“Girl, I can’t believe I’m about to get on one of those big cruise boats. They are huge! I had no idea they were that big.”
Veronica followed me, and we waited in a long line as our passports were checked by customs, and our baggage was scanned. Afterward, we were given numbers, and when our numbers were called, we were allowed to take pictures before entering the ship. As we stepped on, Veronica’s eyes were bugged as ever. She couldn’t believe how many levels the cruise boat had, but I was sure she would enjoy the best thing about it, and that was the food. The moment we checked into our cabins, we changed into our swimming gear and hurried to the upper level to get our grub on. My twopiece hot pink bikini was working magic, but I couldn’t say much for Veronica. The black one-piece swimming suit that she wore was too plain. She covered herself with a sheer wrap, so it didn’t look too bad. She felt a bit insecure, but I reminded her that we were there to have fun. She needed this break and so did I.
We hurried to the upper level of the ship, where there was so much food. You best believe that Veronica’s plate was piled high with chicken, fruits, desserts, and she even threw in a salad. My plate was stacked too, but since there was a workout room on the boat, I told Veronica that would be the first place we would go in the morning. She agreed.
As we sat getting our grub on, my eyes scanned the hundreds and hundreds of people around us. In particular, the men. I had to see what they were working with, and I had already seen a few men I intended to get to know before the weekend was over. One so-so man was waving at me from afar, and all I did was smile at him. I got back to the food in front of me, and since Veronica hadn’t even taken a second to breathe, she definitely didn’t have time to talk.
“Girl, that food ain’t going nowhere. We have all weekend, and wait until you see the array of food they are going to bring out.”
“If it gets any better than this,” she said, “I’m in trouble.”
“Me too,” I laughed.
For the next few hours, Veronica and I walked around the ship, looking at everything in sight. There was so much to do, and we talked about returning to some of the clubs that night, going to the karaoke bar, gambling, watching the dancers on stage…and, of course, more eating. We stopped at some of the shops to buy some souvenirs, and we had taken so many pictures so we could see them displayed on the ship later. Veronica started to complain about her feet hurting, and since her ankles had swelled, she wanted to go back to the cabin to relax. I wasn’t ready to go back to the cabin just yet, so I told her I’d catch up with her later. She left, and I continued to browse the ship. I bought another camera because I’d left mine on the plane, and I also bought a straw hat so I wouldn’t burn myself when I sat out in the sun. I was ready to relax, so I went to the upper level and found an empty lounging chair. I lay back in the chair, and after I put on some sunscreen, I let the sun bake my body. The feel of being on the ocean, with the ship coasting through the water, was the best feeling ever. I had cleared my head and drowned out all of the noise around me. My eyes were closed, but no one could see them behind the dark shades I wore. I could almost feel myself going to sleep, but as soon as I heard that first snore, I felt someone touch my leg.
“Excuse me,” he said.
My eyes popped open, seeing a young black man with red swimming trunks in my view. He looked okay, but I was irritated that he interrupted me. “Yes.”
“Sorry to bother you, but my name is Kurt. Are you here with someone?”
“Yes.”
“Male or female.”
I lied, just to get him to back off. “Female, but for the record, I’m not interested in men.”
He stepped back. “Oh, sorry about that, but I sure wish that you were.”
“No, sorry.”
He shook my hand and walked away. I hated to go there, but if I didn’t, I sensed he would be on my back for the remainder of the cruise. I definitely didn’t want that because he was in no way my type.
I turned onto my stomach, resting my head on my arms. I started to fade off again, but this time, not for long. I knew that we had a late dinner scheduled for 8:00 P.M., so after I lay for a while longer, I left to go to my cabin. Before going to my room, I stopped at Veronica’s room to check on her. I couldn’t believe she had been asleep, and she yawned when she opened the door.
“Are you that bored?” I asked. “There is all kinds of stuff to do on this ship, and you got the nerve to be in there sleeping.”
“It’s been a long, long day. The airplane ride was long, then we had to get on this ship and do all of that walking. That food did it for me, so I had to shut it down. I’m rested now, and as soon as I change clothes, we can go and do whatever.”
