Secrets From The Med

Chapter 5

     Jason knocked on Josh's door and Josh opened it almost immediately.  Jason was drenched from head to toe but that was the least of his worries.  He was so grateful that Josh had let them come over; this way he could keep a close eye on the girl all night. 

     "The bedroom is straight back there," Josh told Jason, pointing in the direction of the bedroom. "I'll get some towels."

     Jason carried Green Eyes to the bedroom and gently laid her on top of the covers, again placing her on her side in case she vomited.  Her hair and clothing were soaked but she was in no shape to change her own clothes. She opened her eyes occasionally and had tried to talk a couple of times but it was impossible to understand what she was saying. Josh came into the bedroom and handed two large bath towels to Jason. 

     "Thanks man," Jason said.  He began drying Green Eyes' hair and clothes the best he could with the towels. As he did, he noticed that she was shivering.  Josh must've seen it too because he opened his closet and got a quilt to put over her. He said it had been handmade by his grandmother.

     "Jason, what happened here?" Josh asked.  "It's awfully early for somebody to be wasted like that."

     "You're exactly right there, Josh," Jason agreed, with his gaze still fixed on Green Eyes. "You see, I just reported on board the Invincible this past Monday and one of the guys in the berthing invited me to a party tonight and told me that it started at seven. I get there and one of the first things I notice is that this girl here has already had way too much to drink. She was surrounded by three guys and there was a plastic cup in front of her."

     "So you really think they might've spiked a drink and gave it to her?"

     "I think it's a possibility. She was there along with two of her friends and one of them explained to me that the three of them had been told to show up at 5:30. I don't know exactly what all happened but look how small she is; plus I'm pretty sure she's not used to drinking. It wouldn't take long at all for her to drink enough that it would hurt her."

     "So, is she on the Invincible?" Josh asked.

     "Yeah, she and I are both in first division, but I've met so many people this past week, I don't even know her name. In my mind I'm just calling her "Green Eyes" for now.  Jason turned his head to look at Josh.  "They've also put me in charge of all the damage control and PMS and everything's pretty much a mess."

     "Aren't you guys leaving for a Med cruise soon?"

     "Yep, we leave next month.  I guess I'll be spending this one the same way I did my last two: working and getting drunk."

     Josh looked at Green Eyes, then back at Jason.  "Well, Jason, I'll say one thing, you may have saved this girl from something horrific tonight.  It's a good thing you were there and paying attention to what was going on.  Listen, I've got duty tomorrow and I think I'll go ahead and spend the night on board my ship."

     Jason felt bad then.  "Whoa, Josh, I didn't intend to run you off."

     "No, really, I've got a long day tomorrow and I'll get to sleep longer if I stay on board the ship.  Jason, you help yourself to anything here you need.  I'll get the coffee pot ready in case you want coffee and there's frozen pizzas and sandwich meat if you get hungry.  If you need to keep her here all day tomorrow, go right ahead."

     "I'm not gonna eat you out of house and home, but I will take you up on that coffee," Jason replied. "Josh, thank you so much for letting me bring her here."

     "Hey, no problem.  Call me anytime." Josh then packed up a few things, showed Jason where he kept an extra key, went to the kitchen to prepare the coffee pot, and left.