Wow! I can't even process the responses from the first chapter... I certainly was not expecting the amount of response I got for it. I truly thank every single one of you for taking time out of your day to read and review, favorite, and follow the story. Hopefully you will all enjoy and stick around for all of the twists and turns that I have in store.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything associated with The Originals...I just like to play around with the characters at times. I only own the plot...mostly.

Chapter 2 - Cruise Vacation Fling (CVF)

"Okay. Tell me again why you insisted on going the long way around." Hayley huffed, dragging her suitcase behind her down the long hallway.

Keelin shrugged her shoulders as she turned to Hayley, proceeding to walk backwards down the hall. "Why else? I wanted to check out the entire deck."

"We could have done that after we put our luggage in the room," Hayley deadpanned.

"Oh, stop being a baby," Keelin said, waving a hand in a dismissive manner.

"I'm not being a baby. I'm being logical," Hayley replied. "And you should watch where you're going," she warned her.

Keelin squinted her eyes as she turned around and collided with a semi hard surface.

Hayley bit her tongue to keep from laughing and instead said, "I told you so."

Keelin proceeded to give Hayley the finger behind her back at the same time that she apologized to the woman she'd run into.

Hayley chuckled in response, shaking her head at her friend's childish antics.

"I apologize for not paying attention to where I was walking. I..."

Catching sight of the guy that was with the woman, Hayley tuned out the rest of what Keelin was saying. As inappropriate as it probably was for her to do, Hayley found herself eyeing the man up and down. He wore a suit with the top few buttons of his coat jacket unbuttoned, a white shirt peaking out. He looked so out of place for being on vacation on a cruise ship.

Hayley felt her face heat up when she trailed her gaze back up to his face, finding him staring right back at her. Her heart began to beat a faster as the heat coursed through her. Great. Not even ten minutes on the ship and she'd already made herself look the part of a fool.

Breaking eye contact, Hayley pushed her way by them to get to her room. "Let's go put our luggage in the room, Keelin."

"Right."

Keelin was coming up behind her a few moments later.

"This is going to be a great two weeks," Keelin whispered.

"I'm sure it will be."

Unlocking the door, Hayley pushed it open and walked inside.

"Holy shit!" Keelin exclaimed. "Look at the size of this room!"

Placing her bags down, Hayley turned to her friend. "I know, right?! Jackass paid for it, and we're gonna reap the benefits of us being here instead!"

"I am so glad that I came!" Keelin squealed. "Heck, I'm fine with not even leaving the room this whole cruise."

Hayley smirked. "Check the balcony."

"What? Why?" Keelin asked, running over to the door. "Oh my god! That entire balcony is ours?!"

"Yep," Hayley answered, crossing her arms as she made her way over to Keelin. "Hot tub and all."

Keelin gasped, turning her head to look at her. "Wait! There's a hot tub?!"

Before Hayley could reply, Keelin threw the door open and ran out onto the balcony. "I'm never leaving this room," she insisted. "For the next two weeks, this room is home. We'll just have to order room service, or you'll have to bring me food back."

Hayley laughed, shaking her head. "Be my guest. You can find me living it up at the pool and getting a tan."

"Oh, well... I'll leave the room for that at least," Keelin said, going back inside to unpack her bags.

"Thought so."

"Thank god I let you talk me into coming here. I would've been missing so freaking much."

"You're welcome."

Keelin rolled her eyes, sticking her tongue out at her friend.

Hayley grinned in return.

"Umm... this is most definitely not my bag," Keelin pointed out, turning to face Hayley while holding up a piece of clothing that without a doubt belonged to a man.

Hayley put a hand over her mouth to stifle a giggle. "You must've grabbed the wrong bag in the hall."

"I guess so," Keelin agreed, putting the clothing back into the bag and zipping it up.

Hayley raised an eyebrow. "But how did you grab his when you were standing by the girl?"

"Freya," Keelin said quickly.

"Huh?"

"The girl's name is Freya," Keelin answered; of course she would've gotten the girl's name. Then Keeling shrugged before changing the subject by answering Hayley's previous question. "And I have absolutely no idea how I grabbed his."

"You sure about that?" Hayley questioned, not believing Keelin; she knew her friend well enough to know when she was keeping something from her.

"I am 110% sure."

Hayley squinted her eyes, but decided not to question Keelin further for now. "Well, if you want... I can take the luggage to them," Hayley offered.

It was Keelin's turn to be on the offensive. "How do you know what room they're in?"

Hayley shrugged. "I'll figure it out," she answered quickly, grabbing the bag and rushing out of the room; there was no way she was going to admit to Keelin that she'd secretly watched to see what room they'd gone into. She wasn't a creeper. She wasn't.

