Justin unlocked the door to the boathouse and led Emma inside. He flipped on the lights and took a look around the place, pretending to be familiar with it. The boathouse was a little bigger than Samantha’s house, and that meant it was huge. He walked into the modern living room and felt like he was entering a pottery barn magazine, complete with a fireplace. He turned to Emma who was clearly impressed.
“This place is adorable!” She said as they took a tour of every room. The boathouse’s first floor had a living room, a game room, a bathroom, a kitchen connected to a dining area. The two found that the house had a loft with two large bedrooms and a family room with an entertainment center housing a big screen TV and hundreds of DVDs. The entire house was very cozy and romantic, with throw pillows and candles everywhere. The sliding glass doors in the dining room opened up to a large deck with a grill, bench swing, and a hot tub, which Justin silently hoped they would be using later. The deck led down a few steps and extended into a dock where a rowboat, speedboat, and several canoes were positioned.
Justin wondered why the Philippe’s even bothered living in their palace. This place seemed enough of a palace to him. Emma took his hand and walked down the dock. “Can we go boating?” she asked, shyly.
He nodded. “You choose the boat.”
The small lagoon was very much like a fairytale, with trees that branched over the water and lily pads scattered around the dock that gave it a romantic effect.
As Justin rowed the boat, he watched the girl across from him. Watching her, he felt like he was in a character in the Little Mermaid, where everything is spinning around him in the rowboat. She caught him looking at her and looked down, timidly smiling. He smiled at her and got an idea.
“There you see her, Sitting there across the way. She don't got a lot to say, But there's something about her,” he sang to her. She peeked her head up in surprise as he continued. “And you don't know why, But you're dying to try. You wanna kiss the girl.”
Emma sat amazed, as he smiled sang to her. She had never heard Ryan sing, but this voice was amazingly smooth and gentle. She motioned for him to keep going. “Yes, you want her. Look at her, you know you do. Possibly she wants you too. There is one way to ask her. It don't take a word, Not a single word. Go on and kiss the girl.”
He stopped singing and laughed as Emma joined his song, “Sha la la la la la. My oh my, Look like the boy too shy, Ain't gonna kiss the girl.”
Justin added in a “Whoa Whoa,” like in the movie.
She raised a flirty eyebrow at him, and kept singing. “Sha la la la la la. Ain't that sad? Ain't it a shame? Too bad, he gonna ….miss the girl.”
“Like hell I am,” Justin said as he leaned in and kissed her.
Ryan and Olivia took a walk together around Justin’s neighborhood as the sun began to set. He was deep in thought about everything that had happened in the last few days and was strangely silent.
“Okay, spill it,” Olivia said.
“What?”
“You look like someone ran over your puppy. I have a feeling it has to do with a certain girl named Sam,” she said, linking arms with him.
He looked down at her, curiously. “You know, for someone who’s only been around for eight years, you sure are smart.”
She giggled. “So what happened?”
“Aghhh I’m so frustrated!” he said, kicking a rock across the sidewalk. “She’s been ignoring me all day.”
“Uh oh,” Olivia said. “What did you do wrong?”
“Me?” he said, surprised. “What makes you think I did something wrong?”
“Men.” She said, rolling her eyes and shaking her head. “Okay let’s rewind. When did she start ignoring you?”
“When I got to school this morning.”
“Well, what was the last thing you said to her yesterday?” she said, raising her eyebrows.
“Um…I asked if she was ready to jump off a cliff.”
“What?!” she said, stopping dead in her tracks to look at him.
“It’s not as bad as it sounds!” he said, holding his hands up defensively. “We were about to jump off the cliff with a rope and swing into the lake after our picnic. She was scared, so I decided to make the jump with her.”
“So you both jumped in the water, and then what?” she asked, continuing their walk.
“That was when we….uh…she ran away,” he said, deciding bring up the kiss.
“She just ran away?”
“Yeah.”
“Was she hurt?”
“No.”
“You kissed her in the water, didn’t you?” she said.
“I did no such thing.”
She rolled her eyes. “She’s just scared because she thinks you’re Justin. It would be a little weird if your best friend just up and kissed you, wouldn‘t it?”
“Yeah, but I wouldn’t ignore them!”
“You’re also a guy,” she pointed out.
“Any advice?” he said.
“Get used to it…might be awhile.”
“Olivia, I don’t have a while. Me and Justin are switching back soon,” Ryan said, looking depressed. “Do you think I should just tell her the truth?”
“No! That’ll ruin everything!” She thought for a minute. “Alright, I didn’t want to have to do this. But if you really want her to talk to you, make her really angry.”
“Oh right. That makes sense,” he said, sarcastically. “I made her angry so she ignores me and you tell me to make her angry again?”
“Just trust me. She might be yelling at you, but at least she’ll be talking,” she said.
Ryan let it sink in. He didn’t understand it, but he humbly realized that Olivia was probably a lot smarter than him. “Okay, kid. Goal for tomorrow: make Samantha mad.”
