Hudson didn't last long on the dance floor. By the time the next song was starting, he was done. Ty appeared at his side the moment he reached the VIP section, a bright smile set on her face. "I glad to see your nausea didn't keep you from dancing."
He looked at her for a long moment, like he could see right through her smile. "All I needed was the right motivation."
She was taken aback for a moment at the unexpected answer. Maybe Johnny had been right about the power of alcohol and a short dress. "So, Bianca?"
Hudson laughed loudly and shook his head. "Bianca had nothing to do with it."
She smiled. She hadn't thought Bianca was any motivation for Hudson other than to run in the opposite direction, but she couldn't deny she was still pleased to hear it from him. "Alcohol can be very motivating," she guessed again.
"It takes more than two drinks to get me to dance."
"But something got you out there."
"That's correct," he said. She looked at him curiously. "Let's just say I was in it, to win it," he added, pronouncing the last words purposefully
"Win?" she said slowly, narrowing her eyes. "Win what?"
He smirked. "I bet, you can't guess."
Like Hudson had handed her the last puzzle piece, his motivation became clear. Instantly, she had her answer. She kept her expression blank as his smirk grew bigger. He knew that she knew, but she wasn't going to give him any sort of reaction. She looked at Johnny for confirmation and once again found him waiting on her. He saluted, but this time, it was meant for Hudson.
She looked back at Hudson slowly with scrutinizing eyes. "You're pretty pleased with yourself, aren't you?"
He shrugged like he could care less, but the truth was plainly written on his face.
"You lost me fifty dollars!" she snapped, dropping the charade.
He pointed an accusatory finger at her. "You encouraged the girls to come after me," he countered. "And I danced! I clearly got dealt the worse hand here."
"You barely danced," she scoffed.
"It doesn't matter the length. I had to get on the dance floor." His words came out harsh, but his eyes were playful.
Ty grinned and it only took a moment before Hudson's own smile broke across his face. He relaxed his stance and all the tension between them disappeared. "How did you know?" she asked.
"You didn't even try to be subtle," he laughed. She frowned and he continued. "You went directly from talking with the group of ladies, who have been staring at me all night, to the group by the DJ stand."
"You knew Bianca's group was checking you out?"
He gave her a ridiculing look. "They weren't being subtle either."
She laughed. It was true, but he had seemed so unaware. Reading her thoughts, he answered her question. "With girls like that, the slightest glance can be interpreted as an invitation. Ignoring them is the only solution. Trust me." He said it with such conviction she imagined this wasn't his first go around with the group.
"The club is dark," she motioned out to the dancing crowd and beyond. Even now, it just looked like a shifting dark mass. "How did you see who I was talking to?"
"I have super sight," he said, completely serious.
"So, you use your powers for evil. Interesting."
"If what I did makes me evil, then you're the devil."
"It was only dancing!" she laughed.
"I'm the customer here!" he burst out, but she could hear the laughter on the edges of his voice.
"You know the saying."
She shook her head. "Fine. You're right. Dancing is the worst. Happy?"
"Not even close."
She slapped on a cheery smile. "The Bali takes all our customer complaints seriously and we do our best to address and fix any issue," she sang. "How may we best assist you today?"
"That's a little better," he said, but he didn't look appeased.
"Vhat you vish, ve vill give!" she said in a ridiculous accent.
Hudson's laugh came quick and unrestrained, and Ty knew that if there was a winning title up for grabs, she had just won it. For good measure, she tapped out a few steps and finished with jazz hands.
"What was that?" he asked, still laughing.
"That was customer service at its finest!" She gave a sweeping bow. "Are you happy now?"
He was still smiling, but he hesitated. "While that was very entertaining, it still wasn't enough. I had to dance," he reiterated.
"Wait, you don't like to dance?" she asked dryly. For a moment, he thought she was serious and was going to answer, but he caught himself. He gave her a leveling look.
"There he is," someone called out behind them. They both turned to see a large part of the Hamilton party heading back to the VIP area. The bubble they had been in, popped. Automatically, Ty's face slipped into a neutral expression as she took a step back.
"Someone said they saw you on the dance floor," Grant said, throwing a rough arm around Hudson's shoulders. "Look at you having fun."
