5
Robin
I’m already down to my underwear when there’s a knock on the door.
Jules has his own key, unless he misplaced it, which wouldn’t surprise me in the least. The knock comes again, more insistent this time. Convinced it’s Jules, I don’t bother covering up and open the door.
Colter is standing there.
My brain short-circuits. He’s back. After that conversation, after that hug, after we agreed to be friends—
“Before you say anything,“
Colter says quickly, holding up his hands, “I’m not here to go back on the friends thing.”
“Oh.“
I’m not sure if I’m relieved or disappointed. “Then why are you here?”
“Marc is hooking up with someone.“
Colter’s expression is somewhere between exhausted and annoyed. “In our cabin. There was a magnet on the door.”
“A magnet?”
“Don’t ask. It’s a system he came up with when one of us …“
He shifts his weight awkwardly. “Can I just … hang out here for a bit? I just need somewhere to exist that isn’t a hallway, and I’m not in the mood to hit the bar.”
I should say no. I should send him back to wander the ship until Marc is done with whomever he’s entertaining. But Colter looks tired, and honestly? So am I.
“Fine.“
I step aside to let him in.
Colter walks into the cabin and looks around. It’s probably identical to his if he’s sharing with Marc—two small beds, a tiny bathroom, that ridiculous porthole window. His eyes land on the empty bed.
“Where’s Jules?”
“No idea.“
I close the door and lean against it. “I’ve been avoiding him all day. Wasn’t ready to forgive him for the whole setup thing.”
Colter sits down on Jules’s bed, running a hand through his hair. “What they did was out of line.”
“Completely.”
“Manipulative.”
“Absolutely.”
“But …“
He pauses, looking up at me. “Now that we’re here and actually talking, I can’t bring myself to be completely angry.”
I want to argue. I want to hold onto my righteous anger a little longer. But the truth is, he’s right. If Jules and Marc hadn’t pulled this stunt, Colter and I would still be avoiding each other across Pine Ridge’s Main Street, pretending we don’t notice each other through the windows.
“Yeah,“
I admit, sitting down on my own bed. “Me neither.”
We look at each other, and something in the air shifts. Not romantic—not exactly. Just … easier. Like we’ve finally stopped fighting against something inevitable.
“Want to watch a movie?” I ask.
Colter smiles. “Sure.”
I grab the remote and flip through the ship’s entertainment options until we settle on an action movie neither of us has seen. Colter stays on Jules’s bed, I stay on mine, and for a while it almost feels normal. Like we’re back in Pine Ridge, lazy Sunday nights spent watching terrible films and throwing popcorn at the screen.
I don’t remember falling asleep.
But when I open my eyes, sunlight is streaming through the porthole, and the TV is displaying a “Are you still watching?“
message. I blink, disoriented, and turn my head to find Colter still on Jules’s bed, fast asleep, one arm hanging off the edge.
We fell asleep. We watched a movie and fell asleep like nothing ever happened between us.
Movement catches my eye, and I notice Jules curled up on the small couch, also asleep. He must have come in last night without waking us.
I sit up slowly, and the movement rouses Colter. He blinks awake, looks around in confusion, then sees me and relaxes.
“Morning,“
he says, voice rough with sleep.
“Morning.”
Jules stirs on the couch, groaning as he stretches. When he opens his eyes and sees both of us watching him, he freezes. “Before you yell at me—”
“I’m not going to yell at you.“
I swing my legs over the side of the bed. “I’m still annoyed, but I’m not going to yell.”
Jules sits up carefully, wincing. “Really?”
“Really.“
I sigh. “What you and Marc did was out of line. But Colter and I talked last night, and we’re … okay. We’re going to be friends.”
“Friends?“
Jules looks between us, something flickering in his expression. Hope, maybe. “That’s good. That’s really good.”
“Don’t push it.”
Colter pulls out his phone. “I’ll text Marc. Tell him to meet us for breakfast at the buffet.”
Twenty minutes later, the four of us are seated at a table, our plates loaded with eggs, bacon, fruit, and pastries. The conversation is stilted at first, but eventually we fall into an easy rhythm. Marc keeps shooting glances at Jules that make me a little uneasy. What else are they plotting?
“So,“
Marc says, spearing a piece of melon with his fork, “what’s everyone doing today? It’s a port day.”
Jules winces. “Actually, I had a surprise planned. Snorkeling trip for me and Robin.“
He rubs his temple. “But I’m nursing a killer headache. Too much alcohol last night, and that couch was not made for sleeping.”
“That’s too bad,“
I say, not believing a word of it.
“You should take Colter instead,“
Jules continues, the picture of innocence. “No sense in wasting the booking.”
I look at Colter. He glances at me before we look at Jules, who is doing a terrible job of hiding his smile behind his coffee cup.
I can smell the setup a mile away.
But we did agree to be friends. And snorkeling does sound fun.
“Sure,“
I say. “Colter, want to join me?”
“Love to,“
Colter replies smoothly.
We finish breakfast and head back to our respective cabins to change. When we meet again at the gangway to step off the ship, Colter catches my eye and grins.
“That was a setup,” he says.
“One hundred percent.”
“Jules isn’t even a little bit subtle.”
“He really isn’t.“
I laugh, and it feels good. Easy. “You know what we should do?”
“What?”
“Play it up. Give them a taste of their own medicine.”
Colter’s grin widens. “I like the way you think. What did you have in mind?”
“Well,“
I say as we walk down the gangway toward the dock, “the question is, do we make them believe we got back together or that we hate each other?”
Colter pretends to consider this seriously. “Both have merit.”
“Hate each other means lots of dramatic arguments. Could be fun.”
“But getting back together means we’d have to sell being in love.“
Colter glances at me sideways. “Think you can handle that?”
“Please,“
I say, keeping my voice light. “I’m an excellent actor.”
“Guess we’ll find out.”
We share a conspiratorial smile as we step onto solid ground, the sun warm on our faces and the ocean sparkling behind us.
This might actually be fun.