The chanting sounds coming from the crowded room they had just left could still be faintly heard as he followed her to the deck. She leaned against the metallic guardrail, her back turned on the dark, whirling waters of the Wallenpaupack Lake, but he chose to stand facing the waves, perhaps only to be able to steal glances of her from the corner of his eye. Silence had only started to settle between the two when she suddenly spoke.

"Sometimes I just don't get Roy." The statement sounded like a confession, said with resentfulness and resignation, as if she was admitting to herself one of those truths that shouldn't be kept a secret.

"Well…" He hesitated. Part of him was actually happy to hear it (desperately in love? cruel? maybe both) but on the other hand, it broke his heart a little to see disappointment hit her that hard. But before he could pick feeling to act on, she was replying.

"I mean, I don't know." She shook her head briefly, as if waking herself up from a pesky trance and her lips curled up into a wide smile. That, plus her hair blowing in the wind, plus the moonlight, plus her eyes… He just got momentarily caught up in the moment.

God, you are beautiful.

"So what's it like, dating a cheerleader?"

I didn't see that coming.He managed to chuckle and utter a couple incoherent sounds, looking down at a loss of words. "Oh, um..."

What do you want me to say? That you're so much better than her in every possible way? That I don't love her? That she's nothing but a rebound? That she's great but dating her feels like a torture because she's not you? What the hell am I supposed to tell you?

Only when he dared to lift his gaze from his feet he noticed she was looking at him, in a strangely intense kind of way. Her smile faded. Unsure of what to do next, he just stared back at her, sporadically getting lost in her eyes. Everything was silent but the waves softly tapping on the side of the ship. The overwhelming need to kiss her was taking over him – after all, they were alone, and nothing was distracting him from the omnipresent yet usually ignored attraction between them.

There seemed to be an invisible, thick barrier between them keeping him from acting – or maybe it was just his fear, immobilizing him. However, the moment he tentatively moved an inch closer to her – the look on his face showing a determination never seen before, and his eyes truly acting like windows to his soul – something went wrong. As if she'd been asleep or unconscious, she shook her head once again, then blinked, then smiled before uttering an excuse to hurry back into the room

"I'm cold." The little shrug that accompanied those words, as well as the tone of her voice, felt like an implicit apology.

He just stood there on the spot, alone, incapable of fully comprehending any of her actions while her words still echoed through his head.

"Sometimes I just don't get Roy."

"So what's it like, dating a cheerleader?"

"I'm cold."

You big, fat liar. As much as he hated being mad at her, he (momentarily) couldn't help it. It wasn't fair that she still wasn't ready or willing to acknowledge (needless to say deal with) the obvious, undeniable, strong connection between them.

But he was really just disappointed with himself for not being brave enough to prove its existence to her.