THE CRUISE

Day 2...

Katrina woke up early and got into the bathroom before anyone. Knowing that she was sharing a room with Suzi, she knew she'd better get ready first. An hour later she was up and out of her room, she'd decided to jog around the ship and check out the morning. When she went up to the deck the beautiful atmosphere hit her like a ton of bricks. It was gorgeous out here. Few people were out and she enjoyed the peaceful sounds of the water lapping against the ship and the few seagulls overhead. People said good morning to her at almost every step and she smiled back at them. The morning breakfast buffet was being laid out. Soon the ship would be full of activity. She was happy that she got these few moments alone with the peace and quiet.

"Hey there, slow down." came a voice.

Katrina turned around not breaking her pace and saw Donnie running up behind her. "Hey Donnie, good morning and all that. What are you doing up this early?"

"What? Can't a man be one with the early morning."

"Okay, I ask again, what are YOU doing up so early."

He laughed "Funny girl. So you have fun with Jon last night?"

"Yes I did, Mr. Nosey and I got Cinderella back to his room before midnight." She cut her run short and sat down at a table. "So how about you and Suzi?"

"She's cool. I don't know if she's really into me or not, because she just seemed, I don't know aloof."

Donnie was trying to press for information. He liked Suzi but if she was not interested, what was the point.

"Well, hmm, first I can tell you that she likes you Donnie, she does. I don't know what the aloofness was though. Maybe because she just met you and all, could have been she's shy around you, or maybe, I don't know. It was only one night."

Donnie sat back and thought about that. "True, I guess I'll just have to see what happens. But, on the dl, just so you know, Jon fell for you Katrina, but don't tell him that I told you."

Katrina smiled her big chesire cat grin. "Our little secret then Donnie. I'll see what I can find out about Suzi." They shook hands and stood up. "Want to go get breakfast?" She asked suddenly starving.

"The bacon and eggs is calling my name" Donnie said and they headed over to the buffett.

Celly snuck down the hallway, her hair hanging in her face, her eyes puffy. "What have I done!" she moaned as she quickly stopped and slid down the wall. Her stomach felt as if 100 snakes had been let lose in it and she had to keep fighting that nausea feeling from coming up her throat. "Please just let me make it to the room." She finally got to her corridor and made her way to her room. She went to get her key and felt totally disgusted when she realized she had no pockets, therefore no key. She fell against the wall "Of all things." There was no way she could make herself look presentable, it was either knock on the door and have to go through the question and answer period or go back to Joe's and get her key. She weighed the options and then knocked.

Joe rolled over onto his stomach, a wave of nausea hitting him hard. He'd just made it to the bathroom in time. He'd never felt this sick before, he stayed in position for what seemed like eternity before he finally slid into the bathtub and turned on the water. Icy cold water hit him like sharks teeth "Yooowww" he said and fumbled to cut it off. He decided the best thing to do was just sit there and don't move.

Jordan sat in his room trying to decide whether he wanted to get up or stay laying in bed. It was his vacation but he really want to see what was out there. Today they were supposed to dock in Baja for a bit. He looked forward to seeing the surf. Maybe Miguel will help him with a little surfing. He climbed out of bed and went to his closet. Damn he had a lot of clothes here. Maybe Jon was right, could he be a clothesaholic? Naah, Jordan thought picking out his attire for the day. He took a shower and got dressed. Maybe he should ask Mindy if she wants to go to the Port with him. She probably wants to hang out with her friends, he reminded himself. They'd ended the night dancing to a slow song. He held her tightly as they swayed along, he'd even sung some of the words to her. He whistled as he called Jonathan up.

"Bro wake up, beautiful morning and you're going to spend it in your room."

"Who is this and what have you done to my brother." Jon yawned on the phone "It's 7:00 a.m. Jordan, you can hardly get up at 7:00 p.m. I'm up, I'm up damn." Jon dragged himself out of bed and put on his robe. "I think you can handle breakfast without me bro." They hung up and Jon laid back on the bed. He just wanted to lie there and think of Katrina. He had fallen, and fallen hard.

"Celly, what the?" Mindy opened the door and Celly just about fell in.

"Bathroom, talk later." She sprinted for the bathroom making it just in time. Mindy stood there with a cold washcloth and put Celly's hair back in a ponytail.

