Now that I'm walking down the chips aisle, I keep wondering to myself if it's ok that I parked in two parking spaces. Oh well... if anyone has a problem with it, they can kiss my ass! I smirk at the thought. Just when I stop at the potato chips, my cell phone rings. On the screen it says 'Mom'.

"Yeah?"
"Hey Ivy, how're you?"
"Hey mom. I'm fine... just shopping for chips. What about you?"
I laugh a little.
"You can't live on chips girl!"
"I'm ok."
It sounds like she's smiling.

I snicker as I snatch the ones I want and turn around to leave, "So what's up?"
"I'm just callin' to let you know your great aunt from Georgia will be at your birthday party this year. She's coming to our house, of course you know."
"Oh... she's gonna stuff us all with lots of food... like she always does."

"Yep! Alright Ivy, I'm just letting you know who to expect."
"Ok, thanks. I gotta go now, talk to you later."
"Love you!"
"Love you too mom."

I get back to Eric's truck and get in. As I look in the mirror at the boat, I think about the trip I'm going to make. Yeah, it really wouldn't be wise to go alone. Someone needs to come with me. I need to go there. The urge to visit it is so strong. I've never wanted to go somewhere so badly before. True, I've always had the desire to see new things, new places, but this–it's an obsession.

Who will come with me...? Let's see who's on my call list. There are at least five I think I can trust, but they're all talkers and nosy; busy bodies pretty much. I hardly speak to them. "Tch... why do I even have them in my contacts list?" I scroll some more until I end up on Gina. Why didn't I think of her first? I bet she would love to go.

Before I do anything, I look at the clock at the top of the screen. It's 10:52am. Still a little early. "Hope she gets this soon." I text her: 'Gina, it's Ivy. Call me when you can please.' I set the phone down on the dash. It sucks that I have to wait. And stupid me, I didn't plan things out before I got this boat.

My phone goes off. "Hello?"
"Hey Ivy, what up girl?"

"Hey. You on a break?"
"Well, I'm actually home right now. I came in and they said I had a day off. Hah, imagine that! It was a bit of a mix up."

I smirk slightly. Wow, this must be my lucky day!-Sorta.

"Well uh...wanna meet up?" I ask.
"Sure! I'm not doing anything at the moment."
"Okay, cool." I almost say something else but she cuts me off. "Yeah! How about we meet at Lounge n' Sip?"
Ok, that's just- I just don't feel right about going there! Why!

I shake my head in disapproval, "No, the last time I went there, the coffee and food made me real sick. How about we meet at the local diner or something?"
"It did? Oh my gosh! That's terrible!"
"No, it's ok!" I instantly assure; how she says that is a little weird to me.
"Ivy..." she sighs, "I have to run by there anyway to drop something off for my brother. He works there. I'm really sorry you got sick. I have a strange phobia you see, and whenever I hear of some restaurant or something like that making someone sick, I have the feeling it will do the same to me."
That's really weird... but, ok.
"Yeah, I'm fine."
"...When do you wanna meet?"

I look at my phone, "Considering I'm about 10 minutes away from there–how's 15 minutes sound? You're about that far from there anyway, right?"
"Yeah. Sounds great!"
"Kay, cool."
"Alright, see you then!"
...Oh boy.

***

As I stand outside of Lounge 'n' Sip, repeatedly looking at how I parked the truck and boat in the middle of the parking lot. I hope nobody hits it. "I'm so gonna get chewed out for that." I look over at the door to the shop. People are going in and out of there. Just pulling into the lot, I got that overwhelming feeling of those eyes of his on me again. I really don't understand what is unsettling me so much. There's no telling until I walk through that door if he's there or not. I'm watching every man I see closely. Even the ones with females. Those ladies by the way give me nasty looks for 'ogling' at their men. I can't believe them. I wasn't staring at their guys in that way at all! Geez–most of them are the ugliest things you could ever lay your eyes on. I sarcastically say, "Surre..."

Suddenly, I hear, "Ivy!" I glance over. Gina's walking toward me, smiling wide but also looking at the truck oddly. I gotta be quiet about that. I dip my head and meet up with her. We hug and she says, "Isn't that Eric's truck and boat?"

"Yeah," I say, "we can talk about that inside. It's cold out here."
"Right. Okay, come on, let's go get some coffee. I'll make some for you." she winks at me, "I won't make you sick, I promise." I try to smile at her, but it's not really possible at this point.

We go inside, and what do I do? I look at that stupid table. Oh my gosh–I see him. There he is, writing in that old book, obviously stuck in his own world again; nothing's distracting him. This time, he's wearing a regular long-sleeved navy-blue shirt, which accents his muscles... perfectly. He's wearing black jeans and formal shoes. He looks very pale in this lighting. His hair's the same. What is it about him that makes me feel this way? I'm extremely attracted to him but something doesn't seem right at all about him.

