Thorne pulled up in front of Cress's house for the second day in a row. He couldn't believe that he had seen Cress every single day that week and was seeing her again that Saturday. If he had known this was his reward for fracturing his fingers, he would have considered punching a jerk in the face sooner.
He rang the doorbell and waited. To his surprise, it was Cinder who answered the door.
"Hey Thorne, ready to show off your stuff?"
"Do I have a choice?"
Cinder laughed. "Nope."
The topic of The Rampion had come up during pizza the night before and now the whole gang was interested in seeing the ship. Before Thorne knew it, Kai and Cress were planning a picnic in the park. He wasn't exactly sure how it had happened, but then Cress had reached over and squeezed his hand gently and he had nodded in agreement.
"Sorry! I'm here," Cress called out as she walked to the front door, carrying a large canvas tote bag.
Thorne stared at her. Her long, blonde hair, which was always pulled into an impressive braid or up-do, had been cropped short and now it fell down in waves that framed her heart-shaped face, stopping just below her chin. She lifted her fingers to tug on the short ends.
Cinder cleared her throat and Thorne snapped out of his daze. His eyes shifted towards the bag Cress was carrying and reached for it.
"Here, let me get that for you."
Cress let him take the tote bag, which Thorne could see was stuffed with a wide range of items including napkins, paper plates, and a large rolled quilt.
"I hope you don't mind that Cinder rides with us. Kai has a student council meeting this morning about the Homecoming dance so he's going to meet us at the park," Cress said as she locked the door behind her.
"Of course he doesn't mind," Cinder answered for Thorne and made her way towards his car.
Thorne shrugged and Cress laughed as they followed behind. Cinder was impressed that Thorne had a Jeep and mused that it made him instantly cool. Cress smirked knowingly and nudged him while mouthing "male lead." It took a bit of maneuvering to fit the bag and Cinder in the back while making sure The Rampion was safe. Cress offered to sit in the back since she was smaller, but Cinder insisted that she wanted to inspect the ship before watching it sail. The look of horror on Thorne's face when he thought there was a chance Cinder might fiddle with it while in the back seat made her cackle and she promised she wouldn't touch it unless he gave her permission.
When everyone and everything had been strapped in safely, Thorne pulled out onto the street and they made their way to the park. It took about twenty seconds before Cinder's voice piped up from the back.
"Why do you have plastic champagne flutes back here?"
Thorne's eyes flickered to the rear view mirror to see Cinder holding up the item in question. Cress turned around to get a better look. Thorne's face flushed as he remembered the day he had asked Cress to join him at the lake to watch The Rampion sail. Since Cress had a date and he had ended up drinking a bottle of cider alone, he had not needed the flutes and had forgotten they were back there.
"N-no reason."
Cinder met Thorne's gaze in the rear view mirror and he shifted his eyes back onto the road. Thorne cast his eyes towards Cress to see if she was still looking back at Cinder and was relieved to see her fiddling with the radio. She settled on the 80s station and Thorne and Cinder laughed as she started belting along to Queen.
When they got to the park and parked the car, the three of them stood behind the Jeep peering into the back, contemplating the best way to get the schooner and all their stuff to the lake. Thorne was able to carry the body of the boat with one arm, but that was when he was just testing it out. Now that all the sails were installed, it was definitely a two-arm job and he wasn't sure he would be able to do it by himself with his injured hand. His dad had had to help him load it into the Jeep that morning.
Thorne hadn't thought about how he was going to get the schooner from his car to the lake, but he supposed Cinder was going to have to help him. Cress certainly wouldn't be able to do it due to their height difference.
Thorne nodded, pulling his backpack on and making sure the extra buckles were clipped securely across his chest. Cress stifled a giggle but he ignored her. This was important business. He pulled the canvas tote bag out of the back and handed it to her.
"Got it?"
"Yes, Captain!" Cress saluted as she took the bag from him. Now it was Cinder's turn to stifled a giggle.
Thorne pulled the tarp off the rig that he had carefully constructed to make sure that nothing actually touched any of the sails he had painstakingly strung those weeks before. He knew the girls were waiting on him, but he took the time to fold the tarp up neatly and tucked it under the back seat before releasing the model ship from its harness—another thing he had constructed to make sure the schooner was safe in his car.
"Okay. I'm going to pull it out and Cinder, you come around and grab the stern. Okay, got it?"
