The Boyfriend Rivalry by Milana Spencer

8

Liam: Sailboat

"We're going sailing?" Curtis asks, almost falling out of his chair. I'd laugh if I wasn't just as surprised.

"We are? Why didn't anyone tell me?" I ask.

The five of us sit at the kitchen table, having a late breakfast. I was shovelling rainbow-coloured cereal in my mouth and thinking that we'd all have a lazy day today, staying at the beach house and getting some studying done. I wasn't paying attention to the conversation the others were having until Curtis spoke.

"It's safe," Erin explains from the head of the table. "Sailing isn't difficult and we'll be doing it with a group of tourists, so don't worry —"

"Oh, I'm not worried," I interrupt. "I'm excited!" I wave my hands around, my dressing robe flapping around my legs. It's a chilly morning, and outside thick clouds are gathering, so I'm wearing a robe I found in one of the linen closets around the rest of my clothes. No one judged me when I came down for breakfast — except Curtis, but instead of making a snide comment, all he did was purse his lips. I brought him another green tea last night, so maybe it is making him nicer.

"You've sailed before?" Bonnie asks.

"Yeah, at a school camp in Year 8. We all did." I gesture to Kennedy and Curtis.

"Great!" Erin says, bringing her hands together. "You'll have experience, then."

Kennedy nods, a big smile on her face. Beside her, Curtis looks pale. "I don't."

"Didn't you do it at camp?" Kennedy asks.

"I was…" he coughs. "I was sick that day."

"Not to worry," Erin says, "they'll explain everything there, and you sail in groups, so you'll have someone to help you."

"The Harding family loves sailing," Bonnie explains. "Our grandfather has a sailboat, so Erin and I have sailed a lot — Kennedy too, when she comes down to visit him." Kennedy's grandparents on her father's side — the Bonnie and Erin and textile company side — live in Brighton, a suburb in Melbourne by the beach. "Erin wasn't sure if we could go — the business is pretty busy — but they confirmed the booking this morning," Bonnie finishes.

"What time are we leaving?" Kennedy asks.

Erin checks her watch. "We have to drive to the next town, so… in the next hour?"

"Sounds good," I say.

Kennedy touches Curtis's arm. "Hey, are you happy to go?"

He looks around the table and sees all of us staring at him. He swallows. "Oh, yeah. Definitely."

Everyone finishes their breakfast and starts cleaning up. I follow Curtis and Kennedy to the sink with my finished bowl of cereal in my hands.

"Do we need bathers?" Curtis murmurs to Kennedy.

Kennedy shakes her head. "You won't be in the water. Just wear normal clothes, and something warm. It'll be chilly out on the wind."

Curtis nods, a small frown still on his lips.

I'm about to jump between them and suggest the possibility of capsizing when Kennedy gets up on her tippy-toes and kisses Curtis, which surprises him. By the time he reacts, Kennedy has already pulled away and started loading the dishwasher.

Curtis turns and looks at me.

I avert my eyes.

*

An hour and fifteen minutes later, the five of us are in the car, Erin driving as fast as she can without passing the speed limit. "God damn it, Bonnie, you don't need to put on makeup to go sailing!" Erin says from the front seat.

"It wasn't just me who made us late! Besides, you're wearing makeup too. And so is Kennedy," Bonnie says from where she sits beside me. When we were piling in the car, Bonnie wanted to sit in the back, so Kennedy offered to sit in the front.

According to the laws of car space, it'd be best for the smallest person to be in the middle seat, but when we were getting into the car, Bonnie got in last, which means I'm squished between her and Curtis. I'm trying to keep my legs tucked in so I don't invade anyone else's space, but god, it's uncomfortable.

"I concede, it's a tiny bit my fault too," I say.

Kennedy shoots me a look. "Did you need to style your hair when we were supposed to leave?"

"Style your hair?" Curtis echoes. His words make me jump a little — he's been pretty quiet on the car ride so far. All morning, actually.

I gesture to my hair, dishevelled a little, but not too much. It's a fine balance. "Do you think this occurs naturally?" I ask him. "And Kennedy, hair is very important. Come on, you know that."

Even with her head facing the road, I know her well enough to know she's rolling her eyes and smiling.

"You guys," Erin huffs. "It's not a fashion show."

"What if the love of your life is there, but you never meet them because you look like a hobo?" I ask.

