Page 5 of Not that Sea-Rious
Frowning, he sighed.“I guess I can wait for someone to come by.”
Marissa
Dinner had been amazing.It wasn’t a Michelin Star restaurant or anything, but the experience was more about the company than the food.Everyone ordered something different so they could sample a little of everything.Most items had been delicious.Marissa was stuffed.Good thing too, because they were headed to the casino to continue their binge drinking and debauchery.
Joyce and Carolyn had looped arms and depended on each other to keep from stumbling.That didn’t change the fact that the two of them repeatedly apologized to the chairs and walls they bumped into along the walk.Tina and Marissa, overseeing their drunkenness, attempted to keep their snickering to a minimum.
“I call slots!”Joyce shouted as she raised an arm in the air.
Carolyn wrinkled her nose.“No way.I hate those.”
“But they’re the easiest.”Joyce slumped slightly as she whined.“I don’t think I’m in any condition to use my brain right now.”
Tina arched a brow and shared a look with Marissa.Day one and they were already facing a mutiny.
“They’re also the quickest method to lose all your money,” Tina said.
“But they’re fun,” Joyce protested.“All the little side quests and graphics.I don’t have to understand what’s going on.The slots keep me occupied.”
“You know what’s easy?”Marissa interjected.“Roulette.Pick numbers and put your chips down.What you do doesn’t impact anyone else, and hopefully that little ball stays away from double zero.”
“Ohhh!That sounds fun!”Carolyn released Joyce and somehow fall-walked toward Marissa.Reaching out, Marissa caught the future bride before she face-planted.Giggling, Carolyn held on to Marissa for dear life.“I’ve never played it before, but I think I can get the hang of it.”
“It’s really simple,” Marissa assured her friend as she straightened Carolyn’s festive miniature veil.
“As long as they have more of those daiquiris, I’m in,” Joyce said.
“I assure you.They’re everywhere.”Tina chuckled.
Swinging her arm, Carolyn nearly knocked Marissa over.“Onward to the gambling den!”
With that settled, the quartet, laughing hysterically, made their way toward the casino.For how long?No one knew.Hopefully, the food in their stomachs would soak up some of the alcohol Carolyn and Joyce had drunk.It was far too early into the evening, and the vacation, to be holding anyone’s hair.
They weren’t in their twenties anymore.
4
Beau
Beauwasoutofsorts.What numbers was he supposed to play?It’d been months since he’d sat at a roulette wheel.Last time, he used Megan’s birthday, their anniversary date, his mother and father’s birthdays, and of course, his favorite number, thirty.
Some of those wouldn’t change, but anything to do with Megan… no.That would just bring bad juju.So, he experimented with his own birthday.
And lost.Figures.
The year he graduated from college.Nothing.
Switching it up, he tested his luck playing the corners and splitting numbers.More bang for his buck doing that.
Half a win.Okay, that was something.At least he could hang out a little longer on their dime.
The zeros, though.They had just as much chance of coming up as any other number on that wheel.They were only separated on the board.That was the trick.People forgot about them because they weren’t red or black and were all by their lonesome up at the top in Greenland.
A direct hit!Nice.Fitting too.That would be his bank balance when he got home from this trip after the amount of chocolate martinis he intended to consume.He might have gotten the unlimited drink package, but it had its constraints.Considering he planned on not spending another moment sober this weekend, he’d exceed them, but he only lived once, and he was throwing caution to the wind.
That might be the ’tinis talking.
Accepting his third for the night, he spotted a group of boisterous women headed his way.He’d seen them before.Ironic, considering this ship was filled with thousands of strangers, but these women stood out.They wore bright colors and wide smiles, and glee radiated off them.
