Cougar Cruise

"Hey. I read!" Gavin replied with mock indignation.

"No! What I meant was I can tell you're a well-educated young man," she said, trying to smooth things over.

"Ouch."

"What? Young man?" Natalie asked. "Is that offensive?"

Gavin, who was much taller than her looked down and smiled.

"No. Not at all," he told her before flipping through a few pages then putting it back on the shelf. He was once again being overly sensitive about his lot in life but wasn't going to tell her that.

"Are you hungry?" he asked once it was back in its place.

"I...I kind of am," Natalie admitted.

"I wouldn't mind having some...cover...in the dining area," Gavin told her with a smile.

"Ah-hah! So...in spite of my best efforts to avoid the whole 'scene' onboard this ship, I find myself being used by a very handsome, much-younger man. Okay. I see how this works now," she teased, laughing as she did.

"I'm not exactly 'looking for love' myself, you know," he reminded her, his eyebrows rising at the end.

"So...I'm your prop and you're my...?"

"Same thing. I provide you with protection from all the actual cubs who are out cougar hunting."

"Oh, I see," she said rather playfully as they strolled along, still arm in arm. "This is a kind of...business arrangement then?"

"Maybe," Gavin replied before smiling and saying, "Or...maybe not."

He wasn't sure, but it felt like Natalie pulled herself a little closer after laughing at his comment. He found himself wanting to put his arm around her, but he'd already stuck his size 11 shoe in his mouth one too many times so he satisfied himself with what he had. The problem was he had no idea what, if anything, he actually might have.

When they walked into the cafeteria the heads of older women began turning one or two at a time as Gavin caught their eye.

"Sheesh. I guess it doesn't matter that we're together," Natalie said without thinking after the last of them looked and smiled at Gavin.

"Are we?" he asked.

It seemed like his question caught Natalie off guard.

"Are we what?" she asked.

"Together. Are we...together?"

"Oh, right. Well, of course we're together. We have a business arrangement, remember?" she reminded him as though he'd already forgotten about it.

"Yo, dude!" Gavin heard a familiar voice call out.

"Oh, no," he said just loudly enough to be heard.

"What's going on?" she asked just as Darren walked up behind his friend in the buffet line.

"One down, 35 to go," Darren said much too loudly and proudly.

Natalie turned to get a better look and also glanced at Gavin.

"Hey! Hold on. Are you two..." Darren asked as he pointed at Natalie.

Before Gavin could explain, Darren said, "High five, bro!"

The woman his friend was 'with' had a look on her face that confused Darren so he said, "You are together, right?"

Again, before anyone else could say a word, Darren said, "Because if you're not, she is like way hot and I'd like to trade places in line."

"Okay. Time out," Gavin said. "First of all, we are not together."

Putting two and two together, Natalie's face turned pouty as she moved closer to Gavin and put her arm back in his then said, "Baby, that's not what you said two minutes ago!"

"So you ARE together!" Darren assumed. "Sweet!"

"Natalie? Et tut, Brute?"

The beautiful woman he was with, but not...with...laughed, stuck out her hand to Darren and said, "I'm Natalie, and you must be Gavin's friend."

"That would be me, although sometimes I wonder," Darren replied as he shook her tiny hand. "Can someone tell me what's going on here?"

Natalie looked at Gavin who shrugged and said, "You go ahead...baby. You've been doing such a wonderful job so far."

She laughed then explained what really was going on.

"Oh, okay. So you're like a female version of this...stick in the mud. Am I right?" Darren asked with a smile.

"I can live with that," Natalie told him, her smile still there.

"You said you're here with your mom. Is she hot, too?" Darren asked.

"Oh, for the love of God!" Gavin said as he picked up a tray.

"I'm just askin', bro. Jeez. Isn't that what we came here for?"

"We?" Gavin asked as Natalie tried not to laugh.

"Okay. I get it. No need to remind me," Darren said with a shake of his head.

"We'd love for you to join us," Natalie told him as she put a little of this and a little of that on her tray.

"We?" Gavin said to her as he looked right at his best friend.

Darren laughed then said, "He's just jealous because..."

Darren lowered his voice, leaned toward Natalie then informed her, "That's because I already scored. Big time!"

"Oh. Um...congratulations?" Natalie told him with a small shrug of her shoulders.

The three of them found an open table and sat down, and Natalie tried not to laugh when she saw Darren attack the food on his plate while Gavin carefully cut the piece of meat in front of him and took a small bite.