"Where is my camera, this would make a good scan." She joked.

"Shut up and get out." Celly got up just enough to slam the door in Mindy's face after snatching the towel from her hand.

Mindy quickly got dressed and woke up Chrissy "Chrissy, wake up, Celly's puking her brains out in the bathroom."

Chrissy rolled over sleepily "Is she alright?"

"She's hungover, and she just came back to the room."

Chrissy sat straight up. "She what? Where has she been all this time!?"

"I'll give you one guess," she said. Chrissy nodded "Joe. I can't believe she would."

"Well she was drunk, who knows, I know if I was with Jordan and I was drunk..." she trailed off as the door open and Celly walked out looking bad.

"Hi Celly." Chrissy said scooting to the end of her bed. Celly just sat on her bed and put her head in her heads "Oh my head...please someone shoot me."

"Not until you tell us what you're doing waltzing back here at 7:00 in the morning. What the hell were you doing? Besides drinking." Mindy stood over her.

Celly fell back into her bed not even wanting to answer the question. The truth was, she didn't know. All she remembered was dancing and drinking up a storm and then she woke up in Joe's bed sick as a dog, but the thing was, she woke up in Joe's bed.

"I don't know Mindy. All I DO know is that I want to lay down here and die for about 10 hours." She didn't want to face anyone, didn't want to talk to anyone and damn sure didn't want to sit up again.

"No way chica, you got yourself into this and we're not going to let you sit around and ruin your, excuse me, OUR vacation. She pulled Celly up and into the bathroom. "Take a bath, relax for a bit and breath."

Celly tried to protest but when Mindy turned on the water and closed the door, Celly just sighed, took off her clothes and slid in.

Suzi and Kasey were dressed and heading out the door. "Wherever Katrina is, I hope she remembers to get back here by 9:00 so we can go out to Baja and enjoy."

"Um, hmm, I'm about ready to hit some surf" Kasey said she had on her surfer shorts and a white tank top and looked like the ultimate surfer girl.

Suzi was wearing jean shorts and a Tommy t-shirt and they both had on baseball caps and sunglasses. They went up to the pool area and gasped at the beautiful blue sky and water around them "Now this is heaven. Ain't nothing better." Suzi said taking in the sights. They both walked over to the railing and looked over. "Wow chica, can you believe we're actually here, on a cruise and the guys are on it too. That's what's freaking wonderful." Suzi shook Kasey all excited.

"Yeah I know, remember, I'm here too."

Katrina came up behind them "Boo!"

Both girls jumped. "Hey Kat, what's up with you sneaking out of the room so early, secret rendezvous?"

"Hells no, jogging trip." She had on her bathing suit under a pair of short shorts and sheer shirt. "My rendezvous only happen at night, you know."

"I'm starving and I want to hear how your nights went girls. Let's go eat." Suzi said heading for the buffett.

"I'll listen, I just got through eating and I'm planning on not gaining the 10 extra pounds everyone comes off a cruise with." The three women headed to the buffet and rehashed about the night.

Later that morning everyone left the ship and went into Baja. Celly had took a cool bath, gotten dressed and even had the energy to join Mindy and Chrissy for breakfast, although she hardly ate. All six women walked down together and decided to hit the shops first. They were here for 6 hours so they figured they had time to do a lot.

The men had all docked separately. Jordan followed Miguel to the Surf shop and rented a board as Miguel took him into the water and proceeded to teach him a few surfing techniques. Jonathan, Danny and Joe decided to head more into town and go shopping. They were surprised when a young Spanish woman came up and asked them for their autographs. Danny laughed, it had been a long time. They happily posed and took a picture with her. It was funny how people just had cameras on them at all times.

Katrina sat on a curb refusing to budge no more. "No more shopping. I'm so tired of these little booths, it's been 3 hours. Can we please go see the beach? That's what Baja's famous for, not the shopping." She hadn't really brought anything but was more on the lookout for Jon. Now the girls we're always on the lookout for one of the guys. Knowing they'd probably get off the boat too they constantly searched the streets. It was becoming second nature to them.

"I agree with Kat, I'm all shopped out. Let's hit the beach." Suzi and Celly continued on. Chrissy and Mindy had stopped in a booth and gotten a bit of carne asada "mmm good."

Chrissy said chewing on the stick of meat she had.

