“How old are you, anyway?” Mason asked Sarah.
Candi looked up to see what Sarah’s response would be.
“How old do I look?” She started at him with a dare in her eyes.
“Old enough to get into a little trouble,” was his flirty response.
“I guess you’re right about that.” Sarah turned to Jack. “What about you, Jack? Are you old enough to get into a little bit of trouble?” She smiled sweetly, acting as if she was oblivious to the game she was playing, making Mason jealous by acting like she cared about Jack. Candi could tell she really didn’t care about either one of them.
“I guess so,” he answered, smiling gamely, buying into her flirtatious manner. Then he looked over at Candi, winking at her.
Candi’s face went red. She was confused with the games. First Mason flirts with Sarah. Then Sarah flirts with Jack. Jack flirts with Sarah and then with her, right there at the same time. In front of his friend. Was this normal?
Mason and Jack were both staring at her now. Candi started to squirm under their attentions, completely paranoid that she had a booger or something on her face. She casually reached up to wipe at her nose. Hopefully whatever they were staring at was now gone.
“Who needs another drink?” asked Mason, breaking the spell.
“All of us,” said Sarah. “Come on, Mason, let’s go get a round together.”
Mason held out his hand for Sarah who took it and stood up.
“Be right back!” she said to Candi, waving at her with her fingertips. “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.”
Candi tried not to squirm. She knew that there were probably a whole lot of things she could do and not run afoul of that directive.
“Have you ever been on a cruise before?” Jack asked, back to staring at her again.
She tried not to let it creep her out with its intensity. “No, never. Have you?”
“Yeah. Several actually. They’re all pretty much the same – partying, eating, getting no sleep. Then you go home and back to the real world.”
“Sounds like fun,” was all she could think to say, even though it didn’t.
“Yeah, it’s fun, but it can get old. Buuuuut I think this one holds promise.”
Candi smiled at his obvious innuendo out of courtesy, but she couldn’t keep the misgivings from rising up in her mind. Something about him was off. Or maybe it was just the alcohol taking over her good sense.
“Why have you been on so many cruises?” she asked, before she realized how stupid that sounded. “Sorry, that was a dumb question.”
“No, no, not at all. Well, my parents work a lot, so I guess they feel bad about me being stuck alone at the house all the time. So sometimes when they go out of town, they send me out with my uncle on these cruises. This time I took Mason with me instead. We go to school together.”
“Oh, well, that’s cool, I guess. I mean, my parents would never send me off on a cruise without coming along, so you’re lucky.”
“Yeah, well, it’s fun; but like I said, it gets old. At least this time I have a room to myself. If you feel like checking it out later, just say the word.”
Candi shrugged her shoulders noncommittally, reaching over to grab her empty glass. She sipped some of the melted ice water. She wasn’t used to talking to totally hot strangers in bars, especially ones who were very possibly flirting with her if she wasn’t mistaken, so she didn’t know what to do or say. She was praying Sarah would hurry up and get back with their drinks.
“Are you going to the dance club later?”
“I’m not sure. If Sarah wants to, probably.”
“What Sarah wants, Sarah gets, is that it?”
Candi laughed. “Yeah, pretty much. I don’t bother telling her no anymore.”
“You guys are pretty close friends, huh?”
Candi was surprised at this question. “I guess so. I mean, we don’t know each other that well, but we get along okay.”
“Huh. That’s surprising. I saw you two earlier when you came in. You seemed pretty close.”
Candi thought about this, realizing that she and Sarah had actually hit it off, even bonded a bit. She was happy about it and decided not to over-think it too much.
“We are, pretty close I mean. She’s fun.”
“I’ll bet.” Jack looked at her and smiled. “I’ll bet you are too.”
Oh my god, he’s totally flirting with me, thought Candi. I can’t believe a guy this hot is actually flirting with me! She couldn’t stop the totally goofy smile that broke out across her face. Jack saw it and smiled back. Both of them just sat at the table grinning at each other – Candi because a cute boy found her interesting and Jack for reasons she didn’t want to analyze too much. The alcohol was starting to make her feel a little fuzzy, and she didn’t mind it at all.
