Page 19 of Bumping into You

Now I will most definitely see him the entire cruise. And why did I spill my past failure of a relationship to Niall? What is wrong with me? Why does the world hate me?

I was cool sharing personal information with some random stranger that I thought I’d barely ever see again on the cruise, much less see at all after. But to find out that Niall is Sully, Greg’s best friend from college?

Oh.

My.

Gosh.

I pretended he was my boyfriend when Bradley showed up. . . Oh crap, what am I going to do about that? There is no way I can just hole up in my room and avoid any chance of seeing Bradley and his perfect, beautiful fiancée, Tammy. He must love Tammy to be marrying her. She must not be just a pretty face. And soon they’ll find out I don’t have a boyfriend at all because I have no idea how I’m going to convince them that Niall and I are together now that we’ll be seeing each other much, much more than I thought.

My cheeks heat and my heart races in my chest. What am I going to do? Then I realize that there are three sets of eyes staring at me. Curiosity in Greg’s eyes, concern in Holly’s, and something I can’t quite place in Niall’s.

“How small of a world is it,” says Holly, sipping a drink at the bar and looking between Niall and me, “that you two would meet without knowing who each other is?”

“The world is feeling pretty small right now,” I mutter under my breath.

“What was that?” asks Margot.

“Nothing,” I snap.

“We are all going to have such a great time together,” says Holly. “I can’t wait for all the fun things we’ve got planned!”

“What’s on the agenda for tonight?” Greg asks me.

“Well,” I say, “we have dinner reservations at seven o’clock, but otherwise, tonight is kind of a free night. Get settled into your rooms, eat dinner, and then get a good rest because we’ve got lots of fun things going on tomorrow after breakfast in the main dining. It’s a day at sea so there will be tons of activities onboard, and Holly and Greg wanted us to try out a bunch of different things.”

“When I was boarding, I heard the announcement that our rooms are ready,” offers Margot.

I nod, having heard the same announcement before the run-in with Bradley.

“I, for one,” says Trent, pointing to the bar, “would like to try another one of these yummy drinks.”

The others nod in agreement.

Having already had a drink and then roped Niall into my past, I really just want to run and hide until I can gain some composure. I get a bottle of water and take a few sips before excusing myself.

“I need to check in with Becca to make sure she has the corporate event for tomorrow all set. Then I think I’m going to go check out the rooms, make sure everything looks good, and put my feet up for a bit. Meet you all at dinner. Our parents and other siblings will be joining us for dinner tonight as well,” I announce.

“Are you sure, G?” asks Holly. “We’d love for you to stay with us.”

“I’m sure.” My voice rises in one of those infamous “I’m fine” moments like Ross fromFriends. You know, the one where he finds out about Rachel and Joey and swears he’s fine?

Yeah, that’s me right now.

Just call me Ross because I am totally not fine.

In fact, I am the opposite of fine. I’m freaking the flip out.

“I’ll catch up with you all later,” I say, clearing my throat and excusing myself from the group.

Mom and Dad. Ugh, with everything that happened this afternoon, I didn’t even get a chance to check in with them.

I better have a message from them that they are safely on this boat.I pull out my phone as I walk out of the Imperial Bar and head toward the elevators. No message. So I send one.

Gwen

Please tell me you’ve made it and are already on the cruise ship. We are set to depart in less than an hour.

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