"Why didn't you come dance with us?" Kate asked, twirling around the brothers. "It's so much fun. Let's order another round before we go back out. Ty...!" Kate stopped midway through shouting Ty's name when she realized Ty was standing next to her. "Oh," she laughed. "Can we get a round of shots?"
"Of course," Ty said. She turned and almost ran into Bianca and the girls.
"Hudson, there you are!" the lady in pink said, leading the group.
"You disappeared on us," another one said.
"Girls, I just ordered a round of shots!" Kate sang excitedly. The whole group celebrated the news as Ty left.
Ty kept herself busy and out of reach from both Johnny and Hudson until the Hamilton group finally decided to call it quits for the night. She avoided Johnny because she didn't want to deal with his smug face, and Hudson because the girls were still focused on him and she was not going to get in the middle of that situation.
She had said goodnight to the Hamilton group and was delivering a tray full of empty glasses to the bar when Hudson and Johnny appeared on either side of her. "How does it feel to lose?" Johnny gloated, at the same time Hudson said, "I have a complaint." They both looked at each other for a moment, before Hudson motioned for Johnny to continue first.
"So Bennett?"
"I don't consider it a loss," she said.
Johnny laughed mockingly. "Hudson danced and you owe me fifty dollars. How is that not a loss?"
"The bet got Hudson on the dance floor. I'll call it a win." She could sense Hudson tense at her answer as he questioned her intention behind the whole bet.
"Call it whatever you want. I want my fifty dollars," Johnny said.
"I'll give it to you at the deck."
He pointed a threatening finger at her. "You better."
Ty swatted his hand out of her face. "I always pay up. You on the other hand..."
"That was one time," he said. She smiled like he had told a joke. "One time!" he repeated as he walked away.
Ty smiled after him, feeling like the winner even though he was the one who was fifty dollars richer. She turned back to Hudson and found he had made up his mind about whether she had planned on losing or not.
"You care about seeing me dance," he stated.
"No," she admitted, "but Johnny doesn't have to know that. You have a complaint?"
"What's the deck?"
"A deck."
He looked at her flatly. "Where is this deck?"
"On the boat." His gaze turned sour. "You had a complaint?" she reminded him. But before he could answer, she cut him off. "Let me guess, it has to do with you and the dance floor."
"Don't mock me," he warned. "You weren't the one forced to dance."
"I would happily dance. Just tell me where and when."
"You say that now, but..."
"I'll prove it," she said. His eyes raised in interest and she hesitated for the briefest moments. He was a passenger and she was an employee. She could recite Louie's speech about employee conduct. But then the corner of his mouth turned up in intrigue and suddenly she couldn't quite remember how the speech went.
"There is a remote deck where the employees hang out at night. Wanna join?" There was a beat of silence and she quickly added, "consider this The Bali's offer to appease your complaint."
He nodded thoughtfully. "It seems like an unconventional way to deal with complaints. I was expecting a fruit basket, but I accept."
"Great! Johnny," Ty called out. He appeared in a second at their side.
"Got my fifty bucks?" he asked, holding out his hand.
"Hudson wants to join the crew on deck. Since you guys are so buddy-buddy making bets, you can take him." She turned to Hudson. "Have fun!" She grabbed her tray and left before either could argue.
Ty always planned on going to the deck, but pawning Hudson off on Johnny got both of them out of her hair and she didn't have to deal with Johnny's gloating smile. The deck was exactly what it sounded like. It was a small deck located on one of the lower levels of the ship. It was tucked away between the gym and a storage room. It was long, narrow, and crowded with lifeboats above. If you didn't know what you were looking for, you would never find the door that led you there.
Employees had long been using it as a chance to be outside while avoiding passengers. Most nights you could find a group of employees there. Ty had stumbled upon it her first year and ever since the group had steadily been growing. First, she brought Anders and when she met Jules she invited her too. By the end of her first year, the group had grown in size. Sometimes they played games, some people brought food or drinks. Sometimes, it was just a few of them quietly enjoying the warm sea breeze.
When Ty arrived, there was a crowd. As she moved further into the space she saw someone had raided the staff's fridge for leftovers and brought up a random assortment of food. She grabbed a handful of grapes as she scanned the crowd looking for Hudson. She had invited him to join because she was interested in him. Anyone who could swing between such extremes earned her attention. But it was also a test. She wanted to see what he was like around her co-workers.
