Chapter Nine

Cruising the Inside Passage

We returned to our rooms to change for the ship's first formal night. Dad wore the same suit he'd worn to every event for the last five years—he claimed if you bought something classic, you only needed one. Mom wore a nice dress, and I put on a short, floaty green dress, one of the new outfits Jordan had helped me pick out after declaring my wardrobe not spectacular enough for a cruise. I added low heels and makeup.

When we stepped into the hall, Tanner and his parents were waiting.

His attention leaped to me, and he blinked twice. "You don't look half bad, S'more."

"Touching, really. You know how to make a girl feel special." I switched to my sweetest voice. "Tanner, you look very handsome tonight."

"I know."

The annoying thing was, he did. His gray button-down shirt, undone at the top with no tie, brought out his eyes, and the blue suit jacket accentuated his broad shoulders. My fingers flexed subconsciously, as if they remembered touching him. No. I would not let the dance change anything between us. It meant nothing that we'd worked together today more than once, that by the end we'd been moving in sync and had conversed like normal people, or something like friends.

Our parents headed down the hall, and we trailed more slowly.

"Is that outfit from the banquet?" I asked.

"Yep. The one where you insisted on cutting the worst plays of the year from the commemorative video."

"We were there to celebrate, not laugh at each other. And I think you mean the one where half the crowd spilled salsa on their outfits because you changed the caterer, and the new one brought paper plates. "

He waved a hand. "Agree to disagree."

At our school, individual teams had end-of-season dinners to give out awards, but we also had one large banquet for all thesports. Tanner and I had represented football and track onthe planning committee. Within an hour at the first meeting, the rest of the committee had been desperately wishing our teams had chosen other representatives.

"What award did you win?" he asked. "Most extra miles run? Most time practicing?"

"Most Consistent," I admitted.

He grinned. "I knew it."

Because it implied I was also the most boring? The one who worked hard every single day, never took a break?

"You got the leadership award, right?" I asked.

"Much to my parents' surprise." His voice was light, but when I glanced at him, a muscle was twitching in his jaw.

It was less satisfying when I wasn't the one who'd made it happen.

When his name had been called for that award, my surprise had lasted only seconds. I didn't even like him, and I saw the way others followed him. How had his parents missed that? And this was yet another hint that his parent situation was awkward. It almost made me feel bad for my attempts to make them like me over the years. Almost.

On the way to the dining room, Tanner stopped at a door to the outside deck and opened it. The ship was still in the Inside Passage, and the sun was up but getting lower. Gentle evening light bathed the nearby mountains in shadows.

"You need a picture," he said. "Stand at the rail."

I posed and let him take a photo.

"Caleb will regret that breakup as soon as he sees this." Tanner shook his phone. "I'm going to have lots to post once we escape this internet desert. Our parents don't realize how cruel it is. I've probably missed hundreds of texts in the football group."

"It must be hard, being so popular."

"It's a curse, S'more, but one I must endure." He opened the door for me, and I went inside. "You could be, too."

"What, popular? Yeah, right."

"Why not?"

"Because I lead the math club and like science fiction shows and LEGOs."

"You're saying science isn't cool?"

"I think it is."

He stopped, so I did, too, and we faced each other in the hall. "That's what matters. Owning what you love is cool, no matter what itis."

Easy for the football player to say. "It's fine. If I were popular, I'd have to go to parties. Although that would make my mom happy."

"You can join me anytime you want."

"My mom would also like that. She was a social butterfly when she was in school and believes I'm missing out."

"Do you think you're missing out?"

"Nope."

"Will you think you missed out when you're, like, old and reflecting on life?"

His direct attention was making the temperature rise. "No, I don't think so."

"Then who cares?"

His concentrated gaze lingered another few heartbeats before he moved on, leaving that simple statement in his wake.