Veronica asked me what she should put on, and I advised her to keep it simple. We had to dress up for Saturday’s dinner, but tonight was casual night. She showed me a simple khaki top and capris that she’d gotten from Ashley Stewart, so I told her to put that on. I went to my cabin and put on a plain mustard fitted sundress that had a pink sunflower near my shoulder. My pink and mustard sandals matched perfectly, and I prepared myself for a lengthy night ahead of me.
Needless to say, we had a blast that night. After dinner, we stopped in at some of the clubs, dancing our hearts out. One thing I liked about cruises is everybody was there to have fun. There were so many intoxicated people, and it was hilarious to watch them make fools of themselves. I had a bit much to drink too, but I knew how to contain myself. So did Veronica, and as we went from one club to the next, we stayed on the dance floor. All kinds of men were dancing with us, and even ladies too. Veronica took her chances with karaoke, and I was surprised by how well she did. Whistles and applause were given by the crowd, but, unfortunately, she didn’t win the big prize. I hadn’t had this much fun in a long time, and I promised myself that I wouldn’t think about anything or anyone back at home. My cell phone was tucked away somewhere in my cabin, and I couldn’t even remember where I had put it.
Around two o’clock in the morning, we decided to call it a night. The ship was expected to arrive in the Bahamas at 8:00 A.M., and I had to get some kind of rest before then. As we made our way to our rooms, Veronica was acting silly. She was singing loudly and speaking to everybody who passed by us. The people were very friendly, and one fool had the nerve to place his face next to hers, singing with her. I was too embarrassed, and as I walked off laughing, I was stopped in my tracks. In front of me was a super gorgeous white man. He reminded me of David Beckham, and his cut frame could be seen from a distance. The black pants he wore fit his waist perfectly, and from the way he swaggered toward me, I knew I had to have it. Veronica rushed up to me.
“Do you see what I see?” she said underneath her breath.
“Don’t you notice the direction of my eyes?”
He got closer to us, but only smiled as he walked by. Veronica and I both were caught in a trance by his olive green eyes, and I put my fist in my mouth to prevent myself from screaming. He should have been in a magazine, or, if not, definitely on somebody’s runway.
Veronica rubbed my back. “Calm down,” she said. “I know. We’ll look for him tomorrow, and if you do not get him to come to your cabin, I swear to you that I will get him to come to mine!”
I laughed. “But…but what if he’s here with someone? A man that fine didn’t come here alone.”
“Since when did that stop you? Who cares if he’s with somebody? Besides, we’re fine too, and look at us. We didn’t come with anybody.”
I nodded. “You may have a point. I’ll definitely have to check on him tomorrow.”
I could feel the cruise ship rock back and forth, but was too darn tired to get seasick. Morning came too fast, and the captain’s announcement and that darn bell chiming woke me up. I pulled the curtain aside and could see that the ship was docked. I showered and changed into my bikini, but wore blue jean shorts to cover my bottom half. I left my room to go to Veronica’s, but when I got there she didn’t open the door. I was a bit worried,
but when I went to the upper level, I saw her sitting close to the edge, eating breakfast with a man. She waved for me to come sit down.
“Hey, girl,” she said. “This is A.J. He wanted to join me for breakfast, that’s if you don’t mind.”
A.J. spoke to me, and I spoke back. I looked at Veronica. “You could have at least woken me up and told me you were coming up here to eat breakfast.”
“I knew you hadn’t gotten much sleep, so I didn’t want to wake you. Besides, I couldn’t sleep last night with all of that rocking going on, so I stayed up last night. I met A.J. while I was on my way up here.”
I shook my head and went inside to get something to eat. Yes, I told myself that I was going to work out, but who wanted to be on a treadmill when the view out here was so beautiful? The bluish green water and sandy beaches were in view, and so were the blowing palm trees. Many other ships were lined up next to us, and yachts were in the water as well. Since I didn’t work out, I was cautious about what I ate. My body looked too good to mess up, and with all of the attention it got me, I in no way wanted to go overboard with the food. I had seen the men’s heads turning and the finger pointing going on. I wasn’t interested in anyone but the man from last night, who had made me see fireworks. If he was on the cruise with someone else, too bad. I’d have to somehow work around her.
