Chapter 3: Fireworks
The next morning, Cairo changed into a bathing suit, grabbed her bag with a towel, sunscreen and her Discman, and snuck out of the room, trying hard not to disturb Lacey, who was snoring away contently. As she closed the door, wincing slightly at the audible click, she walked up to the deck.
The sun was rising, and the morning light was fresh and yellowy, the breeze was fragrant with ocean spray and it was very silent on the deck. Cairo saw that there were a few stewards running around, taking out the deck chairs that had been put away for the night.
Cairo spread her beach towel over an empty chair, set her bag down beside it and wandered over to the railing, at the side. She leaned over it and breathed deeply.
Now THIS is the reason I'm moving. Can you imagine waking up to this glorious sight every single day? Cairo thought to herself. As she stared into the rippling waters of the deep blue ocean, she thought again about yesterday. Scenes from her time with Neil kept playing over and over again in her mind. Why can't I remember where I've seen him before? The face, the voice, everything is SOO familiar. It's bugging me, she thought, then blushed distinctly, because she realized that she was thinking (again) about this guy Neil, instead of mulling over her fight with Brad. Well, if he's gonna be like that, then he can stand to be pushed aside for a few days. Plus, it's hard not to think about him. We spend the whole day together! He's just one of those people that you meet that you feel like you've know your whole life, she excused herself. But at least there is an up side to meeting him, she thought, recalling that after she returned to her room after dinner, she had been gripped by a story idea, and had been up most of the night, typing furiously, happy that she had finally had an idea worth writing down. Taking one last deep breath, Cairo left the railing and headed back over to her chair.
Taking a quick look at the huge pool, Cairo decided to jump in, before anyone else got there. She untied the sarong she had thrown over her black one-piece on her way out the door, and slipped out of her sandals, and jumped in. She swam 25 laps pretty aggressively, then just floated about for awhile, looking at the blue sky. After awhile, she began to get cold, because of the breeze blowing of the water, so she climbed out, dried off, gooed on the sunscreen, then stretched out on her lounge chair, with her CD player.
After awhile, the combined effects of the sun's warmth and the music started to make her drowsy. She was about to doze off when suddenly the shadow of some standing over her startled her. She opened her eyes, and found Neil standing in front of her.
"Hi Neil! Great day," she said, loudly, due to the music. He laughed as people around, who had started to gather around the pool, looked over at her.
"Oops," she said, as she turned down the volume. Neil took the chair next to her, and sat down.
"So, what are you listening to?" he asked.
"Oh, it's this CD that my sister gave me. I liked the first single off of it, so she bought me the whole CD," she said.
"And what CD is that?" he asked, imitating a game show host.
"It's Millennium, by the Backstreet Boys," she said, pushing away his hand pretending to hold a microphone.
"Ah, you're a fan of the Backstreet Boys, are you?" he said.
"Yeah, sure. I mean, if having one, and only one, of their CD's is being a fan, then I guess so. My sister is a freak. I mean, she owns EVERYTHING! Her walls are plastered with posters; she has every single, every CD and every live performance on tape. That's a little TOO obsessed. But I like this CD," she explained.
"Cool. So, what's up with you today?" he asked, changing the subject.
"I was thinking about just hanging around by the pool. It was a pretty long night," she said.
"Why sit by a pool when you can go...parasailing?" he said. She burst out laughing.
"I DON'T think so," she said.
"Neither did I, but I thought, you know, if I could just pitch the idea right...Never mind. You look tired," he said suddenly.
"Yeah. It was a brutal night. Let's just say that inspiration finally struck," she said, to sum up her long night.
"Oh, new novel?" he asked.
"Well, sort of. If it works out enough. I'm trying out the idea of past lives and soul mate kind of thing. Introduce some karma kind of thing in, of course with an evil villain," she explained.
"That sound interesting."
"Well, I hope my readers think so too!" she laughed.
* * * *
Over the few days, Neil and Cairo became inseparable. They swam together, played almost every game in the entire arcade, and explored the island the ship visited. Lacey found a "hottie" to follow around, and was quite happy by herself when Cairo left her to spend time with Neil.
It was about 3 p.m. on the last full day of the cruise, and Cairo was waiting patiently for Neil to show up.
