Cruise
Chapter One
"What exit do I take?"
"I don't know! I can't tell right now. Just chill, okay? We'll get there."
I only sighed. Driving in the city was bad enough on my nerves, but to add to that I had to be directionally challenged. It was a good thing my best friend Devan was better at reading maps and such. We made a good team as far as trips went—I was the better driver and she knew what she was doing.
Devan gnawed on some of the beef jerky we got at Woody's and continued looking from the map to the road and back again. Finally, she looked up and saw what she needed to see. She pointed the beef jerky at the window to a sign.
"The Woodlands, exit in three-fourth miles."
I moved into the lane I needed and exited when I had to. Since we were off the main road we decided to stop somewhere to eat, and agreed on a little Chinese buffet we saw. I pulled into the parking lot and we went inside. Only another hour and a half in the car and we would be in Galveston looking for a hotel that we could stay in until the next day when we got to get on the cruise ship.
We ordered our drinks and then made our way up to the buffet. As usual, my plate was overstuffed and Devan's looked like she just hadn't finished her food. We went back to our booth to find our drinks waiting. Almost an hour later we were back in the car and driving again. Of course that didn't last long when I spotted the Old Navy a little further down the road.
"Oh! Old Navy. We're so stopping."
Devan gave me a look, but she didn't protest. Amazingly enough, we only spent half an hour in there, and all I bought was a pair of sunglasses that were on sale and about six pairs of flip flops marked down to just a dollar each. We soon managed to make it out of The Woodlands and kept going toward Galveston.
When we hit Houston traffic, we put the top down on my convertible and rolled all the windows down. The traffic was pretty heavy, so I just went with the flow of traffic. Not that I had much choice in the matter. Devan began watching the traffic. As soon as the chance was available, an SUV whipped around us with a teenage boy hanging his head out the window. Devan screamed in protest, of course.
"Crazy homo!"
I laughed at Devan's randomness. I didn't like that they had passed us either, but I sure wasn't yelling at them or calling them names. Devan leaned back in her seat, still angry about the incident, but that was the end of it. We soon reached Galveston and looked around for a suitable hotel.
"I want one with breakfast."
"No, one with a pool."
"Devan, we probably won't end up swimming. Even if we do want to, we can wait until tomorrow when we're surrounded by water if the other hotels are cheaper."
"They'll have breakfast other places too."
"Not for free."
Devan shrugged and looked for a hotel that fit her needs. As it turned out, we found a relatively cheap hotel with free breakfast and a pool. We decided to save some money and get a room with just one bed instead of two. Once we got the key, we headed up to the room to check it out. It wasn't anything spectacular, but it was something. We decided to just take our suitcases up to the room so we could figure out what to put in the carry-on bags we would need for the next day. Once our things were safely locked into the hotel room, we decided to explore the city a little bit. We had nothing better to do with our night anyway.
I can't really tell you what we did because we were mostly just wandering around town. We hit a few stores close to the beach that sold surf gear and I found some white board shorts with a brown design on one leg, some clear full face goggles that were supposed to work really well, a brown rash guard with white and tan stitches, and some awesome sunscreen I fell in love with. Of course, I had a bathing suit already and didn't really need another one, but with Devan and I each left with almost a thousand to spend, I decided I would get it anyway. I think the only thing I didn't get was a beach towel because I fully intended on "forgetting" one of the towels from the cruise found its way into my suitcase and "accidentally"
taking it home. I liked them a lot and since I left my favorite bathing suit on the last ship I went on, I thought stealing a towel was a more-than-fair trade.
When we finally did make it back to the hotel, we weren't empty-handed. I had my shopping bags and Devan had the food we picked up from Burger King. We ate the food while we watched a movie that was on and then went to packing our carry-on for the next day. I grabbed my brown corduroy backpack and dumped it out on the floor. I went through the things that had spilled out. What did I need? I put my Asus Eee PC in the backpack first thing. It was a must have. I then got my camera, my phone, my iPod and all the power cords for the aforementioned items. I decided that the only other things I would really need were my swimming things, my wallet, my passport, and all the other papers required to board the ship. I stuffed all my new swimming gear into the backpack along with everything else and finally zipped it closed when I was satisfied. I found that Devan had packed almost the same things, minus the camera and the computer since she didn't bring her camera at all and didn't have a laptop. We tossed our bags aside, fetched our beloved stuffed animals, and claimed our side of the bed.