When I spotted him eating at one of the tables with a woman in an itty-bitty bikini, I kept my eyes on the prize. They were sitting next to the fruit bar, so I made my way over to it. I wasn’t sure who the woman was, but she was tanned all over, flatness was on display, and her blond ponytail was scraggly. Was she cute? Yes, she was, but I was observing the things that I could complain about first. If they were a couple, they meshed pretty well together.
I put an array of fruit on my plate, and when I turned to take a glance at him, I bit into a juicy strawberry. His eyes connected with mine, and I sucked the strawberry juices from my finger.
“Delicious,” I whispered, then turned my head. I sorted through more of the fruit, and when I inhaled the addictive cologne, I looked beside me. There stood Mr. Gorgeous. A plate was in his hand, and as we went for the same utensil to pick up the cantaloupe, he invited me to go ahead.
“No, after you. I think I already have enough on my plate.”
“I hope not,” he said. “What’s your name?”
“Chase.” If you knew me, you knew I didn’t waste much time going after what I wanted. “Is that your wife you’re with?”
“No, but a companion.”
“Too bad. Not like I care either way, just thought I may have been on to something.” I walked away and heard him say, “Maybe so.”
I was too giddy going to meet up with Veronica and A.J. They seemed to be deep in conversation and were laughing loudly. I sat at the table, and A.J. stood up, asking Veronica if she wanted anything else before he left. She looked at her almost empty plate.
“No, I’m good, but thanks for asking.”
“All right. I’m going to let you have some time with your friend, but I will definitely see you later.”
“No doubt.” She smiled as he walked away.
I set my tray on the table. “Oh, look at your hot self. I must be rubbing off on you.”
“Maybe.” She blushed. “But we won’t be banging any headboards against the wall tonight. I hope that’s not what he’s thinking, but it was good to talk to him. He seems pretty cool. He lives in Chicago and you know that’s just right around the corner from St. Louis.”
“Did the two of you exchange phone numbers?”
“Yes. I’ll see what’s up with him, but I really came here to chill and have a good time.”
“I feel you on that. And, by the way, you remember that man with the green eyes from last night, don’t you?”
“How could I forget?”
“Well, I saw him in there eating breakfast with Barbie. I got his attention, and I think I may be on to something.”
Veronica’s smile widened. “For real? Girl, you’d better eat him alive. There’s no doubt in my mind that you will, but in the meantime, I’m here to have fun and I’m not thinking about no man! Let’s get off this ship and go see what all this paradise around us is about!”
I quickly finished my breakfast, and as soon as Veronica and I left the ship, she spotted David Beckham’s look, alike and his companion. Veronica nudged my side and I noticed the two of them holding hands. How cute, I thought. Maybe I should back off of him and forget about it. For the moment, I did.
We hit the shops on the island, buying everything from seashells to sunglasses. Veronica bought some Tshirts for her daughter, and picked out a handmade necklace and straw purse for her daughter as well. Since Lance had been so nice to me, I bought him a pair of glasses and a T-shirt. I wanted to ask if he wanted to go with us, but he was always playing so broke. We spent about three to four hours shopping, then were ready to go on a tour. A black man in a taxi van drove us around the island, telling us about the Bahamas history. He drove us to Paradise Island, where we got a chance to see the inside of the Atlantis hotel. It was amazingly beautiful, and the thing that impressed me the most was the huge aquarium inside of the hotel. The hotel itself was awesome, and my camera was flashing away. I even snapped a shot of Mr. Sexy, as I saw him leaning against a wall near the exit. His cargo pants were rolled up underneath his knees, showing his tanned calves and brown leather sandals. His T-shirt rested on his muscles, and when he saw me flash the picture, he winked at me. That man had no idea how much trouble he was about to find himself in, and I kept thinking about how and when I was going to make it happen. This was only a four-day, three-night vacation, and I was already on day two.
