Daniel and Julia had naturally opted for a private bedroom, paid for by themselves (by Daniel) as Ian had refused to give the extra money, and when Daniel was just reclining back on their bed after having taken a shower and getting dressed, Julia spoke up.

“Dan, sweetie,” her voice was dripping honey.

“Mm?” Daniel was rummaging through a drawer on the nightstand, and found what seemed to be a pocket edition of some random prose. He flipped through as Julia spoke:

“You know, the whole thing with Winter and Chris got me curious… what do you think of them?”

“As a couple?”

“Mhm.”

Daniel shrugged. “Well… that would be difficult to arrange, wouldn’t it? Considering how Winter is.” The boy flipped a page, wondering how much Julia knew about Chris’s feelings.

“But if they do become an item, do you think they’d just some high school fling like most couples?”

On reflection, Daniel admitted to himself that he had to realize his glorious ship was heading for an iceberg. The thought, however, only came to him much later.

“They’re not a very normal case, these two,” he said, still reading. “And it’s not even like—“ he paused. “—she’s a teenager, either, right?”

“Because with teenagers nothing lasts much, does it, Daniel?”

A dreadful silence settled between them and he felt Julia’s hard gaze. Daniel closed the book slowly, concluding that he should be well aware of what she was going to say next.

“Guess I walked into that one.”

“You fell headfirst into it this time, Daniel.”

He felt the pressure rising and quickly made note of the detailed color and pattern of the walls and noticed how strong Julia’s perfume actually was. He breathed. He had to do everything to make sure his focus didn’t slip away.