Page 54 of The Vacation Mix-Up
He lowers the menu, repositions himself, and runs his hands through his hair.
I smirk. “Tittney andSpitney, I take it?”
“Whitney and Brittany, yes.”
“They seem… perky.”
“I wouldn’t know. I didn’t hang around long enough to find out.”
“Wait… what?”
“Not my crowd.”
Surprised, I ask, “Then who’d you get drunk with last night?”
“I didn’t get drunk.”
“But you came back to the cabin in the early hours of the morning reeking of alcohol.”
“That’s because Ben spilled my drink all over me, and because I went for a long walk around the ship and chatted with some crewmembers before coming to bed.”
I blink all the blinks.
He snickers. “You seem shocked, Riles.”
“I am.”
“Why?”
“You just strike me as a single, party guy.”
“Who said I’m single?” he asks, lifting a brow.
For some reason, my stomach twists. “You’re not single? I… I just assumed. I’m sorry.” I shake my head. “Wait! What does your partner think of us sharing a cabin? You’ve told her, right?”
“No.”
“Riley! You have to!” I chew my thumbnail. “Not that anything is going to happen. I’m not like that.”
“I’m not like that either,” he says, smirking.
“Good. She has nothing to worry about then.” I point the pencil at him. “You should still tell her. It’s the right thing to do.”
“I agree. It is the right thing to do.”
Still smirking at me as if he’s Veronica’s cat, Marigold, who got the cream, I frown. “Wait! When I set the rule that you couldn’t bring back a random woman to the cabin, you said you’re a grown-ass man who can hook up if he wants to.”
He nods. “I did.”
I narrow my eyes at him. “I’m confused.”
“Clearly.”
“Okay, trivia buffs,” Carlos calls out, interrupting a conversation we need to revisit. “The time has come. Let’s go through the answers. Question one: Show of hands, who wrote Lady Gaga?”
I spear my hand into the air, but so do many others.
“Excellent!” Carlos performs Gaga’s iconic monster dance, and I giggle. He seems fun. Carefree and spontaneous. Someone who loves his job. I envy him. Not that I don’t love my job, because I do. I just never have fun while I’m doing it. Never laugh.
