Sky yawned as she hit the off switch on her alarm and sat up. She could feel a dizzy cloud hanging over her head but she ignored it and got out of bed. She started to wake up as she dragged herself through a shower and getting dressed. She grabbed her room key before slipping out her door.
The ship was chaotic, filled with passengers in bathing suits and smelling of sunblock. Sky was happy to leave the bustle as she pushed open the door to the ship offices.
She watched Johnny's face fall when he caught sight of her walking towards him and she smiled bright.
"If I didn't know better I would think you aren't happy to see me Johnny," she said.
"I still think I won," he said. He purposefully did not look at her.
"Sure you did. Is he in?" she asked. She moved towards Louis's door.
"Yeah," he grumbled.
"Sky, how did the excursion go yesterday?" Louis asked when he saw who had entered his office.
"Busy. The biggest crowd I've ever taken but it went well," she said. She took a seat.
"And everyone returned to the ship in one piece?"
"Surprisingly yes, although it was touch and go for a little while."
"And Mr. Hamilton," Louis asked. His voice grew more serious as he gave her a pointed look.
"Seemed to enjoy himself," she said.
"And..." he prompted.
"He was surrounded by more then twenty girls at all times. He did his job and I did mine," she said, with a bold look.
"Good," Louis said. He studied her for a moment before looking down.
She tried to search his face, seeing if he knew that Knox had been up on deck with everyone again last night. Technically, it had been Anders who had invited him this time, giving her a good excuse.
"And karaoke went well last night too. I think it helped that Mr. Hamilton wasn't there. The girls seemed calmer," she said, moving on to the next topic. She knew if Louis wanted to say anything more, he would have.
"Good, good," he said. His eyes drifted off to some paper on his desk.
"I have the guitar lesson at two today. Then will spend the time before dinner setting up for the acoustic show. Where do you need me before that?" she asked.
He glanced at his watch. "I have office work I need you to do. Have you had breakfast?"
"Not yet."
"Grab breakfast and come back."
"Got it," she said, getting up from her chair.
She gave Johnny a little wave as she left and glanced at the clock, it was only nine. She still had an hour before she was suppose to meet Knox for breakfast, which would be too late now. Plus, she was starting to rethink eating with him in a public place where workers and fan girls could see them.
Knox opened the door and found Sky with a food cart.
"Hey!" she said.
"Hey..." he said. He was surprised and confused. He glanced back at the clock in the room, confirming it was only nine fifteen.
"Sorry to show up early," she said, a little nervously, her smile falling a bit. "And at your room," she added, the facts of the situation seeming to catch up with her.
"No, no. It's fine," Knox said. He collected himself. He tried to erase his shock and put on a neutral look.
"I have to work earlier then I thought," she explained. His eyes went down to the food cart. She continued. "I also rethought us eating together in public. Even though it would simply be friendly, people might jump to the wrong conclusion. I don't want to cause trouble for you or me."
"Do you often show up at guys' doors in the morning with food?" he asked.
"Only the rich ones," Sky said.
He stepped aside. "Come on in," he said. He helped pull the cart in to the room. "I'll be right back."
He disappeared into the room to put on a shirt and quickly brush his teeth. When he came back out, Sky had opened the door to his deck and pulled the cart out. She was sitting in a chair, looking out on the water.
"It's beautiful," he said, taking in the sight of the Grand Caymans for the first time.
The shallow water took on a clear turquoise color and it gently swept up onto white sand. The buildings past the edge of the water were brightly colored with a few bungalow looking buildings mixed in. He could see a boat from the ship, taking people to the dock.
"If I had thought my plan through at all I might have realized showing up at your room in the morning with food might not be the best idea," she said. There was a hint of an apology in her voice. "It might send the wrong message."
"Yeah, I might get to thinking you might like me," he joked.
"More like I'm using you for your balcony," she said.
"Well, it's not the first time I have found girls at my door."
"So I get to join the ranks of your slutty girl fans. Thanks for that," she said.
"You are the first to bring food though." He reached over to lifted a silver dome from a plate.
"Ha, I win then," she said.
"How much do you think I eat?" he asked incredulously, looking at the piles of food on the plates covering the cart.
"I didn't know what you liked, so I brought a little of everything," she explained.
And a little of everything was right. There was four different types of eggs, every type of meat, multiply choices of bread, including a cheddar herb bagel. There were three different flavors of yogurt, oatmeal, fruit, two omelets, croissants and Danishes and five different types of juice.
"Does the kitchen know you took all of this?" he asked, taking a cup of orange juice.
"I know a guy," she said. She grabbed a piece of toast and opened a small jar of jelly.
"This isn't my favorite stop," she explained between bites of bacon. "It's mostly ritzy shopping and fancy hotels."
"No horse and buggy to get you around?" Knox asked. He tore off a piece of bagel with cream cheese. They were both facing out, his feet propped up on the railing, Sky's half folded under her.
"Definitely no horse and buggy here," she said. "But you should get out and explore. I'm sure there is some fun stuff."
They both turned when they heard the door slam and saw Marcos walking towards them. "What's this? You brought me breakfast?" he asked.
He dragged a chair from inside and taking a seat at the table. He grabbed an empty plate and started to pile food on it.
"I tried to tell Knox I really brought it for you, but I couldn't keep him from eating it" Sky said.
"He always does that. He's such a diva," Marcos said. He stuffed half a piece of toast in his mouth.
Sky laughed.
"I'm pretty sure you just came in to MY room and started eating MY food," Knox said.
"He does have a point," she said.
All three of them turned as the door opened again. "Where were you last night?" Calvin asked. He stoppe when he looked up and saw Sky with Marcos and Knox.
