My eyes slowly cracked open, and I gazed up in a mindless daze at the dark blue sky. A bird flew past, and the sound of the waves and my own breathing filled my ears. I felt the soreness in my body, but I remained still, attempting to gather my thoughts, to find anything in my blank mind.

"Are you awake?"

At the unexpected deep voice spoke, I jolted upright, forgetting all the pain in my body as I stared back at the gray eyes before me. My eyes widened, and I struggled to catch my breath, frantically looking around at my surroundings.

I was in a small boat, with nothing but an endless expanse of ocean stretching out in all directions.

"Wh-where?" I stammered, my voice hoarse and my throat clogged up as I looked around.

"It's the morning. You slept the whole night." At my blank stare, he rephrased, "The ship sank last night," I heard him utter the words and overwhelming emotions hit me like a ton of bricks, causing me to freeze. Memories of the harrowing events flooded my mind like a waterfall. The fancy dinner, the sound of shattering chandeliers, the desperate attempt to flee to the deck, the heartbreaking moment when we were entrusted with a couple's child, them being swept away by the waves, Larisa getting on a lifeboat, and finally, Jamie.

Jamie.

A wave of nausea surged through my body, and I bent over the edge of the boat, emptying my stomach into the sea. I couldn't hold back my sobs as I struggled to come to terms with the tragedy that had taken place and I had escaped from.

Gasping for breath, I sat up and weakly reached out to take the opened water bottle that the man was holding out to me. After drinking almost half the bottle, I turned to thank the man, "Thank- Wait, IT'S YOU!" I watched in horror at the familiar man, while he simply blinked up at me.

"You! The player from the bar yesterday!"

The man gave me an annoyed look and retorted, "Excuse me, lady. I have a name you know."

"No, no, no," I muttered to myself, and hands disheveling my hair as scurried away from him, "Of all the people I had to be stuck with, it had to be YOU!" Tears surfaced in my eyes again, "And p-poor J-Jamie! H-he! He- oh my God," I gripped the edge of the boat tightly as I sobbed my heart out not only for Jamie but also due to the shock of what happened.

The man next to me awkwardly patted my back, "I'm sorry about your boyfriend."

I stilled, the memory of Jamie's first and last kiss which was implanted on my lips before he left forever. D-did he really like me? I found myself sobbing out again, too overwhelmed with emotions to think straight. "He-he was no-not my b-boyfriend. But h-he sacrificed himself for our safety!"

The young man nodded, looking down to his lap, "Yeah, he saved me, saved us." He sported a solemn, empathetic look on his face, which was contracting to his previous flirtatious and teasing character I had seen the previous evening. This new demeanor didn't match him at all. But we did go through a tough time yesterday; even the happiest person in the world won't be smiling right now. Though we had only known each other for less than a day, I couldn't help but feel sorry for him as he looked as if he was on the verge of breaking down.

Well, weren't we all? None of us spent the day thinking we would die the next moment on a sinking ship.

I looked at our surroundings again, taking in the boat and ocean we were in. A strong sense of fear and helplessness took over me. Something I had never thought would happen has happened and I have no sense of direction, hope or control of what may happen in the future. "I c-can't believe our ship sank- it all seems like a nightmare," I sniveled, tightening my arms around me. "I hope Larisa made it out alive."

"Larisa?" he inquired.

"My best friend. We came here together. She escaped in another boat."

"I see. I hope you reunite with her soon," he said, but his eyes were dazed he appeared to be teetering on the edge of a breakdown and I got hit with the memory of him searching for his family before he was cast onto the boat. Seeing the expression on his face made me pity him, but I didn't inquire about it, afraid to trigger him in any way. I shuddered when images of how the people were swamped away by that wave resurfaced in my mind.

"Thank you for taking me down to the boat last night. I was too shocked to move," I said instead and he looked at me with a quick grin, "Well, of course, I should help a beautiful lady in need."

I rolled my eyes and looked away with a huff, about to retort before I stopped myself, noticing his expression. He had a teasing grin on his face but his eyes were as dull as the cloudy sky above. He saw the look on my face, and his grin faltered, "Don't look at me that way."

"What way?"

"With pity."

Embarrassed, I muttered an apology and gazed back down at the waves. We fell into an awkward silence as the boat rocked us back and forth. I decided to examine the contents of the orange lifeboat we were in, and I was impressed with the supplies we had available. Three life jackets, emergency rations, bottled water, a first aid kit, a flare, and a survival kit with a knife, rain gear, and a flashlight.

"Wow, this is a lot," I breathed out and the man agreed with a hum, "yeah, from what I've seen in movies, people often end up stranded on a lone island, so I suggest keeping the flare and survival kit on hand just in case. Let's not use the flashlight except for emergency cases. As for the food, I don't know about you, but I prefer to wait until I'm deathly hungry before eating. Given the uncertainty of our location and the duration of our time at sea, we should conserve our food supply."

"Oh, you really thought about this stuff," I approved in surprise and he scoffed in reply, "Yeah, this player has a brain too, you know."

"...What-what about the girls who were with you yesterday?" I dared to ask albeit hesitantly and he cut his eyes sharply across mine, then he gave a dismissive shrug, "I don't know. They were not my responsibility."

