"You can't be serious." He says, glancing over at me from the rocking chair he had sprawled himself on.
"Dead serious." I said, tightening the straps on my bag.
"First of all, this is barely logical. Do you realize that a) you're going to have to somehow travel halfway across the world, b) you have no money, and c) you're heading for almost certain death?" He shook his head. "You're a smart kid, and you can solve a lot of things, but you have to learn sometime that there are some things that are just out of your control, Alex."
"Some things, yes. But not this." I finished my text, which read, "I'll be back in a bit, have a problem to solve. xx" I slipped my bag over my arm. "You coming or not?"
"Fine." He grumbled. "But only because I'd miss you if you got your dumb self killed."
---
"A raft." He said, raising an eyebrow, as if he wasn't sure if I was joking or not.
"Yeah."
"You're going on a raft. Across the ocean."
"Yeah."
"Let me guess, you only packed enough food for a day?"
"None, actually."
"You packed no food for a voyage on a raft that, assuming you survive, would take at least a week?"
"Oh ye of little faith," I said, pushing the raft towards the sea, "This should be over and done before morning."
"You're such a child."
I looked at him, surprised how bitter he had become. "You once said that being childlike was a perfectly fine thing to be."
"That was then. This is now, where you're planning to take a raft across the ocean towards certain death."
"Whatever. I'm heading out now."
He sat down next to me. "This is so beyond stupid."
"I know."
---
The cool ocean breeze, paired with the crystal clear night sky made for a perfectly serene passage. I sat, sharpening my dagger and checking and double checking my supplies: grappling hook, lock pick, duct tape, rope, and photo of Adam. I smiled, glad to see my best friend's face.
"Who's that?" He asked.
"Adam. You know him."
"Right." He fell back into silence.
I looked over at Ezra. He was quieter than usual. I sighed. He had been quiet since last September, and soon after he met that girl with the chestnut hair. We barely talked since then, but every so often, he'd show up on my back porch and I'd invite him in, where we'd drink tea and he'd follow me around, and for a second or two we could pretend we were two years younger and carefree.
The breeze blew slightly stronger, and suddenly, before I realized it, Ezra was kissing me.
"Ezra, I -"
He hid his face. "I'm sorry, Alex. I - I don't know what came over me."
"It's fine." He acted as if that was the first time that had happened.
Suddenly, I saw a coast coming up. "Land ho!" I shouted.
"We're here already?"
"Yeah!" I grinned. "And you didn't believe me."
"Are you sure this is the right place?"
"It's a desolate looking shore, plus it has that foreboding air about it that most villainous prisons have."
"Alex, do you even know what this person looks like?"
"Well, no, but -"
"Do you even know their name?"
"No, but that's just details."
"'Just details'?" Ezra shook his head. "Don't you think this is a little, I don't know, rushed?"
"Ezra, this guy could die if we don't help him."
"Is that really why you're doing this?"
"What do you mean?"
"Alex, I know you. You're really bad at hiding your true emotions. You aren't really doing this to save this guy. A part of you is, but that's not the whole reason."
He was right, but I wouldn't admit that. "Yeah it is. Come on, Ezra, we have work to do."