Buttons and Lace (Buttons 1)

The candle in the middle of the table flickered and cast a romantic aura in the dimly lit restaurant. Other couples surrounded us, vacationing just the way we were. Our relationship had changed over the last few days, and I could feel that in the air. We were getting closer, our friendship solidifying. For a while, I lost faith in our relationship, but now, I was starting to believe in it again.

Jacob wasn’t as relaxed as he had been a few moments ago. He started to shift his weight repeatedly in his seat, touch his hair, and check his watch. He checked it five times in two minutes.

“Have somewhere to be?” I teased.

“What?” he asked with a flinch.

“You keep looking at your watch...” I pointed at his wrist on the table.

“Oh.” He placed his hand under the table where I couldn’t see it. “We’re on vacation, so I’m not sure why I brought it.” He chuckled awkwardly, and it turned into a cough. He grabbed his wine and downed it like water.

I raised an eyebrow, unsure why he was acting so peculiar. “Are you sure you’re alright?”

“Yeah.” He cleared his throat then looked across the restaurant.

Was he going to propose to me? Was that possible? He’d been so distant for the past few weeks I wasn’t sure if I could believe that. Our relationship had been in a deep rut. If I noticed it, so did he. But why else would he be acting weird?

***

By the time we were done with dinner, it was completely dark outside. The light blues that touched the edge of the horizon had completely disappeared. The red and orange clouds had vanished under a blanket of darkness. Now, the water was an infinite black pool that reached out to nowhere the eye could follow.

Jacob paid for the meal and we left, hand in hand. I was eager to get back to the hotel and considered calling for a cab. Walking in the dark was just stupid, even if we were together.

“I’m going to call a cab.” I pulled out my phone.

“Wait.” He pulled me farther toward the dock where the enormous ships bounced in the harbor. “Let’s take a look at this.”

“I don’t think we’re supposed to go over there.”

“We aren’t going to break in to the ships,” he said with a laugh. “We’re just looking.”

“Uh...I still don’t think we should go somewhere we don’t belong.” I turned back to my phone. “Just let me call a cab.”

He pulled my hand down so I couldn’t see the screen. “Call a cab later. Come on, I want to see this.” He grabbed my hand again and pulled me along.

Since he was in a good mood and I didn’t want to ruin the progress we made, I let him get his way. “I didn’t know you cared so much about ships. We have a dock in New York, you know.”

“Yeah, but it smells really bad. Like old fish. Here, it’s clean. It always smells like palm trees.” He stopped at every ship and stared at the side, looking at the names of each one. “Maybe we can get a boat someday.”

“Maybe.” Or a jet ski. Those were manageable.

He pulled me farther into the docking area, stepping away from the streetlamps that lit the pathway. We were completely cast in shadows, and I felt a shiver creep up my spine. It had nothing to do with the weather because it was humid as hell. “Jacob, I really think we should go back.”

“Wow. Look at that military ship up ahead. Do you think that’s a US vessel?”

“Uh...” Even when I squinted, I couldn’t tell. “Probably. Now let’s go.”

“Come on.” He dragged me along. “There’s nothing to be afraid of. You have me.”

“Yeah...” Would that be enough if some homeless man had a knife? “That doesn’t mean I should walk blindly into danger like I’m invincible.”

“Chill, Pearl.” His hand remained tightly around mine, squeezing it until it was numb. We reached the large military ship and stared at it in awe. “Wow. This is so cool.”

“You know, we could come back during the day when you could see it better.” I couldn’t appreciate what I was looking at because I was too paranoid. I glanced over my shoulder in fear that someone was lurking around. It was a ridiculous fear, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that someone was watching us.

“I wonder if this is an active ship or if it’s retired.”

Something crunched behind me, like a heavy boot against plastic. I could have sworn I heard it. Perhaps my mind was playing tricks on me, my paranoia in charge of my thoughts. “Jacob, did you hear that?”

“Hear what?” he asked.

I looked over my shoulder but only saw blackness. “Let’s go. I don’t like—” A black sack covered my head and painfully tightened around my throat. I couldn’t see anything, and I immediately panicked. “Ahh!” I swung my arms around and tried to fight whoever attacked me. I felt a massive arm squeeze around my shoulders and hold me in place while the bag was tied around my throat. “Get off me!”