I was happy with my life—other than the uncertainty of next year, with the possibility that Caleb wouldn't be in it. I didn't bother considering how things could be different, not even when my mom urged me to be more of a joiner. But I wouldn't have expected someone like Tanner, who was the actual definition of joiner, to believe a science nerd was capable of being cool.

The main dining room was huge, packed with two levels of tables covered in white linens, with gleaming wood and golden light. A chandelier glimmered overhead, and servers dressed in black carried huge trays of dishes or bottles of wine. Windows offered views of the ocean and mountains. The clinking of glasses and silverware, the hum of conversation, and faint music drifted in the air.

We were escorted to a table by the window. My parents sat on one side, Tanner's on the other across from them, leaving the two end seats for Tanner and me.

It felt like a double date and we were interlopers, tacked on like an afterthought.

Or like a triple date, which was even worse.

When the server handed me a menu, I lost my appetite.

Duck. Lamb. Pasta with mussels. Escargot.

Were these foods that people actually ate, or was this a list of animals I could see at the cruise ship zoo? I half expected to find giraffe or penguin on the menu.

"What's polenta?" I asked.

"Ooh," Tanner said. "No idea, but this is perfect. You can try a bunch of new things. Want to start with snails?"

My stomach jolted. I sipped my water and eyed the path to the door, estimating how many tables I'd have to dodge if I made a run for it. There was a pizza place on the pool deck.

"How about capers?" Tanner asked. "I have no idea what they are, either, but they sound fun. Or calamari? It's fried, and everything is good when it's fried. I'll happily sample everything first, if you want. Like a poison tester."

"I'll just get chicken."

"What? No. You can get that anywhere." Tanner sounded personally injured, as if my food choice was physically wounding him. "Where else can you try fancy foods so easily? Dottie said if you don't like it, you can order something else. I'm getting, like, three different dishes."

"Good for you. You do that. While I enjoy my chicken."

"You're honestly using a veto on dinner?"

"I told you, I'm not an adventurous eater. And I'm not wasting a bunch of food."

"One thing?"

"Why do you care so much? Just leave it, okay?"

I spoke louder than I meant to, my voice ringing out. Our parents fell silent and turned our way. Heat rushed to my face, and I focused on buttering my roll, mumbling, "Sorry."

"She gets mad when you try to take her bread," Tanner said lightly.

When the waiter brought Tanner's escargot appetizer, the sight made me ill. It came in a round dish with little indentations full of brown globs in yellow liquid.

I focused on my salad instead.

Tanner waved a miniature spoon under my nose, giving me a glimpse of a round blob that resembled an eyeball. "Want to try one?"

"Do you want me to puke in your lap?"

"Yes, that's always been my greatest dream. Come on, they mostly taste like slimy balls of butter."

I swallowed a gag. "That really sells it. It's disgusting."

He made a slurping noise as he ate it. When he finished, hetried to scoop up another, but it escaped his spoon and rolled across the table, leaving a greasy trail on the white tablecloth. Tanner reached for it, trying to grab it with his bare hand.

"We got a runaway," he said. "These guys move faster dead than they do alive."

He made one final grab before the snail plummeted to its doom on the carpet. A second later, there was a squelching noise as a waiter stepped on it. He slipped and barely righted a tray full of plates.

Tanner laughed loudly.

"Grow up, Tanner." I sounded mean, but I didn't care.

"You grow up. Want me to order chicken nuggets for you? Applesauce? Maybe chocolate milk and Goldfish? Excuse me for trying to help."

"Will you two please behave yourselves?" My mom hissed the words.

"Sorry, Mrs. Moore." Tanner leaned away from me, and I tried to ignore the buttery trail the escaped snail had left across the white tablecloth. "Savannah and I were debating the origins of escargot. And one got away."

He carefully scooped the last one from the dish and held it toward me, as if daring me now that everyone was watching.

He could dare me in front of Caleb, and even if it would prevent me from getting dumped all over again, I was not letting that thing near my mouth.