The next morning was relatively uneventful. I woke up first, but it took me a while to convince myself to actually get up and get ready. That's how it worked. I always woke up earlier than Devan, but I was also the hardest one to get up. I never wanted to wake up unless it was by my own free will or unless the price was high enough.
Once I decided it was time to get up, I headed over to my suitcase and fished out my brown "Where's The Love?" tee, my favorite jeans, socks, my brown corduroy shoes, and my bathroom bag. I took a quick shower and washed my hair before getting dressed. I decided to just leave my hair down for the time being and only put it up if I needed to later. When I had brushed my hair and teeth and felt I was ready, I left the bathroom. It didn't take Devan long to slip inside with her things. Within fifteen minutes, she was out of the bathroom completely ready. We put our pajamas and toiletries away and gathered our things. Although the breakfast buffet's aromas haunted me when we walked past the lobby, Devan and I both agreed to put our things in the car and return the room key before digging in. That way, if we ended up running over schedule, we would have all of that out of the way and could just leave.
We did finally make it to the buffet and found that the food was not as appetizing as it had smelled in the lobby or looked on the signs. It never was. That didn't stop Devan and I from digging in though. We only got the safe things.
Anything with a wrapper was okay to eat, which left us with muffins, milk, and cereal. Once our breakfast was gone, we decided to go ahead and get to the dock. After all, the earlier we got there, the earlier we could get on the ship. We headed out to the car and climbed into our respectful seats. Since it was only one and we couldn't even get inside until two, we made a quick pit stop at a convenience store a block or so away from our parking lot. I bought about four bottles of Mountain Dew Supernova, a few random pieces of candy, and some Funyuns. Devan had to be boring and only stocked up on her favorite candy: Skittles. We had planned ahead and stocked up at the Wal-Mart in Stephenville. In the bottom of Devan's suitcase were two six packs of good ol' Dublin Dr. Pepper, which is made with real sugar instead of yucky syrup, and in my Mudd backpack were about three bags of beef jerky. We were ready to go.
We got to the parking lot and parked the car. We stood outside of the car with our things until one of the shuttles came around, and then we loaded our things in the back and climbed into the back seat to leave room for other people. It didn't take long to get to the dock and we soon found ourselves on the first floor of the cruise ship. We couldn't really see anything, so we got on the first available elevator and rode it all the way up to our floor. The elevator was on the same side of the ship as our room, so we were able to make it to the room without getting distracted by the sights. Of course, all we did was drop off the things we had carried on board, change into our bathing suits, and head up to the pool deck. Swimming was about the only thing you could do until almost six anyway.
For the most part, Devan and I stayed in one area of the pool and just chatted while we relaxed. If we wanted to have any fun in the pool, then we would have to hit the indoor pool at around two in the morning. For the time being, we were perfectly content with chilling in our little area.
When we got out of the pool, I dried off a little before we headed up to the room. We were both getting hungry. I slipped into the bathroom before Devan had the chance and changed back into my clothes.
"Do you care if I take a shower real fast? I don't like having salt water in my hair."
"Go ahead."
While Devan was in the bathroom, I blow dried my hair and brushed the tangles out. I, for one, didn't mind the salt water. Devan still didn't come out of the bathroom, so I got my computer out and turned it on, plopping onto the little
couch. I was able to sign on to the internet since the ships now had wireless internet. I connected onto myspace and checked Will's page.
Hey guys! Summer's here again. It seems like so much time has passed since I was on American Idol. I'm so glad to know I still have a good fan base. I thought I would let y'all know that I won't be updating at all this next week because I'm going to be on a cruise ship. Leave me some messages and I'll try to respond when I get back to Texas. Have a great summer everyone.
Will
I smiled, but the expression was quickly one of shock when a droplet of water hit my shoulder. I hadn't expected that at all, but I knew it was just Devan standing over me. I hadn't even heard the bathroom door open. She read over my shoulder and spoke when she had finished reading.
"Maybe he's on this ship."
"Maybe," I smiled.
The thought hadn't even occurred to me until she mentioned it. What if he was on the same ship? That would be so cool. Maybe we would see him in Cozumel or something. I knew the chances of seeing him were slim, but the fact that the possibility was there was enough for me. I hit the post comment button and started to type a message back.
You're on a cruise?! Me too! Me and my best friend Devan made our own senior trip. What ship are you on?
Beccy
As soon as the comment was posted, Devan was hurrying me out the door. She was starving. I was too. I shut down the computer and followed her out the door. Once we were outside the room, I had to lead the way since Devan didn't have the slightest idea where she was going.
