Fluke

31: Vitamin Sea

"When were things ever normal here? We're in the middle of the ocean, which unfortunately, is not the norm for society."

He hesitated for a moment before he stood up from the couch. "Right." Logan extended his hand out to me. "Then we'll pretend that we're the only two people here."

"But we're not," I said and stared at his hand in the illumination of my phone's flashlight.

"You're not grasping the concept of pretending, are you? I know you're quite the brilliant mind, but there are times when I wonder how natural selection hasn't weeded you out yet."

I laughed and finally took his hand to stand up. "That's not funny."

"Then you and I have different reactions to what's not funny."

Through the dull light of my phone's flashlight, I could make out the features of his face, and his eyes gazed back toward me. The corner of his mouth tilted upward, and I mirrored that expression.

"So, if we were the only ones here," I began, hoping Logan would fill in the blank at the end.

"I'd ask you to dance with me," he said.

"What?"

"Sometimes I just feel like we miss out on all the things normal people get to do, so I'd ask you to dance with me."

I hesitated. "You don't seem like the dancing type."

"Not really, but I have a theory that you'd be pretty damn good at it, like everything else."

I smiled as my heart rate sped up. "I guess I'd prefer that over arguing."

He tugged on my hips until I gave in and stood close enough to him for dancing. My initial impression was that this was very, very odd, but I didn't mention anything along those lines. He could figure it out for himself.

"No music?" I asked.

"I just figured the foghorn was romantic enough. Plus, you know, we're not actually alone here," he replied.

"Good point."

Instead, I played the music inside my head.

Almost heaven, West Virginia—

I mentally shook my head. Nope. John Denver had his time to shine earlier.

I picked a different song as we swayed, barely enough to be considered dancing.

Take me down to the paradise city, where the grass is green and the girls are pretty.

Another no. There wasn't even any grass on the island.

"I'm sorry, but could you just play a song really quietly? It's bothering me that I can't pick one out in my head," I said.

Logan let out a sigh. "What kind of music do you listen to?"

"Anything besides Take Me Home, Country Roads and Paradise City. They weren't working for me."

"You're sure it was the lack of music that wasn't working for you?"

I thought for a moment. Sure, that bothered me, but this whole dancing thing didn't feel very... us.

"Maybe not. No offense, but maybe this is one normal couple-y thing that we can kind of just cross off our list."

"Fine by me. I just figured you wanted something like that."

I laughed. "At least we're on the same page about it."

"Why don't we go watch the stars and seals instead? That'll feel more comfortable," Logan suggested, and I nodded.

The two of us put on our shoes to head outside, and with the first step I took, I knew we made a much more us choice than earlier. The stars lit up the night much more than my phone did inside, and I took in a breath of the crisp air. It wasn't as chilly as some other Paradise City nights, but it was still cooler than the summer nights in West Virginia that I tried to forget.