"Alright, alright," Kennedy says, leaning over to fiddle with the Bluetooth. "I'm playing some music because pro tip, never give Liam the opportunity to talk about his love life."

"Or lack thereof," I interrupt.

"Because he'll go on for hours." Kennedy scrolls through her phone to find a playlist.

"Hey, you love listening to me talk about my crushes," I say. "And laughing at me."

Kennedy grins. "Oh, Liam. I love you. I can't wait for you to date someone."

"Wow, you're suddenly being nice," I drawl.

"It's going to be hilarious," Kennedy says, then strategically starts playing music through the speakers before I can interrupt.

I wave my middle finger at her. She turns and sees it and bursts into laughter. "Hey, you ragged on me when I got a boyfriend, so it's only fair," Kennedy says, voice loud over the music.

Bonnie and I laugh, but I notice Curtis stiffen beside me. My smile fades.

The music fills the silence as everyone keeps their eyes on the window, looking out on the ocean. To look at the expanse of blue, with the curly white clouds hanging above it, I have to look past Curtis. Good thing I'm taller than him, though unfortunately, it means his golden head obstructs my view.

The song changes and a pop song from last year plays. Erin comments that Kennedy's music taste is out of date, and Kennedy protests that it's a classic.

I remember nodding my head to this song at a party, about this time last year, during the Easter holidays. Jennifer Grant invited the whole year level to her party, and I remember I was standing in a group of guys when Curtis joined us. His cheeks were pink, and it made him look innocent. His shirt stretched over his broad shoulders, his teeth white in the light. His hair was almost as messy as mine.

"Someone's been playing with you," one guy had said, gesturing to his hair.

#

The sailing club walls are dove grey, the roof bright blue, and the building is on a square of grassy land that gradually slides into the ocean. The car park was full, so Erin had to park down the street.

There are so many tourists here, and we're all led inside to a large room filled with rows of chairs like a school assembly. At the front of the room, a man named William tells us all we need to know. We'll be divided up into groups of two or three, depending on weight, and lead out to the ocean. William's colleague, a guy called Alex who looks to be in his mid-twenties, explains the safety precautions and reassures us we'll be safe.

Later, the two of them hand out life jackets and help people put them on. Alex helps me, and up close, I notice he has strong forearms and bright blue eyes. I've always found blue eyes to be stunning.

"Do people capsize on purpose?" I ask.

He chuckles as he pulls on my life jacket to make sure it's properly secured. "Don't know why people would want to, especially in this weather."

"What if it's the middle of summer, and people want a swim? I went sailing once for a high school camp — I'm in high school, by the way."

"No," Alex drawls with a smile.

"Are you being sarcastic?" I ask. "Come on, I don't look that young, do I?"

"You've got to be in your last year. Seventeen, eighteen?"

"Eighteen," I say. "Anyway, the point is, when I sailed for camp, everyone capsized on purpose. So is that, like, against the rules or…"

He shakes his head. "It's not against the rules, and even if it were, you could claim that it was an accident. Capsizing is pretty safe, especially with your life jackets, and it's easy to get back on the boat. So you won't, like, die or anything."

"Okay, thanks for, like, explaining that to me."

"You're, like, so welcome."

With a laugh, I thank him for his help before he leaves to help someone else. Curtis, in fact.

"There aren't sharks out there, right?" Curtis asks Alex.

I bite back a giggle and I walk away to join the girls, who stand in a circle.

"Hey, how hot's that guy?" Kennedy whispers to me, pointing to where Curtis talks to Alex.

"I know, right?" I say, then frown. "I hope we're talking about the sailor guy and not your boyfriend."

Kennedy laughs. "That wasn't an overt insult, so good job! Seriously though," she says, lowering her voice. "Thank you for being so nice to Curtis these past couple of days. I really appreciate it."

I think about complaining about the difficult work, but in the end, I shrug. "I suppose it's good practice to force myself to be nice, anyway."

Kennedy stands up on her tippy-toes to hug me, and we turn to Bonnie and Erin, who are discussing the sailing boat arrangements.

"I really hope we're not grouped with someone random," Erin says, twisting a curl of her hair. "I don't want to make small talk for an hour."

"Surely not," I say. "I better be with one of you."

I'm not grouped with the girls, though fortunately they're grouped together. I'm grouped with Curtis.

"Just us?" I ask William.

"Just you two," he confirms.