"What?" Gina looks at me. I give her a side-glance, "That guy over there–I've seen him before. He just intimidates me real bad and I'm trying to avoid him." I slightly look over at him again. Is this really intimidation? She does the same as me. He flips a page like he's bored and his enticing eyes shoot up at us for a split second, then he looks back down at the book. He seems annoyed.

I slowly bite my lip. What is he writing? Is that a journal? Gina scoffs a little in disgust and says, "He's the one I told you about at work. I talked to him and he was very short and couldn't wait for me to leave. Asshole." "Oh...really?" Yeah, I don't know what she just said to me. He's so calm, so smug, so... His eyes flash up at me. I lose my breath as my heart skips a beat. It feels like he's drilling that captivating gaze into my soul. I... don't think I can look away. Everything around me has all of a sudden disappeared and he has put me on the spot just by staring at me. How I'm feeling and thinking makes me feel 15 all over again.

I then hear Gina quietly ask me, "He really does get to you, doesn't he?" She's amused.
I sigh almost exasperatedly, "Yeah... yeah, he sure does."

She scoffs and chuckles, "Come on," She guides me into the empty restroom, then she starts talking.

"Do you know him?"
I shake my head, "No."

She raises an eyebrow. I think she had advice for me, but when I said that... she became speechless. "What...?" I ask. Seeming curious and confounded, she murmurs, "...You said you're avoiding him." she starts pacing the room, then stops and throws her hands up, "Well, I don't know what to tell you. I was going to give you some advice, but... I don't know why you'd be intimidated so harshly by someone you've never met. It looks like it's affecting you pretty badly girl." I put my hands together. I'd explain what happened to me earlier, but I don't want her to think I'm crazy.

I just shrug at her.

"Well," she smooths back her ponytail, "how about we forget him and I buy you some coffee?" "Um actually-" I quickly say while raising my hand a little, "Can I ask you something?" "Sure, what is it?"

I stiffen as I get ready to ask her about coming with me to that island. Noticing my change in behavior, she slowly leans against the sink counter. Her features are becoming more interested.

"Ok." I say, "Right off the nearest coast of the Sound, there's an island filled with many trees and a castle-like building is on it. Have you ever seen it?"

She makes a thoughtful expression, "Hmm," she rubs her chin, "Yeah... Yeah I think I have." she nods. I nod back, "That's why I have Eric's boat-" She quickly leans forward, "You're going out to this island alone?"

I sigh, "No... I don't want to go alone. I don't have anyone to come with me. Will you–if you aren't too busy...?"

She smiles at me, folding her arms, "Well... I don't really see why not. I mean, I'm not working today or tomorrow. I think you forgot I'm very adventurous–I told you I am, didn't I? But, how long will this be for, and when do you wanna go?" Whoa, she's so quick to accept!

I grab her hands, "Thank you!" I snatch her into a hug. She starts patting my back while laughing uncomfortably, "Um, Ivy? Are you okay?" I open my eyes and move away, "Oh!" I tug on the sides of my sweater to readjust it, "Yeah, sorry. It won't be for long. I just want to do this before tomorrow." To be honest, I'm really not looking forward to my birthday tomorrow, because my family likes to get together and celebrate it like it's a huge holiday; there's a lot involved. I'm their only child, yeah–but I don't need all that. I also don't want to wait a whole week before I can go to that island.

"Ivy, how much time do you think is in one day? How could you pull this off? How far is it anyway?" She's amazed.

I frown slightly, "...Not far. It won't take long."
"But you want to do some exploring, right? And what about getting through those trees?" I inhale deeply. Maybe it's too unrealistic for someone to go there. I might just have to go alone anyway. "Yeah..." I grimace to myself and walk over to the door, "No no, it's ok. You have more responsibilities than me anyway. It was wrong of me to do that." It really was. Selfish too.

I open the door and go into the shop. I don't see that man at the table anymore. If I had the chance, I might've gone up and asked him what his deal is–but that opportunity is gone.
"Ivy..."

I turn around to her. She puts her hand on my right shoulder and nods, "I'll go with you. I never said no. And I need an exciting adventure to be able to look back on one day. I'm ready when you are. When do you wanna go?" A smile tugs at the corners of my lips.

"...After the coffee should be fine." I say.

Just when I was feeling down and out, she managed to brighten my day yet again. Thank you Gina, the wonderful nurse I 'threatened' this morning.

She also smiles, "Alright then."