Bethany Lopez

Last night Sebastian kissed me. Or did I kiss him? This morning his bed was empty except for a blank check resting on his pillow. The same check he’d been holding over me the past six months. The cursive signature at the bottom so perfect it could have been a font.  

He tracked me down online. Showing up suddenly on a dock in the Florida Keys. It had been twenty years since I’d seen him last. I thought we’d grab a quick drink at a bar and reminisce about elementary and middle school. Maybe laugh about how old we are now. But he came with a proposition. He wanted to hire me to sail him anywhere in the world for a year and at the end of the journey a check made out for any amount I requested would be mine.

He was a shy and introverted child who had grown into a shy and introverted adult. We were never close in school, but over the years his presence was consistent and comfortable, until he moved away in 7th grade. It was a story often repeated in our town whenever his family name would come up. They lived the improbable dream winning the largest powerball lottery our state’s history.

He used what he called his family’s bad luck as an explanation of why he wanted to sail around the world. Both his parents had passed away but not before their divorce was finalized. His brother had fallen into drugs and it wasn’t long before Sebastian was planning his funeral as well. Sebastian’s own divorce had been finalized a week before he reached out to me over social media. He still had plenty of money even after the divorce and many spending sprees. He wanted the money gone. To him it had caused nothing but pain. 

I didn’t believe it was the money that caused his family this bad luck. I didn’t believe any amount of money could destroy something that wasn’t already broken. I kept this opinion to myself. After all he was technically my employer and my little cutter was no place to have seething tensions. 

Last night he got into his first fight. At least he called it a fight. I found it hard to use that word to describe what had happened. 

It was more like Sebastian being on the losing end of a single punch. Mind you it was a perfect punch. The sound of flesh on face so loud it reverberated from inside the tiny dockside bar. 

The reason for the confrontation was nobel. You could say he was defending my honor. I guess. I’ve had to deal with many a handsy sailor and I have learned to deal with it in my own way. Usually good natured but fierce ribbing. I had been fortunate so far. Lucky even. But this time things escalated quickly and before I could work my magic a drunk crewman who had been very persistent about buying me a drink had laid Sebastian out when he made the mistake of trying to intervene. Words were exchanged and as quick as a lightning strike Sebastian was on the ground clutching the right side of his face.  

Back on the boat I watched as he struggled to stop the cut above his eyebrow from bleeding. He cursed under his breath, and when I stepped forward to offer assistance he waved me off. 

“Fine. I’m going to bed. And don’t bleed all over my boat.” I felt ridiculous for taking this as rejection. He was the one being a baby. I had just settled into my mattress which I pulled onto deck to escape the stifling heat from the cabin when I heard him timidly say my name. 

“Lettie? Could you help me?” 

I rolled over to see him standing over me, still bleeding and shuffling his feet on the deck like a child who had just been scolded.

I rose from the sheets, examined his face and sighed. 

 “Hold still.” I squinted in the darkness. His bloody eyebrow glistening in the moonlight. I raised my hand to dab the cut and he winced and shifted away. I dropped my arm my temper rising. “This is happening, so just fucking hold still.” I grabbed his chin pulling his face close for inspection. We both smelled of cigarettes, whiskey and sweat. The night was humid and the breeze blowing over the gulf did little to inject the air with oxygen.

When I finished cleaning and bandaging the cut he thanked me. 

“You’re welcome.” 

“No, I mean for everything. This trip has been–” he seemed to struggle to find the right words. “I mean it’s been exactly what I think I needed. I mean I’ve seen the world.” 

We had seen it. From rocky Irish cliffs to powdery Brazilian beaches. Sunsets over the open water and beams of light darting through towering skyscrapers.

“You have. Pretty great, right?” He nodded enthusiastically smiling. It was a rare smile for him and it felt good to be the cause of that smile. 

The unexpectedness of his smile was nothing though compared to the kiss that followed, but the memory of the handsy sailor was still fresh and I found myself pulling away from surprise. The silence between us was cringe inducing and I held my breath wishing he’d say something, anything, because I couldn’t. 

“Goodnight.” The word was barely audible as he slunk down below deck and to his bed. 

I couldn’t sleep. I tossed and turned running the kiss over and over in my head. Why did I have to pull away? The more time passed the more I realized I wanted him to kiss me. I realized I wanted him, but the waves eventually lulled me to sleep before I could get up to tell him that. 

In the morning I took a deep breath before venturing down the ladder to wake him, but he was gone. 

I held the blank check in my hands and ran my fingertip over the perfect signature. The ink ran. It was fresh. He couldn’t be far. 

I jumped upstairs scanning the docks. I could see a figure at the end walking towards the road carrying a backpack. 

“Sebastian! Wait!” The figure turned and waited.