CRUISIN’ WITH SHARKS
Paranormal Mysteries #1
ROSETTE BOLTER
Part One
MORNING AND AFTERNOON
CHAPTER ONE
Bryonie took one look at Finn and had to turn around. Her cheeks boiled, her hands went numb, insects crawled their way up through her chest. She couldn’t do this. What the hell had she been thinking?
“Are you sure you want to do this?” her best friend Leah Irving had asked from behind the computer. They were at Leah’s parents’ house that morning and Bryonie was in one of her moods again. Which pretty much meant she was going to push herself to do something crazy, something she really wanted to do but was normally too scared. For good fucking reason.
“Yes, yes, yes!” Bryonie cheered loudly from the sofa. She wasn’t even looking at what was going on on the computer screen. She was leafing through a magazine showcasing ‘bad boys and their motorcycles’ someone had dropped between the cushions. The faces. The eyes. The lips. It had been so long since Bryonie had touched a man. So long since she’d been held.
And now she was dancing with the impossible.
“What’s your email address?” Leah asked.
“Just … just use yours.”
“Alright.”
Type, type, type.
Click.
“You’re born in September, right? 1994?”
“Just make whatever up,” Bryonie said. “You don’t have to be accurate.”
“If you feel that way. We got your hobbies, interests here as well. I’ll just write whatever.”
“Yeah, you’re good at it. You know what to say.”
“Alright. I’ll figure it out.”
Bryonie’s mind was going too fast to consider these details. She didn’t want the truth out there anyway. The truth could be examined with a magnifying glass. It could be picked apart. The truth would make her mortal.
Today she didn’t want to be mortal.
Today she wanted to be someone else.
“What are you reading?” Leah asked swiveling round in her chair.
“Nothing,” Bryonie murmured, allowing the magazine to slip through her fingers.
“I’m serious. Did you bring that with you?”
“What? No. Gross. I found it in your couch here.”
Leah looked at her cynically. “Alright.”
“It’s not even –” Bryonie began.
“Can we get you on your feet?”
“What? You want me to stand up?”
“Yeah … go over by the mantle.”
Bryonie got to her feet, sighing. She walked over to the mantle as Leah instructed.
Leah stared at her from the chair.
“What?” Bryonie blurted out.
“Open those blinds there. It’s too dark. Let’s get some sun behind you.”
“What?” Bryonie mumbled. “What even for…?”
Her fingers twisted on the cord.
The blinds parted.
Leah stood up holding her phone out towards Bryonie.
“Don’t take my picture!” Bryonie squealed.
The phone made a snap sound.
“What do you think I asked you to stand over here for?”
“I don’t know,” Bryonie replied. “I thought you were going to show me something.”
“Well, just, try and look … more relaxed. Okay?”
“No,” Bryonie squealed, shielding herself.
“Jesus Christ, you’re worse than my niece. Are we doing this shit or not?”
Bryonie lowered her arms. “I figured I’d be anonymous.”
“You will be anonymous silly. God, do you not know how any of this works at all?”
Bryonie shrugged. Maybe. Maybe she did know.
Maybe she was testing herself.
“It’s like if you put my photo on there, people are gonna judge me.”
“You need to get over that fat-girl mentality.”
“Fat girl? What is that supposed to mean? I was never –”
“Didn’t Andrew dump you for being overweight? I’m not trying to be rude or anything. But it’s no secret to anyone. Clearly … you’ve lost weight since then. You said that yourself.”
Bryonie looked at the floor. “I know. But what’s wrong with not wanting to be judged?”
“Everyone gets judged, and everyone gets to judge. I can put your profile up without a photo but you’ll be competing with girls who have like fifteen photos on their profile. Besides, you want photos of all the guys before you message any of them. Right?”
Bryonie shrugged. “I’m sorry. I know you’re trying to help me. I just wonder stuff like, what if someone who knows me sees me on there? They’re gonna think I’m desperate or –”
“It’s not desperate, everyone does it.”
“No. Not everyone.”
Leah laughed to herself. “We’ve had this conversation already. You had to convince me. You said, you’re in shape now. You’ve got confidence. It’s time to get back out there, and you didn’t want it be with some douche at one of Taylor’s parties.”
“Yeah. Boring.”
“So that’s why we’re doing this. So you can meet someone different.”
Different.
Finn was different.
To begin with, Finn was hotter than any guy Bryonie had been with. He was older. He knew how to dress and had real money to play with.
Bryonie couldn’t believe a guy like Finn would even want to talk to her.
He was a man.
She was just some twenty-two-year-old nobody.
“Let’s go, let’s go, let’s go,” Bryonie cried as she hurriedly rushed away from the aquarium’s entrance.
Leah – who had agreed to come for Bryonie’s safety – looked up surprised, and startled.
“What is it? Is he like an old man or something?”
“No,” Bryonie said. “We’re just going. That’s all.”
Leah stopped her. “I don’t understand. You saw him right?”
