Page 138 of Falling Overboard

“Lucky? Are you okay?” Georgia’s words finally pierced the foggy, confused haze I found myself in.

“She’s supposed to be sick.” It was the only thing I could think to say.

“I can’t believe this,” Georgia said.

Neither could I. It felt completely unreal. Like it was a movie and not actually happening to me.

“There has to be an explanation,” I said, finding it painful to speak. Didn’t I owe it to him to let him explain?

“I don’t know, mate. How well do you really know Hunter? He’s lied to you about some important things.”

Yes, but there had been reasons for that.

“I don’t want to be a downer here but I also don’t want you to get hurt. What if this is just a fling for him? Do you know how many crewmembers I’ve thought I was in love with?”

This wasn’t like that. Or, it hadn’t been up until about three minutes ago. But what if she was right? What if he and I were caught up in some faux romance because we lived and worked together? How was I supposed to know if this was real or not?

And how could he kiss Emilie?

Somebody stepped into the crew mess and then hurried down the hall.

It was Emilie.

I held my breath, wondering if Hunter was going to come chasing after her.

He didn’t.

“Go into your cabin and splash some cold water on your face,” Georgia said. “Lay down if you need to. Take a few minutes to collect yourself.”

How was I supposed to collect myself when I had been shattered into a billion tiny pieces and scattered all over the floor?

I did as she suggested. My mind was reeling; I was trying to make sense of what I’d just seen. I didn’t get into my bed, though. There were too many memories there. I stayed in the bathroom with the door locked.

And I couldn’t figure out a way to make this okay. There was no reason or explanation other than Hunter had been cheating on me the whole time and I was so caught up in him that I hadn’t realized it.

It certainly wouldn’t have been the first time that this had happened to me.

At some point I was going to have to get out of this bathroom and start cleaning. Georgia couldn’t do it all by herself and Emilie certainly wasn’t going to help—she was too busy sticking her tongue down Hunter’s throat.

I wanted to cry but I knew that if I did, I wouldn’t be able to stop. I didn’t have the luxury of getting to break down and fall apart. There was still work to be done.

“Lucky, Lucky, Captain Carl.”

I fumbled with my radio for a second before I could respond. “Yes, Captain?”

“Come up to the bridge.”

“Copy.” I wondered what the captain wanted now. Maybe he was going to berate me for not letting Brock sexually harass me.

I felt like a zombie as I made my way up to the bridge, numb and incapable of thought. Because remembering what I had seen was too heartbreaking and it was easier to just block everything out.

Captain Carl was waiting for me. “What is this?” he asked, handing me a piece of paper.

I was still so scattered that it took me a bit to recognize what it was. The sCrew List.

My name was on it.

And I had points.

---