“Yeah, so, this isn’t exactly the most romantic or erotic hookup I’ve ever had,” Quinne said. “Can’t say I’ve been bored, though.”
“I would have preferred boring, actually,” Amani said.
“Can’t really fault you on that.”
They fell into an uneasy silence for several minutes. During all the chaos it had been easy to forget that they had only met a short time earlier, and even then they hadn’t intended for the relationship to be anything other than a single night of sex. Running back and forth, trying to escape dangers, trying to find out what was going on, the two of them had felt like an inseparable pair that belonged together. Now, without the outside stimulation, Quinne was forced to remember that she didn’t know anything about this girl, and they didn’t actually mean anything to each other. It felt strange and a little sad.
“I didn’t bring my smartphone with me for this trip,” Quinne said. “Did you say earlier that yours is in your room?”
“Yeah,” Amani said. “Why?”
“And lots of people should have their phones, correct? So there’s no way what’s happening hasn’t been posted all over social media, right?”
“The ship has Wi-Fi and a signal and all that, but my experience with it has been spotty. I think it depends on the exact position of the ship. Anyway, we don’t have any idea on the state of the communications equipment at this time. Or power. Have you noticed the way the lights seem to be flickering more and more?”
“Yeah, although I guess I’ve been trying to ignore it. So are you saying that you don’t think people out in the rest of the world know what’s happening?”
“Honestly, I think what the world knows about what’s happening here has more to do with whether or not there’s been a recent celebrity breakup. If something like that is trending, then no one would be paying attention to something like this anyway.”
“That’s a rather bleak view. Although, I suppose I know it’s true. I am the one here who makes her money by showing off her naughty bits on the internet.”
“Still, even with all that, someone else must have seen what’s going on and sent some kind of rescue, right? Those three helicopters can’t be it.”
“I don’t know anything about rescue procedures at sea, but I’d expect that part of the procedure would be to send rescue boats.”
“That’s good, right?”
“Think about it for a second, Amani.”
She did, and Quinne watched the realization dawn on her face. There were at least two sea monsters out there, maybe more. Those two alone had managed to rip through a large cruise ship and bring it to a screeching halt. Unless the Canadian or Russian Navies were sending their largest possible ships, they likely wouldn’t last long against the things prowling around in the ocean.
“But shouldn’t the Navy and things like that be on high alert after what happened at Baja? I mean, before I came on this cruise I even thought I heard a rumor about something in the Galápagos Islands. It’s almost like something’s going on out there, and this is just another part of it.”
“Just because all the scientific evidence clearly shows that it’s happening doesn’t mean that people are going to believe it. Hell, remember, there are actual, honest-to-god people out there who refuse to even believe dinosaurs existed. Get enough of those people in the right positions of power, and suddenly you get a crisis like this where they refuse to take it seriously. Whoever they called to help probably doesn’t actually think we’re being attacked.”
Amani snorted. “And if they do, the assholes probably automatically assume that it’s caused by people like me.”
“You know, I think that’s actually the first time I’ve heard you swear all night. At least in English. I think I even heard you say ‘oh fudge’ earlier.”
“Yes, well, you can thank my parents for that. Even when I don’t want to obey them anymore, I still find myself going into the old patterns that they taught me.”
Quinne paused, wondering if this was really the right time to start digging into the enigma that this young woman presented. Then she figured it wouldn’t hurt. If she didn’t find out more about her now, they would both likely be too dead to have this conversation later.
“May I ask why you’re here without them?” Quinne asked. “Or without anyone at all?”
“What, I can’t go on a vacation alone? You did it.”
“Yes, well, you don’t really seem like the type. You’re very simple and likeable. I can’t imagine that it would be hard to get someone else to go along with you.”
“I guess I could have invited friends, but really I just needed time to get away and think. You know, about things.”
“Things like whether or not you want to sleep with women?”
Amani paused for a long time. “Yeah, I suppose that’s part of it. But maybe not all of it. I’m pretty religious. It’s been driving me nuts that I haven’t been able to do any of my prayers or devotions while we’ve been so busy running for our lives. But I don’t agree with people who say Allah would hate me if I was… if I turn out to be…”
“A lesbian?”
“Or bisexual. I guess I’m still trying to figure that out. But I know I’m not straight, and I have the distinct impression that I don’t have any choice. It’s just who I am, and I can’t change it, whether my parents would disown me or not.”
“So they don’t know?”
“I think they suspect. A few of my siblings, too. I’m not so concerned about most of them, but I have no doubt that if I tell my parents that I’m attracted to women, they will refuse to ever see me again. So that’s why I’m here, alone. I thought a cruise to the Arctic would be cool, and a Letroix cruise specifically would be fun, and it would give me time to think. That was stupid of me, though. With the political climate the way it is, the bigots have been out in full force and are in a hurry to scapegoat a Muslim girl traveling alone.”
