Faking It(16)

Misty raised her hands to crown me but Ada stopped her. She looked petrified as her gaze jumped to my girlfriend. Ada smiled a polite smile at her, then gently took the wreath and placed it on my head herself. “Jupiter,” Misty finished, looking as though she finally let out the breath she was holding. Incredibly, thunder crashed in the distance, adding some dramatic meaning to my anointment and causing a gentle laugh all around. “That was supposed to happen,” grinned Misty, regaining some composure and getting a bigger laugh. I looked around the room at all the others. I was the only one still wearing a shirt and pants, but I was determined to stay that way.

I tried to catch Misty’s eye again. I just wanted some acknowledgment of the kiss from her but, frustratingly, she seemed always busy. I thought I managed to get a quick smile from her at one point, but it vanished just as fleetingly as Henry asked her for more champagne.



Aphrodite seemed to be moving along at a brisk pace now, while rain had begun to lash at the windows. Inside the main guest lounge, however, we were being served lunch. The chef had originally prepped an exotic seafood salad, with crab, oysters, shrimp, and lobster but, considering the weather, at the last minute, he paired it with a thick, fish-based soup with plenty of cream, to keep everyone a little warmer. It was so successful, I asked Tarquin to come up personally so everyone could all thank him.

As the afternoon wore on, even once we were moored and sheltering in a secluded bay, Aphrodite was suffering through some choppy waters. The girls kept the party going, but playing twister as the boat lurched from side to side made it a fight for anyone trying to maintain any dignity. Paul and D Cash mainly seemed to be entertaining themselves as spectators, enjoying the view as Veronique, Ruby, Britney, and Bella, only wrapped in short togas, bent over and around each other and left very little to the two guys’ imaginations.

Henry looked pretty green around the gills for most of the afternoon. The poor guy was not enjoying the rough seas. Ada and I sat at the bar again. However, when Ada finally excused herself, I saw Misty hand the spinning pointer over to Tanya and make her way over to refill my glass.

“I’ve been longing to talk to you,” I whispered as she poured more scotch. “It’s been so hard, though.”

She smiled back at me. “It’s okay, we don’t need to talk.”

“What do you mean? You kissed me, Misty!” I hissed, a little too loudly.

Misty looked around the room. Thankfully no one seemed to have heard me. “Please don’t,” she pleaded. “I’ll lose my job.”

“I’m sorry,” I told her. I didn’t want to get her in trouble. I just liked her and I felt like she liked me too. “It’s just… I can’t stop thinking about it…” About you, I was going to say. I opened my mouth to tell her, only there was a sudden and almighty crash right above us, and it felt like the world was ending.

I had no idea what was happening. I heard a colossal bang, followed by a loud shattering of glass. Then screams. I looked over to see guests and staff alike diving for cover as broken glass rained down on the whole lounge.

I had only an instant to react. I didn’t think, I just leaped over the bar, grabbing Misty as I flew through the air and taking us both toward the back wall. I couldn’t stop myself landing prone on her but, at least, I could use my body to keep her shielded from anything that might come down on us. We lay still, silently staring into each other’s eyes as I sensed sparks flashing around us and felt pieces of glass bouncing off my back. It was intense. Neither of us knew if this was about to be our last second alive. I wanted to kiss her again. In that moment, about to die, it was all I could think about.

“Is everyone okay?” I heard Sarah’s strong voice, after what seemed like an eternity. All the commotion had died down. Alarms were going off across the boat and I looked up to see Azure gather up her toga and run to help the other deckhands. Fortunately, it seemed the glass that formed the skylights in the lounge was made of that toughened safety glass and we now seemed to be surrounded by small, ragged, marble-like pieces capable of doing us no more harm than a little light hail so, happily, there were no injuries more serious than a couple of bruises.

I got up and helped Misty, then we stood face to face, brushing each other clean of broken glass. “Are you okay?” I managed to ask. Before Misty could answer, Ada appeared, having returned from the bathroom just after the disaster.

Wind and rain were now whipping their way through the hole in the cabin roof. I looked up and saw the reason the glass had smashed. The top of the main mast had fallen through the ceiling and was now buried in the floor behind the bar, almost exactly where Misty had been standing. There were still a few small flames crackling along the broken, charred shaft, where a bolt of lightning must have hit it. I saw Tanya grab an extinguisher and deal with the small fire, but we could still see the bigger flames on top of the remains of the mast, high above us.

“Everyone into the dining room please,” called Sarah and, keen to get out of the rain that was now lashing down on us, we quickly obeyed.

“I guess you owe him your life again,” said Ada to Misty, not looking at her. She threw her arms around my neck and whispered in my ear, “you’re so sexy when you’re brave. Quite the hero.”

“Yeah, he’s making a habit of it,” said Misty, quietly. “Please, if you’ll both go through.”