Please Don't Tell (4 page)

             
Just as I was about to answer him
a speedboat had stopped fifty feet or so out.  A man yelled out to us. I couldn’t make out what he was saying, something like. Wait, I heard him this time.

             
The man screamed. “Sending help.” His engine revved and the waves splashed up as he pulled away.

             
“Where’s he going? Why the hell is he leaving?” I yelled, picking up a large black pebble and throwing it into the water. “How could he just leave us here?”

             
I braced my hands into the sand, pushing myself up, climbing the small rock next to me. Ethan rose and stood next to me. He ran his hands through his hair, but didn’t say anything. He just stood there, staring out into the water. When suddenly I realized what I’d just done. I told him things that I swore I’d never tell anyone. Things I’d intended on taking to the grave.

             
“Why didn’t you stop me? You just let me ramble on and on...”

             
He looked down his smile still present. “Right, well, you were kind of a roll. I thought I should let you finish.”

             
I looked away, fighting the tears back. “You’re not gonna say anything are you? I mean, please...don’t tell anyone.”

             
I felt his arm cross over my shoulder and I stiffened. “It’s okay that you got scared. You’re secrets are safe with me, Sophie.” He then surprised me as he leaned over and pressed his forehead to mine, kissing the tip of my nose.

             
             
             
             
             
Chapter 4

             
Glancing down at my now water logged watch, I couldn’t tell how much time had passed since we left our families behind. Of course, they probably assumed we were off having a fabulous old time. Little did they know, we were stranded on some God-forsaken island. Ethan on the other hand took everything in stride like he’d been in this exact situation before.

             
Soon after, another boat crept around the bend of the cliff and pulled close to the shoreline. Two men stood waving for us. The one who was driving had his hands on his hips, and did not look pleased. The other scooted to the back of the boat and dropped a small anchor. We both watched waiting for it to hit the floor of the ocean.

             
Ethan looked over at me. “Well, Abe doesn’t look too happy. Guess I’m not getting that deposit back.”

             
I placed my hands on my hips. “Abe doesn’t look happy? Well, screw him for letting us pull away on this piece of shit he calls a boat. Look around Ethan, we’re the ones that shouldn’t be happy.”

             
He exhaled. “Sophie, relax we’re fine now.” He waved at Abe.

             
Abe yelled out, “You two need to swim out to us. We can’t get in any closer.”

             
My mouth dropped open, my lips cracked from the sunburn. “He can’t be serious. There is no way I’m swimming to that boat. It’s like thirty feet out.” I looked over at him. “I’m too scared, Ethan.” The tears started dripping down my face, wet and hot as they flowed into the corners of my mouth.

             
Ethan reached down and slipped his hand into mine. “Just walk out a little and jump on my back. I’ll swim you out.” He shrugged. “It’s no big deal.”

             
“You can’t swim with me on your back.” I looked up at him and my eyes landed on his biceps. “Wait. Can you?” I asked, and relaxed at the thought.

             
“Have you seen yourself Sophie? What are you barely five feet and maybe a hundred pounds?”

             
I retorted. “FYI, I’m five four and it’s not that short.”

             
“Even so, I think I can handle it. Come on.” He pulled me into the water, which felt good against my burnt ankles. He bent his six foot and then some frame down as he knees skimmed the water. “Right, jump on.”

             
My hands reached around his shoulders, gripping them as my nails dug into his skin. I felt safe, I felt something inside of me I shouldn’t be feeling. He started to walk out. My face buried into his neck, breathing in the mix of sweat and salt on his skin. “Easy girl” I said to myself. I had to admit as he started to float out toward Abe that Ethan sort of felt like my knight in shining armor. One I couldn’t decide if I’d liked or not. I quickly reprimanded myself for even letting that thought creep in.  He’d been mean to me every time that we’d been thrown together in the past.

             
Until now. Even so, I never trusted him when I was little, but something inside of me told me to trust him for the first time.

