Cruise Control

Chapter Five

POV Zara

The host guided me to the window side table that was reserved for me. I took a seat, ordered a good glass of white wine, and turned my head to look out of the window. The sun was started to set and the horizon was slowly turning orange and pink.
I was by myself and I was going to enjoy this meal and I didn’t have to think about Zach for a few hours. I could just finally– Zach's voice interupted my thought and I turned my head to look at where his voice came from. There he was, standing in the restaurant looking for a table.
What the hell was he doing here?
He said he didn’t want to tag along and it was very clear that he would rather be jumping of the boat and getting stuck in the rotors than have dinner with me.
Mostly I asked because I kind of felt obligated but when he said no I actually did feel a little bit hurt.
‘Here you go, mister Green.’ The host pointed towards the table next to me and Zach sat down.
‘Can I get you something to drink?’
‘A beer please.’ The host gave him a smile and nodded, before floating away.
Zach’s hair was still a bit wet from the shower and he was wearing a signature black shirt and his worn jeans. He was wearing white sneakers though, so that was a surprise.
I raised my brows at him. ‘What the hell are you doing here? I thought you were going to explore the ship?'
'Well I wandered in here and it smelled delicious so I decided to grab a bite.' I frowned at him. What the hell? Just a second ago he couldn't wait any second longer for me to leave and now he was here, sitting at the table next to me.
'Really? So you picked the restaurant I happened to be at and a table next to me. There is still so much space left.'
'I was just seated here by the host, no need to get all defensive and stuff.' I was getting annoyed with him sitting there with his lips drawn in a straight line, acting as if this wasn't weird.
'Go ask for another table.' He crossed his arms over his chest, excentuating his biceps and moving his sleeves up slightly, giving me a good look of his upperarm tattoo’s. Normally I wasn’t the biggest fan of tattoo’s but they really suited him and it made me wonder if they meant something to him.
I couldn’t exactly see what it was from here and the full tattoo wasn’t shown, maybe I could ask about them, see if he want’s to show me? Nope, nope, terrible plan.
‘I like this table, I have a good view.’ Zach said while looking at me. If he would’ve been someone who could smile he would’ve been smirking at me and I would’ve want to punch that smirk right of.
A groan escaped my mouth.
‘What is your problem?’ I threw my head back with another groan. He really was a jackass. To be honest I shouldn’t have been surprised. He was Jake’s best friend, you must be a jackass to be Jake’s best friend.
Zach had shown that he was much different than our first meeting millions of times now.
Which was sad actually, I thought we really could’ve become good friends, but I quickly figured that I couldn’t have been more wrong.
He became cold towards me, took his distance and never said anything more than a few words to me. Whenever we - Jake, Zach and me - did something together he always avoided me and the thing he did all night was stare at me.
He was never aware that I noticed him staring at me and I don’t think Jake noticed either, but I have really good vision so I noticed right away.
‘I don’t have a problem, I just want to enjoy the view and eat some steak or lobster.’ He said, refrencing back to what I said. A sigh escaped my mouth and I brushed a hand through my hair.
Remember Zara, nobody or anything will come between you and your relaxing vacation.
A glass of wine was being put down on my table, pausing Zach and mine's conversation.
‘A glass of white for you madam.’ I smiled at the waiter.
‘Thanks.’
‘Are you ready to order?’ Oh yeah, ordering, I totally forgot to even open up the menu.
‘I’m going to need another minute.’ I gave the waiter a small smile and he nodded, turned around and walked away.
I picked up my wineglass and took a big sip. The wine was light and zesty and slid smoothly down my throat. I was in definite need of some alcohol.
I decided that ignoring Zach was the best thing to do and I picked up the menu from the table and I opened it up.
When I came down here earlier I had taken a sneak peak at the menu and the coquilles with pumpkin cream and baked prosciutto really caught my eye.
So I was definitely going to get that as a starter. My eyes travled onto the main courses.
They had lobster, ribeye steak, gamba’s and some vegan things and my mouth watered just reading the dishes.
‘What are you going to take?’ With a sigh I dropped my menu and looked at Zach. I was beginning to feel really annoyed,
‘Just look at your menu, eat your dinner and leave me alone please.’ I said before picking the menu back up.
How was he so good in getting under my skin?
He must know what kind of effect he had on me right? He was a detective for God’s sake, he must see the clues. So why wouldn’t he just leave me alone?
I ordered my food, more wine and even more wine and tried my best to enjoy myself. I tried my best to ignore the stares Zach seemed to throw my way and while it was a wobbly start, I was finally starting to feel a bit relaxed.
The food was amazing and the wine started to rise to my head. I was four wines deep when I looked up from the dessert menu at Zach, he was typing something on his phone, he had been doing that for a while now.
He might be divorced, but maybe he still had a girlfriend. Nobody texts so much without having a girlfriend right? My mind was starting to become a little foggy and the white wine seemed to hit me hard. Did alcohol hit harder on boats too? Like in airplanes?
‘How was your food?’ He looked up from the phone towards me. A frown on his face.
‘It was good.’ I nodded.
‘Mine too.’ I said.
Why did I say that? He obviously didn’t care, otherwise, he would’ve asked. Why did I continue to talk to him? Clearly, he wanted nothing more than for me to shut up.
I was getting mixed signals though. I mean, why would he take a seat next to me if he really didn’t want anything to do with me?
Maybe he really was spying on me. No, those are stupid thoughts, I was just getting drunk and when I was drunk I couldn’t really think straight anymore.
So when Zach raised his brows at me and looked back at his phone I guess I just lost it.
‘Come on Zach, why are you really here?’ A sigh escaped his mouth as he looked up from the phone.
‘Zara, just let it go. I was letting you sit here in peace wasn’t I?’ I bit my lip and nodded. His eyes darted down to them and then back up at me. My cheeks warmed up and I wasn’t exactly sure why. It was probably the wine.
‘It’s just that you act like you want nothing to do with me and then not even fifteen minutes later you show up at the same restaurant and take a seat next to me. Come on, don’t act like you’re not giving out the weirdest mixed signals!’ He stared at me for a moment and then shoved his phone into his pocket.
‘Listen, Zara, I only bought Jake’s ticket to do a friend a favor and because I actually wanted to have a nice vacation, so I’m going to do what I want to do okay?’
I opened my mouth to say something, but nothing came out. Just breathe Zara, just breathe.
One of the waiters showed up at my table.
'Can I get you a dessert madam?' I closed the menu that was lying on the table and shook my head.
'No thanks, I'm actually leaving.' I gave the guy a small smile before handing him the menu and standing up from my chair.
I was fed up with Zach and I just wanted to go to the room, watch some tv, read some books, and then go to sleep.
Surely that was doable, right?
'Shit, Zara, wait!' Was he really coming after me? For god's sake, what do I have to do to get rid of this guy?