Haven't Seen You In Ages

Sail Away

Hugh's arm muscles flexed as he rowed the canoe to the middle of the lake. I sat there, not helping, because that's what happened in The Notebook- and isn't that every girl's dream? Well, regardless, it was mine.

"I think you're supposed to go the entire way around the lake, not straight to the middle," I reminded Hugh, although I knew he was probably fully aware.

"I know," Hugh replied, his gaze set on the water beside him.

Then there was a pause, where neither of us spoke, but all that could be heard were the birds in the sky and the trees blowing in the wind.

I spoke up, feeling a need to fill the silence between us.

"I-" I began, but immediately, Hugh interrupted me, as if he was just dying to spit something out.

"I can't believe that after two years of not seeing each other, we're still best friends."

"What do you mean? Of course we still are." I could feel my eyebrows furrowing in confusion. What could he have possibly meant, speaking in that tone that I felt as though could only be negative?

"No, I am just saying, that with everything we've been through, I'm just glad that we're still friends," Hugh said. I couldn't have gotten anymore confused at that moment.

What had we gone through?

And then it dawned on me. Did he know? Did he find out about Craig and I? If so, then why is he still my friend? Surely he would have packed up and left by now.

"W-what exactly have we gone through?" I asked, my eyes focused on the water surrounding us, rather than his face to hide the guilt that was surely in my expression.

"You know, how I moved and-." He cut himself short, finishing his sentence there.

"And...?" I prompted. I could almost hear Craig's name being spoken from Hugh's lips, I was that sure he knew.

"It doesn't matter. Just know I'm glad."

"Me too," I replied, not wanting to push him, although my curiosity was overwhelming, and I knew at one point, I would break and either have to tell him, or find some other way to let him know.

That was if he did not already know.

***

Finally, after we had sat in the middle of the lake, taking stupid pictures in the canoe and eating the small amount of food we had packed in our backpack, Hugh took the actual course around the lake. Slowly, with each stroke, he rowed the canoe around the entire lake.

"This is our stop then," I said, preparing myself to get out and drag the canoe up the bank.

"I think we can go around another time," Hugh said, smirking that devilishly good looking smirk.

"Hugh, we're only supposed to go around once, and we already spent half an hour in the middle!" I said, knowing that he would be able to convince me, and all my efforts to convince him were pointless.

Just as I decide that I should just sit back down, a rumble of thunder echoed above us, and I couldn't help but think of The Notebook again.

"Hugh, it's going to rain!" I argued, flinging my arms in the air to emphasise my point.

"When has that ever stopped us having an adventure?" Hugh asked, referring to the many days in our childhood where we had begged our parents to let us play outside, even in a storm. His parents had always relented, but I could only remember one time my parents had ever given in. And that was the time the tree in my backyard got struck by lightning.