             
I forced my head up so I couldn’t smell him and wanted nothing more than to have that creaky little dock back under my feet. As we approached the boat, Abe’s hands reached down and Ethan unhinged my hands from around his neck. Our bodies pressed up against one another, our faces two inches apart, my breathing started to pick up the way he looked at me. His eyes lingered a second longer, like he was about to say something. And then I was yanked up and onto the boat and out of his grip.

             
I looked down, watching Ethan wave off Abe’s hand, pulling himself onto the boat and standing way too close to me. I inched backwards, taking a seat onto the little leather revolving chair.

             
Abe’s face studied both of us, then looked back out to the water. “You two all right?”

             
“We’re fine,” We both answered at the same time.

             
“Well.” His hand came up rubbing the scruff on his chin. “We’re not finished. We need to pull the other boat up. You know you kids are real lucky, we’re at least 40 feet deep and they’re sure to be a few barracuda in these waters.”

             
My eyes grew wide at the thought of even remaining out here any longer. He couldn’t be serious, could he? What did he want us to do?

             
“What’s a barracuda?” I whispered, nervously toward Ethan.

             
He mouthed back, “You don’t want to know.”

             
The boat pulled away and then hovered over the exact area our little dinghy had sunk. The splash of the anchor hitting the water made me look up from my shaking hands.The man toward the back of the boat tugged on the anchor overboard, grabbing the rope tightly in his fist and then dove in.  You could see everything perfectly even though we were so far above the bottom of the ocean. I saw the fish flutter away from him. I saw the little dinghy flipped over, wedged into the sand. I saw the mask fastened onto his face as he plummeted even farther down.

             
“You,” Abe grabbed my arm. “Weight and balance,” he pointed to the back of the boat. “Get to the back of the boat.” Had he been serious? There was no way my weight could help.

             
Listening, I fumbled my way toward the back as it started to dip at the force of the dinghy being pulled up. My hands gripped the sides, my eyes closed instantly at the feel of falling into the ocean again. I heard a splash and I opened my eyes, hoping that the big splash hadn’t been what I thought it was. It was. Ethan was back in the water.

             
Even though fear gripped every ounce of my body, I forced my eyes to stay open and scoured the water for him. I watched as his feet kicked up and his hands spread wide as he started to swim downward toward the dinghy as it started to make its way up slowly. Abe kept pulling on the rope and the dinghy kept rising.  Then I released the breath I’d been holding once they both rose from beneath. The one man attached the rope that was attached to our little boat and onto a hook.

             
Ethan pulled himself back up and slicked his wet hair back. I watched as his arms gripped the man helping him up. His muscles tightened, his back tanner than it had been earlier. My breath hitched as he noticed me checking him out. He smiled one of his nonchalant smiles. I quickly sat back down and held onto the side of the chair, forcing myself to look anywhere but at him. I refused to let Ethan know that he was getting to me.

             
Ethan said, “Thanks, Abe.  How did you find us?”

             
He turned the key and throttled forward. “Heard some people talking about two kids out here and since you were due back a while ago, I figured I better come check it out. You do realize that you’re paying for the fixin’ of the boat.”

             
“Yeah, mate no problem,” Ethan said, as he sat next to me grabbing the blanket off the leather bench and placed it around my shoulders.

             
I pulled it down, letting it hug my wet body.  I tilted my head and closed my eyes, letting the warmth of the sun start to dry me.

             
When I had finally opened my eyes the view of the little island of Yost Van Dyke came back into view. The few restaurants along the shoreline suddenly appeared, people were splashing in the water. A beautiful little blonde curly haired boy waved excitedly at us. Yelling for his father. Abe steered the boat close to the shoreline and then the anchor splashed into the water a second later. All three of them hopped off the boat. Abe and the other man waded in the water briefly, discussing the dinghy. Even though they were clearly speaking English I had a hard time understanding their heavy accents.