I pressed my lips together and glared at him. We were like Old West gunfighters in a standoff. My weapon was laser eyes, and his was a greasy, dead snail in a spoon.

He shrugged and popped it into his mouth, but somehow, I didn't feel like I'd won.

Once the waiter arrived with the main course and settled the plates, Tanner ducked his head slightly. "I'm sorry, S'more."

"What?"

He didn't pick up his fork. "I told you that you had veto power and I wouldn't make you do anything. I shouldn't have pushed."

I blinked at him. His apology had broken my brain so the words that came out were "I'm sorry if I insulted your snail."

His lips twitched. So did mine.

"He was very offended," Tanner said, "but I won't make you apologize. This time."

Soon we were both cracking up. His laugh was loud and free and joyful, making his eyes crinkle at the corners. Our gazes met, and his joy was contagious, filling me with light like a star being birthed inside my chest.

When he finally stopped laughing, he said, "If you want Goldfish and applesauce, that's fine."

"Thank you. See, I do eat seafood."

He grinned and shook his head.

"I might have brought some for a snack this week…," Iadmitted.

"You brought food to a ship with literally thousands of pounds of it?"

"In case all they had here was snails."

"I know where to come if the midnight buffet runs out offood."

"I'll have nice fish-shaped orange crackers waiting for you."

I ate my chicken breast and tried not to glance at Tanner's meal, which was also some kind of bird, except one with bones sticking out of it in a way that looked more artistic than anatomically correct.

Tanner was wrestling with it. "I possibly overestimated how meaty this guy would be. But quail sounded fun."

He waved down the waiter, gave the man a charming smile, and requested a steak. The waiter was happy to comply, but Mr.and Mrs. Woods sighed.

"What?" he asked. "The bird was tiny. I need lots of calories, and that did not have enough protein."

"The steak is excellent," my dad said. "Let the boy eat. We're in no rush."

Even if we had been, it wouldn't have been a problem, with how quickly Tanner devoured the meat. Plus the dish on the side, which they called polenta but resembled gritty mashed potatoes.

He waved a fork in my face. "Want to try it? It's the least threatening new food on the menu."

"I'll pass."

"Ping-Pong and chicken. You're rocking this goal to try new things."

"I learned to dance."

"I don't know if what either of us did could truly be considered dancing."

Fair point. "It's the first day. I'm easing into it."

"Fine. But I hope you're ready for tomorrow."

"I am."

Surely the shore excursion would be an easier step forward than eating those snails. As long as I didn't get eaten by a bear.

After dessert, we went to the theater for tonight's show, which was a magician. I ended up seated next to Tanner again, three rows from the stage.

A man came onstage to an introduction of smoke, dramatic music, and flashing laser lights, like how eighties movies imagined futuristic nightclubs would be. He wore all black, including a leather jacket and a shirt unbuttoned at the top, and carried a bowling ball. Without speaking, he did a trick and made the ball vanish under a thin scarf, and okay, it was impressive.

After the audience had finished applauding, he moved to the front of the stage and introduced himself as Giovanni, an illusionist and enchanter, not a magician, while images of flames and smoke played on the screen behind him.

He did tricks with metal hoops and scarves before saying, "Now, I need two volunteers from the audience."

Tanner leaned into me. "Are you afraid of public speaking?"

"No. Why?"

"You, sir." Giovanni pointed to a middle-aged Asian man.

Tanner grabbed my hand and lifted my arm. I started to pull free.

"New things, S'more."

Oh fine. I wouldn't get picked, anyway. And if I fought him, Tanner might think I was afraid. I let him keep my hand up. But then Tanner made it wave overhead and used his free hand to point to me dramatically.

"What are you doing?" I hissed.

He grinned. "Helping."

"And this young lady up front."

Before I knew it, I was standing on the massive stage in front of hundreds of people with Giovanni the Illusionist-Not-Magician.