"Have you two been friends all of your lives?" she asked before taking a very small bite of her own food.

"Since 7th grade," Darren told her after shoving most of the food in his mouth to one side. "That's when my family moved to Tucson."

"Tucson? No way!" Natalie said with surprise. "I'm from Phoenix."

"Seriously?" Gavin asked.

"Yes. Born and raised," she told him.

"Talk about a small world," Gavin said.

"What is it that keeps you two busy back in Tucson?" Natalie asked before taking another tiny bite.

"I'm a diesel mechanic and money bags over here is an architect," Darren informed her.

"We're a kind of Mutt and Jeff duo," Gavin told her. "We've just never figured out which one is Mutt or who's Jeff."

Natalie laughed and said she agreed.

"I mean, as far as having such very different career choices. It really does make you a kind of Odd Couple."

"No kidding," Darren said after chewing off most of the meat on a chicken drumstick in one bit. "Gavin's the stuffed shirt."

"That would be Felix," Gavin said, "making Jack Klugman over here Oscar."

"How about you, Natalie? What do you do?" Darren asked as he chewed away.

"I'm a teacher," she told him. "Elementary school."

"I didn't much care for school," he replied. "But Felix here loved it."

"What can I say?" Gavin said as Natalie smiled at him.

She was about to ask another question when she heard the unmistakable sound of her mother's voice.

"Well there you are!" she heard as both of the guys turned to look when she did.

"And who is this?" her mother asked when she saw Darren.

"Mom. Hi," Natalie said as a way of introducing her mother before telling her his name.

Virginia ignored the unkempt cub then stuck her hand out to Gavin and said, "Enchanté."

"It's a pleasure to see you again, ma'am," he replied.

"Ma'am?" she said with total disbelief. "It's Virginia."

"Hi, Virginia!" Darren said as he tapped the empty seat beside him.

"Thank you, Darren," she said as though she was very hurt by his friend's choice of words.

"So. Guess what I just did?" Virginia asked causing a look of horror to appear on her daughter's face.

"Uh-uh. Don't you dare say it out loud!" Natalie said.

"What? I just met a very handsome younger man who invited me to have dinner with him tonight. Is that so bad?" she replied with slight indignation.

"Oh. Um...no. That's...that's great. Mom."

"And how about you, honey? Are you and this gorgeous young man...together?"

"They are but they won't admit it," Darren told her as he leaned over.

Virginia laughed and said, "Gee, what a surprise."

"We're not together, Mom," Natalie told her.

This time, Gavin was the one to turn the tables.

"Wait. Baby, did you really just say that? Are we already not together?"

Virginia now had the confused look as Gavin laughed and Natalie elbowed him in the side.

"Ha-ha!" she said even as her mother demanded to know what was going on.

"Nothing. That's what's going on, Mom. Nothing at all."

"It seems that Natalie and I are both here under protest," Gavin said as he looked at Virginia.

"Oh, okay. So my daughter managed to find the one handsome, straight man on this cruise who isn't interested in getting laid, huh?" Virginia said, causing Natalie's eyes to open so wide it made Darren laugh.

"I'm not convinced he's straight," Darren said, again leaning toward Virginia who laughed, further embarrassing her daughter.

"I'm suddenly not very hungry," Natalie announced as she pushed her tray away.

"I think your mother is very charming," Gavin told her while looking at her mom.

"Well, thank you, Gavin," Virginia said with smug self-satisfaction.

"And I think she's hot!" Darren announced in his outside voice, causing another bout of wide-eyedness from Natalie who could tell her mother wasn't interested in that particular cub even though she thanked him for the compliment.

"In all seriousness, I'm glad you found something to talk to, honey," Virginia told her daughter.

"Yeah. Me, too," she replied as she glanced at Gavin who smiled at her.

"Are you having a good time so far?" she asked her mom seriously.

"Oh. Sure," her mother replied unconvincingly.

"No?" Natalie asked, now feeling terrible if her mom wasn't enjoying the cruise.

"I guess I just didn't think this would be quite this much of a..."

She leaned over the table then quietly said, "A meat market."

"Mom. How could you expect otherwise?" her daughter asked in a caring way.

"I...I don't know. I think maybe I let my emotions overrule my head, you know?"

Virginia paused then said, "In spite of all my bluster, I'm really an old-fashioned girl when it comes to romance, and this cruise isn't exactly catering to romance."