"Hello," Calvin said to Sky. His voice took on a professional air.
"Hi," she said with a small wave.
"Calvin this is Sky. Sky this is my manager, Calvin," Knox said. Calvin have a small stiff nod to Sky's friendly wave.
"Calvin, do you want some food," Knox asked.
"I'm fine, thank you," he said.
Silence fell over the group. Knox looked from a stiff Calvin to Marcos, who was chomping away at food, to Sky, who clearly could feel the tension.
"Well, I better be going," she said, glancing at her watch and standing.
"You don't have to go," Knox said, also rising.
"I actually have to get to work," she clarified. "Marcos it was good to see you again. Enjoy the food. Calvin it was nice to meet you. Just put this cart in the hall and our cleanup crew will take care of it."
She slipped pass Calvin and headed towards the door. Knox quickly followed her.
"You don't have to go just because Calvin is here. I know he can seem standoffish but he warms up, eventually," he said in a quiet voice.
"I actually do have to get to work," she said. "It wasn't just a lame excuse."
"I just thought you had the guitar lesson this afternoon," he said.
"No. I have office work I need to do. The bat cave is calling," she said.
"I guess I'll see you this afternoon for the guitar lesson then." Knox reached out to open the door.
"Correct. And if you could get there by one thirty so we could go over a few things for the event that would be great," she said. Her voice slipped back into a professional tone.
He searched her eyes, sensing something had shifted, but she gave him a reassuring smile.
"Bye," she said, leaving the room.
Knox shut the door behind her and felt a little uncertain as he went back to finish his breakfast with Calvin and Marcos.
"Deep down Louisiana close to New Orleans
Way back up in the woods among the evergreens
There stood a log cabin made of earth and wood
Where lived a country boy named Johnny B. Goode!" Sky sang out.
"Go, go, go Johnny go, go go."
"Sky! I'm going to punch you," Johnny said through gritted teeth.
"Come on! That is one of the greatest songs. I wish my name was Johnny just so people would sing that song to me," she said.
Sky was seated at the desk across from Johnny wading through the large pile of comments and complaints. In the last hour she had learned that rich people liked to complain or critique as much as they liked to spend money.
She absentmindedly started to hum the tune to Johnny B Goode and was startled when a pen came crashing on to her desk.
"I'm serious Bennett," Johnny said. Another pen was poised in his hand, ready to be thrown.
"Okay," she said, going back to her notes. She caught herself before she started to hum the song again.
"Where did you disappear to last night with the popstar?" Johnny asked after they had been silently working for ten minutes.
"Hmmm?" She distractedly acknowledged his question, still ready the note in front of her.
"Come on."
"What?" she asked half annoyed to be pulled away from her work.
"It's not every day an international pop star hangs out with the crew and you happened to disappear just about the same time he did," he said.
He was digging for information, but Sky was smart enough to know anything you said to Johnny was known throughout the ship in a short amount of time.
"I don't know what you are implying," she said.
Johnny cast a glance at Louis's door before getting up. He came over to sit on the edge of her desk. "You getting some pop star love?" he asked quietly.
"Eww, no," she said. She shoved him off her desk and happily watching him fall on the ground. "I don't even know the guy. Who do you think I am? You?"
"I'm sure there are plenty of girls who are happy to sleep with Knox Hamilton without knowing him," he said, standing up and brushing off his pants. "Isn't that the point of being a famous pop star?"
"It might be, but he won't be getting any from me," she said. "Plus, it's against the ship rules."
"Ha!" He let out a loud bark. "If we are talking about not breaking ship rules you can't say anything. I'm sure Louis would be thoroughly interested in Knox Hamilton's whereabouts last night and their proximity to you," he said, a devilish look in his eyes.
"I'm sure Louis has bigger problems than the fact that Knox played some ping pong with Anders."
"Really? Then let's go tell him now," he said. He moved towards the office.
"Go ahead. I'm sure he'll be just as interested in your betting ring you setup last night." She stared Johnny down, a smug look on her face. She watched his expression fall as he thought about it for a moment.
"I think Knox Hamilton will win out," he said, less sure of himself.
"Okay," she said offhandedly. She went back to her work.
"You seriously don't care if I tell him," he said. He moved back to her desk.
She smiled up at him. "I know you won't," she said confidently which elicited a laugh from Johnny.
"Oh yeah?" he asked.
"Come now Johnny boy, we both know I hold way more dirt on you then you have on me." She easily recalled several incidents that Johnny had broken ship rules. She watched as the same events played through his mind until he gave her an annoyed look.
"Well played Bennett," he said. He gave her a sweeping bow. "I knew I like you for a reason."
"Is it the fact that your charms don't work on me?" she asked.
"That and you can dish it out as fast as I can serve it. It's an admirable trait," he said.
She laughed, not counting that as one of her best traits, but taking the compliment.
"Correct me if I'm wrong but we don't have a koi pond do we?" she asked, after they had slipped back into silence, working on the projects in front of them.
"I think we'd be the first ship to have one if we did but no we don't. Why?" he asked.
"Someone complained that the koi from the koi pond were disturbing. They asked that they be removed for the remainder of the cruise."
"Seriously?" He came over to her desk. She held up the comment for Johnny to read and he took the piece of paper.
"Someone clearly had a little to much to drink," she said, handing the paper back.
"More like WAY too much to drink," he said.
"You got any more funny ones?" he asked. He was clearly bored of whatever he had been working on.
"I've been keeping a pile of the best," she said. She pulled a medium sized pile from the corner of the desk. Johnny pulled up a chair and sat.
"Let's hear them," he said, getting comfortable.
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You vote, I vote.
(Please tell me someone gets the reference I'm going for?)