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The line for the tickets was incredibly long. He had been standing in the blistering sun for the good part of an hour now, but no one seemed to be moving forward much. The poor clerk assigned to the last-minute ticket selling stand, despite being in the shade, didn’t seem to be doing much better.
Ed was bored out of his skull. In absence of better things to do, he started people-watching, but in a short time that revealed itself to be just as boring. The crowds on this kind of voyages always looked the same: the businessmen in their suits, the families on vacation, the couples with their lovesick smiles.
That’s when he noticed him. Well, to be fair, he didn't make himself that hard to notice.
A man was standing alone in the area between the parking lot and the boarding area. He was staring in the general direction of the tickets line with a vague aura of dread.
He wore a hideous neon pink Hawaiian t-shirt with green palms on it, khaki shorts and a frankly excessive amount of sunscreen on his legs. With a ticket in one hand and a phone in the other, he was looking completely lost. Edward knew that his taste in men was questionable. He was immediately intrigued. Ridiculous man. Where did you come out of?
Ed has a hunch, and standing there in line with nothing to do was just so boring. He considers the pros and the cons of losing his place and having to start again the queue from the back.
And then he’s leaving, before he can hear the rational part of his brain starting to protest.
“Hey mate, did you get lost? I see you already have the ticket, but the boarding for the Revenge doesn’t start for another good two hours, at least,” he said, looking at the slowly moving line of people, not regretting for a second getting out of there.
The man looks up from his phone and then blushes, or maybe it’s just the heat. “Oh I’m terribly sorry, you see, it’s just that it’s the first time I travel alone, and I’m always worried I’m going to be late, so…”
The man goes on rambling about travel guides and a faulty GPS, but at a certain point he must feel Ed’s eyes on him because he stops talking abruptly, like the man has been made fun for this in the past.
Well, this just won’t do. “Would you like a coffee? Bar’s just down the road, it won’t make you any good to wait outside in all this heat.”
His smile hits Edward like a punch in the gut. Fuck. The man looks him up and down, then nods. “Well, I suppose a coffee would be nice.” He holds out his hand. “Pleasure to meet you. I’m Stede.”
So they talk. They talk for what feels like hours on end. Stede tells him about his marriage, his kids, his divorce. Ed would be perfectly happy to just hear the man talk uninterrupted, but he does ask, and so Ed answers. He opens up like he’s in front of an old friend, not a stranger he met today. Ed tells him all about his restaurant, his career, he even talks to Stede about his manager, Izzy, and shows him pictures when he’s asked. There’s not a single awkward silence, and Ed is terrified even of moving a finger in case that changed the atmosphere in the little bubble of coziness they created.
His phone in the backpack continues buzzing, but he’s sure it’s not important; it can wait.
It’s not until the daylight in the bar dims and artificial lights are turned on that they notice just how much time has passed. Just as Stede was saying “do you know the time-?” they hear a loud, blaring horn resounding throughout the air that rattles their glasses. They look at each other with wide, panicked eyes.
“THE SHIP!”
Ed scrambles to pack their things, while Stede throws some money on the table. They exit hastily, running hand in hand down the street to the boarding dock. Nope, not the time to analyze that.
They reach the Revenge just in time to have missed it. The ship’s boy is still holding the mooring lines in hand, a few feet away from their noses.
“It's gone!” Stede sat down, after the effort of the run, and he's looking pretty disheartened for a while. Then he glances up at Ed and seems to reacquire some of his cheery spirit.
Ed is panting, hands on his knees. "Guess that ship has sailed, huh?"
Stede chuckles, still out of breath. "Yeah, guess so." Now, he doesn’t look half as worried as Ed thought he would be by a change of plans.
Ed hears a vibration from his phone, and remembers who was supposed to meet him at his destination. "Aw fuck, my manager will kill me."
Stede looks at him like he's out of his mind. "The grumpy little guy you told me about? I would like to see it." He's scrunching up his nose in the cutest way possible, and Ed is really glad he missed the boat with this guy.
"Yeah, you're probably right." Ed concedes. He puts a hand on Stede’s shoulder. "Right, let's start this again," he holds out his hand to help him get up. "Where do you want to go now?"