She found his disgruntled musings about his group amusing, family could pull that out of even the best of them. But she was curious to see if that attitude was a trait or just a side-effect of family. If it turned out to be a trait, it wouldn't matter how interested she was, no amount of intelligence and quick wit could make up for it.
She was pleased to find she missed him the first two times she scanned the deck. It wasn't until she slowed down her search that she found him in a group by the railing. He had lost his suit jacket and his sleeves were rolled up. She watched as he nodded along to the conversation and animatedly gestured when he spoke.
Ty jumped when Jules asked, "What are we looking at?" She hadn't noticed Jules arrive and wondered how long she had been standing next to her.
"The view." She gave a lazy wave at the water and then reached for some of the fries on Jules's plate. "How was bingo?"
"Strangely competitive," Jules laughed. "We had these two couples who were competing against each other. It got so heated at times I had to..." Jules stopped, her mouth hanging open as she stood motionless.
Ty waited for a moment, giving her a chance to recover on her own before she waved a hand in front of Jules's face. "Earth to Jules. Come in planet Jules. This is ground control, do you read me?"
She followed Jules's line of sight and found Hudson. He was gesturing wildly while the rest of the group laughed. Ty looked back at Jules, trying to judge the level of her surprise and wondering if her catatonic state would last long enough for Ty to sneak away unnoticed. She pivoted on her feet to leave when an iron grip closed around her wrist.
"Ty. Rachel. Bennett," Jules said breathlessly. She managed to tear her eyes off of Hudson and zeroed in on Ty. Even without the death-grip hold on Ty's wrist, Jules could have held Ty prisoner just with her laser-beam stare. Jules tried to subtly nod in Hudson's direction.
"That's not my middle name," Ty corrected her. Jules ignored the correction and that told Ty exactly how focused she was. Jules tried again, leaving subtlety in the dust, throwing her whole head in Hudson's direction. Ty laughed as her hair was flung into disarray.
"Hudson. The guy. Hudson!" Jules said his name so loud he heard and looked around. By the time he spotted Ty, Jules had turned away in embarrassment.
Ty waved at him and turned back to Jules. "Smooth," she teased,
"What is he doing here?" Jules hissed. It seemed subtlety had returned to her.
"He's hanging out."
"But I mean, how did he get here?"
"Johnny brought him." It all seemed too much for Jules to take in and she returned to silence, a deep crease forming between her eyes. "But Johnny? How?" she asked, as Hudson walked up.
"Hi," he said, all his attention on Ty.
"Hi," she returned with a smile. She turned to Jules. "This is my friend Jules."
"Hi! It's nice to meet you," Jules said, trying to cover the excitement in her voice without having much luck. "I was working at the party the other night."
He nodded. "I remember you. It's nice to meet you too." He offered her a firm handshake and friendly smile. Ty wasn't surprised when she saw a slight blush creeping up Jules's cheeks. "Do you have a similar job to Ty's?" he asked.
"I do. I work in activities. I usually help Ty with a lot of her events." Jules gave Ty a quick glance before she continued and Ty knew exactly what she was going to do. "But I'm not an events coordinator like Ty. She is kind of the boss. She works so hard and she is so good at what she does. The passengers are always happy and love her by the end of the week. She always gets invited to visit them if she is ever traveling close to where they live."
Hudson took in all the praise calmly. He looked at Ty and she shrugged. "It's all true. I paid top dollar for her to say that."
Jules laughed for a moment then turned very serious. "She is joking," she reassured Hudson. "I said all of that for free."
Ty grinned. "That's why I keep her around."
"I need more fries," Jules said suddenly and walked away. Ty watched her go with a smile. When she looked back at Hudson he was watching her curiously.
"What?" she asked.
"I'm waiting to see if you going to run away or pawn me off on someone again?"
"Does it look like I'm running?"
He took a step back to seriously study her. "Well, you're leaning with most of your weight on your right side. That gives you a solid footing to push off of and start running at a fast pace. But, your stance is relaxed. I would say my chance of keeping you here are fifty-fifty."
She laughed and adjusted her posture so she was standing firmly on both feet. "Better?"
"I'll say my chances are now eighty-twenty."
"I'm not going anywhere," she assured him. "Scouts honor."