“Okay, what’s so funny?” asked Sarah, approaching the table with a drink in her hand.
Mason followed, balancing three glasses. “Here you go everyone. Drink up.” He set them down on the table, grabbing the nearest one and taking a long drink from it.
Candi and Jack took sips of their drinks, looking at each other over the rims. Candi was so nervous, she just kept drinking. Within thirty seconds she had drained her glass. Her loud bottom-of-the-glass slurp brought her back to reality.
“Oops, my bad,” she said, then hiccupped.
“Oh boy, we have a lightweight here,” said Mason, laughing.
Sarah rolled her eyes. “Slow down, Sugar Lump, we need to last all night. Pace yourself.” She had only taken one sip of her drink so far.
Jack winked at her, gallantly trying to make her feel better.
“So, what time are you girls going to dinner? The second seating?” asked Jack.
“No, we’re going to the first seating,” said Sarah absently as she played with her straw.
Jack looked at his watch and his eyebrows went up. “Well, if that’s the case, you may want to drink up and get going, because it’s six thirty right now.”
“Oh, crap, are you serious?” exclaimed Candi.
“Yep.”
Candi stood up quickly. “Come on, Sarah, we have to go!” She could just picture the look on Mr. Peterson’s face when they walked in a half hour late.
“I have to finish my drink,” said Sarah.
“No, we don’t have time!”
“I’m not leaving until my drinks is finished.” Sarah sat stubbornly, and Candi knew she meant it.
“Fine!” Candi grabbed her drink and sucked the straw so hard the drink was gone in five seconds flat. She burped as she let out the little bit of air she’d also drank. “There!” She slammed the glass down on the table.
“Thatta girl!” said Mason.
“Not now, Mason, they’re late for dinner,” said Jack, wryly.
“Oh, that sucks. Well, hopefully we’ll see you later at the club.”
“Will we see you there?” asked Jack, addressing his question to Candi.
“I don’t know, we’ll see.”
“Yes, definitely. See you guys later,” said Sarah as she stood to go. “Thanks for the drink, hot stuff. See you soon.” She leaned over and kissed Mason right on the mouth.
Candi stood there, frozen in place. Then looked at Jack with a panicked expression on her face.
He laughed and leaned down to kiss her on the cheek. “I hope I see you later, Candi. Have a nice dinner.”
Sarah grabbed Candi by the upper arm. “Come on, Cinderella; time to go to dinner. We’ll see the boys later.”
Candi snapped out of her reverie, letting herself be led away. “Bye!” she said over her shoulder.
She couldn’t believe it. Jack had kissed her on the cheek. It was her first kiss from a guy who wasn’t playing spin the bottle at a junior high birthday party. Well, okay, so it wasn’t on the lips – but it was still a kiss and it counted. She sighed with contentment as they walked towards the doors to the dining room.
Sarah laughed. “So, what do you thi
nk of the cruise so far?”
“So far, so good,” responded Candi, smiling.
“Excellent. Now let’s go to dinner and see how much we can piss off old Frank.”
Candi grabbed her by the arm to stop her from going into the dining room. “Do you really need to try so hard to do that – piss your dad off, I mean?” Candi didn’t want to see her new friend get hurt. She also didn’t want to have to sit through what was surely going to be a very uncomfortable meal after Mr. Peterson flipped out.
“Oh, don’t worry. I won’t have to try hard at all.” She gave Candi a hard look and then opened the doors, stepping through them, without worrying about whether Candi was following.
The room was full of people sitting at round tables covered in light cream-colored linen. Waiters and waitresses in uniforms were hurrying from table to kitchen and back again in what looked to be a carefully synchronized operation designed to get everyone fed in two hours and then out again so the second seating could begin. The far wall was mostly glass, with a view out to the ocean beyond. The sun was setting and the rays of red and orange light streaking across the sky made a perfect backdrop for the formal dining room.