Making her way down the long hallway, Hayley didn't stop until she was standing in front of the guy's door. Taking a deep breath, she lifted her hand up and knocked. She waited as patiently as she could, shifting from one foot to the other. The door opened a few moments later.

"Umm... hi. Uhh... It seems my friend grabbed your luggage by mistake," Hayley said, nodding her head towards the luggage in question. Upon seeing the questioning look on the guys face, Hayley shook her head. "Don't ask me how because I don't know."

The guy chuckled. "Alright then. I won't ask."

Hayley smiled as she handed the bag to him. "Thank you."

"I'll go get your friends," the guy said, turning to go back into the room.

He came back moments later. "Here you go."

Hayley felt her cheeks heat up when her hand brushed his as she took the bag and made sure to look anywhere but at him. "Oh, thank you umm... sir."

"Elijah."

Hayley looked up. "Huh?"

"My name is Elijah."

"Oh, right. Sorry," Hayley said, embarrassment coursing right through her. "I'm Hayley."

Elijah grinned. "It's nice to meet you, Hayley."

"You, too, Elijah."

"Did you get my bag back yet?" a voice called from down the hall.

Both Hayley and Elijah turned towards the direction of the voice.

"Here," Hayley said, reaching out to hand the bag over.

Keelin stopped next to her and took it. "Oh, good. Now I can finish unpacking."

"Nice to see you again already, Elijah." Keelin smirked. "So sorry about the luggage mix up."

Hayley rolled her eyes. "Sure you are," she thought to herself.

"I see you two have finally met," Keelin said, the look in her eyes filling Hayley in on so much; she'd purposely taken Elijah's bag to give Hayley and Elijah a reason to meet. Although, Hayley doubted that she'd actually known Hayley would offer to take the bag back. Or did she?

Hayley didn't get to contemplate for too long.

"Come on, Elijah," the girl who Hayley now knew as Freya said as she appeared next to Elijah in the doorway. "I want to go stand at the rail and watch as the ship leaves port."

Elijah turned to Freya. "You don't need me to hold your hand to do that."

Freya gave him a puppy dog face look in response. "Please. We're supposed to be spending more time together during the next two weeks." She grinned. "I say let's start now."

Elijah sighed, shaking his head. "Fine. I'll come with you."

Freya smirked triumphantly as she grabbed his arm. "Yes!"

"It was a pleasure meeting you both," Elijah said to Hayley and Keelin before being dragged away.

"You two as well," Hayley and Keelin responded together.

"That man is absolutely gorgeous!" Keelin exclaimed in a whisper as Elijah and Freya disappeared down the hall.

Hayley chuckled as she headed back to her and Keelin's room. "Go for it."

"I could, but I won't."

"Why not?" Hayley wondered, glancing at her.

Keelin smirked. "Because I'm not the only one who thinks he's absolutely gorgeous."

Hayley's eyes immediately grew wide. "What? Huh? What are you talking about?"

"I saw the way you were checking him out."

"I was not." Hayley argued, crossing her arms over her chest.

Rolling her eyes, Keelin deadpanned, "Okay, yeah. Sure."

Shaking her head, Hayley muttered under her breath, "Oh, whatever."

"But other than that, I'm more into Freya."

It was Hayley's turn to smirk as she asked, "Are you planning on having a cruise ship fling?"

Keelin ignored the question. "So do you think they are together?" she wondered. "Or brother and sister?"

Hayley shrugged. "Why don't you just go ask them?"

"Are you sure it's just me who wants to know?" Keelin chuckled.

"Shut up!" Hayley exclaimed, hip checking Keelin.

"We should go out there and watch as we leave port, too."

"You just want to find out if they're related or not."

"So what if I do?"

Hayley sighed. "Go put your bag in the room."

"Yay!"

~AllAtSea~

"Mind if we join you?" Keelin asked as they approached Freya and Elijah.

Freya turned her head towards, smiling a smile directed more at Keelin. Not that Hayley minded. She didn't want to get mixed up in whatever had already begun between her friend and the girl she'd met not even five minutes ago. If hooking up with Freya really was Keelin's idea of a good time, then Hayley wasn't going to stand in her way.

"Not at all," Freya replied.

Hayley and Keelin took their places at the rail, which somehow ended up with Keelin beside Freya and Hayley in between Freya and Elijah. Hayley didn't have time to dwell on that before Keelin's next words left her mouth.

"So are you two together? Or you know, are you brother and sister?"

Hayley gasped. "Keelin!"

"What?" She shrugged her shoulder. "I'm just curious."

Both Elijah and Freya laughed.

"It's not a problem," Freya assured her.

"We're siblings," Elijah responded to Keelin's question.

"That's good to know," Keelin commented happily.

Despite the awkwardness of the situation, Hayley couldn't refrain from smiling to herself. So they were siblings? Hm. Now the question was whether or not they were both single or not. Being that Hayley wasn't as out there as Keelin was, that was one question she'd have to figure out the answer to later.