Quinne wanted to say that she understood, but that would be a lie. She knew she couldn’t understand, not really. She had some experience getting treated like crap because of her sexual orientation, but it was a different type of crap than what Amani had to deal with. No, that wasn’t completely true, Quinne realized. Amani would have to deal with homophobes now. She would just have to deal with it on top of religious bigots. Any attempt for Quinne to say something in comfort would probably come out privileged and asinine.
So Quinne did the only other thing she could think of. She scooted closer to Amani and put an arm around her shoulder. Amani tensed for a moment, and Quinne was fully prepared to let her pull away with no hard feelings, but after a few seconds Amani softened and leaned into Quinne’s side. They were quiet again for a time before Amani said anything.
“What about you? There has to be a story for why you’re here.”
“Nope. No story. I just needed a vacation.”
“On a Letroix Cruise, though? You’ll excuse me if someone like you seems out of place among all the wholesome families.”
“Hey, I’m wholesome. I’m wholesome as fuck. I’m so wholesome I can fit whole things into many holes.”
“Oh wow. Porn puns. You must be getting loopy from lack of sleep.”
“No, not that loopy. I have a tendency to make bad jokes when I’m nervous.”
“It also seems like you’re trying to get away from the question of why you’re here. If you don’t want to talk about it either, just tell me to back off. I’m okay with it.”
“Really, there’s nothing to tell.” Quinne paused. She knew that wasn’t really true, but her story wasn’t anywhere on the same level as Amani’s. Still, it was her story to tell, and Amani seemed interested, so she didn’t see why not. “The thing you’ve got to know is that I’m proud of what I do. I’m not ashamed. There’s nothing wrong with doing sex work of my own free will, and I don’t take well to people who try to act like I’m in some precarious situation and need to be saved from myself.”
“I don’t think that a
t all.”
“But what do you think about why I do what I do?”
“Uh, I guess I don’t really think much of it at all. I’ve seen your vids, but I guess…” Amani paused, and Quinne could tell she was going to say something that anyone else might have found embarrassing. Quinne gently nudged her, indicating that she wouldn’t judge. “I guess I haven’t ever thought about who you might be other than a series of images to look at while I play with my vibrator.”
“You don’t need to be ashamed about that, you know.”
“I know. I’m not ashamed about, you know, masturbation. I’m ashamed that I’ve never really thought of you as a human, I guess. It’s different when I’m here talking to you.”
“All of a sudden I’m more than just heavily tattooed skin?”
“Yeah.”
“Well, I guess that’s why I’m here. I’m here because sometimes I need to be reminded of that myself.”
“Reminded of what?”
“That I’m human. That I’m not just there on the computer screen purely for others’ pleasure. Okay, now don’t get me wrong at all. I love what I do. But everyone always expects me to not just be Quinne, but be the Quinne Quiver, owner of a rapidly growing erotic media company, skinny and kinky little bitch unafraid to do anything and everything on camera provided it’s legal in the state where I’m filming. But maybe sometimes I want a break from everyone else’s expectations. Sometimes I just want to go on a damned cruise and smile like an idiot while I get my picture taken with…”
Tears ran down Quinne’s cheek. Oh hell, was she really going to do this?
“Your picture taken with what?” Amani asked gently.
“Ever since I was a kid, watching the cartoons on TV, I just wanted to have my picture taken with someone dressed in that stupid Lucky Lady Duck costume.”
“Oh.”
There wasn’t a lot to say after that, Quinne figured. And she didn’t want to talk about her piddly little problems anymore, anyway. Except maybe for one thing.
“Sooo… I guess this just comes back to where we started the night,” Quinne said.
“What do you mean?”
“I mean we have nothing to do but wait, either to get rescued or for the ship to sink, or maybe get eaten.”
“Those are happy thoughts.”
“Right. So if this indeed our last hours on Earth, shouldn’t we spend them doing something other than sitting here?”
“Oh. Um. Right.” Amani thought about it for a second, then stood up and offered Quinne a hand up. “Normally I think this is where I would ask your place or mine, but since yours is kind of out of the question, I guess we’re going to mine.”
Chapter Eleven
“I’m kind of waiting for you to do that cliché thing,” Amani said.
“Which thing?”
“The one where you ask if I’m okay, as though you’re afraid you might have hurt me.”
“Don’t be silly. I know I didn’t hurt you. You didn’t ask me to.”
“Har har.”
“Do you want me to ask you that?”
“I don’t know. Maybe. Sure. Go ahead.”
“Are you okay?”
Amani had finished getting dressed again, and adjusted her headscarf in a mirror by her bed. Quinne was still naked, although they should probably get moving if they hoped to return to Jimmy and Wanda before they woke up. Quinne and Amani had left them a hastily scrawled note on a napkin, but given the state of things the newlyweds might still get worried. Not that Quinne or Amani really owed either of them any explanation, but given all the four of them had been through and seen tonight, it had only felt right not to worry them.
