[Charlotte Kendall]
Earlier this morning I had found myself in our cabin passed out at the foot of my bed and with an empty glass in my hand. A warm liquid was soaking the carpet beneath me before I lifted my chest to discover the old stench of last night's alcohol on my white shirt. When I sat my back against the mattress my head began pounding a little too hard to notice the stranger sprawled out across the second bed beside me.
Luckily, for both of us, he was fully clothed. I couldn't remember much from last night except for the fact that it was New Year's Eve; the only reason I was waking up like this in the first place.
My best friend Emma had this brilliant idea to take several weeks off for a cruise to the Hawaiian Islands over winter break. Two days ago we left Los Angeles on this ship in order to celebrate the New Year while in the Pacific waters. Now that it is the day after yesterday that only means three more days until my feet can properly settle on flat ground again. I hated the water and so drinking the crap out of the alcohol on this ship was the only thing keeping me afloat for the rest of the cruise, no pun intended.
After my vision was no longer fuzzy and red I looked around the disastrous room for Emma.
"Em?" I whispered with a scratchy voice. I repeat her name while coughing to clear my morning tone. I was hoping not to wake the unfamiliar boy in my bed.
Just crawling around on the carpet was making my head pound. I was literally on my hands and knees, making my way to the cabin door with alcohol still dripping from my wrinkled shirt. I was upset that my shirt was once white and too concentrated on how I was going get the stain out of it that I didn't even realize the front door was opening. It whipped out and smacked me straight between the eyes on the forehead.
"Ow!" I huffed, backing away from the door jamb to cover the bump forming on my head with my palm. Now my headache was severely painful thanks to that early morning smack.
"Charlotte? What the hell?" I heard Emma's voice from above before crawling upward to stand. The room was definitely spinning and if not from the alcohol then from the concussion. "Ew, Ben is still here!" I should have figured Emma's attention span would shift as usual.
She brushed past me, spinning my shoulders as she walked over to my bed while avoiding the mass loads of trash and drinks on the floor. She ripped out the covers from underneath the boy causing him to flip off the bed completely. His body landed on the ground with a hard thud and when he didn't move right away I was worried he might have been dead for a split second.
Soon Ben got up from the bed, rubbing his hip before grumbling something to Emma. I let go of my breath that I didn't know I was holding in as Ben turned away from Emma with a hard scowl on his face. I couldn't hear much of what he said until Emma shouted after him, "Yeah sure, nice meeting you too dick!"
Whoa. Language girl, I think to myself.
My eyes widened as the guy came closer to me, scratching his face, "What are you staring at?" He remarked harshly before sliding past me and back out the front door.
Ah well, Emma wasn't wrong, he was a dick. I hadn't realized I was staring in the first place; all was very bizarre this morning.
And so here I stand, with yellow liquid stained down my shirt, a Doritos chip knotted in my hair and a newly developed pink knot on my forehead.
"Did I take some kind of drug last night?" I ask with slight seriousness before heading over to my bed and falling back onto the mattress. Just flopping down onto the fumbled sheets caused my stomach and head to swirl.
"Only about a handful," Emma stated.
I gasped, "Emma!" I jolted back up throwing my hands out behind me.
When I saw her sly smile I knew she was just messing with me. She kept smiling to herself as she fixed the sheets on her bed too.
"Who even was that guy?" I ask again while digging pieces of crumbs out of my brown curls and peeling them from my roots.
"Ben, from floor one," She said, not really refreshing my memory. Then I remembered we shouldn't be so nonchalant about this stranger, he was asleep. . . in our room.
"Did you. . ."
"God no! Did you even get a look at him? He was not my type." Emma exaggerated while tossing the pillows up onto the headrest of the bed.
I sighed in relief and walked around the corner to the small bathroom. Emma kept talking about how she met Ben last night and ya dee ya . . . but I was too concerned about whether I remembered packing my aspirin or not.
"What time is it?" My voice came out hoarse as I called over Emma's banter.
I flicked on the lights in the bathroom and tried not to scream at my reflection. My eyes barely adjusted to the harsh light while I brought back my lips into a grimacing appeal. Mascara was down my cheeks and someone else's false eyelash was glued to my cheek.