Great.

"This is lucky," Curtis says once William's walked away.

Is he trying to be nice again? Our interaction yesterday was weird enough. Maybe I was just taken aback when he complimented my body because I expected him to tear me into pieces — I'd caught him looking at my bare chest a few times with a frown. But he was… kind. Which made me feel weird. But also pleased.

"Are you being sarcastic?" I ask.

"Because you've sailed before," he explains.

Ah. "Yeah, but that was years ago. Sailing should be easy, though. Remember what they said?" I gesture to the staff members.

William orders us to walk to the line of small white sailboats which are positioned nearby a slope of concrete that leads to deep water. The sailboats aren't big, but sturdy.

William and Alex instruct us to get into the boat and say that they'll push us into the water. Everyone organises themselves in a line to wait for their turn.

In my periphery, I see Curtis looking down, so I follow his gaze. He's looking at my hands — my fingernails, I'm guessing. Bonnie painted them metallic blue yesterday, and I think they turned out well.

"Well," Curtis says, getting my attention. "It's also lucky that I'm with you, and not a random."

"I… yeah, me too."

Curtis smiles at something over my shoulder, and I turn. Kennedy waves at us with a closed-mouth smile, before being ushered into a boat with the cousins. Understanding rocks through me like a bullet. I know that smile.

The hint of niceness these last couple of days… Kennedy must have made him promise not to be a dickhead too. The more I think about it, the more it makes sense. He's almost completely stopped scowling at me. Our small conversations at the beach house have been civil. He's still not as nice as I've tried to be — so obviously I'm winning the kindness competition, which makes me feel a bit victorious — but at least he's trying.

Good. I was sick of being the only one making an effort.

Finally, it's our turn to get into the sailboat. "Try not to capsize," Alex says with a wink as he and William push us out onto the water.

I laugh, but Curtis's eyes are wide. "What did that guy say about capsizing?" he asks.

"Oh, nothing." I wave a hand. "Come on, let's sail."

The sail has already been aligned to follow the others, but Curtis tinkers with it a little. I lean back on the seat and stretch out my legs, gazing up at the sky. It's not too cold, with my hoodie and t-shirt under my life jacket.

Soon, the whole group is on the water, following William and Alex's boat. The further into the ocean we get, the more the boats spread out. Occasionally Curtis and I will adjust the sails, but we don't have to worry about it too much this early on the sail.

"It's fun, isn't it?" I ask when we're both sitting down.

"Mm," he replies, his arms wrapped tightly around his stomach, shoulders hunched over.

I turn my gaze out to the ocean, searching for the girls. They're far enough that we have to shout to each other, and even then half of our words are swallowed up by the wind.

"They capsized!" They yell, gesturing to the front of the group.

"What? A boat capsized?" I shout back.

"Yeah!"

"On accident or purpose?"

"We—"

"Huh?"

In the end, they have to shrug, too far to communicate.

"Someone capsized?" Curtis asks behind me.

I face him. "Yeah, but they're fine. Just proves that accidents aren't a big deal."

Curtis looks out at the water, deep and blue. His throat bobs.

"Don't worry. That guy told you that there weren't sharks out here. Right?"

"You never know," he mumbles.

I look out at the water, the waves gentle, the wind refreshing on my skin. We're silent, and after ten minutes, I see another boat capsize. I'm certain the group of twenty-something boys did it on purpose, wobbling on the side.

"Are you bored?" I ask suddenly.

He blinks. "Er, I guess?"

"Cool." I walk up to his side of the boat.

"Liam, what are you doing? The balance —"

"Huh?" I say, noticing how a gust of wind has gathered out of nowhere.

"The sail," Curtis says, jumping up and heading to it. The boat tips. "Oh, holy shit —"

"It's okay, Curtis." I raise my voice because the wind has gotten louder, and it's hard to hear each other. For a moment, I wonder whether I should go through with this. I'm not an idiot — I know Curtis isn't keen on sailing and probably doesn't want to get wet.

I think of that party last year, and I think of him dating Kennedy now, and I set my jaw. I move closer to the edge of the boat.

"It's going to capsize," Curtis says as our side of the boat tips lower and lower. "Liam, get away from there."

I don't move.

"Liam!" Curtis shrieks before the boat completely tips and I fall backwards, water splashing over me. Curtis's cry is the last thing I hear before my ears are submerged with water.