Veronica snatched the camera from my hand. “She saw you take that picture,” Veronica said, eyeballing the companion. I knew she did, but I knew she wasn’t tripping off me when he had other eyes on him as well.
“Get your panties out of your butt,” I said. “That woman has confidence written all over her, and the last thing she thinks is that her man can be coaxed by a woman like me, especially a black woman. Now, give me my camera back and let’s go out to the pool area to take some pictures.”
We left to go take pictures, checked out the casino, and walked around for at least another hour. As we were making our way back to the taxi van, someone tapped my shoulder.
“Excuse me, ma’am,” he said. “You dropped something.”
Mr. Sexy gave me a piece of paper, and walked off with his companion. Veronica was squeezing her fists together, squealing at the same time. She looked like a kid in a candy store, telling me to read the note. I didn’t, until we were on the van and seated.
It read: What is your cabin number? By the way, my name is Steve. Veronica cracked up and I tossed the paper over my shoulder.
“What the fu—”
Out of all the names he could have had, why did his name have to be Steve?
“Well, at least it ain’t Steven, or Stevie,” she said.
I cut my eyes at her, thinking about how quickly my anticipation had faded away.
We were back on the ship by 6:00 P.M., getting ready for dinner. I wanted to be comfortable, so I wore a black bell-sleeve stretch dress that cut across my chest, leaving one shoulder bare. It was short and went well with my silver strapped heels and silver accessories. My earrings dangled from my earlobes and my hair was up in a bun. I added fluff to my bangs, and I felt extremely pleased about the way I looked.
Veronica looked nice too. The red dress she wore stopped slightly above her knees and had gemstones around the neckline. Her makeup was just right and her hair was combed back, but flipped at the ends. We were seated at the dinner table with three other couples, and everyone was inquiring about each other. Me being me, my eyes scanned the room, looking for one person in particular. When I spotted him, my thoughts about not responding to his note went out the window. I figured he could wear the hell out of a singlebreasted black suit, but damn! Did he have to do it lik
e that? He was smiling and talking to the people at his table, but didn’t notice me. I wrote on the napkin in front of me, then told Veronica I would be right back.
As I walked past his table to go to the ladies’ room, I eyeballed him. He saw me and I turned my head. I went into the ladies’ room for a few minutes, checking myself in the mirror. A few minutes later, Steve’s woman walked in, standing next to me. She looked at herself in the mirror, glossing her lips. I wasn’t sure what was up, until she cleared her throat.
“Don’t even think about it,” she said, looking at me in the mirror. “He is off limits.”
I turned to her, just so we could be face-to-face. The one thing I hated was to be confronted by another woman, and that made my pursuit of her man even stronger.
“I can think whatever I want, and unless he tells me that he’s off limits, what you say doesn’t matter. Just so you know, I took this trip to have a good time. I intend to do just that, and if your man can enhance my vacation in any way, I’m all for it.”
I stepped away from the mirror and she reached for my arm, pressing into it with her nails. Before I knew it, I had a grip on the back of her hair, and had backed her up to the wall. I jerked her head, causing her to squeeze her eyes.
“Don’t put your fucking hands on me, bitch. If you are that worried about me, then I suggest you go somewhere and have a serious talk with your man. Because if he shows up at my cabin tonight, I am going to fuck his brains out and give him something that he’ll never forget.”
I pushed her head aside, and listened to her rant on my way out the door.
As soon as I came out of the bathroom, I saw Steve standing by the men’s restroom. I gave him the napkin and walked off.
“Hey,” he said. I turned. “You look awesome.”
I winked. “I know. So do you.”
I went back to my seat, watching Steve and his woman dispute with each other from a distance. My note asked him to someway or somehow meet me on the top deck after dinner. I wasn’t going to give him my cabin number yet, because I had to make sure his head was on straight. I damn sure didn’t want anyone to find me in the morning with my head chopped off, or my body thrown into the ocean. I could tell a little something about a person just through conversation, so I hoped he’d find a way to meet me.
Don't Even Go There Page 16