Candi saw that Sarah had spied her parents at a far table and was making her way over. Kevin was facing her, as were Mr. and Mrs. Buckley. Candi know when Kevin saw her because he rolled his eyes in greeting. The Buckleys both stopped doing what they were doing, frozen in place, staring at Sarah as she approached.
Frank didn’t notice anything was amiss and kept right on talking. As Candi approached, she heard him saying something about the current software market and blah, blah, blah. Mrs. Peterson’s seat was facing away from Sarah also, so she had no idea what was coming either.
***
Jonathan was looking at his parents’ faces. He turned his head to see what had caught their attention so completely. It was then that he noticed Sarah coming across the dining room towards their table.
She was practically prowling across the room, taking long strides in her impossibly high heels, looking like a leopard-spotted man killer after its prey. She was stalking something... but what?
Uh-oh. Too late Jonathan realized that it wasn’t a what, but a who. Mr. Peterson, specifically. She was homing in on the table, looking like she was on a mission. Her long hair was blowing back away from her face; she looked like she was on one of those fashion runways. Her legs were so tan, he could see the definition in her thigh muscles as each leg came forward, bringing her closer and closer to her victim.
He swallowed hard, his Adam’s apple moving slowly up and down as he struggled to get the swallow to finish. She was so beautiful, it took all the spit out of his mouth. It was fascinating really, when he stopped for a split second to think about it. He was going to have to research this phenomenon when he got home.
Sarah reached the table, standing behind the empty seat next to her father. “Hello, everyone,” she said with a purr in her voice.
Frank stopped in mid-sentence and looked up. Everyone else at the table looked first at her, then at Frank.
Frank had been talking and eating at the same time. His fork now floated midway between his plate and his mouth, a leaf of lettuce dangling from its end. The knife he was holding in his opposite hand dropped, making a clattering sound on the plate as it landed.
Frank slowly lowered his fork down to the table.
“Hello, Sarah. Nice of you to show up.” He paused to look her up and down. With barely contained anger, he continued, “I thought I told you to dress up for dinner.”
She smiled sweetly back at him. “Thank you, I’m so glad to be here. And as you can see, I did dress up for dinner. I wore this for you.” She spun around in a flirty circle, which had the unfortunate effect of causing her dress to twirl up a little, revealing even more of her tanned thigh than was already showing.
“That’s it!” Frank said loudly, as he struggled to get up out of his chair.
Just then, Candi arrived at the table, jumping to Sarah’s side, grabbing her upper arm in the process and squeezing it – effectively blocking the back of Frank’s chair and halting his attempt at getting up.
“Hi guys! Are we too late? We rushed to get here. It’s my fault we’re late! Sarah was helping me get dressed and do my makeup. We didn’t realize what time it was. She didn’t have time to change, did you Sarah?”
She didn’t even look at Sarah, just continued on, “So what do you think? Do you like the hair, Mom? I just love it.” She paused to look over at Sarah’s mom. “You see, Mrs. Peterson, I have the driest hair, and I’ve never been able to work with it. Sarah took one look at it and within seconds had it all fixed; I’m so excited because I think now I can figure out how to make it look nice and maybe not so frizzy all the time because, you know, my hair is so frizzy, it’s like straw, isn’t it Sarah?” She had to suck in a loud gulp of air since she had been babbling without taking a second to breathe.
She looked expectantly at Sarah, almost frenzied in a way.
Sarah sighed loudly. “You are a complete freak, you know that?” Then she smiled, despite herself. Candi was wigging out, and apparently Sarah found it pretty entertaining.
“Candi,” started her mother, “what’s wrong with you? Have you been ... drinking or something? You’re acting very strangely ... ”
Kevin stood up all of a sudden, distracting the parents with the unexpected movement. “Well, I for one think you look amazing, Candi, beautiful in fact. Here – have my seat.” He gestured for her to sit in the place he had just vacated which was across from Candi’s parents.
This was probably the best place for her, since this way, Mrs. Buckley wouldn’t be able to smell what Jonathan thought was probably going to be alcohol breath whenever Candi started talking.
“Well, thank you, Kevin.” Candi walked over and took his seat. Now she was sitting close to the still steaming, but slightly mollified Mr. Peterson.