We got to the buffet and got what we wanted before heading in search of a table. We didn't get one by the window, but it didn't bother me too much. Galveston wasn't the prettiest sight to see on a cruise ship. I could find a fish tank prettier than the coast of Galveston.
I wasn't halfway through the meal before someone came up to the table and sat in the chair beside me. When I looked over, I almost fell out of my chair.
Apparently Will Makar was on the same ship as us since he was sitting in the chair right next to me.
"Hi," I managed to get out.
"Hey. I got your comment. I'm uh… I'm on this ship," Will smiled.
"Well obviously," I smiled, leaning over to hug him. "How are you?"
"I'm great. Starving, but great."
"Well, go get some food. You can join us."
"Sure," he nodded, standing and heading for the buffet.
He came back a few minutes later with a full plate of food and sat next to me again. There was small talk, but nothing really worth mentioning. It was decided that we would meet up at the sail away party a couple of hours later. When we were all done eating, we headed our separate ways. Devan and I headed up to the room because we honestly couldn't think of anything to do that we hadn't done already. There are plenty of things to do on a cruise, that's true, but when you're a certain distance from a port you can't really do much on the ship. It's especially dead on the first day. There's almost nothing to do until that evening.
"Too bad we can't play Sims," Devan commented upon entering the room.
I had a laptop, sure, but those little Asus Eee PCs don't exactly have the memory to play a game such as The Sims. Mine only had eight gigabytes and that was the biggest of the ones I looked at. Since Sims was out of the question, we got online and played family feud for a while. When we looked at the clock and saw it was time for the sail away party, we quickly changed back into our bathing suits and headed up to the pool deck. Upon arriving, we got a lei placed around our neck. Rather than getting in the pool again, Devan and I sat in the chairs. Will was supposed to be there soon. I was excited. This would be the best vacation ever.
Chapter Two
By the time we were supposed to head to dinner, Devan and I were pooped. We had danced and made fools of ourselves alongside Will and we were just ready to eat and go to bed. We had to save our energy for the next day when there would be more fun than we knew what to do with.
"Buffet or the dining room?"
"Do I have to dress formal?"
"No. Nobody has their formals in carry-on bags and our luggage hasn't come yet. So dining room?"
"Dining room," Devan agreed.
So we changed into our clothes and headed down to the dining room. The waiter showed us to our table. I spotted Will sitting with his mom and dad and waved. I didn't realize that the waiter had stopped until I nearly bumped into Devan. No way. The fact that Will Makar was on the same cruise as us was amazing, but him sharing a table with us was too good to be true.
"Beccy! How are you? I haven't seen you around in a while."
"Hi, Mrs. Makar," I smiled, blushing a little. "I'm good. How are you?"
"Oh, please, call me Shirlynn. I'm good myself. Thanks for asking. What brings you on board? Are you on vacation?"
"Well, kind of. Me and my best friend created our own senior trip."
"I see. Is your dad here as well?"
"He's not, actually. This one is just me and Devan," I responded, gesturing to Devan partially to make my point and partially to get the attention away from myself so I would stop blushing.
"That sounds like fun. Me and all my girlfriends did something like that. It wasn't a cruise, of course, but we still had fun."
I only had time to smile before the waiter came around asking us what we wanted to drink. I was glad he came around. Talking to Will's mom made me nervous still. I did good to talk to Will without looking or sounding like an idiot, but his mom was another story entirely.
We ordered food and were soon eating. It was a pretty quiet meal altogether. There wasn't much to say. When Devan and I were through eating, we excused ourselves. We said goodnight to Will and his parents and started to head out the door. It wasn't long before I heard someone following after us, and I turned to see Will. I couldn't help but smile. I never thought he'd come find me.
"I was just thinking… maybe we could hang out tomorrow. You, me, and Devan?" Will suggested.
"Uh…" I turned to Devan for some input.
"That sounds fun," Devan nodded.
"Yeah. I'd like that."
"Great," Will smiled. "I guess just… message me on facebook when you're ready. I'll check it a lot tomorrow."
"Oh, do you have a laptop too?"
"No, I'll just use my iPod touch to pick up their connection. I'm not planning on getting on the internet all the time anyway."
"That's true. Well, I will message you tomorrow. Goodnight."
"Night," he replied.
Will headed back into the dining room and Devan and I continued to the elevators. We fully intended on following through with our plan to go to bed early. I didn't mind one bit. I had been fed chicken and cheesecake while spending time with my favorite singer and I was surrounded by ocean. You could have made me sleep outside and I wouldn't have cared at that point in time.