“It’s kind of nice,” Amani said.
“What is?”
“Someone asking me that. The first guy I ever did anything with didn’t.”
“So I’m guessing that just because I was your first woman doesn’t mean I was your first overall?”
“Yes. I mean no. I mean, there was some fooling around, but whether or not it was actually sex probably depends on how you define it. But anyway, it was at a school dance. He ran off pretty soon after because we almost got caught. Wouldn’t even look at me for the rest of the night, and any attempt I made to talk to him afterward was really awkward.” She gave Quinne a worried glance. “Is that what’s going to happen here?”
“Avoiding you wouldn’t really be an option at this point, even if I wanted to. And I definitely don’t want to. I do kind of feel like you didn’t answer the question, though.” Quinne finally sat up and started hunting around for her underwear. She found the plain back panties twisted up in some of Amani’s blankets, although she wasn’t quite sure yet where her bra was.
“What question?”
“Are you okay? And you know I don’t mean physically.”
“I… I don’t know.” Amani leaned against the wall near the door and watched Quinne slip her underwear on. “I feel like I’m supposed to feel different. I kind of don’t.”
“Only kind of?” Quinne finally found her bra but didn’t put it back on right away. She enjoyed the way Amani kept staring at her.
“Yeah, it’s like, something’s changed, but the change isn’t anywhere near to being over yet. Like if something really mind-blowing happens to you, it takes a while for it set in that your whole reality has been altered.”
Kind of like being attacked on a cruise ship by prehistoric dinosaurs, Quinne thought, but she didn’t say it. Amani deserved to have this moment without any snark. Besides, Quinne thought she had had her own moment like that one, the thing that had happened with her uncle in the park when she was a teenager. But that was a memory she always tried to suppress, and it wasn’t appropriate to bring it up here.
And yet Quinne couldn’t resist going without comment completely. “Mind-blowing, huh? Good to know I’ve still got the touch without a camera recording me.”
“Well, maybe that’s not the right word. It was… different. Not at all like I expected.”
“But did you like it? Are you going to regret this, if we somehow get out of this alive?”
Amani gave Quinne an appreciative look up and down. “Yes. I liked it. And no, no matter what happens after this, I don’t think I’ll regret it. And you better get the rest of your clothes back on before I decide not to regret it some more.”
As much as Quinne would have had fun taking her up on that, she was very much aware that the time for any sort of fun was over. They’d had a brief respite to remind themselves that they were still alive, that they weren’t like the boy in the hall or Becky going over the railing or Sarah in the Lucky Lady Duck suit. They existed, they were alive, and life could be beautiful. Now it was time to go back to trying to stay that way.
“Did you notice the lights flicker while we were…” Quinne paused, trying to think of the right way to characterize what they’d just done. It had been a little too personal to simply call it sex, but not quite intimate enough to say that it was making love. “…enjoying each other’s company? And no, that’s not a commentary on how good it was.”
“No, I think you’re right. The lights did flicker once, I think. Although I guess I can’t be sure. I was distracted.”
“Then we should get back to Wanda and Jimmy before the power fails completely.”
While it had been easy to ignore the increasing foreboding on the ship while they were in Amani’s room, it became impossible as they opened the door onto the hall.
“Oh, gross!” Amani said. “What the fudge is that smell?”
“Smells like sewage. The plumbing system must have failed.”
Indeed, before they could walk very far down the corridor their feet were soaked, and most definitely not with sea water. There was a yellowish-brownish tint to it that Quinne really didn’t want to think about, and at one point Amani said she thought she stepped in something muddy. Whether it was a blessing or a curse, the lights in the hall failed completely except for the emergency floodlights, w
hich no longer gave them all the details of what they might be walking through.
The lights in the main rotunda were still working, although intermittently. It probably wouldn’t be long until they failed, too, and if the cavernous space went dark Quinne wouldn’t have been surprised to find a full-out riot beginning. Although, it looked like something similar might have already started. Many of the people who had camped out in here were headed for the exit with varying degrees of urgency. Quinne and Amani went to where they had last seen the newlyweds, but for nearly a minute they couldn’t find them. Finally Wanda and Jimmy came out of the abandoned coffee shop. From the way the two of them were adjusting their clothes, Quinne figured they had probably woken up with the same idea as her and Amani.
“There you guys are,” Jimmy said. “We were starting to worry.”
“We, uh, we decided that, if we weren’t sure we were going to make it through the night, we wanted some time in private.” It suddenly occurred to her that this might be too much information, that Amani wouldn’t want anyone else to know, and Quinne turned to her, worried that Amani would be disapproving. Amani certainly had a look on her face, although Quinne wouldn’t have characterized it as disapproving or angry. It might have almost been relief, although the play of emotions across her face was much too complex to read completely accurately. Amani held out her hand and offered a small smile. Quinne took it without hesitation.
Arctic Gauntlet Page 7