Bryonie looked over her shoulder to make sure she hadn’t been followed.
“Yeah, I saw him.”
“And it was him? Same as in the photo?”
“Yes.”
“And he was hot.”
“He was fucking hot. That’s why we’re running.”
“What?” Leah protested. “Have you lost your mind, Bryonie?”
“Yes. No. I don’t know. I was crazy before. I said let’s do something crazy today, and now we’ve done it. I’m giving up now.”
“Giving up?”
“On guys. I’m done. I’m just … I don’t need to be in a relationship right now. I’m not mentally prepared –”
“It’s just a bleeding date. You don’t have to sleep with him!”
Bryonie’s whole body was shaking. “I can’t even talk to him. I can’t look him in the eyes. I’m too scared. He’ll rip me to pieces.”
The tears welled up in her eyes. She fell on Leah’s shoulder.
Bryonie could feel herself crying.
Another day defeated.
Another pathetic moment in her life.
She couldn’t escape who she was. Maybe, someday. Someday years from now. When she was all grown up and a woman. Maybe she’d find out one of Taylor’s friends liked her or – maybe –
Gawd.
She was such a loser.
She had to get back home, get some take away, turn on her television. Or bring up youtube. Watch some videos about body positivity and why women don’t need men in order to –
“Bryonie?”
His voice.
His voice right behind her.
She had to stop crying. She had to turn and look at him.
“It’s you isn’t it?” Finn stated. “I saw you run away from me.”
Bryonie shook her head. “Are you talking to me?”
“I just wanted to ask, why you ran away from me?” he asked her. “Am I too intimidating? Or am I too tall for you or something…?”
“I don’t know where to begin,” Bryonie said.
“Well, it’s okay,” Finn said. “We just had a really good conversation on the phone and I was looking forward to meeting you. But … I won’t bother you anymore. I’m just going into the restaurant inside, and I’ll get a table. You’re both free to join me. Just as friends. I can’t promise you I’ll be that entertaining to talk to – that usually comes down to personal taste. But I can promise you the food here is excellent, and if you haven’t eaten, then you really would be missing out on something special.”
He smiled at her.
Beaming.
Bright.
Wide.
With the sun on his back, and the wind through his hair.
Birds flew along in the sky behind him.
“It was nice meeting you anyway,” he said and then turned his back to them. Walking back around to the entrance.
“He seems really nice,” Leah said a little too quickly.
Bryonie punched her arm.
“I’m serious,” Leah laughed. “If you don’t want him, then I’ll make my move.”
“Come on. Be real.”
“You’re not going to chicken out, are you? Since he invited me as well, I’ll be in there with you. Right?”
Bryonie had frozen still. She couldn’t decide.
“I thought you wanted to go crazy,” Leah said. “Crazy Bryonie would be jumping all over this.”
A car passed slowly beside them and Bryonie saw their reflections in the windows.
The reflection of herself, she did not recognize.
“Okay,” Bryonie whispered. “I’ll try again.”
“Great,” Leah said leading the way. “I’m starving.”
CHAPTER TWO
Bryonie hadn’t wanted her photo taken. But it was Finn’s photos that drew her to him to begin with.
Nothing harmful about that. It was just an effective way of sorting. As soon as Bryonie’s profile went up she went with Leah down the street to do some shopping. Although that morning it was more about browsing rather than buying stuff. They wound up in the food court around eleven with a couple of smoothies.
“You ever wake up and just think to yourself, ‘this is my life’. You know?” Bryonie questioned.
Leah shook her head.
“You do know. Like, you’re just lying there thinking … how did I get here? Is this what I’m supposed to be doing? When did I decide this?”
“Jesus,” Leah muttered between slurps through her straw. “You sound depressed.”
“Did I say I was depressed? Why do I have to be depressed to question things? I’m just … I’m trying to understand it.”
“What?”
“The bigger picture.” Bryonie felt she’d somehow fallen off topic. “I don’t know.”
“Are you bored?”
Bryonie shrugged. “Yeah. But everyone’s bored.”
“You should go back to school.”
“I don’t want to go back to school.”
“Why not?”
“Too much bullshit.” Bryonie considered. “Too much getting up early.”
“Sounds like you’re doing it rough.”
“Oh God,” Bryonie blushed. “I’m not complaining. That’s not what it’s about. Do I sound like I’m complaining?”
“Most people don’t have time to lie around in bed thinking about life. They have to go to school, or work –”
“I work.”
“Part time. Doesn’t really count.”
“I get your point. Most people don’t have time. But is that all it is. All these people that are focused on base needs. Forced to stay on schedule just like clockwork, no time for any pause, any reflection –”
“I’m not a therapist, Bryonie. I’m not even that smart.”
Bryonie felt exasperated. “Can you not empathize with me at all? Can you not hear the words coming out of my mouth and make sense of them?”
“What do you want me to do? Analyze your thought process? I mean … isn’t it something that just keeps going round in circles? You have a question, but there’s no answer for it?”
