The Thing About Flip Flops

Chapter Thirty One: A Toast on a Boat

The last night of our trip, Jack pulls me aside.

"I want to show you something."

I don't even have to ask, I just follow him to the car and get in. He drives along in the quieting evening, a window cracked and the smell of the water getting closer. It's a long drive, maybe an hour. We're headed down the mountain.

We get off outside a large lake in the valley, reflecting the light of the stars. When we step onto the creaking dock, he points to a medium sized yacht, his shoulder brushing mine as he extends his arm. The boat is white and sleek-looking with a large deck for people to stand on.

"That's our ride," he grins.

I laugh. "You're kidding, right?" When he doesn't answer, I gape. "That's our ride? That's... amazing! How the hell did you manage to...?" I trail off, and he answers me mysteriously with a shrug.

"I pulled some strings," he says mischievously with a glint in his brown eyes.

"You bought a boat?" I look at him incredulously. "But... those take effort, and time, and don't you need a license? Wasn't it expensive? Jack, what about the record store, how are you going to afford that if you're buying boats left and right?"

He chuckles, shaking his head. "A. Relax. I didn't buy a boat. It's my uncle's, he lives around here. He said we could use it tonight. Now are you coming or what?"

"Oh," I respond, feeling stupid. "I'm coming, it's just hard to process all of this. And don't," I add the last part on because he's opening his mouth, surely to say something inappropriate. Boys.

He frowns slightly, but then smiles innocently, batting his eyelashes. "Don't what?"

I elbow him lightly, but he moves away so I can't. We approach the boat, where an extremely tall, extremely buff man dressed in all black is waiting for us.

"Jack Golden?" He addresses Jack, who nods in affirmation. "I'm Donny Davidson, I'll be your Captain for this evening. Just call me Captain D," he says with a kind smile.

"Don't," I immediately whisper to Jack. "Don't you dare."

He ignores me but I can see a smirk creeping up on his lips as he responds, "Awesome. Can we go up?"

"Not just yet." I have to crane my head to look up as Captain D proceeds to give us a short safety briefing, but when he's done, he gestures for us to climb aboard.

I hesitate at first, somewhat nervous. Jack takes my hand in his warm one with a challenge in his eyes, pulling me up gently onto the set of steps that have been lowered onto the dock. I climb up quickly, eager to get my feet on the solid boat floor instead of being suspended over the dark water.

A few minutes later, Jack and I are standing on the deck of the boat, while Captain D (God, I'm never going to get used to that name) has ducked away, presumably to operate the boat.

"So," I say to Jack, breaking the comfortable silence. "Your uncle, he just...had a boat lying around?"

He shrugs. "Yeah, he's always been the adventurous type. Used to live on a houseboat, but then he met my aunt and moved off the boat. He bought this yacht a couple years later so he could still have an excuse to sail. He used to take my brother and I out on this thing all the time when we were younger, trying to teach us the noble trade of sailing and shit like that."

"Used to?"

He sighs. "Yeah. He's not doing so well now. You know, brain cancer," He brushes it off with a wave of the hand, but I can tell from his expression that this is important to him.