33. Chapter 33
Nighttime at sea was a breathtaking thing. Stars speckled overhead. They twinkled playfully, familiar. The ocean beneath had darkened to a black rivaled by the sky without stars. The depths held violent secrets under a once-playful-looking surface.
Looking over the railing at night stirred my nervousness. A setback in my comfortability with water. As a means of self-preservation, I kept my gaze up.
Summoner and I had the largest suite on the yacht: king-size bed, TV, and attached bathroom.
The only way to be at sea. I headed downstairs to our cabin to find a neatly-packaged box on the bed with my name on it.
I pulled it open, and a chuckle tickled my chest. A soft, black lace bralette and thong sat on top of a dark green silk robe.
A world away from the tour t-shirt I usually slept in.
Dirty old man, indeed.
I changed into the lingerie and took a moment to admire my ass in the full-length mirror on the bathroom door. I cursed Summoner under my breath because I looked pretty good. Even my self-loathing couldn’t deny it.
The cabin door clicked, and I turned to see Summoner entering the room with a bottle of wine in hand.
“Hey.” I waved.
Eyes wide, he stopped in his tracks and gawked. His eyes swept over me deliberately, from head to toe, taking in every detail of my scantily-clad body. I placed my hands on my hips and smirked. Heat pooled under his cheeks, tinting him a pale red.
“…I think you’re trying to kill me. Jesus, what a wonderful way to die,” he muttered, his eyes briefly shooting up to the ceiling.
Although I was more than a little turned on, Summoner kept his hand to himself. The coy, twitching smirk on his kissable lips tipped me off to the game he was playing. We stretched out in bed, drinking wine and watching Ponyo, another Studio Ghibli movie.
“This one is really cute, but I don’t really understand the plot. Sometimes I don’t understand most plots,” I said, before polishing off another glass of wine.
I was definitely tipsy at this point. I felt flushed despite my lack of clothes.
“Should I fear the fact a future bestselling writer just admitted she doesn’t always understand plots?”
I scowled at him.
“There are a few different threads, but at its core, it’s a little mermaid retelling.
But stripped away of that, it’s about love and the connections that tie us.
Ponyo is willing to run away from her life and everything she knows for Soskue.
But outside of that meaning, as a creative, I think things have the right to exist without needing a reason. ”
“What does that mean? Exist without reason?”
He raised an eyebrow. “This isn’t an interview, right?”
I rolled my eyes. “I’m no longer a Popbyte employee. The threat of an interview no longer looms overhead.”
“Fair point.” He took a long sip of wine before lowering his glass. He stared at the dark liquid.
“…One thing that always annoyed me was the media circus around every tour and album release. One faceless person after another asking the same questions just worded differently. Artists create, and then we must justify it to the world. But sometimes, there’s no deeper meaning; sometimes I liked the way something sounded, or a lyric wouldn’t leave my head.
Creation is the right of us all. No one should fear dissertation when they go to create something.
Sometimes I’ve wondered if fear and misunderstanding are the real root of creative blocks.
An endless loop where one is so scared of disappointing everyone, and therefore, they become unable to create. So on and so forth.”
His fingers twitched.
“I get it,” I said. “Even just with my stupid articles, I would get so caught up on what the readers thought.”
“Your articles weren’t stupid, Poppy. Your writing is brilliant.”
The shoulder of my robe fluttered down my arm as I shrugged off his compliment. Summoner slowly reached up. His fingertips brushed along my skin, following the same path as the fallen fabric. I swallowed as he pulled away. He took another slow swig of wine.
I smiled. “You know what, I think you like Ponyo because of the water, fish man.”
A knock at the door interrupted my mocking. Startled, I nearly tumbled off the side of the bed. I was the sexiest woman alive. Summoner laughed.
“While you’re falling over there, could you answer that?”
“I can’t.”
“Why not?”
I waved my hands over the length of my nearly-naked body.
Summoner shrugged. “Answer it anyway.”
“Really?”
“Really.”
Heart pounding, I ran my suddenly-damp hands down my thighs as I crossed the room.
He watched me with an unreadable expression.
My hard, dark brown nipples poked through the soft fabric of my bralette.
My body and mind wrestled with each other.
I couldn’t make heads or tails of how I was meant to feel.
Breathe, Poppy. Breathe.
My nostrils flared as I reached the door. With no thought or preparation, I yanked it open. Moore stood there, covered tray in hand. He tsked and placed the tray in my arms. A nearly-naked young woman stood in front of him, and he took it in stride.
“Thank you,” I whispered.
Rolling his eyes, he turned and headed down the hall.
He had enough of our bullshit for a lifetime.
Door closed behind me, and my heart still pounding, I placed the tray on the bedside table.
Summoner leaned over and pulled off the lid, revealing a frosted glass bowl filled with tiramisu.
Slowly, he picked up the spoon and dug into the bowl.
His eyes drifted closed as he carefully chewed. Every tic of his jaw was purposeful.
“Delicious,” he murmured. “Try some?” Eyes hooded, he held the spoon towards me.
I opened my mouth, and he carefully slid the spoon past my lips. The sweet, heavy flavor filled my taste buds. I smiled. A hint of smugness colored his face as he handed over the spoon and bowl. I was too busy diving into my desert to pay attention to his games. Or so I thought.
