When On A Cruise

Chapter 1

I plopped my backpack down on the chair next to me and sat down, I took a sip of my Starbucks hot chocolate and tried to hold back the tears.  It had been a long 24 hours for me, everything I encountered flashed before my eyes. I tried to bring myself back to happier times, which in turn, only made me sadder.  

It was 10:45 am on the dot when I walked through the door and noticed women's clothing lying around the house that were not mine.  I picked up a hot pink bra off the floor in front of our bedroom and knocked on the door. I hate pink.

"Come in." I heard his voice say with no emotion.

I open the door to see her laying on my side of the bed, he did not make any effort to hide her or anything.

I don't remember how it started but the next thing you know we spent three whole hours arguing with each other. I had no idea, no suspicion whatsoever of anything going on, until today. I honestly thought he was the one.

Finally, I had enough. This was my apartment that he moved into.

"Get out," I said coldly.

That was the last I heard from him.

His name is Gary, we met in college.  

We had graduated two years ago, have been dating for almost six years, moved in together a month ago, and planned a cruise for our six-year anniversary and naive me thought he was going to propose.  Now I never want to see his face again.
     

I don't remember much from the shouting match, but I do remember him saying that he had canceled the trip weeks in advance. I called our travel agent to make sure that it went through, she said that his part was canceled but that she actually needed me to confirm that I was canceling. 

 I debated it on the phone, pretty much explaining the whole situation. Then she said, "It is under his credit card information, he is paying for this vacation and whatever you charge to the room will be paid with the same card. I think the damage will teach him a lesson, and it will be our little secret." It was a done deal.

So here I am, it's 11:11 am, I make a wish.  I hope this trip will make this new chapter a good chapter in my life, I thought to myself. I take another sip of my hot chocolate, I thought it would make me feel better after the breakup.

I grab my phone and pull up the boarding pass. I noticed something out of the corner of my eye, someone sitting down nearby. I ignore it and go on Facebook, the first thing I pull up my relationship status and I change it to single.

I notice someone across from me is staring at me. I look up and I see a guy, he looks familiar, but I don't get a good look because he automatically looked back down at his phone.

Hmm...I've got to look up to see if I can get a good look at his face, I look up and his head swoops up too.

"Will?"

"Lily?"

"Yes. Hi, I can't believe it, its been like 8 years since I last saw you at Pine Lake Music Camp! Wow, what a throwback."

"Yeah, it sure is. So..." he says, moving over to my side and sitting next to me. "What have you been up to since I last saw you? What major orchestra are you playing in?"

Next thing I knew we were on the flight, happened to be able to pick seats next to each other and we talked up a storm the whole flight.  

I told him how I kind of gave up my dream of being an oboist in an orchestra, but that I teach oboe lessons and I am an assistant for a semi-major newspaper editor. 

"Lil, why'd you give up on your dreams?"

"Well..."

I didn't want to say that I got completely burnt out and that Gary really didn't want me to go to graduate school. I also haven't been keeping up on my practicing to audition for an orchestra. And, I don't have the money, and without Gary, I really don't have that much money.

"...I'm not good enough."

"Lil, you won the concerto competition 4 years in a row!"

"I know, but what about you? What have you been up to?"

"Well, I never really wanted to major in music, just play for fun. And you know I've mostly liked playing jazz. So I decided to go into sound recording and music industry stuff, and now I own a recording studio in NYC. I was just here on business and thought I'd leave from here to Baltimore for this cruise."

Before we knew it, the plane had landed and we were getting off the flight. 

It was so good to see Will, and I wanted to see him again, possibly in a more intimate setting.

We walked off the plane together, when suddenly someone ran up to Will and planted a huge kiss on his gorgeous face.

"Hi sweety, are you ready to go on this cruise?"

"Yes, I am. Trisha, I want you to meet Lily, we went to Pine Lake together."

"Oh, is that the only summer festival that you went to? I went to Tanglewood, Brevard, and Aspen."

"I went to Tanglewood, for a year, because I finally got enough scholarship and saved enough money. Though I got accepted five times."

"Wow," she said, rolling her eyes.

"So, you're going on a cruise too. Are you going to Key West and various spots in the Caribbean?"

"Yes we are!" Will's face lit up.

"Well, that sounds wonderful, we'll see you on the ship." 

Trisha rolled her eyes again and then grabbed Will's arm and they were on their way.