for me?” she says with a teasing lilt in her voice, but her usual smugness has seeped into the ocean mere minutes ago.
“Too late.” Charlotte pouts, and starts unbuttoning her own jumpsuit.
When Riley’s eyes lock onto her exposed cleavage, she swirls her finger for Riley to turn around and look away.
To her surprise, Riley doesn’t challenge the request and goes back to taking off her own shorts.
When she’s down to her bikini, she hoists herself up on the edge of the boat and, without fanfare, drops backward into the ocean.
When she resurfaces, she takes a deep, relieved breath.
“That’s the good stuff!” she sighs, sweeping her wet hair back.
Despite Charlotte’s earlier teasing, she is relieved to see Riley like this too. “Feeling better?”
“So much! I told you, once I’m in the water I'm completely fine.” Riley swims around the back of the boat, holds onto the small iron ladder with one hand, and sticks the other one up. “You should come in!”
Charlotte laughs and tips her chin at Riley’s hand. “You’re funny. I wasn’t born yesterday.”
Riley scrunches her nose and slams her first into the water, annoyed at Charlotte seeing through her scheming. In return, Charlotte takes her time laying out the goggles and snorkels for easy access, aggravating Riley even further.
“Congratulations, these turtles have grown beards,” Riley complains when Charlotte finally uses the ladder to ease herself into the water.
Before she can say something snarky back, one of Riley’s arms—the one not still holding onto the boat—has slipped around her waist to help her keep her head above the surface.
“Oh! Caught a mermaid,” Riley says in mock-surprise.
“Look whose charm has returned now that she’s not on the big scary boat anymore,” Charlotte mutters under her breath, secretly loving the return of their trusted dynamic.
“It was never gone, Charlie.” Riley tightens her grip and Charlotte almost loses her train of thought, so she quickly decides to say it out loud.
“Why do you insist on calling me Charlie?” She makes an effort to keep her expression open, to sound curious instead of looking to start a fight.
“It sounds cute,” Riley simply says, but the tilt of her head implies she knows what Charlotte is actually after. “Do you… do you want me to stop?”
The truth is; Charlotte doesn’t know if she wants her to stop. Despite hating the name in the beginning, it has grown into something familiar when Riley says it. It tickles her insides in an not entirely unpleasant way.
“It’s just… You’ve been so sweet through this all. So patient, and respectful, and you’ve checked in with me every step of the way. But after I told you that I didn’t like it, you kept calling me Charlie.”
Riley blinks at her. “Yeah… but I didn’t think you’d mind,” she says, one side of her mouth ticking up. “I figured you actually secretly liked it.”
Charlotte can’t resist her when Riley gets soft like this, but if she doesn’t see this through, it will eat her up on the inside.
“Isn’t that the whole essence of what you’ve been trying to tell me?” she says carefully, swiping a few droplets from Riley’s cheek with her thumb. “Enthusiastic consent and all that? Only a verbal ‘yes’ is a yes?”
“Yes, but that’s different.” Riley laughs. “It’s not like…” She trails off and averts her eyes. A million thoughts seem to race through her mind before she clicks her tongue and murmurs at the ocean: “Hm. I take your point.”
Charlotte smiles at finding Riley on the same wavelength.
“Fuck. I’m sorry.” The crease between Riley’s brows deepens, and she visibly starts to beat herself up.
“Hey, whoa,” Charlotte interjects, tapping Riley’s temple with a finger. “It’s okay. I’m not mad. I was just… interested in your curious little brain.”
“No, you’re right. You told me not to do something, and I did it anyway.”
“I’m happy you did. It means you have flaws. I got scared you were perfect for a second.”
Riley snorts. “I was so close.” A silence between them stretches as Riley eyes dart over the horizon. She returns her gaze, now filled with determination. “I promise I’ll go back to calling you Charlotte,” she eventually says.
Somehow, the name lands wrong in Charlotte’s core. Distant, like she’s speaking to a stranger. She lets out a reluctant sigh: “I don’t know… I guess I’ve gotten used to it now. I might not mind it if you call me Charlie every once in a while.”
Something flickers in Riley’s expression. “No, I couldn’t. Not now that I know how much you hate it.”
“No, Riley, I…” Charlotte grunts at having to spell it out for her. “I’m saying you can. Sometimes. In moderation.”
“I can what?” Riley's tone has a playful tint. “I’m gonna need you to be very clear about this.”
For lack of a more mature response, Charlotte turns her hand into a puppet, repeating Riley’s words back to her in a childish voice.
“Not falling for your trap, Charlotte,” Riley says.
“Do not make me beg you to call me Charlie,” Charlotte hisses through her teeth.
“All I need is your permission.”
“And I’m saying you… ugh, you have it!”
“Have what?”
Checkmated by Riley, once again.
“You have my permission to call me Charlie,” Charlotte seethes, her frown painfully straining her eyes.
“And I happily will,” Riley grins like the cat that got the cream. Then she lowers her voice: “As long as you keep calling me Ri.”
Charlotte sniffs and wriggles herself from Riley’s grip. “Let’s find some goddamn seaturtles.”
They do end up spotting an array of beautifully colored fish, a family of turtles, and a bunch of coral that looks almost hot pink as the water breaks the afternoon sunlight in such a way it sparkles up the bottom of the ocean.
On the way back to the dock, Charlotte makes Riley stay close to her so she can direct her to go slower, faster, or take a break. A few minutes before they reach the shore Riley starts to grow loopy, but as soon as Charlotte helps her off the boat, she wakes like a sleeper agent.
“I’m back, I’m okay!” she loudly declares, pretending nothing was ever off, though she does seem to be in a hurry to get away from the dock.
After Charlotte has returned the keys, she joins Riley on the path leading back to the main road.
“So, how do you feel about letting me plan the next one?” Riley says, lightly prodding Charlotte’s ribs to mess with her.
“The next one?” Charlotte’s head jerks up. “There’s gonna be a next date?”
“Yeah, of course,” Riley says, and Charlotte’s heart swells. But then she adds: “Can’t have this debacle be the last one, can we?”