Charlotte's Story

Petty

Renee's POV:

"Are you packed?" Ryder asked me. I point to the door where my carry-on bag is sitting. "That is your bag?" I nod. He opens his door and strolls out a full-size suitcase.

"You do know we are going for five days?" I laugh at him.

"I packed five minutes ago." He strolls his bag to the door. We check the lights and that all the windows are locked.

"Hold on" he stands by the door, waiting. I open the utility closet and pull out the cat food; I load Chester's bowl up and then slid and lock the window. "I'm ready" I sling the bag across my shoulder.

"How did you win these tickets?" he asks on the elevator ride down. The flights and everything were free; I was shocked myself.

"A drawing at the mall" I  do not want to tell him about the blog and how a lady called that I had never talked to before and told me it was because they basically wanted me to pick.
Or to play it up.

But I had decided that it would not sway me. I felt a connection to Ryder, not Josh, and I was not going to mess with my life to appease my readers.

The airplane ride to Florida was quick, and then we are soon boarding our cruise.

"I'm nervous," Luke says, grabbing hold of my hand.

"It's just like driving" I instantly regret the words as soon as they come out; I could see he was more nervous after I said this. "And a lot like living in a moving apartment" I had no clue what else to compare it too...

The boat has everything you could imagine on it, a pool, bar, a complete gym. It was hard to believe everything could fit on it. Sandy from blogs.com had reminded me to pack formal attire for the dance at the end of the week. She was hinting at different things and what she thought should occur, but I was getting a free vacation out of it and nothing else. I was not going to let my job dictate my life.

Ryder walks up next to me wearing blue shorts with tan boat shoes. "Wow," he said, stepping onto the boat. We checked into our two rooms, which turned out to be a suite, and the rooms were combined. "Looks like we are still rooming together," Ryder winks at me. He has no clue what his winking does to me.

"Great. I guess I will be wide awake all night then... Remember Luke is in the rooms with us." My thoughts had still been floating back to the brunette he had brought back to the apartment a few weeks back.

Ryder frowns at my joke.

"You know..." he stops before he says anything more.

"I know what?" I ask, kicking myself for making such a stupid joke.

"Nothing, forget about it" he pushes past me to put his bag on his bed.

Mandy steps out of the bathroom; she had already changed into her black bikini. "Ren, get changed; I want to find us some hotties."

Josh is standing in the room with Luke. "Um... We can come with."

"That is not going to work, having a man and a boy with us," Mandy said dryly; she swats my butt. "Hurry up!"

I change into the only bikini I have, a simple navy blue one; I didn't have time with my school load to go out and buy a bunch like Mandy had. When I step out in my navy blue bikini Ryder is the only one standing in the room.

My pulse quickens, standing in front of him with barely anything on.

His eyes land on me and trail down my body, they double up, and he trails the length of me again.

"Where is Mandy at?" I ask nervously; the look in his eyes had changed into something more.

"Down at the bar" he hasn't taken his eyes off of me. "Um... Let me get changed, and I will walk down there with you."

As he is getting ready, I grab a towel wrapping it around my hips; I take it off, deciding I feel too much like a little girl. I dig through my bag until I find a black summer dress with white flowers on it; it looked like a swimming suit cover-up.

Ryder steps out in his black swim trunks; the rooms are smaller, he brushes by me by the door, but he stops when he is right in front of me. He turns his face inches from mine; he tilts his head, leaning in. I lean up on my tippy toes, and then the door is opening, ruining what was about to happen.

Josh is standing there staring at our bodies just inches from each other.

Ryder steps back, "We should go," he says, looking anywhere other than my face.

Josh grabs my hand before I step out of the room; Ryder waits in the hall.

"Just be careful," Josh says to me before I walk out the door; his eyes had crinkled together when he told me this.

Shouldn't he be happy for his brother instead of wanting me?

Ryder and I walk in silence to the bar by the pool; it is easy to find Mandy dancing in a group of people. She smiles and runs over to me when she sees us. Ryder follows behind us to the dance floor. Mandy grabs my hand, and I am soon dancing around with complete strangers. Ryder is off to the side dancing with a black hair chick with a nose ring. I was hoping he would have grabbed onto me. But, he would go and pick someone more his type; he probably had a lapse of judgment a few seconds ago when he was thinking about kissing me.

The energy was there bouncing off of his skin and mine.

I take a break after half an hour and make my way to the bar. Blogs.com picked the ultimate spring break location, and I am worried about what Luke will do during the week. I could take him off the ship and go snorkeling and do kids' activities with him if they had any. 

"Can I get you a drink? Or two?" I look up to see Josh smiling at me.

"Where is Luke?" I look around, panicked, knowing Josh would not make him come to this.

"He is at the kid zone. There was another kid there with the same dinosaur shirt on as him."

"Other people brought kids here?" I look around, and the oldest person I could find looked about thirty.

"Apparently," he looks around. It looked like he was thinking the same thing I was. "Maybe they are the workers' kids?" he laughs over this joke.

I called the bartender over ordering a pop. Josh orders a beer and looks around. "I don't know what to do here" he takes a sip of his beer.

"Dance. Mingle. Meet people." I had been keeping my eyes on Ryder, who had had a few dance partners; it was hard not to be jealous. I wanted to rip the red head's hair right off that had her hands all over him.    

"Do you want to dance with me?" I look at him and then the grinding and fast-paced dancing going on on the dance floor.

"Um... I think I'm going to sit a few out." I scan the room, looking for a woman for him to dance with. "What about that one" I point to a blonde standing in the corner talking to one of her friends.

"No thanks. I think I'll wait for something better to come along" I don't look because I have a feeling his words have a deeper meaning for me.

Ryder looks up, looking at Josh and me at the bar, his eyes darken, he walks toward us, not telling the redhead he was leaving. She keeps dancing, not even noticing that he is gone; her butt is now up in the air.

Ryder orders a beer. "What is up?" he asks both of us. I sat staring at the ground; I did not feel like talking to him after his show of partners.

"Josh and I were going to dance" I stand and grab Josh's hand putting it in mine as I lead him to the dance floor.