"We're here!!" Joanne cheered, running towards the building.
"Woh, Down girl!" Rachel said, holding onto Joanne's shoulder so she couldn't get away.
"Damn!" Kevin said in amazement. "I don't think I've ever seen her this hyper." I looked back at him and the rest of the guys, then turned back towards Joanne.
"Race ya," I whispered in her ear. She looked at me and grinned. We silently counted to three and took off running towards the building.
"Pathetic!" Brian yelled after us. I stopped abruptly and turned to face him. Running towards him, I jumped, wrapping my legs around his waist. I looked him in the eye, then kissed him hard on the lips.
"That's pathetic?" I asked, raising an eyebrow. He only shook his head, his eyes wide in amazement. I dropped down to my feet and ran after Joanne into the check-in building (the place where you check in your luggage and get your ship cards and keys before you can actually board the ship). After we checked in, we left them our luggage and took the escalator to the top floor, where we had to use the makeshift bridge to board the ship.
When we got on, I could feel the excitement rising within me. (I love boats [could ya tell?] and whenever I get on one, I get incredibly hyper.) The Atrium, or Main Room, had the information desk, a lower split level with a piano (the bottom half of the split level was the main dining area), twin curved stairways on either side, shops, and a beauty salon.
"Wow," Maribeth gasped. AJ just stood there with his mouth gaping open.
"Nice teeth," Kevin said to AJ. He quickly closed his mouth and smiled sheepishly.
"Alex!" The bodyguards came to full attention when they heard someone yell my name. I just got excited.
"Melissa?" I said, turning to face my friend. I smiled at the blond as she ran towards me. I ran towards her and we met in a hug. "Oh my God! How are you?"
"Great! It's been so long!" she said as we detached. "Sorry about not being available for your wedding."
"Oh, no prob.," I said. "Don't worry about it. What are you doing here?"
"This was my favorite cruise when I was little, so I decided to come back, you?"
"My favorite, too!" I said. Though I'd only been on this one.
"I . . . Wait, where's Kat?" she asked, looking around.
"Kat . . ." I said, confused.
"Katerina Silverstein," she said, naming our old friend from our hebrew school days.
"Right here," Kat said, joinging us. When she saw me, she shrieked and hugged me. I laughed and hugged her back. "How are you?"
"Incredible!" I said. When I looked back towards the others, all but Terry, one of the bodyguards, had left me. "Hey, Ter! Where'd everyone go?"
"To find their cabins," he informed me, coming up next to us.
"Okay, guys? This is Terry. Ter, these are my old friends Kat and Melissa." They said hi and shook hands. We stood there talking for a few minutes, then went to the front desk. "Umm, Ter? Did Brian say where the cabins were?"
"Yeah, he gave me your key," he said, taking a plastic card with holes in it out of his pocket. "Here."
"Thanks." I turned to the girl when they were done getting their stuff. "What floor are you on?"
"Fifth, you?" Melissa said.
"Fifth," I said, happily. Wouldn't it be funny if we got adjoining rooms like last time? That was funny!"
"And hell," Melissa said, rolling her eyes. "I couldn't get her to stop using the hair-dryer.
"Well, I'm sorry my hair took so long to dry, Ms. I'm-To-Good-For-The-Teen-Clubs," I joked back. We laughed and the four of us set out to find our rooms. When we found their room, we arranged to meet in a half-hour and Terry and I set off to find mine. When I found it, I told him to go off on his own and have fun. After a few minutes of arguing, he smiled and left. I opened the door and saw Brian sitting on one of the beds. "Hi," I said, putting my purse and carry-on bag down. He barely looked at me. "What's wrong?"
"Why didn't you introduce me?" he asked, anger creeping into his voice.
"I was going to, but you were gone before I could," I said, growing slightly defensive.
"Uh huh, sure," he said, getting up and grabbing his key. "I'm going to tour the ship with the others. If you wanna come, be my guest." With that, he walked out the door, leaving me standing in the center of the room, confused. A few minutes later, there was a knock at the door.
"Who is it?" I asked.
"It's me," Justin said through the door. I opened it and he and Lance walked in.
"You okay?" Lance asked, seeing the forlorn look on my face. I shrugged.
"I guess so," I said. "Brian's mad at me because he left before I got a chance to introduce him to Melissa and Kat."
"The others aren't so happy either," Justin informed me, giving me a comforting hug. "They seem to think you dejected them."
"But I didn't," I said, sitting down on the window-sill.
"Beats me," Lance said, "but don't worry. We're here for you." There was another knock on the door. Lance answered it. Angela and Caitlin walked in.
"You okay?" Angela asked, hugging me.
"How'd you know?" I asked, smiling slightly.
"Brian had an attitude," Caitlin said. "I asked him why, he said something about you, the others laughed, I beat the crap out of him, and now we're here." I cracked up.
"You always know how to tell a story, Cait," I laughed. "Always."
"Hey, that's what I'm here for," she said. "C'mon, lets go get those friends of yours and hit the deck."
"Works for me," I said. I got up, them paused. "Wait, go to Melissa's room and tell her I sent you. I meet you in a sec, k? Her room's 5052." They all nodded and left. I rummaged through my carry-on bag and took out an outfit I had bought on Puerto Rico. It was bright blue, black, and bright green. Tie, baggy legged, slit up both sides, strangely patterned pants and a matching, sleeveless, tie in the from top which was extremely short. Letting my hair down and brushing it, I smiled to myself, wiped away the fear tears that head been making their way down my cheek and grabbed my key. I walked out of the room and shut the door behind me, determined to have a good time.