Leaning against the railing, Hayley allowed herself to momentarily drain out the voices around her. Taking in the sight of the glistening water down below and the feeling and whooshing sound of the wind faintly blowing, Hayley closed her eyes. For the next two weeks this would be the setting of her life; on a huge cruise ship surrounded by beautifully glistening and comforting water.

It made her wonder how differently she would feel had her original plans gone off without a hitch. Would she have even been out here to notice the water and the wind? Or would she have spent the entire cruise not leaving the room and instead staying in with Jack?

Hayley frowned at the thought of her ex. He had ruined everything. And she really didn't want him to ruin the cruise, too. But it was hard not to think about how the cruise would go if she were here with him instead of Keelin. Not that she would want to be at this point. If she was honest, the first half hour on the ship with Keelin was better than even five minutes probably would've been with Jack. He never really had been the life of the party.

A nudge on the left side of her broke her from her thoughts. When she turned her head she noticed that Freya and Keelin had traded places. Had she really been so into her thoughts that she hadn't noticed it before? Apparently so. Hayley raised an eyebrow upon seeing the expression on Keelin's face.

"You're thinking about him. Don't."

Hayley opened her mouth to say something but closed it before any words came out.

"He doesn't deserve you. And he doesn't deserve to have the thrill of ruining your vacation."

With a nod of her head, Hayley agreed. "You're right."

"I know I am."

"Egotistical much?"

Keelin shrugged. "Sometimes. Depends on the situation."

"So I think we should kick off our cruise with a few drinks," Freya suggested, interrupting Hayley and Keelin's banter.

Hayley looked over at her, noticing that she was staring past her at her brother.

"There are better things to do than drink."

Rolling her eyes, Freya replied, "Oh, come on, brother. You're on vacation! Live a little bit now, would you?"

Elijah sighed, shaking his head. "Fine then," he relented. "I guess I can as you put it, live a little bit for one night."

Freya grinned, clapping her hands together excitedly. "Great!" she exclaimed, turning her attention to Hayley and Keelin. "You two should join us."

Keelin smiled. "I'd be honored."

Hayley had to force back a snort. She shrugged her shoulders and sighed when Freya, Keelin, and Elijah all looked over at her. "Okay, fine. Why not? A drink or two won't hurt anything."

~AllAtSea~

"Just one more drink."

Hayley shook her head. "If I drink anymore, I will be passing over the line into drunk territory," Hayley explained to her less than cooperative friend. "But just because I don't want to drink anymore doesn't mean that you can't."

Keelin rolled her eyes. "Fine," she huffed, turning her attention back to Freya who apparently didn't mind drinking another drink.

"You know I think I'm going to call it a night," Hayley said, finishing off her current drink in one gulp.

"Okay. See you later," Keelin replied without turning around to look at her; she was much to preoccupied with her new crush.

Hayley shook her head, rolling her eyes.

"Mind if I walk back to the rooms with you?" Elijah wondered, looking up at Hayley as she stood from the table.

Hayley offered him a smile. "No, not at all."

Elijah stood up after trying to get his sister's attention but failing. She and Keelin were both too caught up in each other.

"The whole room could clear out and neither of them would notice," Hayley joked, pushing her chair back under the table.

"It appears that way," Elijah agreed, cracking a smile.

"At least someone is enjoying their cruise so far."

"Two someones."

"Well aren't you captain technical," Hayley noted with a small grin as they left the bar.

Elijah shrugged. "It's the professor in me."

"You're a professor?"

"I am."

"I've always wondered what it'd be like to get with a professor."

Elijah abruptly stopped walking.

Slapping a hand over her mouth, Hayley gasped. "Did I just say that out loud?"

"You did."

"My bad. Apparently I didn't stop drinking soon enough," Hayley said, feeling her face flush with heat. "Throwing myself over that railing right now seems very tempting."

Elijah chuckled. "No need to take such extreme measures," he assured her. "I've heard much worse before. And from sober people. Not all women either."

Hayley laughed. "Is that so?"

"The things I could tell you that have been said to me by both sexes."

"I might have to let you tell me one day."

"I'd be happy to," he replied as they began walking again. "So how about you? What do you do?"

Hayley tilted her head to the side as she glanced over at him. "I only just met you not even a few hours ago. How do I know you're not some crazy person that I shouldn't be conversing with?"

Elijah chuckled in amusement.

"I'm being honest. For all I know you could end up being another Christian Grey. Good looking and charming, but then you start showing up at my work and expecting me to partake in some questionable sexual activities."

Elijah's amusement grew with every word that left Hayley's mouth.

"Do I seem like that kind of person?"

"A so called professor who never wears anything other than suits?" Hayley pretended to think about it for a while. "It could go either way."