"Mom. I'm so sorry. Are you okay?" her daughter asked.

"Oh, sure. I'm fine. It's not...bad. It's just that I kind of like a little mystery, you know?" the 68-year old woman said wistfully.

"I do," her daughter replied with genuine sympathy. "I am glad I came with you, though. I'd feel terrible if you were here alone and not enjoying yourself."

"I didn't say I wasn't enjoying myself, honey. I just said I wish there was a little more romance involved."

She leaned back over the table then said, "But I'm not gonna let that stop me from finding a cub or two to have a little fun with!"

Natalie's sympathy evaporated, and her eyes were wide open for a third time as she sat back and just started at her mom.

"So if you'll excuse me, I'm going cub hunting. Again!" Virginia announced.

"No need to hunt, Virginia," Darren told her as she stood up. "Not when you've got me right here!"

Natalie watched Gavin roll his eyes, and as disgusting as the thought of Darren and her mom together was, she had to laugh.

"You won't have any trouble finding yourself a cougar, young man," Virginia told him. "It just won't be me."

And with that, she hugged her daughter, bid Gavin 'adieu' and flitted off to do her thing.

"Okay. Well, after striking out, I'm gonna go...strike out on my own!" Darren announced as he shoveled the last bite on his plate into his mouth.

"It was a pleasure meeting you," Natalie told him as he stuck a greasy paw her way.

Gavin grabbed a napkin and handed it to his friend, and the way Darren looked at it and then at his friend made Natalie laugh again.

"Very funny," Darren said as he actually used it before offering his hand again.

Natalie shook it then wished him luck before Gavin also reluctantly did the same thing.

"He's really nice," Natalie said once Darren was gone.

"He is, and we really are the Odd Couple, but we'd do anything for each other."

"I guess I'd say that's my mom and I, too. At least since my father passed away."

That comment led them into a very long discussion about their parents and other family members as well as the unique friendship between Gavin and Darren. An hour had passed before either of them realized it.

"I should probably let you have some time to yourself," Natalie said once she realized how long they'd been talking.

Gavin sat back then said, "I'm driving you crazy, aren't I?"

"What? No. Not at all. I've actually enjoyed talking with you. A lot," Natalie told him.

He watched her eyes for any sign of untruthfulness, and seeing none, smiled at her.

"Me, too. You're a very pleasant and charming woman, Natalie."

He paused then smiled and said, "Whose last name I still don't know."

"Robinson," she told him as she realized Gavin couldn't assume hers was also the same as her mother's.

When Gavin smiled, she knew.

"Okay. Say it," she told him with a feigned sense of annoyance.

"Say what?" Gavin replied, hoping she didn't really know what he was thinking.

"Koo-koo-ka-choo, Mrs. Robinson. I know you're thinking it, so...go ahead," she told him, trying to sound defensive but not pulling it off.

"I...kinda was," Gavin admitted with a little cringe. "Don't be upset, but I sort of had your mother in mind, though."

Natalie's sudden laughed surprised him, and that made him laugh, too.

"I actually called her that when she brought up this whole 'cougar cruise' thing."

"I really am sorry about your father," Gavin told her out of the blue.

"Thank you. He was the most amazing man I ever knew. I know my mom misses him dearly, too. It's just that I think she's afraid there isn't much time left for her, either, and she wants to squeeze every drop of life out of hers that she can, you know?"

"I'd like to say I do know, but Darren was right."

"About?" Natalie asked.

"I guess I'm not much of a...party animal," he told her with a weak little smile.

She smiled back at him then said, "Not every woman is, either, you know."

When she said it, their eyes met and although the look only lasted for a second or two, it was very different than any other look they'd yet shared.

"I'm really glad that's true," Gavin told her before Natalie suddenly looked away causing him to wonder if he'd said something else to make her feel uncomfortable.

He was about to ask her again, only in a different way, if she was tired of his company when she asked him something that told him she wasn't.

"You know they have a spa on board, right?"

"Yes. I did know that. Are you wanting to go there by any chance?"

Before she answered he said, "For some alone time?"

Gavin didn't realize how much Natalie was enjoying her time with him, so his comment made her think she was the only one having a good time.

"Oh. I...I suppose I could go by myself," she said, emphasizing the word 'could'.

"On the off chance that you're asking me if I'd like to go with you, the answer is 'yes'," Gavin told her.

