A Very Watery Date

(C) Sonya O. Flash Fiction for Aspiring Writers (FFFAW), June 10, 2015. This photo brings you to the challenge page. Hosted by Priceless Joy

The Sea World would be an excellent venue for their first date, he thought. He has never been so wrong.

The instant that she realized that his plan was a visit to Sea World, she burst into tears. She did not tell him why though. She did not want to ruin the date; he booked the tickets in advance too. They did not come cheap.

But the tears invariably came again as they passed by the Angelfish aquariums.

“What’s wrong, Jenny?” Mike asked, genuine concern evident on his face.

“Aquariums remind me of Gabriel,” she struggled between tears.

Shit. Ex-boyfriends are never a good first-date conversation topic, Mike silently berated himself for asking and braced for the imminent emotional roller coaster ride.

“He was found dead last year,” Jenny sobbingly continued, unaware of the horror spreading across Mike’s face. He was thinking, a dead ex-boyfriend!? Shit, this girl is full of baggage that I don’t need. Why do I always pick the bad ones? Then she added, “Next to a cracked aquarium,” before her turbulent sobbing made the rest of her words inaudible.

Mike did not know how else to react, so he put his arm around her, and listened to her incoherent tearful speech. But at the back of his mind, he thought he heard, “Gabriel was such a good angelfish!”

Word count: 222