A Long Time from Home Ch. 33

It had to be a family thing, I decided, as I sat down quietly in the other end of the sun pad, put my feet up and leaned back. An expression I had heard Rita use popped into my mind. "A penny for your thoughts... or a dollar if they're really good."

Isabel chuckled as she looked at me. "And who decide if they are good?"

Unlike her companion, Valerie, she was sober.

"I do." I said and drank some cider. There was something familiar about her mood, that I couldn't quit place.

"Well..." She looked at me. "I'm afraid my thoughts aren't that interesting."

"In that case, why don't you share them with me?"

"Because I'm a private person when it comes to such things."

The pieces fell into place and I smiled slightly. "Oh... You're in love. That explains the longing and loneliness I feel from you."

She looked stunned and then shook her head slightly. "You're wrong."

"No, I'm not. You're a beautiful young woman and should be down at the party, surrounded by a circle of admirers and yet you sit up here, looking longingly into the night." I shrugged slightly. "I'll admit the party is boring, but it's not that boring."

That got a chuckle from her. "And what more do you feel from me?"

"Tiredness... but more of the mental kind, not the physical. You need to relax your mind for a while. It needs to recharge as much as the body."

She lifted her eyebrows in surprise and turned towards me as she pulled her feet up under her. "That's a neat trick. Do you do that for a living?"

"Nah... I'm a businessman." I said, projecting acceptance into her as I drank some more cider and asked. "What do you do for a living?"

Once again, she looked stunned, but quickly recovered. "I'm a performer... singer and a dancer."

"Since you can live of it, I assume you're very good."

She laughed softly. "I've been lucky."

I shook my head in response. "I play music... It's not about luck. You train a lot?"

"Yes." She nodded. "I've done that since I was a kid."

"A wise man once said, 'Excellence is an art won by training and habituation. We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit.' If you're good, it's natural talent combined with hard work." I smiled. "Don't let anybody tell you otherwise."

Isabel smiled back, and I noticed she had a fetching smile. "Who was the wise man?"

"The Greek philosopher Aristotle." I said, knowing from Rita, that he was world famous by now.

"Ahh." Isabel said with a chuckle. "One of my friends runs a school and simply loves Aristotle... hmm... He has a framed quote in his office saying, 'Pleasure in the job puts perfection in the work.' I tend to agree with him."

"Me too."

That led to a conversation about Aristotle and the more we talked, the more she seemed to relax and have fun, until she suddenly sighed and said, "I should have gone to Argentina."

I chuckled. "He's there, I guess."

"Yeah ... he lives there."

"Well, go visit him then... unless you can't afford it of course."

"It's not that easy." She said sadly. "I don't know how it is where you come from, but in South America, men go see women and not the other way around."

I look into the starlit sky for a moment, while my mind worked on the problem and then looked at her again. "Then put yourself in a position, where he can go see you. You're a musician, so make a performance in Argentina and make it clear you would like him to attend. If he's worth anything, he'll be there and if he's not, he's not worthy of your time."

"I'm not so sure." She said a bit sadly.

"Isabel, any man who's not homosexual, married, insane or an idiot would be delighted to meet you. You are gorgeous, sexy, and fun... what's not to like?" Her eyes became guarded for a moment, causing me to continue. "And stop that thought. I'm not hitting on you. I'm just being honest."

She laughed a bubbly laughter. "You really ought to make a show out of that mind reading."

"Your eyes became watchful as I called you sexy, so it wasn't hard to guess what you were thinking." I explained with a shrug and stood up. "Let's get this party moving. It's way too static for my taste. We need dance music and not this feel-good crap."

I extended my hand to her. She took it and I pulled her to her feet.

When we came downstairs, I walked to the bar and signalled Patricia.

She came over right away. "Yes, sir?"

"Patricia, I'm bored to tears here. Can we get some dance music?" I said and realized that I actually didn't know that many music numbers from this age. "Suggestions are welcome." I looked at Isabel. "The same goes for you."

"Santana followed by some Ricky Martin, Shakira and Marc Anthony." suggested Patricia without thinking twice. "Big hits right now, good rhythm and I know we have it."

"Oh, nice." Said Isabel. "I love Santana... Especially 'Smooth' and 'Maria, Maria'."

"I'll have First Office Valdez put it on the speakers on the afterdeck, sir." She promised. "Chef Joana is done serving the food anyway."

"Thank you."

As Patricia walked away, Isabel poked me playfully in the side. "You didn't say you have chartered the ship, but you obviously have... unless you own it."

I grinned and poked her back. "Well, you didn't tell me that you were a performer when you were introduced, so I guess that makes us even."

"True that."

'Maria, Maria' and 'Smooth' turned out to be the same songs I had danced to the weekend before, but Isabel made me forget that, as she kicked of her shoes and started to dance barefooted. In a blink of the eye, the cuteness was transformed into steaming sexiness as she tossed her hair and wriggled her body in perfect rhythm.

I have danced most of my life and after last weekend, I had thought myself up to speed with at least some of the dances in this age, but Isabel was in a completely other league.

