I smiled even more at the familiar sight of my tired sister with a messy bun piled on top of her head.
“Good morning, Juni,” I said cheerily. So much so that she groaned and rolled her eyes before sitting up more in bed.
“Morning. A little too early in the morning for my taste.” But she smiled with the jest. “It’s good to see you. We haven’t talked in forever. How the hell are you?” She paused, frowning at the screen. “I guess the better question is where the hell are you.”
I laughed, getting up out of my chair and walking the phone over to the railing. I showed Juniper the coast of Athens in a slow panoramic while she groaned in jealousy.
“I can’t believe that’s your life right now.”
At that, I turned the camera back around to face me with a grimace. “Um… do you have a Keurig or something there in your dorm?”
“Yes,” she said, cocking a brow. “Why?”
“Because you’re going to need some caffeine for everything I’m about to tell you.”
I hadn’t talked to Juniper or anyone back home since before Joel left the boat. Everything had just happened so fast, and then I was caught up in Theo, and before I knew it, a month had gone by.
So, I started where we left off last time, telling my sister about my frustrations with Joel, how he wouldn’t talk to me about the pool party incident, and how things just got colder and colder between us while everything between Theo and I sparked into a hot flame. I told her about Capri, about Joel breaking up with me and how I was supposed to be kicked off the boat, but then lo and behold it ended up being him who was kicked off. I told her about the grand theft and how Theo asked me to stay and filled her in on all that had transpired between me and Theo since.
There was a myriad of emotions coming from her end, from red-faced punches into her pillows at what Joel did to me, to running her hands back through her hair like a crazy person as she tried to understand everything that went down, to leaning her chin on her hands close to the screen, swooning over Theo’s little gallery surprise.
By the time I finished, I’d practically worn a hole in the sun deck from pacing back and forth, and Juniper was on her third cup of coffee.
“Say something,” I said after a long silence.
She shook her head, sipping her coffee with a dazed look on her face. “I’m speechless. I mean… I’m appalled at Joel. I have no idea what got into him.”
I sighed. “Me either. Part of me wonders if maybe he was doing more than just drinking…”
“You think drugs?”
“Maybe,” I said. “He just wasn’t himself. Or if he was, then I didn’t know him at all, and the boy I fell in love with never really existed.”
“Maybe he has always led two lives, you know? The one here and the one on yachts. I mean, I can’t imagine living that lifestyle.” She arched a brow then. “Well, okay, I can imagine living it the way you are now, but not as crew.”
I laughed.
“Seriously — you’re dating Theo fucking Whitman, Sis.” She lowered her voice as if someone would hear her. “He said he loves you!”
“I know.”
“And you’re yachting around the Mediterranean on a million-dollar yacht.”
“I know.”
“And he rented out a whole freaking gallery and filled it with your photographs!”
I chuckled, flushing so hard I pressed my cool fingertips to my cheeks. “I know. I know!” I sighed on a smile. “How is this real?”
“Your guess is as good as mine,” Juniper said with a chuckle. “But I’m happy for you. Because you look happy. Happier than I’ve ever seen you. You have this new way about you, like… like you’re confident, and sure.”
I smiled again. “That’s how I feel with him. It’s like I’ve been waiting to be this person all my life, but I was afraid or something. I don’t know.”
“He brings out the best in you,” Juniper said softly.
“Even better — he makes me feel like the worst of me is still worthy of being loved.”
Juniper clasped her hands over her heart. “Stop. I need to watch a rom-com stat.”
I laughed, and then we launched into conversation about school and her volleyball season. We laughed together thinking of what Mom and Dad would say when they found out about me and Theo, especially if I ended up moving to New York. And before we ended the call, Juniper made me promise that I would bring Theo home to meet her before we settled.
She also made me promise her a trip to the Bahamas since Theo’s friend owned an island down there.
I ended the call with my already high spirits floating even higher, and just in time for Emma to bound back onto the ship with dinner supplies in tow. The sun began to set over the water, and I rested my hands on the railing, watching the golds turn to purples and blues with my heart full and light in my chest.
Everything was absolutely perfect.
A couple hours later, I bopped along to a HAIM song in the galley while seasoning the trout. The sun had fully set, and Theo would be back on the boat any time now. He’d sent me a text letting me know he was wrapping up and had to make a few stops on his way back to the boat, but it wouldn’t be long.
I was so excited you would have thought I was about to accept a Pulitzer Prize rather than serve my boyfriend dinner.
Boyfriend.
I giggled at the title.
I felt free in a silly sort of way, dancing alone in the kitchen. Once Emma had dropped the provisions off earlier, I gave her and the rest of the crew the evening off, encouraging them to go explore