"Disgusting!" Celly yelled back at them.

"Forget this, I see the beach and that's where I'm going! See's ya later." Katrina got up and started walking not caring if anyone followed or not. She could only stand to shop for no more than 2 hours and she was 1 hour past her limit. She'd get really grouchy if she stayed a minute more.

"Hold up, we're coming, geez have an atttitude." Suzi yelled as the girls walked behind her.

"Thanks, I just will. Sorry chica but I don't want to get into my anti-shopping mood. I just want to hang out and the beach looks like the best place to do it." They walked to the shore and she got all smiley again.

"See look, sand surf and surfers." The girls stared out at the ocean.

"Well come on, let's pull up a patch of sand." Kasey said and walked right over next to a bunch of cute guys and sat down.

"You heard the girl. Let's go" Kat walked after her along with everyone else.

"You think she'd like this necklace?" Jon said holding up the shell necklace. He studied it and put it down. "I don't know, too eccentric or something." He looked around the shop at all the Baja t-shirts, panchos, silver earrings, necklaces, etc. Nothing quite caught his eye. The surfing paraphanalia overwelmed him. Finally as they were leaving he noticed the small silver necklace with one tiny seashell attached. It had a small card attached to it.

"If you listen inside the shell closely, you can hear my heart beat."

"That's it! It would be perfect." He exclaimed to no one in particular.

"What are you talking about Jon?" Joe came over and took a look at the necklace "MMM, pretty, you're thinking of gifts already?" Joe had endured Jon's talk about Katrina since they left the ship, it was obvious he was infatuated with her. Joe on the other hand, was trying hard to forget last night, it was one of those nights he wanted to erase off his rolodex, and any reference to it only brought a mean look and silence.

Jon blushed a deep red "Well I was just thinking if it goes well." He handed the man behind the cash register his money and stuffed the necklace in his billfold. He put back on his sunglasses as they headed outside to a cafe.

Kasey struck up a conversation with the guys next to them. They were college students out for a weeks break. Jared, the leader it seemed had his sites on Kasey already.

"So you're on this big lonely ship with no one to watch your back?" He said to her.

"No, I got my girls with me, thank you very much." She wasn't in the least interested. The other guys had had struck up conversations with the girls and none of them was getting anywhere except for Brian, who was busy talking to Chrissy, who seemed like she just could be interested.

Jordan sat on his board waiting for a good wave. Miguel swam up to him. "Next time you decide to wipe out, please do it away from me J. I kinda like falling on my own, thanks."

Jordan let out a laugh. "Sorry, Miguel but if I'm going down, so are you." Jordan paddled in to shore. "I think I'm going to rest the next few waves out Migs. You have fun". He dragged the board along as he collapsed on the beach. A few yards away he heard a familiar giggle and turned to see all the girls from last night talking to some guys. Although he knew they weren't theirs to claim, he felt a tinge of jealousy and hurt. He didn't want them to see him so he stuck the board up to cover their view. He'd planned on asking Mindy to dinner that night if he saw her but now, he decided it wasn't worth it. He didn't understand why he felt so strong, they'd only just met so the girls were free to see whomever they wanted. For some reason Jordan had already had an attachment to Mindy and he knew that Miguel and Jon, at least were in great spirits, and not because the sun was shining. Miguel came out of the water and jogged over to Jordan unseen.

"What's the haps?"

"Um, nothing unless you want to check out some new flirting moves." He pointed toward the group and Miguel set his eyes on Kasey who was talking to some blond dude. "Yeah whatever, so they're flirting." He said reading Jordan's mind. "So?" Miguel sat down next to Jordan "They're flirting, big deal, we aren't dating." Miguel rolled his eyes a Jordan.

"Well I thought you and Kasey hit it off. I thought me and Mindy hit it off, but I see we were just a convenience."

"Stop reading into things more than you see Jordan, tell me if a lady looking like" he turned around and pointed at a very voluptuous lady "that, walked up to you, you wouldn't be falling all over her flirting."

"Look at Miguel, the voice of reason." Jordan rolled his eyes. "Well I don't know about you, but I'm going to go back on the boat and decide what I'm doing tonight, since it obviously won't include Mindy." Jordan got up and walked around the group careful not to be seen.

Miguel stared at his friend as he walked away. What was his trip.

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