“If you say so…” He sighed a bit and shook his head. No sense in forcing her. He walked with her and the rest of the waiting passengers into the ferry’s deck. As they found a generally unpopulated area to wait in near the railing on the second deck, he leaned out over the side. “So…” He tried to think of something to say, but came up with nothing. The silence was alright though. He just stayed close to her and watched the gulls fly by.
“What, you don’t trust me?” she teased finally, aiming a punch at his shoulder. “You want to pry into the dark secrets of my mind already? We’ve just met. I don’t want to scare you off.” She made the mistake of actually looking into his eyes, and had to remind herself to breathe. Remind herself to stay controlled.
He was an actor. He was famous, and a teen heartthrob. He probably had a girl somewhere already. He just wanted some company for the day; was being polite; would disappear after today.
He yelped, but laughed, rubbing his shoulder a bit. “Ow…” He was faking, but pouted for a moment all the same. “No, I didn’t mean to pry at all.” He got a bit more serious, but still smiled. “I just wanted to make sure you were really ok.” He looked out at the water for a moment. “…I doubt you could scare me away. There are roles I’ve played…Headspaces I don’t want to get back into. You seem far too happy to have anything nearly that bad going on in your brain.” Though…he knew that was often not the case. He pulled a smile. “You can talk to me about anything you want, you know. I’m dead serious.”
Summer decided to repay his sincerity. She leaned her back on the railing, elbows hooked over, and regarded him for a long moment. “I guess a lot of people don’t treat you as just a person, at that. An object, maybe, but little else.” She tucked a loose strand of copper hair behind one ear. “That’s pretty familiar to me. I’m … not the sort of person that gets noticed much. So I was just thinking how strange it was, that in a city the size of this one, someone would notice me at all, and that it would be someone I would daydream of noticing me.”
She looked away, purposely, and added, “I don’t mean that in a … sexual kind of way, exactly. But honestly, I’m trying to think,” she trailed off, trying to find the right words to articulate what was buzzing around in her mind. Empathy was no use here.
“I don’t see why you wouldn’t get noticed, dear. You’re quite beautiful,” he said as though it was as common knowledge as gravity. He looked down for a moment. “I’m…not so much an object as a showpiece. It’s nice, sometimes, though, since people change their expectations of you when you aren’t ‘human’ anymore.” It was barely contained sarcasm. He really didn’t want to get all depressing right now. First dates…was this a first date?…Well, whatever it was should be fun. A soft smile grew on his face as she continued to speak.
When she added the bit about ‘sexually’ he couldn’t help but laugh a bit. “It’s alright Summer. I know how strange it is to be around someone you never thought you’d get the chance to meet. I’ve been acting since I was five. I’ve met alot of crazy-famous people and have been starstruck more times than I could admit.” He grinned a bit. “Honestly, though…I’m glad I noticed you.”
Summer’s tone was wondering when she replied, “You’re not just saying that.” How in the world was this happening? She made a determined effort and said, “You asked, and I’ve answered, and now we know more about each other than we did.” Taking his hand and pulling it back around her shoulder, she added, “I’ll try to stop being starstruck now. I’m glad too, though. So, Robert, what brings you to New York City?”