It had been a few months since the Paris incident and Cody was still just as miserable as the day that it happened. He couldn't believe that he had spent over six months trying to get with her to have it end like this. In his head he knew the breakup had been over something silly and if one of them would just stop being stubborn then they could fix it. Even though he realized this he didn't want to be the one to break down first because in his mind if she didn't care enough to try and fix things then why should he?
So, now here he is miserable and alone sitting on his bed. Every time he heard a sound outside his room, he would quickly cover his face just in case it was Woody about to walk in. He didn't want anyone to see him crying. It had been months and he didn't want anyone to know he was still upset over Bailey.
Cody hadn't cried over Bailey in a while, but he made the mistake of going to see Zack at work and had run into her… with her new boyfriend. He even tried to turn around and leave when he saw the two, but it had been too late and he was dragged into a long awkward conversation. Once he was able to leave without seeming rude he had went back to his cabin.
Hours must have past as he sat there because the next person to walk in was Zack. Cody pushed his hair out of his face and looked over at his brother. Zack was the one person who Cody didn't mind seeing him cry. As he stared at Zack he waited for him to make a joke, or just say something mean at his expense. Cody wasn't ready for what Zack actually did.
"I am sorry." Zack said as he sat down on the edge of the bed. "I know it hurts." As he spoke he reached out an arm to put it around Cody's shoulder. "But honestly dude, you're so better off."
"Yeah, I guess." Cody said with a sigh. "I miss her, though."
"There are so many fish in the sea, and guess what? We are on a boat!" Zack said with a snicker as he attempted to lighten the mood. "I'll tell you what. How about tonight you and I go and find us some girls."
"I don't know if I am ready yet." Cody said sadly as he began to play with his fingers.
"Dude, it's been months. It is time you got out there and found you a new girl... or if you're lucky like me a few" Zack teased.
"I guess, but I don't think anyone will be as wonderful as Bailey was." Cody said as he began to tear up again.
"Don't worry. It isn't about replacing her, but I am sure you can find someone just as amazing. We need to get you all dressed up for the ladies. So go take a shower and get dressed and meet me in an hour on the fiesta deck." Zack said as he stood up to talk to the door. "One hour." He repeated and with that he was gone.
*Insert elevator music* an hour passes and Cody is waiting for Zack on the fiesta deck feeling out of place.
As Cody waited for Zack he looked around at all of the people that were walking past. There was a party tonight, well there was a party every night, it was a cruise ship after all. As he looked around at all the faces he began to panic, worrying that Bailey and her new boyfriend would somehow show up. Just as Cody was about to get up and leave he felt a hand on his shoulder.
"Hey, bro," Zack said with a smile. "See any girls you like yet?"
"No, I actually was about to leave. Zack this isn't my thing."
"Come on. You need to at least try. Look there is a girl over there checking you out." Zack said as he pointed to an older woman that was indeed looking Cody up and down. This fact disturbed Cody more than anything else and caused him just to repeat that this was not the place for him. Zack was not going to give up that easily.
For the next hour Zack pulled Cody up to different girls to talk to, but within a few minutes Cody would just begin to babble on about Bailey and how heartbroken he was over the whole thing. The moment he would do so the girls would lose all interest in being with him and only want to comfort him like a heartbroken puppy.
"Dude," Zack said pulling Cody off into a corner. "You are going to ruin your chance with any girl if you don't stop and more importantly any chance I have with any girl too. You're bringing the whole room down."
"I thought this was about me getting over Bailey and not you getting a girl." Cody said a little frustrated.
"Well, yeah but after you get a girl then I am going to get me one or two as well." Zack said in his playboy manner.
"I am done." Cody said as he stormed off. This was just too much he wasn't going to do this with his brother. He made sure not to give Zack a chance to argue as he left the fiesta deck. It took him a minute to realize that Zack hadn't followed him and even longer to realize where he had walked to.
Cody looked around and he was all alone on the star deck. Slowly he walked over to the edge of the boat to lean against the railing. He looked out over the water to stare at the sky in order to clear his head. The sight was breath taking. He didn't even think about the fact he was shivering. In an attempt to look nice he had worn a pair of tight dark blue jeans and a light blue and green button up shirt that was not doing anything to protect him from the cold night air. As he stared out he lost himself in thought and began to cry a little again.
Cody was so absorbed in his sorrow that he didn't even notice the girl that walked up next to him. She looked as if she was either his age or right around in. Her mid-length dark brown hair blew into her face as a gentle wind passed, but it didn't cause her to take her equally dark brown eyes off of him. "Are you okay?" She asked breaking the silence of the night and alerting him of her presents.
"What? Oh hi," Cody said shyly as he realized he wasn't alone. "Yeah, I am fine." He said as he turned away trying to hide his tears.
"It's okay to cry you know." She said trying to comfort him. "If you want you can talk about it. I am a good listener and sometimes it is easier to talk about your problems with a stranger then with someone you know, because you really don't have to care about what a stranger thinks." Slowly she began to move closer to him in order to get a better look at him.
"It's over a girl. We were together for a while and I really loved her and well… It's over now. It's been over for a while, but I still can't seem to get over her. My brother says I should just move on, but it seems easier said than done." Cody said as he turned to look back at the girl through his tears.
"Yeah, love sucks." was all that she said back to him. She really wasn't sure on how to comfort this boy that she just meant but she was going to give it her best effort.
As Cody stared at her he began to think about how pretty she was. "My name is Cody." He said quickly realizing that he hadn't introduced himself yet.
"Hi, Cody," She said as she held out her hand in a goofy manner. "My name is Gin. It's nice to meet you, Hun."
Cody took her hand gently to shake it. "Sorry to complain about my problems to you." He said as he took another step close to her. They were practically inches from each other. He wasn't sure if it was how the moon was shining on him, or that he was so depressed over Bailey that he needed someone, but she looked so amazing to him. It was as if he had never seen a girl before in his life.
Without another thought he closed the space between them to kiss her, but to his dismay though she took a step back. "Um?" she said confused. "Nice to meet you too I guess." She giggled. "Well, I should be going. I am sure my mum is worried about me."
Just when he was starting to get worry that he was getting the cold shoulder from her she began to speak again. "How long are you going to be on the ship?"
"I live here. Well, I go to school here." He smiled. "You?"
"For a month I think. Well, however long it takes for this ship to go once around the world. My parents wanted to go onto a world tour. It's perfect then." She smiled about some plan that she had in her head that only she knew about. "Well see you here tomorrow. Same time, same place." She said as she stuck out her tongue at him and darted off.
As she disappeared from sight a smile spread widely across his face. "Maybe Zack was right and it is time I moved on." Cody walked back to his cabin with a new found skip in his step.