“You see,” Bryonie nodded. “Now you’re helping.”
“I am?”
“Have you ever had a dream where you were younger, and all of your thoughts and feelings from that time were preserved and intact? Like, how you’re fourteen again and you think your life can go in so many different directions. And it’s real while you’re in the dream, it’s your reality. Then you wake up and it’s like – holy shit. I’m not fourteen, I’m twenty-two. What the fuck happened to me?”
Leah leaned back in her chair. She stared at Bryonie inquisitively.
“Do you want to see if anyone’s messaged you?”
Bryonie frowned. “Messaged me?”
“On the dating site.”
“Oh.” She shrugged. “Okay.”
Leah played about with her phone.
Bryonie picked up her smoothie and took a long draw in.
“Mmm,” Leah smiled after a moment.
“What?” Bryonie said quickly.
Leah flashed the phone.
Bryonie barely glimpsed it.
“What?” Bryonie said again.
Leah held the phone out longer.
Now she could see them.
Message after message after message after message…
“Let me see that,” Bryonie said trying to take the phone.
Leah pulled it away. “Uh-uh.”
“Are they all for me?”
Leah nodded whilst scrolling through the phone.
“But – but it’s only been up like an hour –”
“I told you there’s like a million desperate guys out there.”
“And there isn’t a million desperate girls?”
“The guys tend to message anyone. Usually cause they think they’re hot.”
Bryonie’s eyes flared. “Really?”
“Well, they’re not messaging you about the bullshit I put in your profile.”
“Can I see it now? Can I see a few of them?”
“Look,” Leah said. “I’m not letting you loose for one of these assholes to take you down. We want to find you someone really good, remember.”
“Yeah. Like. If that’s a possibility.”
“There’s always at least one. Trust me. I’ll find one who is way out of your league.”
“What does that mean?”
“Someone who’s like independent. Cultured. Sophisticated. I’m just seeing assholes at the moment, but I’ll find you one.”
Bryonie ground her elbows into the table anxiously.
Maybe this was it.
Maybe she really would turn a corner today.
Maybe, she could make things different.
“Hmm. I think I got one,” Leah said suddenly.
Bryonie braced herself.
Leah handed her the phone displaying the profile of said individual.
Bryonie looked at his photos and immediately felt crushed. He was everything she’d hoped for and more.
She let the phone slip onto the table.
“Why are you doing this to me?” Bryonie whispered. “A guy like that – he doesn’t want someone like me. He wants a super model or –”
The phone was already back in Leah’s grasp. “‘Dear Blondie94 (that’s what I called you). There’s something about you that perks my interest. I’d like to learn more about you.’”
“He’s saying that to me?”
Leah nodded. “‘Check out my profile, see if I’m someone who would interest you. Write back. Finn.’”
“That’s his name? Finn
?”
“Yeah. Do you want to write him back?”
“Yes,” Bryonie said, a smile bursting from her lips. “Yes! Do it!”
CHAPTER THREE
Messages led to a phone call. The phone call had led to this. Finn said that he was only going to be in town for the next couple of days before he had to travel for something business related, and didn’t know when he’d be back again, so time was of the essence. When he’d suggested they meet for lunch this afternoon, Bryonie had sprung at it. And now they were here. It was actually happening.
The table was circular, and big enough for five or six people. Leah, Finn and Bryonie sat in separate points, forming a triangle. The air was moist and humid, but still fresh at the same time. Fish tanks and their colorful inhabitants filled parts of the walls and ceiling.
Bryonie was nervous. She knew Finn could see she was nervous. He didn’t seem nervous at all. He was relaxed, comfortable, pleasant.
The restaurant attendant came over and delivered salad plates for the girls. Finn was given a steak and chips. Drinks for all.
“I wonder, do they serve fish here?” Leah remarked. “Because it would be a bit weird if they did. Like you spend an hour walking around here marveling at the beauty of sea-life. Then you sit down and eat it. Feels wrong.”
“Yeah, I agree with that,” Bryonie said. “That would be wrong.”
“Is that what the aquarium is about?” Finn said mysteriously. “Marveling at the beauty of sea life?”
“Well, it’s like we come into their habitat,” Leah said, “and then we eat them.”
“Seems disrespectful,” Bryonie added.
“To begin with, this isn’t their habitat,” Finn corrected. “It’s ours. This is a manmade world. And secondly if one of us peoples really were in their habitat – that is the great wide ocean – how much respect would a hungry fish, give to a delicious human?”
Bryonie and Leah looked at each other.
“Ah-ha!” Finn exclaimed. “Fooled you. No I completely agree. Disrespectful.”
He cut the steak on his plate with the knife and fork.
A smile still on his lips.
“So why the aquarium?” Leah asked. “What sort of impression are you trying to leave on my friend here?”
“What?” Finn replied. “Oh, I just like the lighting in here. Brings out people’s faces a bit more. Helps me to see them clearer.”
Cruisin' With Sharks (Paranormal Mysteries #1) Page 1