A/N: Yeah, decided to update. sorry, i've been having exams and packing (we're shifting in a few days) so things've been hectic, you know?
Raul leaned forward so that he was hanging over the railing. His face was tilted upwards so that it caught the light from the setting sun. He then looked at the pink-haired girl who had just walked up to him.
"Hey, why aren't you watching the movie?" he asked. Everybody else was watching some new horror flick in the living room, but he wasn't particularly interested in it. However, he knew that Matilda had been really excited to see it, so he was surprised to see her standing here instead.
"I could ask you the same question," she replied, her face lighting up with a smile.
"The beginning seemed stupid," he replied, shrugging, "So I assume that the middle and end will be the same."
Her smile faltered. He could see she really wanted to watch the movie. "Well, alright, then," she said determinedly. "I'll keep you company."
"No you won't," he dismissed her offer with a wave of his hand. "You want to see that movie; you've been talking about it forever."
She let out an annoyed huff. "I don't care what you say, I'm keeping you company and you'll like it!" Stubbornly, she leaned on the railing too, still keeping her eyes on his face. His lips twitched as he decided to change tack: embarrass her into leaving.
"Well, of course I'll like it. Why wouldn't I like your company?"
This caught her absolutely off guard. She pushed herself away from the railing. "W-what?"
He, too, straightened up and turned so that he was facing her. "I like your company," he stated simply, raising his eyebrows.
Matilda's face turned red. She glanced away towards the sun, which had now almost completely disappeared over the horizon.
"So you don't like the beginning, huh?" she asked, trying to change the subject. Raul grinned suddenly.
"You're cute when you're embarrassed," he remarked, sure that this would drive her down into the room. Instead, she looked at him angrily.
"That's not funny!" the usually mild-tempered girl snapped.
"What is?" asked Raul, his grin fading.
"You don't say things like that when you don't mean them!"
"But I do mean it," he protested, realizing what she meant. She clearly didn't believe him. "Seriously!" He pulled her into a hug. She stiffened up at first, but gradually relaxed, hugging him back. He grinned and dropped a light kiss into her hair; that was all sorted out. "Let's go watch that movie now, shall we?"
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There were a few raised eyebrows and some sniggering from Miguel when Raul walked in with his arm around Matilda, but mostly there were shushing noises from various parts of the dark room. All eyes were on the screen. Raul sighed and flopped down onto a sofa, ignoring the nudge from his twin. She was obviously much amused.
One and a half excruciating hours later, the movie was finally over. The TV had been switched off and the room had been lit; now everybody had decided to linger there for a while, entertaining themselves.
It was at that moment that Laura Gardner entered the room. Her blue eyes scanned the room before landing on Tala. "I'm not intruding," she said. It wasn't a polite question, merely a stated fact which she had decided to voice. The girl was brimming with arrogance.
"If you say so," muttered Miguel, making Julia, who was sitting across from him, laugh. Laura's head snapped towards them, looking at them once before walking over to Tala.
"Now she'll inform him that the seat beside him isn't taken," said Miguel, with an ill-concealed grin that widened when she did exactly what he had said she would. Tala raised his eyebrows but returned to his book, indicating that he didn't care whether or not she sat next to him. Julia chuckled.
Laura had now sat down beside Tala and was glancing at him repeatedly. She seemed less calm than usual, maybe even a little excited. Salima had mentioned something about Mona and Laura being huge fans of beyblading. Meeting so many world-class bladders would probably have her brewing over with ecstasy.
"Which book are you reading?" she asked suddenly, unable to keep quiet any longer, but not wanting to embarrass herself by showing her excitement.
Tala answered her question without even looking at her. She looked disgruntled, but Julia, who had been watching, felt strangely elated.
"Is she trying to flirt with him?" she whispered to Miguel while moving her pawn on the chessboard that now lay between them.
"Are you jealous?" he replied, his annoying grin reappearing as he took her pawn.
"What is your problem?" she hissed, gritting her teeth at the fact she had lost about seven pieces already. She couldn't keep her mind on the game, for some reason.
"Don't worry, I'm sure he'll propose sooner or later," he cooed, taking yet another pawn. "God, you're terrible at this game."
"No, I'm not," she replied, irritated. "And stop saying that!"
"Hey, take it easy," he said, smirking as he checkmated her king. "I win."
Julia petulantly pushed the board away. She glanced at Laura and Tala again. Laura was tittering… yes, tittering… while Tala looked both faintly annoyed and bored. He looked over at her suddenly, their eyes meeting, and she glowered at him. It wasn't that she was mad at him; Miguel's teasing was getting on her nerves. That was all. He raised his eyebrows at the unexpected show of anger, and turned back to Laura, who was in the middle of a long and involved lecture about the Loch Ness monster.
"I don't believe it exists," he cut the girl's speech short. "Now, I have to go." He snapped his book shut and stood up. Without any "Goodbye, see you around," or anything of the sort, he abruptly left the room. And suddenly Julia wasn't so annoyed any more.
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Salima swept her gaze around the room, bored. It fell on a certain black haired teen who'd been occupying her thoughts a lot. He was seated comfortably on a couch, staring at the ground. He didn't seem to be doing anything, so she decided to go over to him.
