She turned back to watch as Sarah took the leopard print thing, which turned out to be a very thin mini dress made out of something shiny, and slipped it on over her head. She kicked off her sandals and slipped her feet into the delicate, black, strappy heels, bending down to secure the tiny buckles that rested above her ankles.
Sarah stood up to see Candi standing there with her mouth hanging partially open, too stunned to say anything. “What’s the matter? Cat got your tongue?” Sarah asked, waspishly.
“Uh, no. I’m just … ”
“What?” Sarah demanded, bristling at the naked disapproval coming from her roommate.
“It’s just that … I mean … aren’t we going to the muster?”
“Yes, of course we are. I don’t see your point,” said Sarah, being deliberately obtuse.
“Well, I don’t know, I mean, maybe it would be easier in … other shoes … or something?”
“What? These things?” She lifted her foot up to the side, twisting her leg around a little bit, showing off her long, shapely, tan and very exposed leg. “I walk around in shoes like this all the time. They’re as comfortable as those horrible shoes you’re wearing.”
Candi glanced down to look at her flip-flops. “I doubt that.”
“Yeah, well, whatever. This is what I’m wearing and
nobody’s
going to tell me I can’t.”
“I wasn’t trying to tell you that you can’t wear them, Sarah.” Candi felt bad that Sarah felt censured, even though she had just criticized her and her flip-flops.
“I wasn’t talking about
you.”
She fixed Candi with a stare that carried a lot of meaning.
Candi caught on right away. “You’re talking about your dad, aren’t you?”
“So what if I am?” Sarah answered nonchalantly, shrugging her shoulders.
Candi was curious. “Why do you try so hard to make him mad?” It seemed counterintuitive to her. If you want to get along with your parents, you don’t work overtime to make them angry.
“Why does he work so hard to be such an asshole? I don’t know. Maybe because it’s fun.” She zipped her bags back up in sharp motions, then grabbed her makeup case from the bed. “Watch out. I need to freshen up my makeup and you’re standing in front of my mirror.”
Candi stepped to the side. She ran out of room in the tiny cabin to go any farther, so she climbed up on the bed. It was a very small double bed, which she was just realizing might be a problem when rooming with a bossy space hog.
Sarah sat in front of the mirror, putting on makeup that would have been more at home on someone going out to a nightclub, not a person on a cruise ship in the middle of the day.
Candi sighed, not looking forward to the altercation that was sure to erupt between Sarah and her father.
“I hear you sighing at me. You’d better watch out, or I’m going to put some of this on you, too. Then we’ll see what
your
precious daddy has to say about that.”
Candi didn’t like Sarah talking about her family like that. It gave her a little extra courage she normally didn’t have. “Listen, Sarah, I appreciate that you have some sort of thing going on with your dad or whatever, but that doesn’t make it okay for you to say crap about my dad or my brother, okay?” The adrenaline was pumping through her veins, making her feel shaky. Her fight or flight instinct was kicking in, and at this particular moment, she was choosing
fight
.
Sarah put her makeup brush down and a slow smile broke out across her face. “Easy now, killer, no harm meant. Relax.” She turned back towards the mirror, picking up an eyebrow brush. “My father’s an asshole, and yours apparently isn’t. Poor me, yay for you. That’s life. I’m over it.”
Candi stood up and squeezed past her, heading towards the door. “If you were so over it, you wouldn’t be wearing that outfit.” Candi opened the door, stepped out beyond it, and slammed it closed before Sarah could respond.
Apparently now she was in the flight mode of the fight or flight instinct. She leaned against the hallway wall and exhaled loudly. Confrontation with Sarah was nerve wracking and not fun.
***
The door next to hers opened and Kevin stepped out. He stopped short when he saw Candi standing there, just a couple of feet away. “Hey there, Gumdrop, what’re you doing out here?” He took a look at the high color and frustrated look on her face, guessing instantly what had probably happened. “Did you tangle with the tiger in there?”
Candi smiled back. “I think so, if by tiger you mean Sarah.”
“That’s the one. Don’t worry about her. She’s all snarl and no bite.”
“I’m not so sure about that.”