Amused, I dropped trying to remember the moves and just followed the beat.

At first, we were the only one dancing, but slowly more and more people joined in.

I spotted Petra standing by the stairs to the flybridge with a drink in her hand and when the next song started, I excused myself and walked over to her, while Valerie took my place as Isabel's dance partner.

"Hello Gorgeous. May I have this dance?"

"Not, if I have a choice." She said with a smile. "I never learned to dance like that... Salsa, samba or whatever it's called."

"I think it's called 'move your body to the rhythm'... but if it makes you feel better, we can wait until there's a slower song."

"That would be better." She admitted and fell silent as she watched the dancing people.

For a while, we just relaxed as we watched people having fun.

"God, she's sexy." Mumbled Petra and I followed her gaze. She was looking at Isabel that was still dancing with Valerie.

"Oh, yes she is." I agreed. "Not to mention intelligent and cute. I talked with her on the flybridge."

Petra glanced at me. "And you didn't try scoring her?"

"No. She's in love with a guy in Argentina, so I didn't bother." I chuckled. "If I had seen her dance first, I might have tried anyway."

She smiled and nodded, before she emptied her glass and leaned against me, still watching Isabel.

Since we were touching, I reached out with my mind and examined hers briefly to see if it was something Parker and Curtis had done, that made her think that Isabel was sexy. It wasn't. She was bi-sexual by nature, but they had removed any inhibition and guilt she had felt about it. Parker even had his two dolls service her a few times and she had admitted to herself that she had liked it.

"Do you think she's into women?" Petra asked softly, never taking her eyes of Isabel.

"I doubt it." I said truthfully. "All five of you are incredible hot and she hasn't looked at any of you longer than it takes for one woman to admire other women in a non-sexual manner."

"Oh, well." She sighed. "I guess it was too much to hope for." There was a slight pause and then she asked. "By the way, what's your opinion on gay and bi-sexual people?"

"I don't really have one." I answered absently. "Men don't turn me on, but how they find pleasure is really not my business."

"And women?"

"The same... unless it involves me directly, in which case I like it a lot."

After a moment's hesitation, she slowly said, "I would like to be with a woman at some point, but I have no clue how to seduce one."

"Try the same way as you would seduce a man." I suggested which made her giggle. "Ivan, I haven't tried to seduce a guy since sixth grade and back then I just wanted some candy. After that, I had more than enough trouble stopping guys from trying to seducing me."

Considering her good looks and feeling her fabulous body against mine, I didn't have any trouble believing her. "Hmm you have a point... You know how you like to be seduced, don't you?"

"Of course."

"Well, people are rarely unique. Try using what you like on somebody else... that should work." I looked at her. "Got anyone special in mind besides Isabelle?"

Petra hesitated, and I could feel that she really didn't want to say it, but she finally said, "Yes. Esther, Riya, Ayanna or Delina. Being locked up together really made us close and they're so beautiful it hurts."

"That they are." I agreed. "However, Esther and Ayanna are not into women, I haven't got a clue about Riya, but Delina likes women."

"Really... I didn't know that!"

"Now you do." I said drily. "And she actually thinks you're one of the sexist women alive."

She turned around to look at me. "Seriously?"

"Yes." I said with a nod and chuckled. "Just go to her, Petra. We agreed to share pleasure later, but it doesn't have to be this very night."

"Thank you." She flashed me a brilliant smile, gave me a quick kiss and walked way, while I stood there for a few moments, wondering why she had thanked me, but then I joined the dancing people on the afterdeck. No reason to let good music go to waste.

It was late, when Isabel, Valerie and Carlos came over to say goodbye and after having talked shortly with Carlos and Valerie, I asked Isabel. "Sorry, but could you listen to me for a minute?"

"Sure." She said with a smile and followed me, as I led her out of hearing range of the others "What's up?"

"Two things. First, go to Argentina and met the guy." I looked into her eyes. "Promise me that."

She didn't look away but hesitated. "I don't know..."

"Promise." I interrupted, added some mental energy in the command and finally she nodded. "Okay, I promise."

"Good." I smiled. "Because otherwise you will second-guess yourself for the rest of your life... Now, I don't know how it'll work out... that is up to you... but please watch your insecurity. It can easily lead to jealousy and that causes more trouble in a relationship, than any other thing I can think of."

She blinked a few times in surprise, but then laughed softly. "I shall try... but I need to ask... why do you even care?"

Now it was my turn to be surprised, as I haven't expected that question and after taking a few heartbeats to think it over, I said, "Because you have the same personality my sister had. Passionate, intelligent, and fun, but with a tendency to over-think matters."

For a moment, she stood completely still as she watched me, but she must have caught the use of past tense, because she gave me a short hug, "I'm sorry for your loss... and thanks for the advice... and the party."

"You're welcome."

They walked onto the pier and having had enough party for one evening, I walked to my cabin, stopping shortly at the buffet to pick up a few grilled chicken thighs as a late-night snack. I needed to relax and get some sleep, before it was time to cross the Atlantic Ocean.