Sail Away [COMPLETED]

Chapter 21 - "This is insane."

That was not the only kiss that Hudson stole that night. It seemed that the end of the cruise had emboldened him to throw caution to the wind. If he had it his way Ty would be on the dance floor dancing with him the whole night. But, as much as Ty wanted to join him in the caution-free zone, it was her job to remain professional.

But, she couldn't resist all his advances, especially when he started getting smart enough to find little corners where they were out of sight as the night grew later and their time together continued to dwindle. So she let him sneak kisses behind the bar and behind the projection screen.

By the time the party was hitting its last legs, Hudson had managed to find every out-of-sight corner in the lounge. But as the last song played, Ty stopped keeping an eye out for one of Hudson's sneak attacks and turned her attention to the crowd. There were still a few people on the dance floor swaying off-beat to the music, but most people had found seats on the couches and were leaning against each other.

It was almost two in the morning and looking around, she knew she needed to rally the group in order to get them all back to their rooms in a timely fashion. Her crew's night was far from over. They still had to clean up the party. She couldn't afford spending time on getting stragglers back to their rooms.

She signaled for Kenny to get to the doors of the lounge as she walked quickly over to the DJ booth and requested one more song. The second the beat started, she could feel the shift in energy. After witnessing the Hamilton Group's song choices all week, she had guessed this song would pull the last ounces of energy out of the group, and help them rally.

"Everyone!" she called out over the mic, grabbing the whole party's attention. "I want to thank you for letting me coordinate your events this week. It was a pleasure being with you. And now, please stand as we make one final cheer to the lovely couple-to-be."

Thanks to the revived energy from the song, the Hamilton Group all rose. Someone pushed Kate and Grant into the middle and the rest of the group threw their arms around each other and they circled the couple. Ty found Hudson struggling with Hank's arms around his shoulders.

"Let's hear a cheer for Kate and Grant!"

The whole lounge erupted into shouts, and whoops and clapping. "Now, we want to make sure everyone gets back to their rooms safely, so please follow Kenny to the elevators."

This wasn't the crew's first week on the job and, like they had done on so many other late nights, they carried out their jobs perfectly. Kenny opened the doors to the lounge and waved for the crowd to follow him. Someone turned on the lights, killing the party vibe while three of the servers walked slowly along with the group towards Kenny, as if herding them.

If anyone in the Hamilton Group realized what was going on, they might feel insulted, but Ty had had one too many stray passengers cost her an extra hour of work for her not to come up with a system for moving a party out of a space. It helped that the groups were usually tired and full of alcohol.

As she watched the group get herded out of the lounge, she couldn't help but search for Hudson. She finally found him, getting dragged towards the door by Hank. He managed to look back and their eyes met. For a moment, Ty thought about intercepting him. She could make up an excuse to hold him back from the group, but what then?

She was still on the clock. She had to oversee clean-up and get the Hamilton's disembarking paperwork in before the morning. And as much as she liked Hudson, her job came first. So, she let herself hold his gaze for a moment more.

She could see him trying to pull away from Hank's hold, and she shook her head. She smiled, knowing this image would be one of the last ones she had of him, and blew him a kiss. She saw his shoulders slump as Hank pulled him out of the lounge, but she didn't dwell on it. Instead, she clapped her hands for the crew's attention and got to work.