Ty wasn't paying attention to anyone around her as she walked with Hudson back to the ship, but as they neared the entrance, some instinct told her to stop and look around. She paused and scanned the crowd just in time to see the whole Hamilton Group walking towards the same entrance she and Hudson were heading towards.
She had just enough time to turn Hudson around before the group got close enough to recognize him.
"Code Red," she whispered as she directed him towards a different entrance. "Don't look," she instructed when he tried to turn around.
Ty had done her fair share of weaseling out of tough situations but she wasn't sure what story she could spin to explain why Hudson was with her and not on the boat.
"Where are we going?" Hudson asked once they were far enough away from the group that they didn't have to worry about being seen.
"An employee entrance," Ty explained.
It was a farther walk and had stairs instead of the convenient ramps of the main entrances but it also kept Ty and Hudson far from the Hamilton Group. Ty got Hudson through the employee entrance without running into any of her co-workers but then she had to leave him in the main lobby so she could head to the Starlight Lounge. Work called.
The lounge was located at one of the highest points on the ship and offered the widest view of the ocean. Ty had booked the space for Kate and Grant's Official Bachelor/Bachelorette Party.
When she had first seen this request from Kate, Ty had been confused, wondering how this party was different than the week-long cruise the group was taking to celebrate Kate and Grant's wedding. But a simple email to Kate had made it clear that Kate wanted the party to be more in line with a traditional Bachelorette party with all the traditional games.
Ty entered the Starlight Lounge and looked around. She only had a few hours to transform the space into a wedding wonderland. She made a slow loop of the lounge mentally figuring out what she wanted the party layout to be and by the time her team arrived, she had it all planned out.
Her team was an hour into setting up the party when she saw Nico enter the lounge. She only gave him the slightest glance but she caught the mischievous look on his face. She didn't like that look.
"Hiya Ty," he said, coming to stand right next to her.
"What do you think?" she asked, keeping her gaze fixed on the arch made out of white balloons in front of her. "Does it say Bachelorette Party?"
He gave it a quick glance. "Sure. So how was your morning?"
Ty kept her gaze fixed on the arch, hoping the frown on her face looked like concentration instead of fear. Had Anders said something to Nico? No. She knew there was no way that Anders would have told Nico anything about what she had said that morning. She trusted Anders. But Nico was clearly pleased about something.
"It was fine," she answered. "How was your morning Nico?"
"It was great!" he said. "I tried out this new combo for my omelet and it really has me jazzed."
"Fascinating," she said flatly. "Well, if you hadn't noticed I'm in the middle of prepping for a party so if there isn't anything else you wanted to talk to me about other than your amazing omelet, I'll get back to work."
"The omelet was good but I also had to tell you about the wildest thing I saw today."
Ty took a step away from the balloon arch and looked directly at Nico. Maybe giving him her full attention would help him get to his point faster.
"I was walking through the main lobby today after my lunch break," he said, "when I saw you coming out of the employee entrance and wouldn't you know it, Hudson was with you."
"Of course I know it, I was the one with Hudson." She squinted her eyes at Nico like she was unsure why he felt the need to tell her about her own movements.
"With Hudson," he repeated with emphasis. Ty frowned like she was confused and Nico repeated, "Hudson."
She sighed heavily. "Nico you really need to get to your point quicker or I will need to ask you to leave. Unlike you, I actually have to work for my job."
"Hey! I do work," Nico said in outrage.
"I'm sorry," she said holding up her hands. "You do an excellent job wearing your whistle." Nico's expression fell into a glare. "You also work hard on your tan," she added tauntingly. She grinned smugly as Nico's glare grew more serious. She had managed to knock his ego and distract him from talking about Hudson with a few simple comments. "Was there anything else I missed about your job?"
"I save..." Nico started to argue but stopped himself. He narrowed his eyes as he studied her. She smiled innocently but a knowing smile spread across his face. "Nice try, Bennett. You almost had me there."
She shrugged. "It works on Jules all the time."
He looked at her like this was the harshest insult she had said thus far. "Did you really just compare my ability to stay on topic to Jules's? Jules gets distracted by haircuts."
"Hey," Ty said. "That's not very nice to Jules."
"It doesn't make it not true," he argued.
She gave a conceding nod. She had seen Jules get distracted by less interesting things than a new haircut.
"Still, she is my friend," Ty said. "So if you don't have anything nice to say about her then I am going to ask you to kindly leave."
"Sure. That's the only reason you want me to leave," Nico said. "It definitely doesn't have anything to me spotting you and Hudson sneaking around the employee halls."
"Sneaking around the employee halls? Is that what you thought we were doing?" Ty laughed. "Hudson got sick off of some local food. I thought it best to not have him barfing on the other passengers as he waited in line to board the ship. Poor guy didn't know what hit him but you know how it can be when you eat some bad food." She made a sick face. "Remember when you had that bad chicken a few months back."