Damn, what did I do last night?
"It's half-past ten!" Emma yelled, "Hey where did you end up last night before coming back to the cabins?" I heard her again as I dug for my hairbrush through my makeup bag. A Doritos chip fell from my curls and broke in the sink below me, flicking off red flakes of cheese.
"I don't know. I was hoping you would tell me?" I called back as a dark brown knot broke free from the force of my brush.
"Last I saw you; you were out on the pool deck drinking with that curly headed guy . . . what was his name again? Henry? Hank? Nah it ended with a Y right? Larry? Oh, that's way off. . ." She drifted into thought as I dropped my hairbrush in the sink.
Thick clumps of hair stuck to the bristles and washed out down the drain as I ran cold water all over my head. Emma shouted out a new name from the front room, reminiscing over last night and what happened but none of it was coming back to me at all.
"I'm taking a shower!" I announce towards the front room, whipping my head back around the corner.
"Aw man, but you are such a delight to look at right now." She responds with a sly smirk. I stick my middle finger up at her, receiving a flash of her tongue before turning back around into the bathroom.
I locked the bathroom door and turned on the shower immediately. Folded cream towels were nested neatly above the toilet and I grabbed one, taking it back with me to the clear glass shower. I quickly undressed out of my disgusting clothes and threw them as far away from me as I could before stepping into the running water. As the warm water glided down my shoulders and back, my headache was relieved and I almost felt human again for the most part.
+
"I can't believe Ben was still asleep in our room. I told him to leave hours ago when I left for breakfast." Emma huffed under her breath as she rolled the room service cart through the front door and over to the side chairs.
"And you didn't even think about getting me something to eat?" I slump into my chair while tying up the strings of my teal bikini top.
"Oh pipe down cry baby, your food's right here."
I laughed under my breath as Emma pulled back the lid of the tray, showing off the coffee mug and croissant underneath. I grabbed my coffee mug and rolled my eyes. My stomach still felt woozy but that wasn't stopping me from having my morning cup of coffee.
"I can't wait to just have a chill day; sleeping out by the pool." Emma finally says with a singsong voice while sitting down in her own chair beside me. She laid her head back against the wood frame of her chair and smiled to herself. We both raised our mugs at the same time and took a sip all in the same motion.
The pool was open by now, but I was still way too hung over to even face the sun this morning. Taking a shower for thirty minutes felt fine but walking out into the cold front room caused me to throw up last night's happy hour. So far the only time I was enjoying myself on this cruise was when I was drunk.
Now, I'm no alcoholic. I'm just terrified of massive moving machines. Boats, airplanes, and trains you name it. . . I do not do well sober on any of those things.
However before last night happened we had planned to spend the afternoon by the pool, sunbathing and whatever but I wasn't feeling it today. Just waking up this morning I had this pain inside of me that wasn't looking forward to the new day. Not necessarily that I was hungover but that something wasn't right in the air. It could just be anxiety so I am trying my best to avoid my instincts.
Emma sipped on her coffee and flicked through the channels on TV while mumbling something about last night to me. I had to ask her again, leaning in as she added something about me taking my top off in the middle of the dance floor. "You're so full of shit." I sigh.
Her lips hovered against the rim of the coffee mug as she shrugged innocently, "How am I if I saw it with my own two sober eyes." She sat back with a silly smirk before adding lightly to the side, "I was completely sober last night." And I knew it was a big fat lie.
I pinched my brows together in disgust and found the croissant under my silver cover before chucking it in her direction. The croissant tipped her mug and a little splash of black coffee flopped into her lap. She yelped and dropped the mug onto its saucer.
"Charlotte!" She attempted to be serious but I was already trapped in a laughing fit.
When Emma stood up a small spot was soaking down her jeans which only made me laugh more, "You're ridiculous. Wha-what was that for?" She stumbled on her speech and started slightly laughing as well.
