Sean

Zoey stayed and talked with us for awhile, considering the restaurant was pretty patron-less. We found out that she was a junior like me, and she was also new to Halifax. She had moved here from Western Canada at the beginning of the school year.

Having consumed too much coke, Jimmy got up in search of the bathroom. I pointed to his empty seat and said, "Do you want to sit down?"

She smiled softly, which confirmed my feelings. Yep, definite crush on this one.

"He won't like pick me up and throw me across the room when he finds out I stole his spot, will he?" Zoey asked nervously.

I waved a hand apathetically. "Nahh. You should be fine."

"So," she said, absentmindedly piling Jimmy's empty plates. She looked up at me. "You think he'll want a refill on his pop?"

"I hope not. I have to sleep in the same room as him. He'll keep me up all night, because he's scared of the dark and he needs me to wait for him in the hallway while he goes to the bathroom."

"What's that like, a semester at sea?" She shook her head. "I think it would be an amazing experience, but my family doesn't have that kind of money. But to meet people from all over the world and stuff? What's that like?"
Shrugging, I gave her a smirk. "I have no complaints."

"Do you get homesick?"

That wasn't a question that came up very often when asked about Breaker High. Maybe she was just one of those annoying, intuitive types, and she could somehow tell just by looking that I was getting kinda homesick. Attempting to sound cool, I replied, "Not sick, but I do miss my family sometimes, yeah. My mom's a good cook. And I miss terrorizing my brother a little."

"Well, you could always terrorize Jimmy," she said, trying to be helpful.

"I try, Zoey," I laughed. "But I always manage to do something that just gets me in trouble."

I loved the way she tossed her hair when she laughed. "Sounds like me."

"You don't look like the type that anyone could stay mad at."

"Oh, people are constantly mad at me; I'm a dumbass," she explained.

"You!" Jimmy cried, pointing at Zoey. "What is wrong with your Canadian hamburgers?"

"Pardon?"

"They're not even cow, are they?" he demanded. He was oddly coloured, and looked kinda shiny.

"Nope. It's a fascinating combination of beaver, moose and Canadian geese."

"You are sick, sick people," he exclaimed. "I'm going back to the boat before I yak all over your blasphemous restaurant."

Before I could follow him, he left the building. I hoped he would be able to find his way back to the boat. His sense of direction wasn't all that keen.

Zoey's arresting eyes were filled with concern. "Did our food really make him sick?"

"I doubt it. Food never makes Jimmy sick." I smiled reassuringly. "He gets land sick."

The cutest thing I had ever seen was when an unexpected blush flowered over her cheeks. "So uh, hmm…Um, well, so, you...do you need a tour guide?"

"You mean, you?"

"Well maybe me, I mean, but it's okay--"

"Hey, take a breath, dollface," I interrupted. "Don't you have to work?"

"No. Well yes. But only till three, which is only twenty minutes from now, but we're not busy so I could probably just wipe down the tables and then go, but if you don't want me to--"

I put a silencing finger to her lips. "I'll help you clean the tables."

Zoey

I watched him as he wiped off the table tops, wiping the crumbs onto the floor. His blond hair flopped over his eyes as he stretched across the table to get the corners. He didn't have to help me, but he was, and that did something to my feelings. If he wasn't just visiting Halifax for three days, he was definitely the kind of guy that I would fall for, because he wasn't like any other guy I had ever met. But, I reminded myself, he was only going to be here for seventy-two hours. That wasn't a long enough time to develop anything for anyone.

When we were done, we stepped outside into the hidden afternoon sun. It looked like it was about to rain.

"Got any ideas for my research assignment?" he asked as we passed through rustic downtown.

"Well. There's a forestry farm," I suggested. "I like going there."

"What's a forestry farm?"

"Like a zoo? But not quite?" I shrugged. "Do you want to go?"

"Sure," he said so gamely that it made me laugh.

"Okay, this will require some craftiness, because I have no money. Wait here." I went to the ticket guy, spoke to him for a second and gestured for Sean to follow me inside.