She was grasping at straws as far as distraction tactics go but she was pleasantly surprised to see Nico's expression turn sick.
"All the puking," she continued. "The smell." This really hit Nico and he took a step back as his hand went to his stomach. "Was it the Jerk Chicken you ate?"
"Ugh, don't remind me," he said, twisting his mouth like there was a bad taste in it.
She looked at him innocently. "Are you alright? You look a little pale."
"I need some water," he said looking around the lounge.
"Andy, can you get Nico a bottle of water," Ty called to the guy behind the bar.
She gave Nico a gentle pat as he walked away then made sure she was out of sight by the time he finished his water.
Once Nico left, Ty jumped back into setting up the party. By the time the Hamilton Party arrived a few hours later, the lounge had been transformed into a balloon heaven with a heavy dose of glitter decorations. Throughout the lounge, Ty had set up different game stations. The games were either drinking games or games that centered around knowing facts about Kate and Grant and their relationship.
Everyone dove into the games with their usual enthusiasm and Ty found even Hudson participating. It seemed like making something competitive was the way to get him involved and the whole night was one big competition. He was so engrossed in the games and Ty was so busy managing her team and making sure the party was running smoothly they didn't make contact until the party was in full swing.
Andy had flagged Ty down from the bar and she was crossing the lounge when Hudson stepped away from his game table and directly into her path. "Hey!" he said, giving her a goofy smile and standing too close to her.
"Mr. Hamilton," Ty said, putting a professional amount of space between them.
"You look pretty tonight," he said, leaning towards her.
Ty kept her smile in place as she discreetly looked around to see if anyone had overheard his comment. It didn't seem like anyone was paying them any attention for the moment. When she turned her gaze back at him she gave him a closer look which turned into a knowing smile.
"You're tipsy," she teased.
"I am..." he raised his hand to emphasize his words and the motion made him sway. He grinned. "Okay, I might be a little tipsy but I beat Greg at Kate Bingo and Hank at Roulette. Impressed?" He took a step closer, his eyes were dangerously fixed on her lips.
"Very," she said trying not to laugh at how silly he was acting.
"Hudson!" someone called. Ty took a subtle step back as Hudson whipped his head around. "We're going to play Janga," one of the girls said. Ty was pretty sure her name was Ally.
"Janga!" Hudson asked. "I love Janga! Did I ever tell you about the competition Grant and I had in high school?"
He threw his arm around Ally's shoulders and started to tell the story as they headed towards the Janga table. Ty smiled as she watched him go with a bounce in his step that was so unlike the Hudson that usually showed up for the group events.
Ty assisted Andy and was moving on to her next task when she caught Johnny lingering near the entrance of the lounge. She intercepted him before he could get too far, an offer at the ready.
"Help with clean up after the party so my team can get out of here early and I'll let you stay," she said.
"Deal," he said.
She offered him her hand. "Of course, this offer implies that you will stay in the background and not cause any disturbances to the party."
"Of course," Johnny said, shaking her hand.
"Come on," Ty said, nodding her head for Johnny to follow. "You can hang out behind the bar."
She was walking Johnny over when there was a loud shout from across the room. They both stopped walking as they watched Hudson and Grant racing across the lounge with girls on their backs. Kate was on Grant's back cheering him on and Ally was on Hudson's back. They reached the far wall and raced back to the starting line.
"Brilliant!" Ty heard Johnny whisper in awe as the race ended and he slipped behind the bar.
The games held the group's interest until they had enough alcohol in their system that they couldn't resist the dance floor. After watching Hudson partake in as much of the drinking games as everyone else Ty wasn't surprised to see him freely joining the dancing and she couldn't help but watch him. He moved through the crowd like he was dancing in his own world. The girls would try to dance with him and he would oblige for a minute before he danced away like something else had caught his attention.
In between monitoring the party, Ty popped behind the bar where a group had gathered around Johnny and Johnny had never looked so excited. It seemed Hudson's new found team spirit was infusing a whole new level to Johnny's betting ring. Johnny tried to explain it to Ty. She only understood a quarter of what he was saying but nodded like she understood completely.
Ty had just finished a round of the lounge and was returning to the bar when she saw Andy hurrying towards her.
"We're out of Prosecco and Champagne," he said in a panic.
Ty knew why he was so worried. Groups like this one lived on both of those drinks.
"Okay," she said calmly, resting a gentle hand on his arm. "Don't worry. I got this taken care of. Go back to the bar..."
"But what if...?" Andy cut in.
"If someone orders one of those drinks," Ty said, putting authority in her voice so he knew the situation wasn't on his shoulder, "tell them we will have more in a few minutes. If they put up any stink, wave me down and I will deal with them."
Ty didn't there was a chance anyone was going to put up a stink. They were all too happily dancing to stress about waiting a few minutes for Champagne, but she knew Andy needed to know She would handle anyone who was being difficult.
