A boat taps gently against the dock, the vessel looks weathered, dirty and the sails worn. A girl sits at the stern of the sailboat, her feet lazily grazing the surface of the water, she leans her head against the railing. Her rusty, red coloured hair lightly tosses as the ocean breeze brushes against her face. She pulls a half finished cigarette to her lips and takes a drag, smoke leaving through her nose. The boat rocks slightly, the sounds of footsteps coming near, she pulls her feet from the water and begins to hug her knees. She turns her head to look up at the approaching person and smiles.
"Meara, I thought you quit that shit," says a boy with blonde hair, looking down at her with a frustrated glare.
Meara rolls her eyes, takes a final drag and puts out the smoke in a corroded coffee tin. She props her elbow on her knee and sarcastically slaps her face in her hand. She looks up at him blinking. "I know you're just gunna want one after a couple of those," she gestures to the beers he's holding. Her oversized sweater falling off her shoulder and pooling at her elbow. He huffs and shoves one towards her, she graciously takes one and begins to sip at it, head turning back out to look at the water.
"For someone who is so afraid of the ocean, it's weird that you always hangout on your dad's boat," the boy nags, he began peeling at the label on the bottle.
"I'm not afraid of the ocean Travis," she says mockingly "Salt water just fucks with my skin,"
Travis sighs and leans up against the side of the boat's cabin. "Then you really love savin' sea creatures, always putting your health at risk when you go on a mission with us," His Boston accent heavy on his tongue.
"It's not like that. I stay on the boat, pull you guys up, watch out for the coast guards." She says shrugging between each break. "I care about the animals just as much as the rest of our radical team, I'm just not swimming is all," she turns back at him with a smile and another swig of beer.
Travis returns her smile, "Well, I have a solo mission for us if your up for it?" eyes wicked with excitement.
"Oh really?" she turns around fully, crossing her legs.
"Heard a couple rumours about O'leary's fishing boat," he leans in a little, voice growing softer. "He cast out his net late last night and doesn't pull it up until Tuesd-"
"But that's three days from now? He's going to catch more than cod in that net," Meara interjected.
"Exactly my point. He apparently always catches sea turtles in 'em and sells their shells later at the market."
"Ugh what a dick,"
"So what do you say? Wanna join me on this one? His boat's only a twenty-two footer and Connor thinks the team that decides to cut his net should be small. Like me and you small," he said while pointing to Meara then him. Meara takes another couple swigs from her beer and eyes him. He seems a little to eager to do the mission, but it would be to dangerous for him to go alone with no eyes above the water. Another cold wind comes off the marina and she pulls her sweater up over her shoulders and hugs herself.
"You're going to go whether or not I come along," she shoots him a quick look. He smugly leans back against the cabin frame. He takes his hat off and runs his fingers through his shaggy blonde hair, making it neater and placing his hat back on his head. Long strands clasping the back of his neck, he motions for a cigarette by placing two fingers to his lips. Meara snorts a smile and tosses him her pack. He lights one up and takes a long drag before giving his rebuttal.
"Well, are you going to come and watch over me angel?" he flirts, giving her a wink as he takes another drag of her stolen cigarette. She blushes, hiding her eyes under her hand and letting out an airy giggle.
"Do I honestly have a choice?"
"No," he looked at her, a smirk spread across his lips. She sighs, either from the look or her predicament, she wasn't to sure.
"Then I'll be there… asshole," she smiles, biting her bottom lip. Travis gives her a big grin, chugs the rest of his beer and tosses the rest of his smoke into the coffee tin.
"Nice, we go out Monday night,"