"How did you get in here without paying?" he demanded.

"I asked," I said proudly. "Nothing like good old Canadian politeness. We don't break in, we ask."

"Did you make up a story about how your little brother got lost in here or something?"

Startled, I looked up at him in amusement. "Wow, you're good."

He laughed. "You may look innocent…"

"I wish we had hipotamuses," I muttered.

"Hipota--Hipota-what?" he laughed.

"Hipotamuses!"

"Hippopotamuses?"

"Yeah, so Canadians can't say HIPOTAMUS, chalk one up for the Americans," I grumbled.

Laughing, he placed a hand on top of my head, messed up my hair and led us over to the llamas.

As he stared lifelessly at them, he said in an awestruck voice, "That one kinda looks like you."

"Oh yes, let's just have wild animal sex right now, you jerk," I snapped, a smile on my face.

"I think I want a llama to bring home with me to Chicago," Sean decided. "Why don't you go use your Canadian charm and ask to take one?"

"You wouldn't be able to carry it back to the boat."

"What if I just got one of the little ones? Llamas love me."

I laughed.

We were playing with the Shetland ponies when the ticket guy spotted us, an enraged look on his face. "Where's your little brother, huh?" he demanded.

"Right here!" I cried, pointing to the pony.

"Out!" he yelled, pointing to the exit fifty feet away.

"I'm sure we can arrange something here," Sean offered, a calm, sly smile on his face.

"You want to clean up after the horses?"

"No. Let's go, Zoey," Sean said, taking me by the arm as we quickly ran away from the ticket man.

Sean

"Well, that wasn't very successful," I announced. "Guess I won't be doing an assignment on Canadian hipotamuses."

"Ha," Zoey said smugly. "I got you saying it the funny way."

"I was mocking you."

"Typical."

I buried my bare feet in the fine white sand as we sat on the beach. The waves were grey because of the dark sky. It looked almost like a black and white painting as I looked at the ocean.

"Those waves look perfect for surfing," I told her.

She scoffed. "I wouldn't know."

"You live next to the Atlantic Ocean and you've never surfed before?"

"That would be correct."

Throwing my hands up in the air, I cried, "You're missing out, doll! Listen, tomorrow, I'm gonna bring my board when I meet you, and I'm gonna teach you how to ride the waves, okay?"

"You're meeting me tomorrow?" she asked, her voice surprised and innocent.

"Uh, yeah," I said, as if she'd asked me if the Pope was Catholic. "You're my Canadian girl. I'd be lost without you. Quite literally."

Zoey smiled, her small, unusually pretty face lit up with its sparkle. "So I'm stuck with you, eh?"

"Ahahahahahahaha you said EH!"

"Whoops."

"You're very Canadiany."

"Oh, you know you like it," she giggled. "Look, uh, there's fireworks tomorrow night. It's Victoria Day, so I get the day off school. Usually, if I want to see them, I have to take my little sister, but if I tell my mom I'm on a date, she won't make me take Nikki. So do you want to watch them tomorrow night?"

"Uh, on a date?"

"No! Nononononono," she protested, blushing. "I'm just saying, that's what I'd tell my mom--"

I smiled. "Okay."

"Really?"

"Yeah. We can watch them from the deck."

"The deck?"

"You know…on the boat?"

"I can go on your boat?"

Laughing, I said, "I'll smuggle you aboard." Standing up and dusting my shorts off, I grabbed my sandals and jerked a thumb feebly towards the harbour. "But I'd better get back and see how Jimmy's doing. Do you want me to walk you home or anything?"

"Nah, I live up on the bluff there. I can see my house from here," she said, not making any movements to get up. "And I think I'm just going to stay here for awhile. The waves are pretty today."

"Yeah they are," I agreed, and looking at her as she gazed over the shimmering water, I realized that the entire image was one I probably wouldn't forget because of the pure perfection of it.

She looked up at me, smiling. "It was nice to meet you today. I'll see you tomorrow?"

I nodded, gave her a small wave and started to walk away. I called over my shoulder, "It's a date."