"Hey, Kay! Over here!" she followed the sound of the voice calling her, and then spotted Neil, dribbling a basketball, coming towards her. She ran towards him.
"Don't tell me you adopted Lacey's nickname for me, now did you? Why can't you just call me Carrie, like everyone else?" she asked, sighing.
"'Cuze then I'd be like everybody else," he said, adopting Lacey's favorite phrase for answering that question.
"Oh dear. I'm fighting a losing battle. So you're going to teach the fundamentals for basketball, now are you?" she questioned, trying to bounce the ball away from him, but he blocked her.
"Oh yeah. First off, it's nothing like the arcade game. Just grab the ball, bounce it and get it in the net. Nothing to it, right?" he said.
"So all I have to do is-" she said as she grabbed the ball, "-grab the ball, bounce it and shoot it, right?"
"Must be beginner's luck," he said, as she tossed the ball, and cheered as it landed in the net.
"Well, you could say that. Then there's the fact that I was the captain of the girls team all through high school, including not one, not two, not even three, but FOUR district championships," she said, as she retrieved the ball.
"I've been had!"
"Neil, I have a question for you. Why, why oh why were you playing basketball in the hallway when there are a whole bunch of courts on deck? Why Neil, why?" she asked.
"Again I say, play where you can. Waiting for a friend, he was late, so I was just passing the time. Must you continue to grill me?" he asked, feigning hurt as he stole the ball, executed a skillful lay-up and threw up his arms with a look like, oh I'm amazing, when the ball when through the net.
"Okay, now it's on," said Cairo as she retrieved the fugitive ball.
* * * *
"I can't believe you guys played for FOUR hours," Lacey exclaimed, as she joined them at the table in the ship's dinning room.
"Tell me about it. But I had something to prove," Cairo declared.
"I have never been so deadlocked in a tie with anyone ever before," Neil said. They had been tied for almost two hours. Shot for shot, they kept matching one another.
"That was intense. We'll have to continue that one time," Cairo said. They had finally given up trying to win, and then headed back to their rooms for a shower, so that they could meet Lacey in the dinning room.
"Wow, last day. Did you hear they're having fireworks off the deck tonight? Can you just imagine how gorgeous that'll be?" Lacey said.
"Yeah, it's going to be great. But I am exhausted!" Cairo said. They continued talking until the waiter came to take their orders.
"What kind of seafood do you have?" asked Neil.
"Seafood? Didn't know you were into that stuff," Cairo said.
"Oh yeah. Not a fan of it?" he asked.
"Well, not really," she answered.
"Ever have lobster?" he asked. She shook her head no. "Then there's no time like the present!" He then proceeded to order a lobster tail for her.
"Neil, I don't think that this is a good idea!" Lacey warned.
"Why not?"
"'Cuze Kay's got this thing against trying new foods. You're just gonna end up with it on your lap," Lacey said.
"Now Lacey, I didn't dump the thing on Richard's lap, it was more like over his head," Cairo said.
"What?" Neil asked confusedly as both Cairo and Lacey collapsed into laughter.
"Kay went to this fancy restaurant with this guy one time, and he insisted on ordering for her. Well, it turned out to be atrocious, so Kay got mad because he kept forcing her to eat it, so she just dumped the thing on his head and stormed out of the restaurant! You should have seen his face," Lacey giggled.
"Kay, you really did that?" Neil asked, baffled. That hardly seemed like something that she'd do.
"Unfortunately for Richard, yes. He never spoke to me again!"
"Wonder why," Neil said sarcastically. The waiter then arrived with their meals. Neil instructed Cairo on the best way to eat lobster, and she was in hysterics by the end of the meal because despite the fact that Cairo was enjoying her lobster, between cracking it and eating it (while laughing), Neil ended up with half of it on his lap anyway.
"Well, that was an interesting experience for all of us," said Lacey, having retreated as far from the two as possible without leaving the table. A loud crack interrupted Cairo's retort.
"I think they're starting the fireworks! C'mon guys, you don't want to miss this," Lacey said, standing up while Cairo grabbed her signed copy of the bill. The headed out to the deck, and staked out a place next to the railing. Lacey took off to find her "boy toy", leaving Cairo and Neil all alone.