While I ate, Summoner crawled over me. The spoon poked out of my mouth as I looked up to his playful gleaming green eyes.
“Not trying to disturb your meal. Just starting mine.” His hand inched into the band of my panties.
Eating tiramisu is delightful.
Eating tiramisu while your boyfriend eats your pussy? Fucking spectacular.
100% would recommend.
We slept on chocolate-stained sheets that night.
***
In the morning, I stepped onto the upper deck to find Summoner fiddling with a guitar and looking at his notebook. He quickly placed both out of reach at the sight of me. I swallowed back a sigh before joining him.
We drank coffee in the ocean breeze before playing a game of chess. Summoner quickly demolished me. He wore his victory smugly on that kissable face of his. With a wink, he excused himself to talk with Moore.
I stretched back into my chair. His words from last night about creations having the right to exist without justification still buzzed in my head.
The sound of engines revving cut sharply into our ocean seclusion.
The loud and sudden flood of noise scared the shit out of me.
My heart leaped out of my throat and off the side of the boat.
Terrified, I rushed downstairs in a blind panic and collided with the solid mass that was Moore. Summoner stood behind him.
“Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Poppy, you alright?” He held me by the shoulders.
The duo looked too calm for the fact that we were out in the middle of the fucking ocean and about to be attacked.
“You guys don’t hear that?! Are we going to die?! Is it aliens?! Are we being shanghaied by pirates?!” I shrieked.
Summoner massaged his temples. “Are you just saying words?”
“He invited some friends.” Moore pointed over my shoulder.
Out the window, a collection of jet skis surrounded the yacht. I squinted and recognized the man in the center. Dressed in a pair of swim shorts, a gold chain, and an open Hawaiian shirt, Wooly waved.
Jesus.
He knew how to make an entrance. Wooly, a pair of bodyguards, his guitar player Rallo, his PA, Robin, and two bikini-clad girlfriends secured their jet skis and climbed aboard Amethyst.
“Did you have to bring the whole damn tour bus?” Summoner huffed as he and Wooly hugged.
“You know I can’t get away from anyone these days,” he admitted.
Apparently, Wooly was on the European leg of his tour and had some free time. The crew set up a grill on deck. Reggae music started playing and a stack of dominos appeared out of nowhere.
Black people always bring the party.
Wooly’s girlfriends wasted no time stretching out and getting some sun.
I looked to Summoner, ready to launch into my anxiety support role.
But he seemed surprisingly at ease talking with Wooly and his entourage.
I lingered in the doorway to the lounge, watching.
Laugh lines inched up around Summoner’s eyes and mouth. He was fine. I wasn’t needed.
I wandered to the back of the boat and took another selfie to send to Shay. I sat down and sighed. The yacht rocked on beat to the chill reggae beat, and the scent of mouthwatering barbeque filled my nose. Today was a different day. Different, but still good.
“What’s good, Poppy?!” Wooly appeared out of nowhere and flopped down beside me.
He smelled like a one-man dispensary. I envied those who could unwind with a little smoke; my brain chemistry and weed didn’t mesh.
An upsetting fact I learned my first year in college when I got high for the first time, only to dissociate for the first time and spend the night in the hospital.
“Nothing much, you?”
“Same shit, different day.” He held his vape toward me.
I shook my head.
“So, did grumpy-ass make you his girl yet?”
My face caught fire. I coughed. “Yeah. Yeah, he did.”
“Good. I figured as much when mentions of you reduced in our chat.”
Mentions? Reduced?
“He mentions me a lot? Also, y’all text?”
He laughed. “Yeah, often.”
I blinked.
“We also talk about other stuff, too.” He took a deep hit from his vape.
A cloud of heavy smoke floated lazily out of his mouth as he spoke, “But, in relation to you, he wanted some younger person insight. I told him age be dammed; he’d be a fucking fool to let a baddie like you go.
You like his grumpy ass. You’re loyal, smart, cute, and shaped amazingly.
A fuckin’ catch. I didn’t hesitate to tell him I’d be waiting in the wings when he fumbled that shit. ”
I giggled. “You’re hyping me up.”
He winked. I hugged my knees to my chest.
“I guess I have you to thank.”
He shook his head. “Nah. My man just needed a nudge is all. He’s crazy, but most importantly, he’s crazy about you.”
“You don’t think the age thing is a problem?” I asked quietly.
“Does it have to be?” He turned the question onto me.
“I don’t know…that’s the problem.”
“If it don’t bother you and it don’t bother him, then the rest of that shit’s just noise.” He shrugged before taking another hit off his vape.
Noise…If only it was that simple.
“Hey! Why are you two hiding back here?” Summoner’s head popped out from around the corner.
“Shooting the shit,” Wooly stuck out his tongue.
“Everything he says is lies,” Summoner laughed.
Doubt it.
Our afternoon was delightfully chill, with good friends and good food.
I sipped on a water bottle from the comfort of Summoner’s lap.
He talked about guitar pedals and effects with Rallo.
I couldn’t ignore the curious looks Wooly’s girlfriends gave me as they walked by.
They seemed like cool people, but there was no doubt they were questioning my motives being hugged up on this older white man.
I kissed Summoner’s cheek and a tint of pink rose to the surface. A sigh dissipated in my chest.
Just noise indeed.