             
I hugged my arms around my chest looking out quickly realizing I again needed to get wet to finally end this nightmare. Ethan stood to the right side of the boat, arms spread wide, water up to his waist. “Get on with it. I got you.”

             
I tilted my head and wrinkled my nose at the thought of having to swim again.

             
“I got it,” I said, determined to do this on my own. I jumped in as fast as I could. When I did my foot slipped out forcing me face down in the water. I did a face flop. It was not the graceful exit I was looking for. I spit out the water, flattening the wrap around me and pushed Ethan aside, trudging my way up to the sand.

             
The first person that I recognized was Claire leaning down rubbing sunblock onto Peter’s back. Great! He hadn’t even noticed I was missing. I watched as Ethan jogged ahead of me straight toward Peter and Claire. He glanced back quickly, smiling his smug little smile. The only thing I could think of was that he knew all of my secrets. I swore right there that I never wanted to see him again, even if he was the only thing that kept me sane for those few hours. There was no way I could let him say anything to anyone, especially Peter.

             
Peter pushed off from his lounge chair as I came closer. “Where in the bloody hell have you two been? I thought you were only going to be an hour or so.”

             
Ethan plopped down into the sand and perched himself onto his elbows. “Sidetracked.”

             
“Sidetracked? Are you kidding me? You’re calling our near death experience a sidetrack...really?” I huffed, storming past the three of them. As I did, I could hear Ethan laughing at me. Ethan yelled out, “Trust me, Sophie. I would never let you die.”

             
             
             
             
             
           ***

             
I couldn’t get to the bungalow fast enough. As I had headed straight for the bathroom, I heard my mother shout out. “Sophie, what’s wrong?”

             
I turned quickly, walking back out toward the door. My mother and her friends were sitting outside on wooden chairs, sipping pink frilly drinks with umbrellas. I don’t know how I missed seeing them.

             
“How was the Island? Did you and Ethan have fun?” She asked, then slowly took a large gulp of her drink.

             
“If you really want to know...it was complete hell.”

             
“Sophie, don’t talk like that.”

             
I watched as Mrs. Watson took a sip and swirled it around several times before she finally swallowed. “Nonsense, Charlotte. She’s a big girl now. What’s wrong sweetheart? Didn’t you have fun with my nephew?”

             
I walked over and grabbed my mother’s drink, finishing it in one large gulp. “Where should I start?” I asked, as I watched my mother’s face go from smiling to frowning.

             
My mom reached over and snatched the glass out of my hand. “Is that really necessary young lady?”

             
“With the day I had, well, let’s just say that may not be my only one.”

             
“Sophie! You’re only sixteen.”

             
“Mom, really do you think I haven’t had a drink before? Besides, I almost died today,” I huffed as I pulled out the little wicker chair and sat down with them.

             
“Don’t be so dramatic,” she said, then turned to her friends. “Anna, Colleen she’s just exaggerating.” Colleen is Ethan’s Mom, and I could never really see the resemblance. I couldn’t remember his father, but assumed he’d looked like him.

             
Ethan’s mother studied my face for a brief second before she stood up and poured my mother another drink. “Sophie, why don’t you start from the beginning?”

             
So I did. I told them every detail of our little trip of horrors. Everything from the barracuda comment to swimming with the stingrays to almost frying to death in the hot sun. Of course, I left out me spilling the beans about my life to a boy I’ve despised all my life. I mean really, we hadn’t seen each other in how many years and yet in a few small hours, I melted into a babbling fool.

             
Moments later, Peter and Claire strolled up hand-in-hand, while Ethan trailed behind. I turned my back and walked inside, leaving the door open. I gazed into the mirror nestled on the credenza and watched Ethan lean over the table in his board shorts.

             
I fingered my hair and refocused before heading back outside. I started to take a seat, but stopped when Peter unraveled his hand from Claire’s. “So, brilliant idea. There’s a boat heading to Tortola in a few hours and then we could catch the last ferry back to St. Thomas?” Peter asked, as his fingers started tapping the tabletop. “Can we all be on it?”