“You know what? Just go away.”
Using my elbows, I push myself up the wall of the boat, attempting to stand, but my knee has been bent too long and doesn’t cooperate. I slip back down and land on my butt againwith a thud.Great. I’ve embarrassed myself in front of this dickhead whale.
Don’t ask me how I know it’s a male. I just know. Oddly, though, he is now watching me now with a solemn air, rather than an impatient one.
“Don’t you dare feel bad for me,” I say, massaging my knee, which has long, curving puckered scars from multiple surgeries. They’ve been connected by a tattoo in the form of a star constellation. My very first project for Beautiful Scars was my own. “It’s just stiff,” I explain to the whale. “It’ll loosen up in a minute.”
Soundlessly, he dips back down beneath the blue, shimmering surface, then rises again, that serious gray eye trained hard on me. A gust of air and sound releases from his blowhole, as if he’s trying to talk to me. Which can’t be true. That would becrazy.
Still, it’s nice to have someone to confide in.
Even if he can’t understand a word I’m saying.
“I do have friends I could have gone on vacation with, you know. My parents weren’t myonlyoption. We’re just…” I try to shrug off the burn in my chest. “My friends and I haven’t been as close since my accident.” The sound of metal crunching, blood in the water. People screamingshe’s dead. “It’s my fault that I let myself drift from my friends. I wasn’t really the same after my accident. Not into the same things I used to be into, like going to parties or shopping or being adventurous. I really like the quiet now. I like who Iamin the quiet. Is that ridiculous?”
Gone is the irritation the whale was exhibiting upon arrival.
His smirk has softened. He absorbs my words with quiet intensity, the waves lapping at the top third of his mighty body. Another loud cheer reaches me from the other side of the ship, and I laugh silently to myself. They have no idea what they’re missing.
Unless, of course, I’m hallucinating and none of this is real.
“Anyway, you probably have some whale activity you must get back to. Like migrating or eating krill.” Wait. Did he roll his eye at me again? “You didn’t sign up to listen to my problems.”
Air blasts out of his blow hole.
Is he…responding to me?
I saw an internet video once where a dolphin returned someone’s cell phone after they accidentally dropped it from the side of their boat. Maybe I’m underestimating the whale’s abilities?
“Do you understand me? Blow twice for yes, once for no.”
Two blasts of air, with no hesitation, have my jaw hinging open.
“Oh my God.”
The thick skin above his eye lifts upward, like an eyebrow raise. As if to sayhow do you like me now?Slowly, he bobs down below the water, before rising again, the saltwater coasting down his huge body, trickling into the sinew and tendons of his throat. His thick fins.
There’s that eye again. Watchful. Serious.
Memorizing me.
“I’m sorry,” I say, my tone suspiciously hoarse. “If I’d known you could understand me, I probably wouldn’t have unloaded on you like that. But it’s nice to have someone to talk to, nonetheless.” I cast a quick glance in both directions to make sure no one has discovered the prime whale viewing opportunity on this side of the boat and rushed over to take pictures. “The children of my parents’ friends are my only option for companionship on this trip. They have twin daughters who freak me out. I’m pretty sure they communicate through telepathy. Then, there’s Leonardo, who I mentioned before. I think he’s in cahoots with my mother to make an honest woman out of me. He’s very rich, you see, and that’s all that matters to my parents.The fact that he travels with a lightsaber and calls my business venture a ‘hobby’ are inconsequential details to them.”
The whale is back to looking annoyed.
I’m choosing to believe that irritation is aimed at Leonardo.
“In my family, the women marry young. I’m only eighteen and my mother is already like, tick tock. Time to have babies. WithLeonardo.” I press my palms to my cheeks and squeeze. “I’m pretty sure I overheard him telling his freaky sisters that he brought a diamond ring on the trip to formally propose. How am I going to say no without royally ticking off my parents? He’s the son of their best friends. The insult will not go down well.”
The whale opens his mouth wide and snaps it shut, creating a hefty wave that rocks the boat, forcing me to claw at the deck for purchase.
“I know,” I say. “I’m in a pickle. My plan is to avoid him. I’m way too young for babies.”
Weirdly, the whale seems to disagree with that point.
But I’m probably imagining his considering head tilt.
All right, I need to confess a thought I’m having. As far as whales go, this one must be the most attractive one of his kind. Right? Is that a strange speculation? It’s just that, he’s so…cocky. Quick-witted. Powerful. That gray eye is wise and thoughtful, while also being kind of…reluctantly interested. In me. And unless I’m locked in a psychosis, that gray eye travels downward and hesitates on the tight seam of my jean shorts, his extra-large body expanding with a low, churning sound.