Kevin took her gently by the upper arm, steering her down the hall away from the rooms. He continued, “Trust me – just don’t give in to her shit, she’ll back down. She’s really a nice girl at heart – but don’t ever tell her that I told you that because I’ll deny I said it.”
Candi said nothing in response. She was too busy alternatively staring at his hand on her arm and looking up shyly at him.
“Aren’t you wondering where I’m taking you?” he asked, finding it amusing that she didn’t have a quick comeback for him this time.
“Um, yeah, I guess.”
He stopped walking and looked down at her, with only a trace of his earlier humor on his face. “You shouldn’t be so trusting of guys, Candi. You can’t let some guy just grab you by the arm and drag you through the ship. You could get hurt that way.”
She looked confused. “Are you saying I shouldn’t trust you then?”
Now it was Kevin’s turn to be uncertain. He stopped for a second to think about what he had been trying to say, momentarily flustered. “No, you can trust me. I’m talking about other guys.”
She smiled, seemingly amused by the fact that he was a bit unsure of himself. “But you’re a guy who just grabbed me by the arm and is dragging me through the ship.” She was teasing him, flirting back.
He recovered quickly, now on the solid, familiar ground of flirting with a girl. He was an old pro at seduction, and this little bit of sweetness didn’t have a chance. “You’re right about that, but I’m not just
any
guy, now am I?” He leaned a little closer to her while keeping his eyes locked on hers.
Her breath started coming more rapidly. He could see a slight sheen of sweat breaking out on her upper lip. Her face began to glow a pretty pink.
“Please let my deodorant be working,” she whispered, before her eyes nearly bugged out of her head.
He smiled, bemused. “What did you just say?”
“Nothing!” she squeaked.
They heard a door slam down the hall and the sound of approaching footsteps. “Hey, guys! What’s up? Where’re you going? Mind if I go with you? I was thinking about going to … ”
Jonathan stopped short when he reached Candi and Kevin.
“Hey, Candi, are you okay?”
The trance broke. Kevin watched as Candi stepped back and quickly pulled herself together.
“Yeah, I’m great. We’re just getting some air. Where are you going?”
“You’re getting some air? Here in the hallway?” Jonathan looked around at the enclosed space, trying to figure out what she was talking about. Kevin could practically see his mind working, wondering if there an air vent hidden somewhere he wasn’t seeing.
“Hey, buddy, whaddya say we go up to the bar and get us a beer?” Kevin put his hand on one of Jonathan’s shoulders to steer him down the hallway away from his sister. They both started walking down the hall together, leaving her behind.
“Oh, I’m not drinking age yet.”
“Don’t worry about that. We’re in international waters now, and I have a fake ID. I’ll get us both a beer.”
“Actually, the fact that it’s international waters is irrelevant. Each cruise line has its own drinking age, and usually it’s twenty-one. I’m not twenty-one yet.”
Kevin stopped walking for a second, forcing Jonathan to also stop since Kevin’s hand was still firmly on his shoulder. “You know, Jon, there
is
such a thing as too much information. Has anyone ever told you that?”
“Oh, yeah, Candi says that to me aaaaalll the time. T-M-I Jonathan, T-M-I!”
Kevin glanced back at Candi and winked at her, causing her to blush all over again. “Your sister is a sharp one. I think we need to be careful of her, I’m pretty sure she’s not exactly what she seems.”
Jonathan was completely oblivious to the undercurrent of flirtation present in that statement. “Oh, I agree, totally. Wait ‘til you really get to know her. She acts totally different at home than she does at school.”
Candi’s feet immediately went into motion, closing the distance between them and her, her expression telling Kevin she meant to try and stop her brother’s motor-mouth.
“Oh, I’m looking forward to it – getting to know more about her, maybe over that beer I mentioned. Are you up for it, Mister I’m Not Twenty One Yet?”
Jonathan hesitated only for a second. “Yeah, okay, that sounds good. My dad said we should relax and live a little on the cruise; I guess having a beer qualifies.”
Kevin released his shoulder and clapped him on the back a couple of times. “Yes, Jon, my man, it sure does.” He glanced back over his shoulder at Candi, who was now standing right behind them. “You comin’, Gumdrop?”