A burst of red and white light erupted the midnight blue sky, the vivid colors sparkling off the still waters of the ocean below.
"This is beautiful," Cairo breathed.
"Kay, I just want to say that this has been some of the best few days I've had in a long time. It's been great getting to know you," said Neil, drawing her attention away from the fireworks. She turned towards him, about to say something when another burst of light erupted. She looked straight up, admiring the burst of blue and green. When the light faded, she found she was looking into Neil's deep blue eyes.
"I've had fun too," Cairo said slowly, mesmerized by the depth of blue. His face slowly moved closer to hers, until his lips were touching hers.
Cairo was lost in the kiss, her eyes opened once, catching a blur of Neil's eyes. She was completely mesmerized. She completely forgot who she was, caught up in a moment of complete happiness. In mind her mind, she sighed. She hadn't felt this since she had started dating Brad. She was seeing the whole fireworks, sparks flying, stereotypical kiss. It was exhilarating. Suddenly, the crack of the next round of fireworks startled her; she pulled away.
Her eyes widened as she realized what she's done. She stood looking at him for a moment, frozen, until she snapped out of it. Then she turned and ran towards her room.
"Kay, Kay! Wait a minute!" Neil's voice rang out, trying to call her back, to reach her, but he was blocked by the gathering crowd of spectators.
She ran fast, tears blinded her vision. She didn't stop until she got to her door, fumbled with the keys and let herself in. She collapsed on the bed. After a few minutes of crying, she turned on to her back, taking a few deep breaths to calm herself, she brought her fingers to her lips.
She started to tremble with guilt, and the tears she had fought to stop started all over again, as she realized that they were still pleasantly tingling.
* * * *
The next morning, Lacey was still in bed when Cairo was racing around the room, trying to pack everything. She was in the middle of checking her accessories when Lacey groaned really loudly, hoping to encourage Cairo to be quiet.
"Hey, Lace! You're up! Good. We gotta be ready to leave in an hour!" said Cairo.
"An hour? No way!" said Lacey, looking dismally at the clock.
"Yeah. Then you have to catch your flight, and I have to catch a cab home," said Cairo.
"Oh. I forgot about that," Lacey said. This was one of their last hours together as roommates.
"Don't worry about it. Let's just be normal Cairo-and-Lacey until we have to say goodbye, okay?" Cairo said enticingly.
"Okay," Lacey agreed. She got up and got dressed, and together they packed everything they could find.
"Do you know where my blue hat went?" Lacey asked.
"Not a clue. Under the bed?" Cairo asked.
"No, not there," Lacey replied.
"Well, I guess you lost it. Um, Lacey, I'm just gonna go...gaze out at the ocean for a few minutes. I should be back in ten," Cairo said.
"Gonna go say goodbye to Neil, eh?" Lacey said. Cairo nodded.
"If I can find him," Cairo added.
* * * *
She found him at the same spot she had intended to visit. He was gazing out at the ocean, leaning on the guardrail.
"Neil?" she said. He turned around and smiled.
"Kay, listen. I just want to say how sorry I am about last night. I just kind of got caught up in the moment, I really am sorry," he explained, half pleading with her.
"It's okay. I just...well, I ran off because, well, I think I forgot to mention that I have a boyfriend," she stammered. He looked relieved that she wasn't mad at him.
"Oh. I'm sorry, if I had known..." he said, trailing off.
"Yeah, it's okay. I guess I kind of avoided the subject, anyway. He wasn't too pleased to hear that I was moving," she explained.
"Really? That's too bad," he said.
"He didn't even show up to say goodbye," she said, blinking back a few unexpected tears. They both gazed out at the ocean for a few moments, both in silence.
"Well, it's been fun getting to know you. Maybe we'll run into each other in Orlando," he said.
"Yeah," she said. He stood there for a moment, then turned to leave.
"Oh, Neil?" she said. He turned around.
"Yeah?"
"Has anyone ever told you that you look way better with blond hair? Black is so not your color. Anyway, I'll see you around, Nickolas Gene Carter," she said, beaming at his look of astonishment. "Somebody's been busted."
She turned around and walked back to her room.