I looked up at him in surprise. "How could you say that!? I believe they were with you that night. You know, you were planning to have a night of fun and all that?" I sarcastically countered and he let out a low growl, snapping at me, "I had other people I actually cared for in that ship, okay?! Why should I bother about some girls I don't even care or know about? I-I couldn't even see them...I was spending time with those girls before the horn blared and I-" his body shook as he placed his hands on his face and took deep breaths, "The ship-the ship SANK. With- with my family and I was-"

Even though he wasn't crying, it was apparent that he was holding in a lot of emotions and feeling overwhelmed. Perhaps he didn't want to break down in front of a girl, I thought. Not knowing any way how to console anyone, I quickly gave him my unfinished water bottle and he gulped down its contents.

Gazing out at the seemingly endless sea, I let out a heavy sigh. "As survivors, we're all traumatized by what happened," I said. "When we got onto that cruise for the first time, we may have joked about what would happen if the ship sank, but we never truly contemplated the reality of it, always revolving around the fact that it only happens in movies. But it did happen and what we went through was traumatizing and unfortunate, but we made it out alive. We survived. Therefore, we must carry on, taking the trauma with us and focusing on surviving. It's just you and me against whatever comes our way, I guess. We are a team, now."

He took a moment to think, his eyes fixed on the sky. Eventually, he turned to me with a wearied expression, but there was a glimmer of resolve in his eyes. Seeing my encouraging smile, he returned it with one of his own. "I like that," he said. "And while we're at it, maybe we can have some fun too." He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.

How can he change personalities so quickly?

"You player! Why must you always turn the conversation into – ugh!" I screeched but he only chuckled, making it clear that he wasn't serious about his comment - at least, I hoped not. He quickly regained his composure and asked me, "Now that we're going to be spending some time together, I would like to know the name of my pretty companion."

My lips quirked, but I obliged, "Our first encounter was quite unpleasant, but since we're stuck together, I guess I have no choice. My name is Candace."

He shook my outstretched hand with a small smile and looked at me with a piercing gaze and a charming smile, "Lovely to meet you, despite the circumstances. I'm Tavin."

° ° °

"Just as I thought. We have no signal," I unveiled, holding my smartphone in the air.

"You have a phone with you?" Tavin asked in surprise.

"Yes, I hope to receive a call from Larisa when if we both reach the land safely," I turned my phone off, realizing it was useless until we reached land, and trying to conserve its remaining battery percentage. "What about yours?"

"It fell into the sea when I jumped onto the boat with you. Unfortunately, the ship exploded with the oars of this boat which we forgot to seize from the ship. Our jump landed us perfectly in this boat, but the impact made my phone and some other equipment fall and sink into the sea. Then you passed out."

"I see. One water bottle and two protein bars finished, all within the expanse of one day," I stated as I observed the evening sky and a sudden feeling of fear overcame me once more, "Do you think it'll rain again? Like yesterday?"

"I hope not," he groaned, tapping the lifeboat's tarp. "If it does happen, we'll have to take cover under the tarp."

"What if the storm is as strong as yesterday?" I asked.

"Then we'll have to accept our fate and find comfort cuddling in each other's arms during our last moments," Tavin said, trying to make a joke. I gave him a stern look. "Please don't joke about that. And just so you know, I will never 'cuddle' with you."

"Aw, shucks, all my plans went down the drain, or should I say, down the sea," he rephrased with a beam, observing my reaction to his 'joke'. After spending just a few hours on the boat with Tavin, I was already done with his flirtations and the jokes he thought were funny.

The night sky was looking down upon us as darkness enclosed us before I even knew it. I was unable to see anything. You wouldn't notice any difference if I asked you to open and close your eyes. I shivered, the silence in my surroundings giving me the creeps. Wild scenes of us being gobbled up by killer whales or any other creature crossed my mind. I slowly inched towards the right where I could hear Tavin's soft breaths.

"Feeling scared?" His sudden voice made me startled, but I nodded even though he couldn't see me, "Y-yes."

"You can lean on me, I can put your arm around your shoulder, anything, we could even get a little frisky so you could forget all your surroundings. I am often told that I'm good at that!" he offered and by now, I couldn't tell if he was actually serious or if he was just trying to ease up the atmosphere.

Nevertheless, I replied, "No, there's no need. Hearing your voice helps."

It was several minutes before I heard his voice again, "Don't you want to sleep? Are you not tired?" he asked. My stomach growled loudly into the stillness of the night, and I decided that sleeping was a good idea if I wanted to forget about my hunger for a while. "Yes...I think I'll go to sleep now, but don't try anything funny," I warned him, feeling weary. I heard him scoff, "Yeah, right. I'm a player, so I might just take advantage of you while you're asleep. Well, too bad for you, then. Looks like you'll have to stay awake all night."

Jeez, it was impossible to reason with him. After all, at the end of the day, Tavin was still a stranger. Well, excuse you for not wanting to let my guard down in front of someone I knew for less than a day.

I chose not to entertain him any longer and simply plopped down onto the boat without another word. My body was at an uncomfortable angle but I willed myself to sleep nonetheless.