“Come on, Sarah, you can come sit over here between me and Jonathan. Maybe you can share some of your hair-do know-how with us guys,” Kevin said sarcastically.
“As long as the pervert promises to keep his hands and his eyes to himself,” Sarah said, staring pointedly at Jonathan. She had lost her predatory look and didn’t seem happy about it.
Mrs. Buckley looked over at her son, a big question mark on her face, probably horrified to think about what Sarah could possibly be referring to.
Mr. Buckley just frowned, looking at his son as if confused about what Sarah was saying and trying to figure out the meaning behind the mysterious words.
Mrs. Peterson looked over at Jonathan with her right eyebrow raised, making him feel like he’d been accused of doing something terrible to her daughter.
Frank just gritted his teeth and stared at the ceiling of the dining room. It was taking all his self-control to keep his rage in check, that much was obvious. Jonathan feared that Sarah was going to be very sorry she provoked her father tonight; he didn’t look like the type that forgave and forgot.
Jonathan was frustrated by all the suspicious looks being pointed in his direction. He couldn’t let her words go unanswered. “I’m not. A. Pervert. I told you, I fell.”
Kevin stood by the chair next to Jonathan’s and reached over to pat him on the back. “We know, man, we know. Just eat your burger.”
He pulled the chair out for his sister to sit in.
Jonathan looked down at his half-eaten meal and frowned. How did he end up being the bad guy here? That Sarah is trouble and that’s a fact. He wished she didn’t make his heart beat faster and his pulse start racing. She’d be a lot easier to dislike if she wasn’t so beautiful.
Sarah sat down, and a wave of her perfume washed over him. He tried not to, but he couldn’t help it – he closed his eyes and inhaled deeply. He’d never noticed that a girl could smell so good. His mother and sister didn’t smell like this at all. They just smelled like, well, nothing.
Sarah, on the other hand, smelled like, like
... he couldn’t think because the blood was not only pounding in his ears, it was pounding in other places now, too. Oh god, please don’t make me have to get up from this chair right now!
Sarah leaned over casually and whispered in his ear, “Stop. Smelling. Me. You. Perv.”
Jonathan gripped his fork really hard, slowly turning his head to look at her. He stared her right in the eye, answering her in a tightly controlled voice. “I am not a pervert.”
He was completely disarmed when she smiled at him and said, “Gotcha.”
He turned back to look down at his plate. Holy crap. She was totally screwing with him, and he was now just figuring it out. This girl is wicked tricky. He was going to have to be on his toes around her for sure. The thought made him smile. He was super good at chess. Once he knew the game, no one could out strategize him. He turned to her then and said, “You think you do, but you don’t.” Ha. Let her stew on that for a while.
A loud squeak leapt out of his mouth at the exact moment he felt her squeeze his thigh – high up ... like really high up. Then he choked. It wasn’t on food, since he didn’t have any in his mouth at the time. It was probably on spit or drool or something. Whatever it was, it had him gasping for air.
Kevin reached around his sister’s chair and started clapping Jonathan on the back. Jonathan grabbed his glass of water and started chugging it.
Sarah looked at him sweetly. “What’s the matter, Jonathan?”
“You ... ! You ... !” Words were failing him. He couldn’t very well accuse her of grabbing his leg in front of their families.
“I what?” she asked sweetly, lifting her hands above the table and spreading them out in an act of innocence.
Jonathan stopped trying to talk, shaking his head in silence and lifting his eyes to stare up at the ceiling. He thought maybe he was feeling a small measure of Frank Peterson’s pain, and felt less inclined to judge him harshly in that moment. Sarah knew how to get under a guy’s skin. Somehow, she’d honed her skill to levels he’d never experienced before.
Kevin looked at Jonathan with questions in his eyes and then his eyes went to his sister. Jonathan could see him doing the math. A smile broke out across Kevin’s face as he bit into his dinner roll, finishing half of it in one bite. He looked over at Candi and winked. Jonathan wasn’t sure if he was happy that Kevin was obviously on to his sister’s games or not.