I sat back in my chair and crossed my legs beneath me. Tears began to roll down the corners of my eyes as my smile tightened from laughing so hard. I was about to look back up at Emma but a jolting push threw us both back into our chairs. Our laughter stopped immediately as the room's walls shook the nailed lampshades intensely. Light bulbs flickered for several seconds then suddenly stopped until the room grew still once again. I looked back at Em watching her dropped jaw wobble as she turned to face the front door behind her. Through the glass peephole, the sky seemed bothered and a group of guests ran past our room quickly.
Their voices were hushed but we still caught their first question, "What the hell was that?"
"Come on Char, we have to go see what that was all about." Em crawled from her chair and reached for her black sweater laid out on my bed. I didn't argue, grabbing my own jacket and room key quickly before stumbling out of the cabin behind her.
Stepping outside the ocean air was chilled, which seemed odd for this time of day. I only woke up two hours ago but we had been sitting inside this whole time, not noticing the sudden change in weather. I clenched a nervous fist into the back of Emma's sweater, cradling her body in front of me as we followed the forming crowd of passengers to the Ship's stairwells. Families gathered their children close beside them as they looked beyond the boat as if something was out in the water.
"What's out there?" I whispered to Emma as we snuck past the groups and through the stairwells.
"I don't know." She answered ahead of me while looking slightly over her shoulder.
We quickly made it to the bottom floor plaza and noticed the same scene as the crowds before. People panicked in confusion while staff went one by one to comfort everyone. A pool boy walked in through the outside doors and started heading straight in our direction. I thought he would tell us what was going on but as he started to pass our shoulders I instantly grabbed his arm and turned him back around.
"Hey what the hell is going on here?" I demand as Emma shrinks back beside me. The boy's pupils were overly dilated and his cheeks were pale. I raised a reassuring brow at him after a moment of silence between my questions.
"The captain took a sudden detour." His voice was low while my hand slipped from his bicep. He brushed nervous fingers through his sandy blonde hair, looking back between Emma and I. "During the night- well . . . we lost communication to the outside services."
"What do you mean?" Emma butted in with attitude growing impatient, "Like we lost power?"
"Nobody knows, just that the Captain took on the waters without controlled orders from the destination point." He added while bending over closer so that only Emma and I could hear what was up.
"What are you talking about?" Em's voice squeaked and the boy jumped back to look around his surroundings. A waitress shot her head towards our direction and the pool boy's lips formed into a flat nervous line.
"I only wanted to warn you," I spoke to us but still stared back at the brunette who was now headed towards us. "Look this information was meant for the crew only; you aren't supposed to know anything about what the Captain is doing, okay." He quickly assured us before the waitress reached our side with a stern worried look on her face. Her eyebrows were scrunched tightly between the bridge of her ski slope nose.
"Hayden? Is everything alright over here?" She glanced at the pool boy who was simply rubbing the back of his head nervously.
"Yeah, perfect. Never better," His deep voice suddenly turned higher in fear and the girl turned her body to fully face Emma and me again.
"Is there anything you ladies need right now?" A semi-fake smile formed on her pink lips as she folded her hands politely against her stomach. Her name tag read Kat and her uniform fitted the Italian restaurant theme Emma and I ate on our first night here.
I smiled back before taking Emma's sweater into my clenching palm, "We're fine, just wondering why we can't bring alcohol into the pool." I chuckle a fake excuse as Hayden flashes a thankful grin my way.
Kat's lips twitch unexpectedly before she brings in her bottom lip in confusion again, "You can't bring alcohol into any public pool . . . period." She replied as if I was stupid.
"Yeah well, thanks to Hayden we now know that." I mimic her fake smile and take Emma along with me towards the front exit this time.
Emma tripped at my side before laughing at the ridiculous escape plan I just committed. Once we stepped outside again I dragged her around the corner and pinned her to the thick wall where no one from inside could see us anymore.
"I don't know what the hell this small detour means and I sure don't want to find out." I stutter with my hand still gripping tightly to her sweater sleeve. "How do we get off this death trap?" I shriek, way too overwhelmed and giddy from the coffee rush possibly.
