I Will Remember You

Chapter 3

~ The Cruise, Day One ~

Leaving Miami

"I think it's down this way." Tristin said, looking at the signs on the wall that pointed to the room numbers. Justin and Tee followed along, letting Tris lead the way. Because Justin had insisted on being as frugal as possible, they'd opted for an inside cabin on one of the lower decks. Not that if really mattered since none of them planned to be spending much time there anyway.

Justin, realizing that Tee was falling behind again, reached back and grabbed his friend by the arm, forcibly pulling him along. "Come on, Tee. There will be plenty of time to chase guys *after* we get our bags put away."

Tee grinned, turning back from where he'd been watching one of their fellow passengers walk away. He returned to following along behind his two cabin mates. "Can't blame a guy for looking. For once, Tris had a great idea. Definitely, a gay boy's wet dream."

Laughing, Tris stopped at a cabin door, presumably theirs. "Don't tell me you're actually giving me a compliment! I'll have to make a note of this historic occasion, maybe a press release this evening?"

Tee laughed back, "Must be the sea air. I'm sure you'll screw something up by dinner time and everything will be back normal." Tee reassured his cousin.

Justin just shook his head, quite used to these two by now. He did, however, notice that they seemed to be missing someone. "By the way, what happened to Uncle Rick?"

Tee rolled his eyes. When the reservation agent had told them they'd need at least one adult over 25 to accompany them, they'd immediate asked Uncle Rick. He had been more than willing to join them on their "wonderful adventure", especially when told there would be over 3000 gay (and lesbian) passengers to party with.

Tris smirked, sharing a knowing look with Tee. "I don't think we're going to see much of our 'chaperone' this trip. I think he found something else he needed to keep an eye on while we were waiting to board."

"I think I heard him say something about a massage." Tee said innocently, but the look in his eye was anything except innocent.

Justin tried to keep a straight face as he added, "He must have gotten lost then, cause I would have sworn he was walking in the opposite direction from the spa."

Tris had gotten the door open and they stepped inside to toss the bags down. Turning back to the still open door, Tris saw two hot, Latino guys pausing to glance into the room. Clearing his throat to get his cabin-mates attention, he motioned toward the door. "How about we look into getting one of those massages, boys." Exchanging grins, they left the bags where they'd fallen and headed out with their two new 'friends' in tow.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Somewhere else on the same ship ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"I can't believe I let you talk me into this." The tall brunette grumbled to his shorter companion.

"You're just grouchy because you had to stand on the deck with that silly looking life jacket on for half an hour."

"I never look *silly*." The tall man patiently explained. "But listening to you make conversation with a bunch of overweight, badly dressed fags would be enough to make any man question his reasoning abilities in agreeing to this 'gay-fest cruise'."

The shorter man rolled his eyes, exasperated. "Come on. I've hardly seen you since you moved to take that new job. We'll hang out like old times, party all night, fuck a few tricks, get wasted, help each other back to our cabin. This'll be fun!"

The taller man sighed. His friend had badgered and whined until he'd finally given in and agreed to come on this cruise with him. Might as well make the best of it. "Ok, Mickey, what's first on the agenda."

Michael grinned; glad his friend was finally making an effort. "There's a mixer on the Promenade deck as the ship leaves dock. Let's check that out." He saw the dubious look his friend gave him. "Come on, Brian. It'll be great!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Day One, Night Life ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Justin wondered around the upper deck, feeling the ocean breeze rush by. Night had fallen, so he could no longer see the water, but he could still hear the ocean churning way down below as the huge ship cut through. He hadn't seen his cabin mates since they'd gone dancing earlier. Tee had disappeared with an older, blond guy who'd been buying him drinks for half the night. Tris, as usual, couldn't seem to make up his mind, so finally left with three guys. Justin had a brief interlude with a tall, dark haired guy a couple of years older than him, but as soon as they'd both gotten off, he'd ditched him and made his way up here.

