"So what happened?" Ariadne was lying on the beach chair she and Arthur previously made out on. Jules was standing behind her eating a banana.
"Uh…" Ariadne wasn't sure about telling Jules. But Jules was the best at keeping secrets. Her vault had three heavy-duty locks on each door. No one could make her confess anything.
"Turns out Rodger wants to dump Joe. Badly." Ariadne looked onto the stars, barely moving as the ship did.
"Seriously?" Jules took a seat on the other chair.
"He tried to tonight. But she was all 'I love you' and 'I can't lose you' and he couldn't do it there. They're in the same suite, so I'm pretty sure breaking up is not an option now."
"It'd be Hell to share a bed with someone who dumped you." Jules looked onto her best friend expecting juicier information.
"Sure would be, but I think he'd rather room with Eames now than her." Ariadne laughed imagining all the chaos that just one night of those two together would cause. Maybe the ship would sink. "Speaking of Eames, what did you do?"
"I wanna know what you did." The redhead poked her friend above the breast.
"You first." Ariadne offered, rubbing off the spot.
"Hm…" She leaned back. "Slots and shots. I out-drank him."
"You out-drank him?" Ariadne wanted to test her totem. "I guess you two are meant to be."
"And what about you and Rodger?" Jules expected at least an eye roll.
"Well… we talked for a bit. He said he was upset." Ariadne explained. "So we made out for forty-five minutes and tomorrow we're having a secret hot tub date."
Jules's mouth gaped open as her shaking finger arrowed her. "Holy shit, you did it! You stole him!"
"Hold on." The architect stopped her. "I didn't say we were together. We were just talking and out of nowhere I kissed him, then I said sorry and he said 'Don't be'."
"It's close enough." Jules was shaking. "So how are you gonna hide it?"
"Easy." Ariadne smirked. "Frank. Once I tell him."
"Well you know, if he won't pretend to be your boyfriend, one of the guys will. Seriously, they all think your smoking hot."
"I think they're confused." Ariadne concluded. "Also, do you know where we're stopping next? We've been at sea for a long time."
"Rome." Jules told her. "Which is a romantic city."
"So Joe will have all the time to climb all over him." Her eyebrows went up. "Any way, she and Rodger get to go to that ball together. I don't have a date. Did Eames ask you?"
"He usually doesn't ask." Jules laughed. "So I'm gonna ask him. Then I'll get him a corsage."
Ariadne burst out into laughter. "Oh God, he'd be so confused!"
"And hey, once Rodger see's you in that dress your sister made, he'll come running to you." The redhead predicted.
"Don't expect anything from a romance movie to happen." Ariadne told her dryly.
"I never said I was." Jules defended. "So tomorrow in Rome, you, Frank, Eames and myself will go in a quad."
"Yeah, that'll keep Joe off my tail." Ariadne scoffed quietly. "What's Rodger going to tell her when he comes here? He can't say he's playing golf or anything."
"I'm sure Joe has some BBB cult meeting." Jules commented. Ariadne looked over at Jules's hair.
"You wouldn't make a bad blonde yourself." She complemented.
"Yeah, that'll happen." Jules stood up to leave. "The excursions in the morning. I'm getting some sleep."
"This early?" It was one. Normally these girls could talk until six.
"It feels like having a bedtime again."
The next morning, the girls were prepared for another off-sea adventure. Ariadne had been to Rome once on a trip, but being and architect she knew everything about the buildings before even going. Only last time, she didn't have a fancy camera.
Before the tour started, Ariadne and Frank were comparing their Nikons like two nerds. Once again, she was wearing the scarf Arthur bought her.
"You seem to be in a good mood." He noticed.
"Well I'm an architect in Rome with a high megapixel camera." Ariadne snapped a quick picture to check the quality. "Damn, I sound like a geek."
"No, you sound like an intellectual." He changed the sentence. "Remember, you were a Greaser in high school."
"Did you have to remind me of that?"
Joe stood next to Arthur, her hand enclosed with his. A sunhat was covering her face from the heat.
"What were you doing last night after dinner?" she asked curiously. Not curious in a suspicious manner but just an interested manner. Arthur gave her hand a squeeze.
"I went to the front deck to be alone for a bit." He said calmly.
"I'm sorry about last night." She apologized again.
"You don't have to apologize more than once." He kissed the side of her head.
Ariadne wished she didn't see that.
"I was thinking tonight I'd go hang out with some women I've met. I don't know where we'll go but there are a million places."
Well that pushed aside one problem. Hopefully.
"That sounds like a lot of fun." He encouraged. "Now lets go see the city."
The tour was around three hours. The passengers got to see the Leaning Tower, the Colosseum, and various fountains. The water in the Trevi Fountain was not just surrounded by beautiful sculptures but it was crystal clear. It was a fountain of youth. Just looking at it could make a sick person well again.
To Ariadne, they reminded her of hot tubs.
It was surprising enough that Arthur actually agreed to do it. Since he dressed nice all the time, she imagined him coming into the hot tub wearing a jacket and tie. But hopefully she'd see him with his shirt off.
Just thinking about that made her check her watch constantly. The ticking got louder each time.