Lawrence McCormack, the yacht captain, saw him bounding up the steps. The man who was in his fifties has silver hair and green eyes, dressed in an all white uniform. He greeted him with a smile.
The first officer, which was like a co-pilot of the yacht, sat on the black swiveling chair in front of the steering wheel while Lawrence stood behind him when Robbie came.
"Hello, Sir!" greeted Lawrence. "It's been awhile you've been up here."
Robbie smiled. Lawrence had been his confidant every time he needed someone to vent to. He became like a father to him and had given him sound advice on life.
He barely went on a trip on his yacht lately and he did missed speaking to him.
Lawrence knew exactly why Robbie was there. So, he instructed his first officer to take over while he spoke to Robbie.
"How are you, Son?" Lawrence asked Robbie. They were sitting on a long cushioned seat outside on the upper deck. Robbie had poured the hard liquor on to the glass and was gulping it down like there was no tomorrow.
"Never been better," he replied sarcastically as he set his glass down on the table.
"Women problems?"
He shrugged as he poured another one and continued gulping it down quickly.
"Robbie..." the tone in his voice had made Robbie looked up to him. He knew he was getting concerned of him by the way he drank so much and so quickly.
"Slow down.... let's talk," he continued.
He sighed. If there was one person who knew him better over the years, it was Lawrence. Aside from being the captain of his yacht, he had truly been a good friend to him and he valued it so much more than his relationship with his own father.
"It's Allison, isn't it?" he probed as he looked him straight in his eyes.
Robbie lowered his eyes and just nodded. Lawrence smiled.
"She's a fine lady, Robbie," he commented.
"Yes. But she's also such a pain in the ass!" he growled. He hated the fact that despite of her being so blind and stubborn, he still could never hate her that much.
Lawrence chuckled.
"I know. My late wife was one of them. What happened?"
"She accused me of being bisexual. That damn woman had the guts to tell to my face that I am bisexual! Not only that, she told me I show signs of gayness. Gayness?! What the hell does that even mean?" he spat out.
Lawrence was just silently watching him.
"Can you believe it? First, she told everybody that I am gay and now she was accusing me of bisexual. Like when did I ever show to her that I liked guys? When?!" and he poured another one into his glass. This time he just took a few sips and set it down.
"Do you love her?"
He did not answer the question and just looked away.
"I take that as a yes. This is my advice, Son, why don't you show to her what you feel? Ask her out on a date, just the two of you."
"That's what I have been trying to do, Lawrence. I have set up a romantic evening for us after Sasha fell asleep. But she was just so stupid!"
"Then change the way she thinks of you."
"But how?"
"In my ten years as a captain of this yacht, I had never seen you bringing women either for entertainment or for other reasons."
"So, what are you saying?"
"Make her jealous."
Robbie scowled. "Yeah, right. Like she would even do that."
"Well, you'll never know until you tried."
"I'm telling you, Lawrence. If she ever had even an ounce of what I felt for her, then maybe she could have seen how I reacted with the way she kissed me."
Lawrence grinned.
"So, she kissed you, huh?"
"Well... I kissed her first.... twice. Then... she kissed me on my chest."
Lawrence gave him a knowing smile.
"Oooh! So, is that why you're mad? Because it didn't happen?"
"Well... yeah. It could have been if she didn't start accusing me of being bisexual."
"I see... you're pissed."
"Of course I'm pissed!"
Lawrence laughed.
"So, when you kissed her, did she kiss you back?"
"No....it was a quick peck on her lips. I could have if Lily didn't walk in on us."
Lawrence smiled as he hinted the frustration in Robbie's voice.
"Don't worry. I'll talk to Lily. I'll tell her to never interrupt when you are with your lady."
Robbie smiled faintly. Despite of his anger, Lawrence was still making him feel much better by giving his lighthearted jokes.
"Look, Son, I know it was difficult for you but let me tell you, women are complicated individuals. Didn't they keep telling us that we are from Mars and they are from Venus? I guess it still rang true until now. Women and men are on the opposite poles but it is us men who should learn the works of them."
"I could never understand how they work. They were a puzzle to me... most especially her."
"That's why you need to keep studying her... discover things about her. You see, you have lost ten years of friendship and you need to rekindle that before you jump onto something more."
"I think it's too late for that now."
"What do you mean?"
"I'm going to marry her in a week."
"That fast?"
"Well... it's best... for Sasha."
"I see..." and he clasped his back. "I don't know what you're doing, Son, but I think you really need to work on this."
He creased his brows and drank the rest of the liquid from his glass. He could feel a sudden dizziness and his eyes were getting blurry. He was about to pour another one from the bottle but Lawrence snatched it from him.
"I think you had enough for now, Sir," commented Lawrence and set the bottle back down on the table.
"But I still want to drink," complained Robbie. He sounded like a kid who was deprived of candy on Halloween.
Lawrence chuckled.
"No, Son. What you need is some sleep next to your lovely lady."
Robbie scowled. "Yeah, right. Wait till we're married and I'm gonna show her who's the man."
Lawrence laughed and shook his head.
"Okay, let's go then. I'll bring you to your room," he told him and put Robbie's arm over his head.
"I want to kiss that stubborn little mouth of hers until it bled and banged her all night. Let's see if she will still have the guts to tell me I'm gay."
Lawrence had a hearty laugh.
"I think you already did that to her a long time ago."
"Maybe but it wasn't that wild for her and that was what she was looking for. Maybe she wanted wild like a cowboy going on a Rodeo show. I could definitely give it to her. God! Women! Why do they have to be so complicated?!"
Lawrence chuckled.
"Well, Son, I wish I knew. But don't we men loved the challenge?"
Robbie sighed. "I guess."
They started walking back to his bedroom.