“No thanks, I’m going back to wait for Sarah.” She stared at her brother hard before turning and walking back toward the cabin, while the boys continued to the stairs at the end of the corridor.
Kevin shouted, “Suit yourself!” already forgetting about their exchange.
***
Candi stood in front of her cabin door. She knocked, then used her key to go in.
Sarah was still sitting at the makeup table. “Back so soon?” she asked sweetly, as if nothing had happened.
“Yeah,” Candi responded quietly. She stood there for a moment, weighing the pros and cons of dealing with Sarah head-on, deciding eventually that it would be better to fix it and move on than to let it fester. “Listen, Sarah, I’m sorry I said that stuff about your dad or whatever. I don’t want to fight with you; I just want to hang out and have a good time. I’d prefer to do that with you, but if you don’t want to hang out with me, that’s fine too. I’ll understand.”
Sarah stopped with her makeup application and turned to look at Candi, sitting on the edge of the bed. “What is it exactly that you would understand?”
Candi started playing with her cuticles nervously. “Well, that hanging out with me might not be what you would want to do, I guess.”
Sarah continued to push her, “And why wouldn’t it be what I want to do?”
“I don’t know – maybe I’m not like your other friends at school and so maybe since I’m not like them, the things I do might not be your idea of fun or whatever.” She was frustrated trying to explain this concept that was floating around in her head, which was essentially:
I’m not cool enough for you.
But Sarah was hearing something totally different. “So what you’re saying, basically, is that you’re too goody-goody for me and you don’t want to hang out … is that it?” Her tone was getting bitchy, a barely controlled temper simmering beneath the surface.
“What? No! Of course not, don’t be silly! I don’t think that at all. It’s just … it’s just that … well … you and I travel in different circles. I mean, your friends are more sophisticated than mine are, wear fancier clothes and shoes, go to parties and stuff. I wish I could do those things, but I can’t – or I don’t – I don’t know which, actually, but it doesn’t matter. What I’m trying to say is you’re cool and I’m not, so if you don’t want to hang out with me, I totally understand, okay!”
Candi stood up and walked quickly to the door. She didn’t wait for a response; she turned the handle, jerked open the door, and rushed out into the hallway, letting the door slam shut behind her again.
Great
, she thought,
this is the second time in ten minutes I’ve run out of the room. I’m such a wuss. Sarah’s going to think I’m a total drama queen.
She wasn’t sure if Sarah had purposely goaded her into it, but somehow she had figured out Candi’s deepest thoughts and got her to say them out loud. Running away was the only escape from her humiliation.
As Candi walked quickly down the hallway towards the stairs, all she could think about was how Sarah was probably going to go back to school and tell all her friends about how much of a loser Candi Buckley is. The thought was just too depressing to dwell on.
So much for moving up the social food chain.
***
Back at the cabin, Sarah sat staring at the door that had just closed with a bang. She carefully reviewed the exchange she’d just had with Candi, turning mindlessly back to the mirror to finish up her makeup. As she went through the motions of putting on blush, she put it all together, finally figuring out what Candi had been trying to say.
So, the little Sugar Lump thinks I’m cool. That’s nice.
And the poor thing didn’t think she was worthy of Sarah and her friends. Sarah laughed out loud at that. The irony was that Sarah’s friends were only interested in being with Sarah because they thought she was rich and well-connected, or because Kevin was her brother and they wanted to be his one and only true love. And truth be told, Sarah was jealous of the relationship Candi seemed to have with her parents. It was so open and loving. They didn’t care what anyone thought of them. Life would be so much easier if it was really that way.
Well, if she had any hope at all of having a good time on this cruise, she definitely needed something to keep her occupied. Since Candi seemed to be worried about being cool, maybe there was something Sarah could do to take care of that. She got up from her ministrations and headed to the bed where Candi’s bags were sitting.
Without any regard for Candi’s privacy, she opened them up, one by one, examining their contents.
Tsk, tsk, we have a LOT of work to do here. This girl dresses like I did in sixth grade. No, make that fifth grade.
As she lifted up different outfits and pulled them in at different points in the fabric, mentally pairing them with pieces of jewelry she knew she had with her, she realized that maybe she could help Candi pull off something cute with this pitiful selection of clothing.