In the black chilly night, it wasn't the most popular idea to sit in a hot tub, for fear of the freezing after-effect. But the boiling pots were always full when Earths eye was blue and the girls never had the chance to relax in one. Only one other tub was being used and the people in it were quiet. It was the perfect night to stargaze.
Ariadne and Jules were sitting in the hot tub, hogging it from other people. In the center was a small table consisting of two beers.
"Isn't this perfect?" Ariadne asked. "It's not noisy, the stars are out, the moon is shining…"
"And the bar is still open." Jules added. "This is good beer, is it Canadian?"
"All good beer is Canadian." Ariadne leaned her head back. "So how was your date with Eames?"
Jules chortled as she looked back on her dinner with him. "He's a British pimp."
"You're just figuring this out?" Ariadne asked in shock.
"He's trying to stop." Jules told her. "Since he's with me now, I'm calling the shots. I'm the only woman in a while whose refused to sleep with him after the first date. He was baffled."
"That's Eames for you."
Jules paused for a brief moment. The moon in the distance had a star twinkling right next to it.
"Did he tell you he had a son?"
"That's not very surprising." Ariadne commented. "I know he had to have at least one but I had no idea what they'd be like."
"His name is Michael, he's five years old and he loves comic books." Jules summarized. "If this relationship lasts, I might get to meet him."
"He sounds cool. Takes after his dad?"
"He's a spitting image… so what did you do today?"
"I went to see Rodger and Joe. We had an intervention."
"You told him?" Jules turned around, swishing water away from her waist.
"He had to know." Said Ariadne. "You see, he gave me a gift today from Casablanca—"
"A gift!" Jules squealed. "What did he get you?"
"A scarf with elephants on it. Then we got into this conversation about Joe and I confessed my feelings. So he planned an intervention. Joe will shut up now."
"How do you know that for sure?"
Ariadne sighed deeply. "I told her about Jean."
"Are you crazy?" Jules spat. "She's gonna use that against you!"
"Mentioning Jean was the only thing I could do to get her to listen. I told her if I caught her abusing Rodger, I would throw her overboard. And I mean it. Anyway, to start over, Rodger wants us to play tennis tomorrow."
"Tennis? You suck at tennis."
"Either that or basketball." Ariadne rolled her head towards her friend.
"Hola Senoritas." A Spanish accent purred out.
"Oh no." Jules put the side of her hand against her forehead. "Not this guy again."
"Who's this?" Ariadne asked as she turned around. Behind them was a short Hispanic man in a wife beater and baggy pants. He was carrying a bottle of Captain Morgan.
"Who's your friend Rojo?" he questioned Jules.
"Don't talk to him." Jules told her.
"What did he do?"
"He keeps hitting on me." Jules rolled her eyes.
"Hola Senorita Morena." He sat down next to the tub. "My name is Jose, favorite of the ladies."
"Jose, how many times do I have to tell you to leave me alone?" Jules snapped.
"Until you stop telling me." Jose smirked. "Who is your pretty friend?"
"Jose, my friend won't sleep with you either." Jules snapped. "So piss off."
"He's got Captain Morgan." Ariadne whispered harshly to her. In the past, Ariadne had to sketch a naked man in her art class. He was in the Captain Morgan pose, with one foot on the floor and the other on a stool. She never recovered.
"Want a shot?" he offered.
Ariadne lifted her beer glass and took a sip. "I'm good."
Jules sighed. "Not in this lifetime. Or the next."
"Not even in your dreams." Ariadne sassed. Her arm went around Jules's shoulders as she glared at him. Flames came in her eyes until he decided to give up for the night.
"He'll be back." Jules sighed again. "It's a good thing I have Eames right now. I suggest you grab one too."
"A guy? You know what happened last time."
"A guy for the trip. Not to go home with you and call you and what not; just a summer fling. You don't even have to date."
"Is that it with you and Eames? A summer fling?"
Jules smiled. "If we play our cards right, it won't be."
The main deck was overpopulated once more with swimmers and tanners the next afternoon. Jules was with Eames in the hot tub they grabbed. Ariadne walked in holding a tennis racket. Behind her was Joe in full tennis playing uniform, carrying Arthur with her.
"Lets watch." She told him.
Ariadne and Joe stepped into the cage. Arthur stood behind the fence to ref them.
"I want a nice clean game!" he said. "We're friends now, so play nice."
"Oh I'll play nice." Ariadne muttered to herself. She tightened the scarf Arthur gave her for good luck. Jules and Eames stepped up to the fence.
"Kick her butt!" Jules hollered. Joe rolled her eyes and served.
Better tennis was played in tampon commercials. Joe was a much better server than Ariadne. Ariadne was the one who often had to get the ball when it reached out of bounds. When she served, she had a tendency to aim for Joe rather than her racket. Joe was hit in the forehead, the eyes, the knee, the breast and the elbow, getting up quickly after each blow.
"Quit hitting me!" Joe burst. Ariadne shrugged innocently.
"Sorry. Thing is, I'm not good at tennis like you are. You win." Ariadne dropped her racket and paced out of the cage. "I'm gonna draw stuff."
Arthur looked over at Jules who just nodded. "She didn't tell you, did she?"
Back at her usual spot, Ariadne was drawing derby girls again. She had the idea for a while to color out what Hogwarts derby girls would look like. She had the Gryffindor girl with a red helmet holding a gold star, wearing the same golden fishnets Lioness's illusion did. As she was coloring in the jersey, she heard an unfamiliar voice say her name.
"Ariadne Cavandar?"
For a moment, she didn't dare turn around. Eventually she did to face a friendly looking man with aqua eyes and a sweet smile. His solid brown hair was swept to the side.
"Who are you?"
"Uh… if I'm talking to the right woman, then you'd know that we went to high school together. Parry Sound."
"You went to Parry Sound?" she asked immediately engaged. "I never saw you."
"Well you did. I asked you to the homecoming dance freshman year and you gave me a wedgie."
Ariadne looked back at moments during freshman year. Looking through her memory archives, she opened up 'freshman year' and flipped to 'October'.
"You and your friends called me Stanky Franky." He hinted.
"Frank!" she exclaimed. "Oh my God… this is not you!"
"It's me." He said happily.
"W-what happened to the acne? The glasses and the headgear?" She was so surprised. Last time she saw Frank was at their graduation ceremony.
"Acne cleared up, I got contact lenses and the headgear finally came off." He explained.
"Wait… how did you know it was me?" she asked. Ariadne looked drastically different in high school than she did currently.
"Your short, I noticed you were wearing a scarf, and your drawing." He looked down at her work in progress. "Cool idea. Do you play?"
"I hope to soon." She replied. Ariadne started to get quiet after she looked back on all the times they had.
"What's wrong?"
Ariadne sighed with guilt. "We were terrible to you." She shook her head with disapproval. "We called you names and we harassed you… why would you even want to speak to me again, or even see me?"
"People change." He said. "Everyone is much more grown up now. Speaking of which, what happened to your clique?"
"Uh… Mirra and Jenaya are living it up in LA, Lioness is playing derby but I haven't spoke to her in forever, and Jules is on the ship with me. So you'll have two of us apologizing."
Frank smiled lightly. "Don't worry about it."
She found her guy.