Post-cruise inspiration
(written soon after the last entry. You should see the first paragraph in my book it starts out neat, then gets scribbled with need, then neat again as I come up with a solution)
Writing that last entry has my creative juices flowing and now I'm grappling for a plot. I need to write something, anything, even a squishy rot-your-teeth sweet love story. Hmm... maybe I can use the cruise as inspiration..... or maybe not. Maybe I can use it to help me kick-start a plot I've been working on...
(and so I did and it turned out to be what I think is my most beautifully written piece ever. If only I could always write this well. Here it is with some minor modifications.)
Kris handed me a pamphlet with a sly grin. I looked at it tentatively.
"A cruise," I asked surprised. Yes, I loved the ocean but this really wasn't my kind of thing. It was like a floating club, casino, hotel, and restaurant all in one. All of this plus the motion sickness I knew I would feel made the idea less than appealing to me since I wasn't much of a club or casino girl.
"Aww, come on, don't make that face," she pouted. Apparently, I had grimaced, "it'll be great! Plus Jack and I will be there with you," I groaned, "and Nat will room with you," she beamed.
Apparently the three of them had been talking and had already decided my fate. I sighed and Kris hugged me tightly, knowing I had given in. There was no real way out when I saw that Nat wouldn't have a roomie if I didn't go. She was very particular about with whom she would or would not share a room.
"I knew you'd do it," Kris squealed in delight, "wait till I tell Nat." With that she tottered off to call Nat and Jake came and sat beside me, draping his arm around my shoulders in a brotherly fashion.
"Thanks Allie," he said, squeezing my shoulder gently, "between you and me none of us would have gone if you stayed behind. You need this."
It was true. I had just gotten a new job and wanted to celebrate but I also needed to shake off the gloom that came with searching for said job.
Jake laughed at something in my expression and kissed the top of my head, his eyes sparkling, "you won't regret it, I promise."
Just then Kris danced back into the room, lighting it up with her smile, I couldn't help but return the gesture. “Well she's delighted," Kris said as she settled on the arm of the couch on Jake’s other side, "I'm sure we'll all have a blast. Now, let's get some things sorted here."
With that we spent the next few hours planning travel, hotels, shore excursions, Nat joining in when she arrived at the house. Overall the planning was much more fun than should be legal, and we had most things tentatively booked. We had a room in a beautiful hotel called the Drury Inn booked in the French Quarter of New Orleans for our stay before we embarked on the cruise and I was quite excited by the time I left Kris' and James' house late that night. I wondered if my depression over my love life, or the lack thereof, may have given them the idea to go on this cruise but I brushed that thought aside as sleep took me.
----------
As planning went on over the next few months I began to feel more excited, though I never really reached the level that the others did. The level where it sank in and I felt fidgety and impatient, watching the clock and counting down the days, hours, and minutes. I was lucky enough to get the time off and when we reached the Drury Inn it felt oddly surreal to me. I didn’t feel like I was in New Orleans even though I had seen it and the Mississippi from the plane. The hotel was as nice as the website had said it would be and all four of us decided to go out on the town. It was Mardi gras night on Bourbon Street and no one had bothered to explain what that meant to me. They all just laughed and said “you’ll see,” whenever I asked. I was nervous now, and with good reason.
Bourbon Street at night when a Mardi gras event is happening is like nothing I’ve ever experienced. Also, it was just a few days before Halloween. Needless to say there were many… interesting costumes along the packed street. The four of us moved through the throng, Nat and I linking arms and following James and Kris who paraded down the street in a similar fashion, arms possessively around each other. The best way to describe Bourbon Street that night would be vibrant. The street was full of life, music blaring from the open doors of the pubs that lined the streets, and the carnival feel of the air that surrounded us and filled our lungs, our very beings. It seemed that every other door led to a pub and the ones that didn’t led to sex shops or strip clubs or the like. I huddled protectively near Nat and clung to the purse slung over my shoulder with a higher-than-normal level of paranoia.
The night was fun in its odd sort of way, we vied with everyone else for beaded necklaces, took pictures of some of the better costumes, and prowled the streets contemplating which pub to step into that wasn’t too crowded.
As we stopped to look into one such pub, I felt a tap on my shoulder. Thinking it was some drunk stumbling around I ignored it. I wasn’t expecting a second, more forceful tap followed by an audible clearing of the throat, so I turned with surprise. I turned and forgot how to breathe.
“I believe you dropped this,” the man said in a voice soft as velvet. He wore blue jeans, what looked to be a soft short-sleeved dress shirt untucked with a few buttons undone, and a dazzling grin. IN his outstretched hand he held a folded piece of paper I recognized as the one I had written our cruise liaison’s information on. His emerald eyes glittered in amusement as he watched my reaction.
“Oh, y-yes I did,” I tripped out, reaching for the paper, “thank you.”
Just as my fingers were about to touch the paper, he glided it just out of my reach, placing his free hand in his pocket, all but the thumb, and holding the paper up with the other, he raised one perfect eyebrow, “don’t I get something too?”
Confused, I became frustrated. I’d already thanked him, what more did he want? Then I looked around at the people crowding the street. Watched as they drank, made out, and flashed people for beaded necklaces. I blanched.
He chuckled, “wrong,” as he spoke that one word he took my hand and placed the paper in it. My hand now securely in both of his, no escape now, he spoke softly, “all I want is a name.”
As I studied him the smile never left his face. I had contemplated giving him a false name but before that thought could take root I blurted, “Allie,” in the best voice I could muster. It came out as a whisper and I was surprised he could hear me at all, but I knew he had because he bent to my hand and kissed the back of it before closing it around the now-forgotten paper.
“A pleasure,” he said. He turned and who I assumed was a friend motioned him over. Funny, I hadn’t heard them call him. “Looks like it’s time to go,” he said, and I imagined a tone of sadness, but then he turned and smiled. “Until we meet again,” he said with a tone that said he knew we would, and he disappeared into the throng.
Suddenly three voices were “woo”-ing at me and I realized my friends had crept closer to watch the exchange. When had that happened? Had he noticed? He probably had, and he probably found it amusing too. That thought turned my expression sufficiently sour just in time for me to turn and scowl at them.
“Who was that,” Nat asked, her eyes trained on the crowd, searching.
The scowl dropped, I hadn’t gotten his name. “I don’t know,” I responded honestly.
The feline whirled to face me, claws out, “what!” Nat looked scandalized, and then her expression turned sad, “poo.”
Kris smiled and hugged the girl with one arm, “what did he want?” They had obviously missed the first part of the conversation.
It was then that I remembered the paper. I opened my hand and stared at the little piece of sky-blue stationary neatly folded in my hand.
I heard James “oh~” and Nat called me a cluts but Kris just smiled. “Either he’s a nice guy or a smart flirt.”
“Maybe both,” James and I said the second word at the same time and laughed. He had only said the latter word.
We wandered around a bit longer but when Nat gave up looking for my mystery gentleman and the rest of us were tired of wandering we went back to the hotel. My dreams that night were erratic but one thing was consistent, two green glowing orbs were in each scene and the last image I saw before nothingness consumed me was the stranger in the street, one hand in his pocket and the other stretched towards me, palm up as before. This time, there was no paper in it.
(Just a note. The characters and happenings in this are entirely fictional. The only things taken from real life are the names of places, and the look and feel of them. The characters have no relation to anyone I know, except, of course, for myself. The main character's mind is mine, the body, sadly, is not. LOL. Hope you liked it. ^_^ Please, for the sake of all that is beautiful, if you read this, COMMENT!)