Ray looked up when he felt someone sit down on the opposite end of the couch. Salima smiled tentatively at him, which he returned without any hesitation. Suddenly, Salima realized that whenever she and Ray held a 'conversation', it was always her talking and him listening. She didn't really know anything about him at all. And that was just wrong.
"What's your favourite colour?" she asked abruptly. He raised his eyebrows and chuckled at the random question, but she remained adamant. She was going to let him do all the talking today.
"Why do you ask?" he replied, looking like he genuinely wanted to know.
"Well, you see, whenever I try to talk to you," Salima began to ramble before she realized it, but suddenly straightened up. "See? You're doing it again. Stop doing that!"
"Doing what?" he asked, confusion written all over his face. The redhead was acting very strange today; she wasn't her normal placid self.
"Whenever we have a so-called conversation, I end up doing all the talking," she retorted. "I hate that. It must be annoying for you, and besides, I know nothing about you. You probably know what my favourite colour is."
"Yeah…" said Ray, the confusion disappearing, replaced by an expression of amusement. She opened her mouth to rant again, but he covered it with his hand. "But I enjoy listening to you talk."
She blinked twice in a bemused sort of way before he removed his hand with a laugh. A light blush mantled her cheeks. Then, all of a sudden, the stubbornness returned. "I don't care," she said, with a childish pout. "So what is it?"
"I don't know why you need to know my favourite colour," replied Ray. His eyes were twinkling with amusement; he had decided to tease the flustered redhead a little. "It's very irrelevant."
"Well," Salima thought for a moment before continuing, "Christmas is coming near and maybe I want to know what colour to get your gift in." Her tone was unsure; she knew it was a stupid reason. This belief was strengthened when Ray laughed out loud. She coloured. "I just want to know, ok?"
"I'm not going to tell you," countered Ray, his voice now slightly sing song. She looked at him uncertainly. He never behaved this flippantly. It was a refreshing change from normal, but it was also unsettling.
"Are— Are you feeling alright?" she asked, in response to which he smiled, his sharp canine showing to one side of his mouth. Before he could reply, though, Max suddenly dived in between them onto the couch.
"What're you doing?" asked Ray, baffled, staring at the blond who was now burrowing into the sofa.
"Loose… change…." He panted breathlessly. Both of them raised their eyebrows. He seemed oblivious to their bemused looks, as he triumphantly pulled out a few coins. "AHA!" he said, counting them. "Jackpot!" Without another word, he scrambled off the sofa and fled from the room as if he was being chased by tigers.
"Now, you should be asking him that question," Ray said, referring to Salima's former enquiry. She laughed, though still looking bewildered. She was about to reply when suddenly, yet again, they were interrupted by a teen jumping onto the couch. This time it was Tyson. He, too, started to burrow into the sofa.
"You know," Ray said casually, "Max was here a moment ago."
"Oh no!" exclaimed Tyson, wide-eyed. "I need loose change! Dammit!" He made to get off the sofa but Ray reached out and grabbed his collar. "Before going, please explain what you're doing?"
"Max and I are having a competition…" explained Tyson, his gaze shifting nervously. "Scavenger hunt of sorts. And the first item was 4 quarters. And now Max has got 'em all!" He seemed furious; his competitive nature would never allow him to live this down.
"I could give you four quarters if you like," offered Ray, and taking Tyson's thankful expression to mean yes, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a black wallet. Tyson tapped his foot impatiently on the ground. Finally, Ray found the needed amount of coins and placed them into Tyson's outstretched palm. Like Max, Tyson took flight.
"They'll be obsessed with this for days," somebody muttered from behind them. They craned their necks to see Hilary looking vaguely annoyed. "It'll take up all their time and they'll think of nothing else."
"Maybe you could distract them, eh?" said Salima with a sly smile. Hilary looked at her indignantly and she added. "Okay, okay, not both of them… Just Tyson." She grinned when Hilary's expression darkened angrily and she stalked off.
"This is the weirdest day I've ever had," muttered Ray, rubbing the bridge of his nose. Excusing himself from his companion, he left the room. Salima chuckled lightheartedly, once again looking around the room. It was deliciously warm and comfortable and the atmosphere was friendly. Hilary had stormed out of the room, only to have her bean bag occupied by Enrique, who was chatting animatedly to somebody on his cell phone. He caught her looking at her and grinned, waggling his eyebrows. She rolled her eyes in return.
To his right, Miriam was pointing something out to Joseph in a magazine, in response to which he wrinkled his nose and swatted it away. Miriam giggled at her brother's antics. At the opposite side of the room, Matilda signaled to her that she wanted to see the article. Matilda was sitting comfortably on the floor, head resting on a sofa. Raul was fast asleep on said sofa. As Salima watched, Miriam unceremoniously hurled the magazine across the room; anyone in the way had to duck. Matilda clutched wildly at it but missed, and it hit Raul instead, who promptly fell off the sofa. Laughter filled the room as he got up, bemused.
It was weird, but this cruise was beginning to feel like home.
A/N: Yeah, i was afflicted with indecision whether to post this chapter or not. Hopefully it wasn't a total disappointment. Please review; hope you guys haven't abandoned me due to my lack of updates!!!