AN: I thought it would be a fun to swap Thorne and Cress's personality for a little bit.

Thorne shielded his eyes from the bright Saturday morning sunlight, his left arm tucked under his model ship firmly. He hitched up his backpack and made his way down to the lake, but his steps slowed when he saw a petite girl sitting on the bench he usually occupied. The girl had long wavy hair pulled into an elaborate braid that draped over her shoulder. He gulped, recognizing her immediately.

He wondered if he should turn around and go home. It wasn't too late. She had not seen him and he could make a quick getaway, but then he scolded himself. How was he ever going to profess his undying love for her when he couldn't bring up the courage to talk to her? He scolded himself again. Who was he kidding, he would never be able to tell her how he really felt. Not when every other boy in their senior class was also in love with the prettiest, smartest, and most popular girl in school.

He must have been standing there too long because the girl turned around and saw him.

"Carswell?" She looked surprised.

Thorne could feel the heat rising up his cheeks. He walked up, hesitating for a second before speaking.

"Hi Cress." He rubbed his free hand against the back of his neck before adding, "You can call me Thorne."

Cress tucked the book she was reading into her lap and smiled at him. He felt his stomach do somersaults. She scooted over, making room for him.

"Have a seat, Thorne."

Thorne set the model ship and his backpack down on the ground beside the bench, hiding it from her view and sat, careful to keep a body's worth of space between them.

"I didn't know you came here," he said, eyes falling to his fidgeting hands.

Cress sighed. "Sometimes, when I want to … get away from everything." Her eyes looked out towards the lake.

Thorne nodded. He looked over to her, curious to see what she was reading. A tattered copy of the complete poems of John Keats sat on her lap. He could see that several pages were dog-eared and little bits of paper and ribbon stuck out at various intervals. Thorne smiled to himself. Before he could ask her about the book, Cress spoke up.

"So what are you doing here?" she asked. She tilted her head as if she were trying to see what was behind Thorne.

Thorne's ears turned bright pink. He obviously couldn't lie to her. He reached behind him and pulled out his model ship, holding it up for her to inspect. "I … um … came here to test the motor on my model ship."

Cress' twinkling blue eyes lit up. "Really? You built that?"

Thorne rubbed his hand along the back of his neck again. "Yeah."

"That's amazing," Cress cooed. She reached out to touch the painted wood of the ship. "The Rampion," she read, as her fingers brushed the gold writing along the ship's stern.

"It's a schooner," Thorne clarified, not sure why he felt compelled to explain.

She looked up at him. Her sapphire blue eyes caught him off guard and he fell momentarily breathless. She smiled as her attention returned to the ship.

"Is it supposed to have sails?"

"It does, but I just reinstalled the engine this morning and I wanted to test it out." Thorne chucked. "To be honest, I've been itching to bring it out here. It took three whole days to finish all of the painting. I was going insane waiting for paint to dry!"

Cress smiled at Thorne's enthusiasm. "Does that make you the captain?"

Thorne chuckled nervously. "Yeah. I guess it does."

Cress leaned in closer to examine the ship and Thorne's body tensed. She smelled like roses.

"Do you … do you want to see it sail?"

"Only if I can be the first mate." She grinned devilishly.

Thorne blushed. He stood up, almost too quickly, and tugged at his collar. "Right. So, I'm going to set The Rampion in the water. Can you look for the remote in my pack? It should be in the front pocket."

Cress hopped up and saluted him. "Aye aye, Captain."

Thorne couldn't help but grin, glad that she couldn't see how that salutation delighted him. He walked to the water's edge and gently placed The Rampion down. He let out a sigh of relief when it didn't immediately sink to the bottom. Cress stepped up beside him and handed him the remote.

"Well, here goes." Thorne let out a breath and flipped the power switch. He pushed the throttle with his thumb and The Rampion glided forward.

Cress jumped and let out a whoop. Thorne grinned again, knowing exactly how she felt.

"I like your smile. You have nice dimples," Cress said, out of nowhere.

Thorne turned to look at her, but her eyes were fixed on The Rampion.

"Th—thanks," he replied, unsure what he should say next. Should he compliment her back? There were so many things he liked about her: the way her freckles splattered across her face like stars in the night sky, how she smelled like a blooming garden and looked like sunshine, how she always said good morning to him in the hallways when no one else did, how she always seemed so confident and self-assured, how her sapphire eyes mesmerized him and left him constantly feeling breathless. He didn't know what to say so he didn't say anything.

They stood side-by-side in silence as The Rampion glided around the lake.

"Weren't schooners used by pirates?" Cress's voice broke the silence.

Thorne tried to hide a smile. "Yeah. I guess so, but I never said I was a hero."

Cress laughed and it sounded like crystal bells. Thorne was going to have to add that to the list of things he liked about her. He wanted to ask her what she was doing after this. Maybe she'd want to go get a coffee, but before he could open his mouth, her phone buzzed, making them both jump.

Cress reached into her pocket and read her text message, frowning. "I'm sorry. I have to go."

Thorne nodded disappointedly. Maybe he could give her a ride wherever she needed to go, but before he could even say anything she had already collected her things and was waving bye to him.

"That was fun. Thanks for showing me your ship. I can't wait to see it when it's completely finished."

"Thanks for being my first mate."

Cress winked. "Anytime," and then she was gone.

AN: Thank you to the wonderful lettered for being an amazing beta, and also a shoutout to lovelunarchron for persuading me to post this. This is a completed one-shot, but there could be more if people are interested. Comments and likes are always appreciated.