"Yeah, I got it. Wow, it's much heavier than I thought it was going to be," Cinder mused.
This did not fill Thorne with confidence. He took a deep breath. "'Kay. We're going to pull the ship out now. Cress, can you make sure to grab the stand and lock the car?"
"Sure. Where are the keys?"
Thorne paused before groaning. His voice dropped an octave. "They're in my pocket."
Cress walked up with no hesitation and lifted the front of his t-shirt. She grabbed the keys by the leather lanyard that stuck out of his jean pocket. Thorne's breath hitched during the brief second that Cress's hand was pressed against his hip and he thought he was going to die.
He cleared his throat. "Okay Cinder, forward march."
Thorne was glad they made it to his bench without any incident and he let out a breath of relief when Cress set the stand on the ground and Cinder and Thorne eased The Rampion onto it. Cinder stretched her arms above her head.
"Well, that was a work out. Where's Scarlet with the food?"
Cress looked up from her phone. "They're parking now. Kai's here too."
Thorne and Cinder helped Cress lay out the quilt she had brought to use as a picnic blanket and as Cress pulled out the last of the tote bag's contents, Scarlet, Wolf, and Kai walked up. Cinder greeted her boyfriend with arms wrapped around his neck and a kiss. Thorne felt comfortable enough around them now that his first instinct wasn't to look away. He figured that was progress.
Both Wolf and Kai bumped elbows with Thorne in greeting, hoping to avoid his injured hand and Scarlet gave him a smile that made him blush. Scarlet complimented Cress on her new haircut and Wolf wrapped his arms around Cress and picked her up as she squealed, calling her small fry, and letting her punch him in the arm. His smirk indicated that he didn't even feel the assault.
Kai walked up to The Rampion to inspect it. He let out a low whistle. "Wow. When you guys were talking about a model ship, I thought you meant like a plastic toy or something." He pulled a delicate finger along the ship's starboard side. "This is like the real deal."
Wolf also came up for a closer look. "How big is it?"
Thorne beamed. "From end to end it's thirty-two inches."
Kai whistled again.
"And you built it all by yourself?" Scarlet asked in awe.
Thorne chuckled before nodding. "Yeah."
Cinder clapped her hands together. "Enough with the chitchat. Let's see this baby sail."
Cress bent down and kissed the starboard bow before Kai and Wolf lowered The Rampion into the water. Thorne looked at her, amused, and she shrugged.
"For good luck."
Thorne flipped the switch on and nudged the throttle with his thumb. The Rampion pushed forward and everyone cheered. They all stood in a line watching as the schooner sailed around the lake. Cress stood on Thorne's left side with Scarlet and Wolf, while Cinder and Kai stood on his right. Their impressed comments kept a constant smile on Thorne's face. Kai asked if he could have a turn with the controls, but Cress interjected, indignantly, saying she was first mate and if anyone got to go first, it was her.
Thorne shrugged at Kai and passed the controller to Cress. She expertly sailed the ship around the lake twice before handing off the controls. In the end, everyone had a turn guiding The Rampion on the water. Even Wolf, who was initially terrified, did a great job with some help and coaxing from Scarlet. Thorne was also impressed with Scarlet's sailing abilities. She was a natural.
Soon, Wolf's stomach growled and he begged for them to take a break. Thorne steered The Rampion back to the shore and Wolf and Kai pulled it out of the water and back onto its stand. They all gathered around the picnic blanket and laughed at Wolf's attempt to sneak an arm around Scarlet to snatch up a grape while distracting her with a kiss. Cress cleared her throat.
"Can I have your attention please?" She smirked. "Before we eat, I'd like to propose a toast to Captain Thorne on this momentous occasion."
Thorne's face was on fire. "What occasion is this?"
"The induction of your crew, of course." She gestured towards her friends.
If the heat on his cheeks were any indication, Thorne was convinced he would burst into flames at any moment.
"Speech! Speech!" Kai called out.
Thorne rubbed the back of his neck. "Um—I—I really don't know what to say."
Cress stood up. "You don't have to say anything." She reached into the cooler that Scarlet and Wolf had brought and pulled out a bottle of champagne. Real champagne.
Thorne's eyes widened and he looked around to make sure no one else could see tiny Cress waving around a bottle of alcohol in the middle of the day at the park in front of a bunch of teenagers. Luckily, the area around the lake was empty except for their party.