She shakes me off of her and flattens out her knitted sleeves; folding the wrinkled material I had caused so frequently, "Char I don't think we should worry about it," Her tone was calm, causing me to step back in panicked horror. "I think that boy was high on crack or something, I mean his eyes were bright red." She scoffs under her breath while brushing her caramel colored bangs away from her eyes.
I try not to laugh so harshly at her but she was now being ridiculous, "He was a pool boy!" I accidentally shout, "Don't you think the red in his eyes was; I don't know maybe chlorine!"
Emma shifted to one hip and crossed her arms at me, glaring deeply into my eyes. She did this thing to make me uncomfortable every time I got mad at her but this time I was too scared of the events around us to back down from her.
"How can you not be a little concerned about what's happening?"
"Because there is nothing happening Char." She emphasized my name irritably and I stepped backward rolling my head to the side. "Look let's just believe the waitress and give this anxiety rush a rest for right now." She demanded.
She turned away from me to find the sun but the clouds had swallowed it whole while we were arguing in the shadows. She pouted her lips at the empty pool deck and turned again to find the plaza door behind us. As she started to walk back into the plaza, a serious gush of wind blew our hair across our faces. My brown locks got stuck to my eyelashes, poking me in the eyes. I shielded away from the wind to get the hair out as Emma groaned. Once my hair was situated better I looked over and noticed Emma flattening out her bangs again and smoothing the ends of her light polished pixie cut. The bottom of my sundress started brushing up my legs too and the goose bumps prickled my thighs.
"Can we just go back up to our room?" Emma asked but my attention was only focused down the dock to the back of the boat.
Something was stirring up over there; people were crowding into large groups before rushing upstairs and through doors. Eagerness was taking over me and for once I wanted to know what was going on. The sky was getting slightly darker and the new clouds that sucked up the sun for today were rolling in fast.
"Wait Em do you hear that?" I ask but as I turned my head I only found myself talking to air.
A deep knot twisted in the pit of my stomach and I decided to follow my instinct. I grabbed the hem of my blue sundress and walked straight down the line alone. Looking over the edge of the cruise I started to notice the waves picking up speed.
The wind was stronger near the back of the ship, where the first pool and the tall water slide were also placed. Kids were no longer running around and no lifeguards seemed to be on duty all of the sudden. I cautiously walked along the side wall of the pool, checking the chlorine waters. The wind was starting to throw water out of the pool, tipping its self made waves onto the concrete around me. I bent down gripping the edge with both my palms, studying the shaking ripples in the water. At home, these movements happened during earthquakes or when jet planes pass by in the sky. However, on a boat it was much different and much scarier.
"Hey!" A loud voice caused me to flinch away and I shot straight up again. My heels slipped out of my sandals as I tried not to lose my balance on this shaky end of the ship. A lifeguard with dark hair finally came running out to the pool deck but by the sound of his voice I grew weary, "You aren't supposed to be out here. Haven't you heard the captain's orders?" The muscled young man reached my side with his bright red flip flops before alarmingly grabbing my arm.
"What are you doing?" I pull back and stare him curiously in the dark rimmed eyes, "Where is everyone?" I grow frustrated and watch slowly as a strong gulp slides down the boy's throat. His stare was beyond me and I quickly looked back over my shoulder to see the commotion.
Whipping my head around, more wind hit the exposing skin on my face and my eyes got dry from the salty air. I gasped and felt the same hand on my forearm again before allowing the lifeguard to take me away. Beyond us and the cruise ship was a massive mess of waves forming far out along the horizon line. Thunder clouds and pouring rain was now racing to our little spot in the Pacific Ocean. Suddenly, my afternoon hangover was at the very bottom of my list of problems for today.
[A/N]
Hey guys! So every chapter I like to post the songs that I listen to while writing. If you would like to request a song for a chapter let me know in the comments below anytime. Also, check out my casting list to see who is portraying who. So far we have introduced our main character Charlotte (Played by my fav Shelley Hennig) and her best friend Emma (played by my other fav JLaw)
Chapter Songs:
"Don't Panic"- Ellie Goulding
"Holding On For Life"- Ellie Goulding
"Empty Gold"- Halsey