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Talk of Friends

Laying upon his towel, Lance stared up at the sky with absolutely nothing on his mind, though he wished that was not the case. While Rikki lay upon her stomach, resting her head upon her arms with her eyes closed, he found himself bored. He was normally fine with just relaxing and having his mind free of any thoughts, but at that moment he wanted to think of something. But what?

Then came the question and rather than think about it, he asked Rikki: "Do you have any friends?"

Opening her eyes, Rikki lifted her head and answered: "Yeah, why?"

"Just wondering why, you were out by yourself." Stated Lance. "My family just moved here this morning, so I don't really know anyone in town."

"Two of them are working and another is at home while his great-aunt visits." Said Rikki. Two were working and another was entertaining visiting family. Lance thought that sounded nice. Finding a part-time job, having family visit, as exciting as Dolphin City was, clearly it was just like anywhere else. "I could introduce them to you if you want."

A look of certainty falling across his countenance, Lance uttered: "I don't know, Rikki. I'm sure I'll meet them eventually, like in school or something… Are we friends?"

"Maybe." Rikki gave Lance a smile, which Lance did not return. "How about you? Any friends where you come from?"

"Some, not a lot." Lance sighed. "I've never been the most social person so I wasn't spending a lot of time with them… I wish I did though."

A troubled expression falling upon her features, Rikki could not imagine what it would be like to barely spend any time with her own friends. "So, are you going to try and be more social?"

Taking a breath, Lance replied: "Yeah… Yeah, I am."

The smile returning to her face, Rikki commented: "It sounds like a good plan and I think letting me introduce you to my friends would be good too. You don't want me to be the only friend you have in Dolphin City, do you?"

Looking Rikki in the eye, Lance could not help but feel it would not be terrible, but it would not exactly be great either having only one friend. He supposed meeting some other people would be alright.

"No, no, I guess not." Said Lance, before asking: "So, where do your friends work?"

"At the Juicey Bar and the oceanic center." Rikki answered.

"The latter has an affinity for the sea then?"

Still smiling, Rikki answered: "You could say the three of us do."

For a moment, Lance was puzzled. Rikki had said she was not much of a swimmer, but that could have been easily explained. Three individuals who had an affinity for the sea… He had a feeling he was going to like this trio.