"My sister has forced me to watch that movie with her on a few different occasions before and I can assure you, I'm a complete gentleman. I am not anything like Christian Grey," Elijah told here. "I mean, other than good looking and charming," he added teasingly.

It was Hayley's turn to be amused. An uncontrollable laugh tore from her throat. "I am pretty good at reading people. And I believe you," Hayley replied. "But still not enough to tell you all about myself yet."

With a nod, Elijah said, "Fair enough. We don't have to talk about you right now."

Hayley smiled. "So far you are proving to be a gentleman."

"I told you I was."

"That you did."

A particularly chilly breeze suddenly blew through the walkway, prompting Hayley to wrap her arms around herself. She didn't even pay any attention to what Elijah did next. It wasn't until he put his jacket around her that she realized he had taken it off.

"You did not have to do that," she said even as she pulled the jacket around herself.

"Have you already forgotten? I'm a gentleman."

Hayley grinned, glancing at him. "How do I know this isn't just a part of your plan?"

"You must really want me to turn out to be a bad guy."

Shaking her head, Hayley replied, "I never said that."

"But all of your words are implying it."

"Not on purpose," Hayley insisted. "It's just that one can't ever be too careful these days."

Elijah nodded. "You have a point there."

For the next half hour, they walked around the deck of the ship talking about this and that before deciding to call it a night for real. They took the elevator down to their deck and despite his room being before hers, Elijah walked her to hers.

"Thank you for the company." Hayley smiled. "And for walking me to my room."

"I'm a gentlemen," he reminded her. "It's what I do."

"But of course," Hayley teased. "So I'm sure I'll see you again tomorrow. Especially if Keelin and Freya get their way."

"I am sure of it as well."

"In that case, I guess it's until tomorrow," Hayley said, moving to unlock her door.

"Good night, Hayley," Elijah replied, smiling at her before he turned to head to his own room.

"Night, Elijah."

It wasn't until she was changing into her pajamas that she realized she'd never given him his jacket back.

.~AllAtSea~

Hayley groaned as she was shaken awake. She had fully expected for Keelin to wake her up, but actually having it happen annoyed her to no end. She had been having a particularly nice dream. And now she wasn't going to get to finish it.

"Seriously, Keelin?" Hayley muttered, looking over at the clock on the bedside table. "It's 4am."

Keelin ignored her friend. "I like her!"

"I figured that already." Hayley rolled her eyes. "You spent the whole evening..." She looked over at the clock again, wondering if she'd read the time wrong through her hazy eyes. Nope, still 4 am. "...and night with her."

Keelin bounced on the bed like a little kid. "No," she whined drunkenly. "I mean I like her, like her!"

That got Hayley's attention. She sat up in bed, propping herself against the wall behind her. "Like as more than a fling kind of like?" she questioned curiously.

Laughing, Keelin shook her head and positioned herself next to Hayley. "Well, not that much... yet."

Hayley sighed, glaring at her drunk friend. "Then what are you trying to tell me?"

"I mean I like her enough to not just hit it and quit."

Hayley snorted. "You should go tell her exactly that."

"I've decided that I'm going all in with her and making her my CVF."

"That sounds like the name of a pharmacy," Hayley joked.

"It actually stands for Cruise Vacation Fling."

"And you know for a fact she's willing to go along with that?"

Keelin nodded. "She may have mentioned something about being on the look out for some fun during the next two weeks." She smirked. "And she also pressed her chest into my face."

Eyes widening, Hayley practically shrieked, "Wait, what?!"

"She definitely gave me a face full of her chest."

"Could it have been an accident or something?"

Keelin shook her head adamantly. "She could've easily reached around me to get what she was reaching for. But she instead chose to reach over me to get it."

Hayley chuckled. "Why am I not surprised that you've already found your vacationship?!"

Grinning mischievously, Keelin said. "Oh, well... I am not the only one who has."

"What are you talking about?" Hayley asked, confused.

"You know exactly what I am talking about." Keelin wiggled her eyebrows. "I saw you leave early with Elijah."

Hayley waved her off. "He offered to walk me back to the room since he was ready to go back to his," she explained. "That was it."

"For now."

Laying back down, Hayley rolled over to face away from Keelin. "Whatever," she muttered under her breath, closing her eyes. "So should I start planning my days without you in them?"

"Or with Elijah in them."

Hayley huffed. "Just shut up and go to sleep, Keelin."

"You want him! You so want him! You totally want him!" Keelin exclaimed in a sing song voice. "You can have your very own CVF!"

Reaching behind her, Hayley blindly hit Keelin wherever she could. "Sleep!"

Keelin's laughter was the last thing she heard before falling back to sleep that night.

Alright, there is chapter 2! I hope you all enjoyed it! Let me know what you thought of it in a review!