"Are you just saying that to be nice?" she asked to be sure.

He turned toward her a little then said, "Natalie, I've had more fun with you than I have with anyone in a very long time, and..."

He realized how that sounded and stopped just as she said with a smile, "Then you really don't get out much, do you?"

"No. I really don't," he admitted.

"May I tell you a secret?" she asked.

"Sure."

"I don't get out much, either. And I'm having more fun than I've had in a long time, too."

Not wanting to press his luck Gavin only said, "Some guys like women who aren't party animals, either."

Natalie smiled at his use of her line and said, "I think the spa is that way," as she pointed toward the bow of the ship.

When they found it, both of them were amazed at all of the choices.

"Check this out," Natalie said as she read from the brochure she was holding for both of them. "In addition to massages, we offer facials and mani-pedis, passengers can book Botox injections and teeth whitening treatments, fancy shaves for men, special teen treatments, couple's mud baths and a variety of gooey wraps that claim to do wonders for your skin, circulation and general well-being."

"Have you ever had a mud bath?" Gavin asked.

"Honestly?" she asked back.

"Of course."

"It...kind of grosses me out."

When she realized he wasn't thinking about it like a woman, she added, "The mud goes...everywhere."

"Oh. OH!" Gavin said as he gently hit himself in the forehead. "Gee. Typical guy, huh?"

He laughed but Natalie didn't.

"No you're not, Gavin. Not at all," Natalie told him in a very sweet tone of voice. "So while a mud bath isn't very appealing to me, I would love to spend a little time in a steam room and maybe get a mani-pedi."

"The steam room sounds fantastic, and I could use a shave," he told her as he ran his hand around the light stubble on his chin.

"So...see you inside?" she suggested.

They were the only passengers in the steam room and as they sat and...sweat...they continued their conversation from before. This time they discussed college, their choice of majors, and how much they both enjoyed their careers.

"I love teaching!" Natalie told him. "I taught fifth grade one year and that was a challenge, but other than that, I've taught second grade and I just love kids at that age."

"I'm an only child, but I think I'd like to have at least two someday," Gavin told her.

This was Natalie's 'Achilles Heel', and when she replied, she got a little glassy eyed.

"I've wanted children for as long as I can remember. But, well, things didn't work out quite the way I'd planned with my marriage."

"I know we just met, but how does any man cheat on a woman as beautiful and amazing as..."

Gavin caught himself this time and quit talking.

"Sorry. I seem to have this propensity to speak from my heart where you're concerned without really thinking. I promise to try and..."

Before he could finish his sentence, Natalie suddenly sat up, turned his way and kissed him.

"Please don't think so much, okay?" she said, also very sweetly before also saying she needed to cool down.

Without waiting for Gavin to respond, she got up and went into the Ladies' Locker Room while he sat there trying to understand what she'd just done, and more importantly, why she'd done it.

When he stood up, he was truly grateful to be all alone, as he had no idea that her one, short kiss had had such an effect on him as he noticed the large bulge in the white towel when he looked down.

Neither of them mentioned the kiss as Gavin let a woman shave him while Natalie got her nails done. He finished first, showered and dressed then waited for her to come out. When Natalie saw him she had a look of surprise on her face.

"What?" Gavin asked as he stood up to meet her.

"I...I guess I thought you might have left. After, you know, after I...made such a fool out of myself."

"Oh. That," he said.

"Gavin, I have no idea what came over me. I promise you I am not like that. I think maybe it was all the very sweet things you've said, and I probably just misunder..."

This time it was Gavin who stopped her with a kiss.

He smiled first, then put a finger to her lips which quieted her immediately. He removed it then softly kissed her one time just as she'd done to him.

"You didn't misunderstand," he assured her as her eyes moved rapidly between his.

"Oh," she quietly replied as she stared into his eyes.

"Not at all," he said before suggesting something he'd just found out about.

"They have a chocolatier onboard."

"I didn't know that!" Natalie replied.

"Wanna go learn how to make a sculpture out of chocolate?"

"I would love to!" she told him as he held out his arm for her.

There was no hesitation as she looped hers through it and let him lead the way.

The two of them listened, learned, laughed, and sculpted chocolate for the first time ever over the course of the next two hours, sampling various kinds of chocolate as they went along.

From there they went to watch a movie then had dinner together with both of them looking over their shoulder for their 'other halves', neither of whom showed up while they were there.