Sean's POV
I breathed in the fresh, salty air. Jimmy and I stepped off the ship when it docked in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
"Dude, where's the snow?" Jimmy asked, flabbergasted.
I stared at him. "Jimmy, it's May."
"Yeah. And it's Canada."
I often wondered about Jimmy. Sometimes he surprised me with how amazingly moronic he could be.
"BOATS!" he cried, pointing to the harbour where there was a bunch of fishing boats.
Laughing, I slapped him across the head. That was Jimmy for you; my best friend. "Jimbo, we've been living on a boat for the past HOW many months?"
"Our boat does not catch FISH, little buddy."
"Come on," I said impatiently. We still had to come up with an idea for our Canada research assignment. "We need to FOCUS, Jimmy. Stop--Hey! Jimmy! Stop chasing the seagulls!"
Leaving the poor birds alone, he sauntered back to me. "Okay. Any ideas yet?"
"Nope," I replied. "But I'm wearing my lucky pants. The guy that sold them to me swears they belonged to Steve McQueen's cousin's best friend's uncle."
"I love Canadian birds, man!" Jimmy exclaimed as an army of seagulls flocked around him, squawking for the cookie in his hand.
Some of the birds followed us as we walked down the cobblestone streets. The city was pretty enough, I guess, but it looked exactly like just about any of the smaller towns in the states I had been to. I don't know what I had been expecting in Canada, but it wasn't this.
After about ten minutes of aimless wandering, Jimmy suggested we get something to eat, so we ducked into a small restaurant called Sarah's. A hostess found us a table promptly, brought us a couple of cokes and menus.
A small girl with disheveled brown hair and eye-catching blue eyes came up to the table. "Are you ready to order?" she asked, her voice sweet and not over-bearingly friendly.
"Yeah, you got anything really Canadian?" Jimmy asked eagerly. "I want to taste your culture!"
I shook my head at him, looked up at the girl with an apologetic smile and then kicked him under the table.
"Uh, I could bring you a hamburger," she offered.
"You make HAMBURGERS in Canada?" he demanded. "Well good for you! Your country is really moving up in the world!"
"Yep," she laughed. "Can I get you anything else besides the infamous Canadian burger?"
I smiled at her. "How about your name?"
The girl stared at me skeptically, as if she had heard every line in the book. I wasn't trying to be a creep; I just thought she was pretty.
"I have a nametag," she said, aloof.
"Hey, Sean, her name's Zoey," Jimmy helped me out. "It says so on her nametag."
"Thanks," I said, giving him a warning look. "But I'm good for now. I'm still working on my cola, doll."
"Okay." She took our menus and walked away.
"Dude, she was pretty hot," he said slowly, and then started to chuckle. "She shut you down, man!"
I mocked his laughter, which backfired and got us both giggling.
It's not like I wasn't used to getting shut down, if I'm being honest. Much of my time was devoted to my mission of trying to get a girl to notice me. And if we happened to go skinny-dipping after she noticed me, so be it. So far, no skinny-dipping action for me yet.
But there was something about the defiant look in her wide blue eyes that made me feel defiant about taking no for an answer.
Zoey's POV
It was a slow afternoon. While I waited to be put to use, I played solitaire with a trick deck of cards in a corner booth.
I kept glancing over at the two guys across the room. They obviously weren't from around here. The one guy was wearing a colourful Gilligan/fisherman hat over his sandy coloured hair, the brim shadowing his eyes. The other boy was scrawny, but not in a emaciated way. He had intelligently shrewd blue eyes and a genuine smile.
I was feeling bad for being such a bitch to him He had only asked for my name. And then he'd called me doll. Gotta say, I've never been called that before. It had startled me. Because I'd never been hit on, I didn't know if he was being sincere or not.
"Zoey, table five," one of the cooks called, sliding a plate across the counter. Almost nervous, I walked over, balanced it on my hand and brought it over to the out-of-town boys.
"Hello," I said. "Is this Canadian enough for you?"
The heftier guy's eyes lit up like a little boy on Christmas as I set the hamburger in front of him. "Oh baby."
The other boy smiled shyly up at me. "That's Jimmy talk 'I approve.'"
It took me a moment to find my voice. He had the best smile. It just lit up…everything. My hesitation caused his smile to falter curiously.
I jammed my notepad in my pocket and stuck out my hand. "My name's Zoey Anderson."
Grinning, he accepted the gesture and shook my hand. "Sean Hanlon."
Jimmy held out a French fry to me. "Canadian fry?"