Cress popped the cork like an expert and handed the bottle to Thorne. He hesitated, but persuaded by the eagerness on her face, took the bottle from her and took a swig. The bubbles fizzled in his throat and when it settled in his stomach, it wasn't an unpleasant feeling. Thorne handed the bottle back to Cress who took her own swig and then passed the bottle on.
When it came back around to Thorne, he didn't hesitate and took a deeper drink. It was his first time having champagne and he found that he enjoyed it immensely. Between the six of them, they finished the bottle off quickly and although Thorne liked the bubbly, he was glad he didn't have more than a couple of sips. Soon, food was being passed around and Thorne settled down with an impressive spread on his plate.
As they ate, they began to discuss who was to have what title on the Rampion's crew. Cress laid claim to first mate right off the bat and the group agreed that Scarlet would be the chef. Thorne, being the ship enthusiast that he was, informed them that Cress would probably prefer quartermaster since that was actually the second in command and due to Scarlet's expert sailing of the schooner, she could be the sailingmaster. The girls beamed at him and urged him to give jobs to the others. Thorne thought about it for a while and dubbed Cinder the boatswain who was in charge of handling all the maintenance on the ship as well as overseeing the dropping of the anchor and the handling of the sails. He had a harder time placing Kai and Wolf into roles and Cress, the newly dubbed quartermaster, said they could just be deck swabbers.
They all laughed at that, but Kai, not satisfied with such a lowly title, offered up ship's surgeon. "You guys," he said gesturing towards them, "get into too much trouble without me."
Thorne was surprised to be see himself get lumped into the group, but then realized his hand was in a splint because he had punched someone in the face and Kai had been there to break up the fight.
Wolf was too full and content to care what his title was and even though he was lying down, absentmindedly rubbing his belly, he asked Scarlet to hand him some more grapes. This time, Thorne had to look away. He might be okay with being in the presence of an innocent peck on the lips, but watching Scarlet feed grapes to Wolf in between kisses was too much PDA for him.
Thorne got up and cleared his throat. "Th-thanks for the food, Scarlet. It was great. I'm going to try and walk some of this off."
Cress stood up. "I'll come with you."
Thorne couldn't help the bubble of excitement that rose up his chest.
"Does anyone else want to come?" Cress asked her friends.
The bubble burst.
The rest of the group waved them off, groaning about being too full to move, so Thorne led the way around the lake. He fiddled with the end of tape that was beginning to loosen on his splint. "Thanks for doing this. It's been really fun." He found it difficult to make eye contact with Cress, so he just looked at the ground instead.
"You're welcome." Out of the corner of his eye, he could see that Cress wasn't looking at Thorne either. In fact, she was tugging at the tips of her short hair and looking out onto the lake.
They walked in silence for a short while and Thorne let himself fall a step behind her so he could look at her properly without being noticed. He watched as the ends of her short hair swayed back and forth and he liked how it revealed the few freckles that were on her neck. Thorne had always thought of Cress's freckles as stars and from spending so much time with her that week, he had memorized their exact location on her skin. They were like a constellation to him now.
He pondered what he could name the two freckles that had revealed themselves now that she no longer had a braid draped over her shoulder, hiding them. They were twins, a half inch apart that sat just where the line of her neck sloped into the curve of her shoulder.
Cress chose that exact moment to turn to him and caught him staring at her.
Thorne's face blanched and he tried to recover quickly. "I—I like your new haircut."
Cress reached up again to twirl her fingers in her short locks and her eyes twinkled. "Really? You do?"
Thorne nodded. "I should have said something sooner. I'm sorry I didn't."
"It's okay. I'm glad you like it, though." The excitement in her smile was contagious and Thorne couldn't help but smile himself.
They continued walking in silence, but this time the tension that Thorne thought was there before, wasn't. Maybe it was never really there and he was just nervous, or the champagne was getting to him.
"I also like your friends. They're really nice."
"They are nice, but, they're your friends, too."
"I've never had friends before. Not really."
Cress turned to him and smiled. "Well, now you have these nerds."
Thorne let out a laugh at the idea of anyone calling Kai, Cinder, Scarlet, and Wolf nerds. They were the envy of the school and Thorne still couldn't understand why they had chosen him to be friends with. Sometimes he wondered if this was all a dream, or a cruel joke. His eyes flickered across the lake to the group lounging out on the picnic blanket and then back to Cress. No, he knew Cress didn't he? She would never be that cruel. Could never be that cruel.