"Were you a scout?" he asked.
She laughed at the idea. Her mother hadn't been able to keep her still long enough to sit through the first meeting. "No. Were you?"
"I was. All the way through eighth grade."
She nodded. "That fits."
"Fits what?"
She motioned to his whole person. "You."
He looked down at his outfit like he expected to find the boy scout logo printed across his button-down shirt. "How so? Is it my neat presentation and cheerful attitude?"
She chuckled at the thought of anyone calling him cheerful. "Sure," she teased.
"Hear ye, hear ye!" Anders called out, clanging the glass bottle in his hand like a bell. "Gather round one and all for the game is about to begin."
Hudson looked at Ty questioningly. "Anders and Johnny are always organizing some game," she explained.
"What's the game tonight?" Hudson asked.
"Never Have I Ever!" Johnny proclaimed in a booming voice, "worked in cleaning services."
Groans rose up from parts of the group as they took a drink. Ty swiped two cups from the table and joined them in the drink as she handed the second cup to Hudson.
"Never have I ever made out with a french woman," Bee said. Her eyes were aimed at Johnny. He proudly took a sip.
"Never have I ever been caught breaking into a famous person's hotel room," Anders said. The whole group looked at Jules who was stubbornly not looking at anyone.
"Jules, I think breaking into Kade Matthews' room to steal something counts," Johnny said.
"Innocent until proven guilty," she said.
"I think the shirt they found in your purse was enough evidence to convict," Johnny argued.
"Fine!" She took a quick sip. "Never have I ever created an app," Jules snapped back smiling with revenge as she watched Johnny fight taking a drink. But all eyes were on him and everyone knew he had to take a drink. He grumbled some choice words under his breath before taking a sip. Ty and Hudson both took sips and were surprised to find each other joining in.
"Ty, did you hear what Jules said?" someone asked.
"Yeah," she said. "My brother and I created an app a few years ago."
"What? How did I not know this?" Jules asked.
"Never have I ever worked in the bat cave," Nico said, ignoring Jules's surprise. Ty and several other people in the group joined him.
"Bat cave?' Hudson questioned.
"It's the nickname for the ship's office. It's dark," Ty explained.
"And devoid of all hope," Johnny added. "I'll give Hudson here a chance to enjoy his drink and say never have I ever been on a cruise as a passenger."
A few other crew members drank while Hudson defiantly did not. "I would define my role as prisoner, not passenger," he argued.
"Lame!" Ty jeered but in good fun. "Take a drink, take a drink!" The chant quickly caught on and soon the whole group was cheering for Hudson. She grinned as he succumbed to the pressure and took a drink. But he didn't do so without throwing her a nasty glare.
The rest of the game fell apart when Anders and Johnny turned it into an excuse to get everyone to drink by making generic statements. After, Ty ended up on a lounge chair and Hudson joined her.
"On your resume, do you put app creator before or after water aerobics instructor?" he asked.
"After, but above towel-folder extraordinaire," she said. "Did it surprise you to find out you were in the company of a fellow app-er?"
He gave her a curious look. "App-er?"
"It's the official title. What? Do you not know that?" she said when he looked at her like she was weird. "Was Hank lying when he said you created Trifecta?"
He grimaced like he wasn't going to be happy giving any answer. "He wasn't lying," he finally said.
"So that means you really should know the official "app-er" term. Hmmmm. Maybe your app wasn't big enough to get you into the inner circle."
He nodded thoughtfully, trying not to smile. "And what great app did you create that got you into this inner circle?"
"Chewie."
"Can't say I've heard of it."
"I would be surprised if you had. It never got past the prototype phase. My programmer quit on me."
"That's rough."
"It was. I didn't talk to my brother for two whole days."
Hudson smiled knowingly. "Working with family can be sticky. What did Chewie do?"
"It was supposed to record our dog's bark, auto-tune it, and turn it into a song."
He raised his brows in interest. "It sounds like complex programming."
"That's why my brother quit."
"Is your brother still in programming?" he asked.
"Never was. He just took a free class at our local library. Can you believe he couldn't see the project through? I mean, if you think about it, it's his fault I wasn't able to sell Chewie for millions."
"Yes, because the programming was the only thing stopping the app from being extremely popular. Not the idea itself," he laughed.
