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“There’s only so much I can relax,” I relent. “Trust me, shorts don’t look great on me.”
“I don’t know about that,” Evie says. One of her hands falls on my thigh and slides down to my knee. “One of the first things I noticed about you was your legs.”
“Oh really?” I say turning to her. “What a coincidence.”
She bats me away. “God, I’m just glad it was them and not my nipples.”
“I’m sorry, what?”
Evie tosses her blonde locks, flushing slightly at the memory. “Well it all started in coach with a cup of water that I was trying to carry back to my chair…”
She launches into the story, but I’m having a hard time hearing the details. She’s so damn beautiful she turns my brain to mush at the sight of her. And the way she tells a story… I’ve never met someone so naturally funny and engaging. She has a preternatural sense for timing and punchlines. As expected, the people listening laugh and kid her about her nipply blouse and by the time the story is over I only have one word ringing over and over again in my head.
Love, love, love, love.
I’ve never had it, never felt it. Not for my father, not for any of the women in my Rolodex of available women. But for this girl? I’m feeling what could only be the early signs. I need to cut things off as quickly as possible before I come down with a raging case of love sickness. Easier said than done.
“Nick?”
I snap out of my thoughts to see Kara staring at me expectantly.
“I’m sorry. Must not have gotten a lot of sleep last night,” I say.
“I was wondering if you love it?”
My eyes bulge.
Evie reads my panic. “We’re talking about the plans for the cruise,” she reminds me gently.
“Oh,” I say, feeling a flush creep up my neck. “Yeah, of course I do,” I say, desperately grasping onto something that even remotely resembles a work topic. “Which part were you talking about?”
“The recording booth. You’re really going to put one in for me?”
“Even better,” I say. “I already did. Or, at least, it should be fully finished by the time we’re all back in New York.”
“I’d love to see it,” Kara says. “And check out the rest of the ship.”
“It’s huge,” Evie says and starts telling her about the tour I gave her last month. Behind Kara’s back, Dalton does a fist pump and I have to struggle to stifle my grin. Everything else is a disaster but at least this one aspect is going well.
LaToya taps Kara on the arm and hands over her own cell phone. “It’s Tori,” she says. “She sounds upset.”
I know instantly. I don’t even have to wait the time it takes the cell phone to travel to Kara’s ear, for Tori to relay what she found happening in Kara’s hotel suite, to see the look of outrage and betrayal fall over Kara’s features.
I might be the only one who knows what’s going on specifically, but everyone notices the mood shift. The entourage freezes, like it’s a single symbiotic being mind-linked to Kara.
“What happened?” Evie asks in a hushed voice.
Kara still has the phone pressed to her ear and she doesn’t respond. All she says, finally, is, “I understand.” Then she hangs up the phone and passes it wordlessly back to LaToya.
“Kara?” LaToya asks, worry evident in her voice. “Is Tori okay?”
Kara doesn’t even acknowledge that she heard her. Maybe she didn’t at all. Her face is strained.
Ignoring everyone, she stands up and leaves, pushing past Carl and disappearing. Dalton springs to his feet and goes to chase after her.
I react in a flash.
“Hey man,” I say, standing and catching his arm. “Maybe you shouldn’t go.”