She's a heartbreaker of men. Thorne heard Kai's voice in his ear. He didn't know why his brain chose that moment to remind him of those heart wrenching words and he hated it. He shook his head to dislodge it from his mind.
"So this Homecoming thing is a big deal, huh?"
Cress's eyes were bright when she turned to him.
"I mean—since Kai has to have meetings about it on a Saturday."
"Ha! I guess you're right. Some people get really into it, though." She smiled. "Are you going?"
Thorne laughed. The idea of him going to a school dance was ridiculous to him. "No. Are you?"
Cress paused and looked out onto the lake again. "I don't know, yet."
Thorne felt a tug at his heart. She almost sounded sad and he was afraid she had taken his laugh as him making fun of her for wanting to go. "I'm surprised there isn't a line of guys ready to ask you," he teased, hoping to sound light-hearted.
Cress laughed her amused, tinkling laugh, and it eased him. "Maybe I'm still trying to decide between them all."
They finished their turn around the lake and when they got back to the group, they found that everything had been packed up. Wolf needed to be at the restaurant to help his mom that evening and Scarlet was going to go with him to study and keep him company. Kai mentioned something about a date before kissing Cinder on the cheek. When Thorne looked over at Cress, she asked if he wouldn't mind giving her a ride home and just like that, it was an end to one of Thorne's best days.
He nodded and Cress bent down to pick up the canvas tote bag. Thorne headed over to the schooner to collect it.
"Here, let us help you with that," Kai said and he and Wolf jogged over to him.
The guys lifted The Rampion between them and made their way to Thorne's Jeep as he followed behind, carrying the stand. Thorne was glad to see that they were being particularly gentle with the ship. Kai even patted its starboard side gently before stepping away.
Thorne clipped The Rampion into its harness, but didn't bother to cover it with the tarp. He was just going to drop Cress off and go home anyway. He felt a tug on his arm and was surprised to see he was alone with Wolf.
"Hey, listen. I wanted to give this back to you." Wolf pressed a twenty dollar bill into Thorne's hand.
Thorne began to protest, but Wolf scowled at him and he stopped.
"It's yours." Wolf's striking green eyes flickered to Cress and in an off-hand sort of way, he added, "She likes roses."
Thorne watched as Wolf walked away and joined Scarlet at her car. Cress waved goodbye to her friends and they called out farewells to him. He waved as they drove off.
The car ride back to Cress's house was uneventful, but Thorne felt an anxiety in his chest that he hadn't felt in a long while. He didn't want to admit it, but he was starting to feel nervous about what would happen on Monday. Even though he felt comfortable calling Cress and her group of friends his friends now, he couldn't help but wonder what it would be like when they were all back at school. They were still the most popular kids and he was still just a nobody.
He was also a bit embarrassed that Wolf, of all people, had approached him about Cress. He wasn't sure what that even meant. Had she put him up to it? Had it meant that the group knew about his feelings towards Cress and had approved of him? He wasn't even sure that Cress knew and if she did, did she like him back? He still felt that their friendship, although fast, was tenuous and he was afraid of doing something that would jeopardize it. He was perfectly happy with taking his time. He had admired her from afar for almost a year and had agreed with the tortoise that slow and steady wins the race.
Cress reached over and played with the radio, humming a tune Thorne had never heard before, until she could find a station to settle on. Thorne's eyes flickered towards her every now and then and he began to wonder if he was being a little too slow.
When they finally pulled up in front of Cress's house, Thorne walked Cress to her door, carrying her tote bag for her. She unlocked the door and he hesitated for a moment before handing her the bag.
"Thanks for everything."
Cress looked at him, smiling. "What do you mean?"
"Everything. Taking me to get my hand looked at, studying all this week, hanging out, today." Thorne rubbed the back of his neck. "It's kinda been the best week."
Cress's face broke into her dimpled grin. "The pleasure was all mine." She bit her lip and placed a hand on Thorne's shoulder.
He froze.
Cress pushed herself onto her tiptoes and pressed a kiss onto his cheek. Her eyelashes dipped down before she said, "Thanks for the ride. Bye," and stepped inside her house.
Thorne stood there, dumbfounded. Dazed, he turned on his heels and made his way back to his car, fingering the spot on his cheek where Cress's lips had touched his skin.
AN: Thanks to lettered for beta'ing and thanks for reading. Comments and reviews are always welcomed.