"Okay," Andy nodded already seeming less panicked.
Ty smiled with ease and headed out of the lounge. She needed quiet if she expected anyone to be able to hear her call on the walkie-talkie. It took some bouncing around until she found the right person, but ten minutes later someone was heading to the lounge with a fresh delivery of Prosecco and Champagne.
When she returned to the lounge she was happy to see Andy behind the bar cleaning glasses in peace. She moved towards the bar to update Andy when a very dancey Hudson stepped in her way.
"Hey!" he said, giving her a flirty smile with a shimmy.
"Mr. Hamilton," she said, working harder than she ever had to contain her laugh. "You are in fine form tonight."
"You're looking fine tonight too," he said as he danced closer.
Ty dodged his advance and moved around him. The quick movement disoriented him for a moment and gave her a chance to put real distance between them. He was adorable in this goofy state but she wasn't going anywhere close to him. She had seen plenty of passengers like this before and it would only lead to trouble.
"Enjoy the party," she said with a small nod and walked away.
He might have followed her but a few steps away Ty heard one of the girls calling him back to the dance floor.
As she continued towards the bar Ty found that for the first time ever, in her career on the cruise ship, she wanted to be a passenger. She wanted to be able to forget all the employee rules and dance with this hilarious Hudson. Her head was filling with that daydream when Nico harshly grabbed her wrist and turned her in the opposite direction.
"Hiya Ty," he said but not in his usual relaxed way. She frowned at the nervous sound in his voice. "I didn't get a chance to tell you how amazing this party is. You did a fantastic job! Will you show me around? I want to see all the games!"
The more Nico talked the more suspicious Ty became. He was talking too fast and too much. And he was complimenting her. Her eyes jumped to the group behind the bar. Something must have happened and he was trying to keep her from finding out.
"How about now?" he said, moving so she couldn't see the bar. "I bet I'll beat you at every single game."
She narrowed her eyes at him. "Nico, what happened?"
"Nothing!" he said too quickly, his voice going up a full octave.
"Sure," she smiled. "And you sound completely innocent."
He let out a strained laugh. "No. I just think you did a wonderful job on the party and I wanted to see everything you did." He was complimenting her again. Something very bad must have happened. She pushed past Nico but he caught her wrist. "Ty, don't," he warned.
Something in his voice made her stop. There wasn't any humor in it. He seemed truly concerned about something. She wasn't sure if that should make her feel better or worse about finding out what happened.
"Nico, it'll be fine," she reassured him.
She looked around. The party was still carrying on like nothing had happened and that was all she really cared about. As long as Johnny's mistakes didn't interfere with her work she didn't care.
"Ty," Nico said in a final attempt to keep her away from the bar.
"Nico," she laughed and shook off his hold. She didn't think she reacted that badly when Johnny made a mess of things but the way Nico was acting made her think she needed to ease up some.
As she got closer to the bar she could see that Johnny's group had formed a tight huddle and the air around them seemed to buzz with excitement. When she was only a few steps away Johnny looked up and she saw the biggest grin on his face. It looked like he had just won the lottery. He saw her coming and rushed to meet her, talking so fast she was only able to understand a few words.
"Johnny, you have to talk slower," she said.
"It changes everything and I mean everything. This just took the betting to the next level and I have my boy Hudson to thank," he said, his words tumbling over each other. "I have to add so many options to my betting racket which means more bets I could win."
"Johnny, what are you talking about?"
"Hudson," Johnny said.
"You're excited he is dancing?" she guessed. They had centered a whole night of betting around whether or not Hudson would dance before.
"No," Johnny said, gripping her shoulders excitedly. "Hudson and Ally kissed."
**********************************************************************
BARRELS OVER BOARD! WHAT IN THE SEAS!?!?!
Someone hold me back I'm going to- Sorry, wrong book. (I'm overexcited in The It Girl)
BUT WAIT! Why does my over zealous excitement have to be contained to one book! This is big! Huge! This scumbag named Hudson kissed someone else!! How dare he! I'm going to throw him overboard! I'm also going to rescue him so I can demand answers out of him!
How could he act all cute and flirty one moment then kiss someone else!! HOW DARE HE!!!
Okay, I'm going to take a breath because I heard breathing is good for your health and you can take the chance to rant as well. ð¯ðð¬ð
If you aren't freaking out than I'm going to sit with you because honestly I get too worked up and need to learn from someone with a little bit more chill.
But can you blame me, there's sometimes characters do the dumbest things and all I want to do is jump into the book and slap some sense into them.
And don't tell me that I can change what's going on since I'm the writer and so technically I can kind jump into the book. Ha! You've clearly never been an author! I'd get beaten up by my characters before I could say anything.
Let's all remember to breath as well as vote, comment, follow!
Yeah this is how I feel reading about a party like that.