"Whatever. I guess we can't all be the creator of Trifecta."
"Or whatever app Johnny created," Hudson added.
"Tried to create," she clarified. "He tried to create an app for the crew to place bets on different topics, but it failed harder than Chewie. We like to give him a hard time about it."
"That's kind of you."
She shrugged. "If he created a super successful app like Trifecta then we wouldn't have anything to tease him about." She smiled encouragingly at him. "Trifecta," she repeated for good measure.
"I was stupid to hope you weren't going to bring it up again, wasn't I?" he chuckled.
She grinned. "Completely. You really created Trifecta? While in High School?"
He nodded. "I did. During the summer between my Sophomore and Junior year."
"That's impressive. All I did the summer between my Sophomore and Junior year was lifeguard and date Martin Klein." His face lit up with curiosity but she waved it away. "Martin had the dreamiest curls, but that's a story for another time. Trifecta."
He shrugged like there wasn't any more to say on the subject. "I made it that summer, launched it at the beginning of September, and sold it in May of the next year."
"Who did you sell it to?"
"Some tech company in California."
"Wow," was all Ty could say. She could remember hearing about Trifecta during her junior year of high school. One week her friend was telling her about it and the next week the app was everywhere. It turned out people were thrilled with the idea of being able to access all their social media feeds from just one app.
She looked at Hudson and found him studying her cautiously, like he was trying to gauge her reaction. She wondered if this was a turning point in a lot of his relationships. When people learn about things like this, it tended to change the way they acted. She wasn't surprised Trifecta was a fact he tried to keep to himself.
"I remember downloading Trifecta," she said. "But I deleted it a few days later."
His shoulders relaxed in the slightest as he gave her an amused smile. "Was it not up to your high 'app-er' standards?"
"It didn't auto-tune my dog's bark and turn it into a song, so what was the point?"
He laughed. "I am always happy to hear about the unsatisfied customers."
"You're welcome," she said with a small bow.
Somewhere by the food table, someone turned on music and half the crew's reaction was instantaneous as they started to move to the beat. Without thinking about it, Ty began to sway, but she stopped when she caught Hudson's gaze. "I guess this is when you leave?" she said. Someone called her name and she looked over to see Jules waving her over to the dancing group of people. She turned back to Hudson and smiled teasingly. "Can you make it back to your room? Or do you want me to draw you a map?"
"I'll stay," he said. She looked at him in disbelief. He casually shrugged. "I never said I don't dance."
She laughed. "I'm pretty sure that's all you complained about, all night long."
"Wouldn't you complain if you had a group of women acting like you were some trophy they were competing for? I don't like to be coerced into dancing. But if it's my own free will." He began to move to the beat and Ty's mouth dropped open. He started towards the dancing group moving in time to the music then turned back to her.
The smile on his face showed exactly how pleased he was with himself for surprising her, but it didn't grate on her. He had earned it fair and square. He held out his hand and when she took it, he spun her into his side. He spun her out just as smoothly and grabbed her other hand to lead her the rest of the way to the crowd.
For most of the night, Ty had been keeping score between her and Hudson. Between the betting and their joking jabs, there would be a winner. But as he kept her spinning and moving to the music, she forgot about the scores. She was happy to give him the win for the night.
**********************************************************************
Buen viaje! (Spanish)
Love is in the air, all around in the trees!
Not sure if that's how the song goes and not even sure what song it is. I know song but not song name.
This is a cruise ship and so that means you have to give you baggage, I mean thoughts on the chapter but sure if you want to vent about your past trauma you are free to do that as well. ð¢ð¯ðð¬
I find this story so interesting because it's such a summer romance book and that's not usual my vibe but it's fun. I think what I find it so interesting is the way Ty and Hudson clicked and are attracted to each other so quickly.
For me it usually takes ages for those feelings to even be shown and then another eternity before they are acknowledge.It's nice to have a break though, somethings easy breezy cover squirrel, you know?
Which do you prefer:
Fun summer romances
Slow burn/character development
Depends on my mood
Book is book, all I need to know
Any-diddly-do I hope you're enjoying it and here for the ride, the sail, the sink, the water bailing, the rescue, and the end of the horizon!
Vote, comment, follow and don't let my random train of thoughts distress you. We're still on a ship after all and not a train, therefore my train of thought should be ignored!