LIII

                                    

                                          
"Have you decided whether you're going to take that internship your professor mentioned?" The platinum-haired woman asked keeping her gaze on the sea.
"The engineering one? Don't know." The black-haired man shrugged. He stared at his reflection in the ocean. He imagined he'd see blue eyes staring back at him if it weren't for the fact that the water was blue.
"And why not?" The girl huffed. "I swear you're lazy to a fault. You're always procrastinating! You're going to go your whole life working minimum wage jobs—"
"No, I have enough skills to where any engineering company would hire me on the spot. I just... I haven't found one that's stuck out to me."
"And what is it you're looking for?"
Ares shrugged. "I'll know it when I see it."
"Which is all the more reason you should take the internship. Worst case scenario, at least you'll know what it's not."
Ares sighed before smiling at the woman beside him. He had lost his mom before he had any substantial memories of her, but he often thought she might be like Thea. "If I take the internship will you stop worrying?"
"Yes." She tried to hold back the smile but her cheeks wouldn't budge.
"Okay. I'll do it for you." He patted her on the head the same way he had when they were kids. While she had been reciprocal as a child, she found it embarrassing as an adult.
"Stop!" She pushed him away. "We should get a drink. It's hot out here."
"What did you expect in midsummer? Besides, it's cooler out on the ocean."
"Except when the sun is peering straight down on you." Thea made her way inside the cabin not bothering to check if Ares had followed.
Ares silently followed behind Thea. He had never really been one for alcohol, though he had just recently turned of age. Even before then, when his friends would try to convince him to drink with them, alcohol usually ended up on the floor from him spitting it out.
It was something he would later acquire with age.
He pulled up a stool at the bar. Thea was quick to order a margarita, while Ares simply opted for lemonade.
"You shortchanged me two cents!" A blond-haired man maybe a decade older than the two snapped at the bartender.
"No, I didn't." The bartender didn't even bother to make eye contact, obviously annoyed that anyone would make a fuss over two cents.
"Yes, you did. My drink cost one dollar and seventy-eight cents and I handed you a two dollar bill. You gave me twenty centers in exchange."
"It's two cents," Ares said flatly, annoyed for the bartender's sake.
"What does that matter? Money is money. If you spent two cents a day that would be seven dollars and thirty cents you just wasted. That's enough to buy four drinks!"
Ares was slightly impressed by how fast the man was able to calculate that. "But this isn't an everyday occurrence. It's one day. Let it go."
"And that's exactly how you get started. If you give in one day you're bound to do it the next. Eventually, it becomes a habit. I do not wish to form the habit of wasting money. After all, I'm an accountant. I need to set an example for my clients."
Ares opened his mouth to say something but was quickly silenced by Thea telling him not to even bother.
"We've only been out at sea for three days and I'm already bored to death." Thea pouted as she plopped down on the corner of Ares' bed. "So much for it being a "fun" distraction."