The music from the live band performing on the Promenade deck could just be heard from where he was standing. He'd promised to meet up with the others at the midnight buffet, but that wasn't for another 20 minutes. He liked the quiet up here. A little time to wind down and relax.

A couple walked by, arms around each other, voices laughing softly together. Justin felt a pang of jealousy. He closed his eyes and, unbidden, the image of himself and the dark-haired dream guy came to mind. He could almost feel the man behind him, arms surrounding him as he kissed his neck, nibbled his ear. His hand would pull gently pull Justin's chin around so that he could capture his mouth in an kiss that would slowly increase in intensity, leaving them both breathless and wanting more.

A sudden laugh startled Justin from his thoughts. 'Fuck', he thought to himself. 'I'm doing it again. A ship full of beautiful gay men, and I'm standing by myself having a fantasy about a guy that doesn't exist.' Justin glanced at his watch. Still a bit early, but he thought he'd go ahead and start toward the buffet room. He walked slowly, watching the people he passed. A few times, he wished he'd had Tee's camera. He didn't draw much any more because his hand would tired so easily, so he'd started borrowing the camera to take pictures of things that interested him.

By the time Justin arrived at the midnight buffet, Tee and Uncle Rick were waiting outside for him. Tris bounced up a few minutes later, slightly out of breath. Justin found himself wondering, not for the first time, if Tris ever *walked* any place. He always seemed to be on the verge of catapulting himself off into space.

As soon as they were all accounted for, they headed into the buffet, regaling each other with tales of all that they had been doing since dinner. Even though Rick was about fifteen years older than they were, he was just as much a kid at heart. He remembered well what it was like to be a horny, gay, college boy and left the boys pretty much to themselves, just checking in occasionally to make sure no one had fallen overboard or anything like that.

Laughing at each other's antics as they made their way through the buffet line, they drew the attention of everyone in the room. Four gorgeous men; one blond with blue eyes, one brunette with green eyes, another with brown eyes, and one with almost black hair and blue eyes. There wasn't a single man in the place (and many who weren't single) that didn't want to have one, or more, of those four men.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Michael wondered into the midnight buffet, looking around for Brian. He had said that they would meet here, but that had been fifteen minutes ago and he still hadn't shown up. On the off chance that Brian had already gone inside, Michael walked in and looked around. His eyes immediately went to the same place as every other guy's in the place, the four hot guys who were now walking toward a table only a few yards away from where Michael was standing.

Michael stopped and gaped. It couldn't be! No fucking way! Of all the rotten fucking luck imaginable.

He turned and walked quickly out the door, nearly running over Brian in the process. 'Oh, fuck.' Michael thought to himself. 'Tell me he didn't see. Please, don't let him have seen.'

Brian grabbed Michael's shoulders, steadying him as he stumbled back. "You OK, Mickey? Not getting sea-sick are you?" Michael was looking a little pale.

Michael latched onto that idea. "Yeah, I guess maybe I am." There was no way he was letting Brian walk into that room. Not after what he'd just seen. "Do you mind if we head back to the room? It's kind of late and I'll probably feel better after a good night's rest. Give me a chance to get my sea legs." He managed a weak smile, hoping Brian wouldn't see right through him.

"Sure, it has been kind of a long day." Brian put a companionable arm around Michael's shoulder and they headed back toward their cabin.

Michael breathed a sign of relief. He'd convinced Brian to come on this cruise, hoping that his friend could forget the past. The past that had already forgotten him. The past that Michael had just seen walking toward a table in the buffet room. The past that Michael was determined he'd protect his friend from, if it was the last thing he did.

Michael took and deep breath and exhaled. Surely, on a ship this large, with over 3000 people on board, he'd be able to keep his best friend from running into his ex-lover. Surely, it wouldn't be that difficult, would it?

One day down. Now, just six more days to go.

Return to I Will Remember You