Caribbean Cruising by Rachel Hawthorne

Author:Rachel Hawthorne [Rachel Hawthorne]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780061756320
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2007-12-07T05:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 15

The Enchantment

Day Four

Brooke had said that she liked to bring the party with her, and she absolutely did. I was sitting on the deck of the ship near the off-limits-to-kids-pool when she arrived with her entourage, as Ryan referred to them.

Six guys following after her like puppies hoping for a dog-biscuit treat. It was kinda amusing to watch.

She spotted me and waved enthusiastically. Then she was heading toward me. I’d arrived before it had begun to get crowded, and had been able to claim a couple of loungers, but no way did I know that I needed to claim eight. It seemed inconsiderate for our group to take up so many, especially when I hadn’t been certain that Brooke would bring everyone.

I suppose I shouldn’t have doubted her, but now I wondered where everyone was going to sit.

Apparently the guys were okay with the ground or the edge of a lounger because as soon as Brooke claimed hers, they were sitting around both of us. There didn’t seem to be any rhyme or reason to where they sat.

In high school I’d done a lot of group dating. You know, where several guys and girls go out together. Sometimes you pair up, sometimes you don’t. It took a lot of the pressure off to hook up with one person, and prevented that one-on-one awkwardness that sometimes happened before you were really sure if one-on-one would even work for you.

But we’d always had as many guys as we had girls so no one would feel like they were the odd-one out. With Brooke I sometimes felt as though she’d hooked up with me so she’d have someone to foist the unwanteds off on.

Okay, I’m sure she didn’t mean for the results to appear that way. Brooke didn’t give each guy an equal amount of attention, and whoever wasn’t the flavor of the moment tended to drift over toward me.

I just didn’t have Brooke’s knack for blowing a guy off while still leading him on. But I suppose that was all part of being a vixen flirt, and she had the style down pat.

The guys didn’t seem to mind—if they even noticed what was going on. Sometimes guys are totally clueless.

“You know, I’m really craving a smoothie,” Brooke said.

“I’ll get it!” Michael and Shooter said at the same time, both jumping to their feet.

“You want something, Lindsay?” Chad asked.

“Yeah.” I reached for my fanny pack.

“Don’t worry about it. I’ll get it,” he said. “What do you want?”

I ordered a strawberry-banana smoothie. All the guys traipsed off as though they couldn’t handle getting the drinks alone. Or maybe they didn’t trust leaving anyone behind, and had an unwritten code that no one could stay with us if even one of them had to leave.

“Aren’t they great?” Brooke asked.

“But which one do you like?”

“Oh, I like them all. You’re welcome to share.”

“Share?” I asked, a little dumbfounded.

“Sure. We’re on vacation. It’s not like we’re going to get serious about any of them.”

I’d never shared guys before, and I wasn’t certain that I wanted to now.

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