“See you soon then.” Dante smiled and headed inside.
“Swwweeeettttt,” Asmir said.
“What?” Dante asked.
“Don’t play dumb. You’re glad their coming. They’re right up your street. Intelligent, beautiful and ambitious.”
“I am glad, but it’s not exactly a romantic location is it? Squashed into wetsuits, submerged in ice-cold water and all that in complete darkness.” Dante flapped at Asmir like his comment was foolish.
“Are you kidding me? What could be more romantic than staring up at a million bright stars?”
“I think you mean a million bright worms.”
“Whatever, it’s still romantic. What’s going on with you? You are the most romance-crazed person I know. You used to believe that everything could be turned into a romantic situation. So what is it?”
“Nothing. I just don’t feel like a freezing cold cave is the place for romance, OK?”
“But like I just said…”
“Az, leave it, OK?” Dante pleaded. It wasn’t aggressive but it was the final word.
They continued to unpack in silence. Dante caught Asmir glancing over every now and then, looking worried. Dante paid no attention. He didn’t have any intention of unloading what he had on his mind. Most of it Asmir knew but Dante didn’t want to rehash it. He was committed to this trip. To the mission of this trip. He didn’t need to give attention to these negative emotions and risk spiraling again.
“What about you?” Dante finally said.
“Better after that sleep. Still a little pissed off at our friend Dick.”
“OK, good.” Dante paused, there was something on his mind. Asmir saw this pretty quickly.
“Spill it.”
“Have you noticed a couple of the passengers actively avoiding each other?”
“Meaning what?”
“OK, so people glance at each other from time to time, even those that don’t know each other. But there are a couple of passengers who never look at each other. You know me, I love to observe people and the dynamic is weird.”
“Explain…”
“They never sit closer than six rows apart, they’re never caught in the same group of people and like I said, the weirdest thing is that they never look at each other.”
Asmir dipped his hand inside his pocket and pulled out the crinkled piece of paper.
“Take a look at this,” Asmir said, handing it over to Dante.
Dante read the four words and began to say something but Asmir pre-empted him.
“On the bus, by the middle rows. No idea who it’s from or who it’s meant for.”
“Think it could be the two passengers?”
“Could be, long-lost brothers maybe.”
They continued to discuss all kinds of outlandish theories as to why they weren’t talking. Spies. Alien drones that had been planted on earth to monitor mankind. It all came out. Dante didn’t know what he had noticed but there was definitely something off about their dynamic. It wasn’t even that they actively disliked each other. It was like they didn’t want to be seen together. It didn’t sit right with him. Something was definitely wrong.
There was a nervous tension permeating the bus. They had no idea what they were in for. Some were peering out of their windows looking for signs that they were nearly there. Others were silent and motionless. But it was clear that all were excited. They had no idea that Black Water Rafting was a combination of abseiling, freezing water and huge eels slithering through the blackness below them. Dante did, so he was just plain excited, but also restless, checking his watch every five seconds. This made Asmir a little uncomfortable. Asmir had continually tried to get Dante to tell him more about what they were about to go through, but Dante had refused. He didn’t want to build it up only for it to disappoint. After all, Dante had never actually done it before, but he had done several virtual tours. So he knew what to expect and he didn’t mind building it up in his own mind.
A couple of minutes rolled by and things began to change. People began to see the signs. The caves were 1km away now and the bus began to audibly awaken. Eyes lit up and smiles appeared. Even Viktor was grinning and boasting about how he was “a pro black water rafter.” Dante was sure he had no idea what it was.
How foolish you’re going to look half an hour from now.
It was that that brought a grin to Dante’s face. He couldn’t wait to see Viktor floundering in the ice-cold, jet-black water.
As Dante could have predicted, Viktor had pushed his way to the front of the queue when the bus finally came to a stop. He was hollering and chanting on his own. This made both Dante and Asmir fall over themselves laughing, because it seemed Viktor was the only one who hadn’t realized that this stop was not for the caves, but for the wetsuits. He was quickly put in his place when Mel said over the loudspeaker, “All the girls please exit first and line up outside the blue building over there to collect your wetsuits. Oh and Viktor…please sit down.”
The whole bus roared with laughter as a dejected Viktor slunk his way back to his seat. A great moment. For the rest of them of course, not for Viktor, who would think twice before making a beeline for the door early again.
Five minutes later all the passengers were back in the bus with their wetsuits on their laps. Dante had taken about ten seconds to pick out his wetsuit. His body type was decisively medium. Height-wise, weight-wise and even his build could only really be described as medium. He was fit and quite toned, but not shredded and definitely not skinny. Asmir on the other hand wasn’t really anything. He had abnormally wide shoulders for someone of 5’11, yet his hips were those more frequently seen on a runway model. With his freakishly large hands and feet, he could’ve made an excellent swimmer.
It was getting warm now. As the driver started up the engine there were shouts for the air conditioning to be turned on. He obliged. With a clunk and a high-pitched whirring, the AC started up and the bus became more bearable. They pulled slowly out of their last pit-stop and began their very short trip to the caves. As they were leaving, Dante saw Asmir turn towards the light blue building and snap a shot of it with his camera.
“Why’d you do that?” Dante asked, as there seemed to be nothing special about the setting at all.
“Sometimes what you think will make a shitty shot proves to be anything but. Check it.”
He swiveled the screen towards Dante so he could see his work and sure enough, it was a beautiful picture. The glare of the sun on the window had sent a strange ethereal haze cascading over the light blue building. It was just a little bit magical. Asmir really was talented. But not wanting to give him a big head, Dante just grunted, “It’s OK.”
Asmir seemed to see right through this and began to show others around him. He had always had a big head, but at least now he could be arrogant about something he was actually good at. He tried to explain to the helpless passengers why the light fell that way or how the lens he was using affected the shot. No one shut him down straight away. They were all very polite about listening to his boring rant, simply because in all other aspects of his life he was so incredibly interesting. Of course, for those that were knowledgeable on the subject of photography, the conversation would have been riveting. But it just so happened that none of those people had booked a tour on bus number 8. One by one he bored the back of the bus to death. They patiently nodded until he finished or simply feigned a headache. Unsurprisingly few actually needed to feign it. But they didn’t have to put up with it for long because less than ten minutes later, they had arrived