Cruise Doubledate with My Sister

"Jacob and I will switch cabins. Once we do, I don't want to see them again."

Our time at the beach club was over. Our driver came to the van and unlocked it. Caitlin and I got in and sat in the back seat. The family got in next. Jacob and Rebecca came last, smiling and holding hands. They got into the seat in front of us.

Once they were seated, Caitlin leaned forward and talked quietly to them, mapping out our separation. She assigned each couple different pools and different dining rooms. Caitlin and I were to use the fitness center anytime before dinner and they had it after. Jacob and Rebecca were to make new excursion plans. If Jacob and Rebecca saw us in the hallway, they were to turn around and go the other way. Caitlin did this with a quiet voice filled with venom. Jacob and Rebecca agreed to everything Caitlin said. Good ol' practical Caitlin - I never would have been able to think of all the details she did.

Once Caitlin was done, she sat back next to me. I felt like I was in a huge fog. Rebecca and Jacob faced forward. Jacob put his arm around Rebecca's shoulders. If Rebecca had put her head on his shoulder, I think I would have burst out crying. Rebecca grabbed Jacob's hand and pulled it down to the seat next to her. Her discomfort with public displays of affection hadn't been a huge lie.

The rest of the day was a blur. Misery completely shut down my brain. Caitlin left me sitting in a chair in a quiet room on board the ship for I don't know how long while she made the room change happen, but otherwise stayed with me the whole time. We spent most of the time walking around the deck. The whole day, my entire relationship with Rebecca ran through my head in a loop. Prior to this cruise, I had been so certain that we were in love, would marry and live happily ever after. What had I missed? Caitlin probably talked to me at some point and if so, I didn't respond. I know I ate something that day, but I can't say what. I don't think I cried - I was too numb.

I broke out of the mental fog late that night when Caitlin blamed herself for my break up with Rebecca. We were at the stern, watching the wake. "I'm sorry, Thomas. I shouldn't have kept gambling with them Saturday. He started pulling her away from you then. And I definitely shouldn't have kept gambling with them last night."

"Don't worry about it." Caitlin gave a little gasp of surprise at my speaking. "It wouldn't have mattered." I turned to face her. "You heard her - she was in love with Jacob before he stepped on the ship. Once they met up, it was only a matter of time."

"If they hadn't spent that time gambling..."

"What? They might have dumped us tomorrow instead of today? Would that be an improvement?"

"No..."

"Then let it go. It was their choice. Nothing we could have done would have changed their minds." I turned back to the railing and looked out at the wake again. "The one thing which might have made difference is if I had gone to church with Rebecca."

"Did you ever go to church with her?"

"Once. It was awful. The sermon was all judgmental and condemning. Jesus loves those who hate what he hates. The stuff that turned me off of religion." I turned away from the railing. "Let's go to bed. Let's put an end to the worst day of my life."

We headed back to the cabin. The pain and misery enveloped me but now weren't overwhelming. I noticed for the first time what Caitlin was wearing - black short shorts and a clingy black blouse with thin straps on top which nicely showed off her broad shoulders and also exposed her midriff. Was Jacob really willing to give up this hot woman?

Stupid thought. There's a lot more to a relationship than good looks and Jacob's relationship with Caitlin had been coming to an end. He bailed out to get another pretty girl rather than wait for Caitlin to dump him. Unfortunately, the other pretty girl had been my girl.

"Thanks for staying with me. I don't know how I would have survived today without you."

"You're my brother. I love you. You would have done the same for me. And I needed someone to be with, too."

I had been so focused on myself that I hadn't thought about how Caitlin was probably hurting as well. She hadn't been as serious with Jacob as I had been with Rebecca, but it always hurts to get dumped.

We went to my old cabin. I guessed because I was unable to move my stuff, Rebecca and Caitlin had switched cabins. Once we got in the cabin, we got a nasty shock - the bed was made up as one large bed. We hadn't told anyone that we would need two singles in our cabin from now on.

"I guess we'll be sleeping together tonight," said Caitlin. "I hope you don't move around a lot."

"I sleep like a log. I won't be any problem."

I hadn't brought any pajamas as I always slept nude with Rebecca. My mind slowly worked out that I should wear my work-out shorts to bed. I grabbed them.

"I'll brush and change in the bathroom while you change out here," I said.

I brushed my teeth, took off my clothes and put on my shorts. What does Caitlin wear to bed? She always wore night shirts at our parent's house, but she might wear something different on her own. I hoped she didn't sleep naked.

When I got out of the bathroom, Caitlin was wearing a shiny white night shirt - and balling her eyes out.

"Another fucking cruise ruined," she wailed. I moved towards her. "And they aren't going to give me a voucher for this disaster. Cruises should be so damn fun for me and they keeping turning out awful." I put my arms around her. "I'm cursed."

"You're not cursed."

"It doesn't fucking matter. This is the last fucking cruise I can take for a long time. The last fucking nice vacation. I'm up to my eyeballs in debt. My girlfriends from college are going to laugh their asses off when they hear about how this cruise turned out."

Caitlin swung around to face the wall where Rebecca and Jacob's cabin was and raised a fist.

"And I am SO," she pumped her fist, "FUCKING", another pump, "PISSED", a huge pump, "at that lying sack of shit." Caitlin spun back to me. "We fucked three times yesterday. Morning, nap time and bedtime. At nap time, I asked him what was going on between him and Rebecca and he said," Caitlin changed her voice to a goofy male tone, "nothing, just being nice to an old friend." Caitlin's tears had stopped and her face was now flushed with anger. "He told me how hot I had looked in my bikini. How he was so happy to be away from Rebecca and with only me. Then at bedtime I was pissed as hell but he was so fucking smooth. He cracked jokes about Rebecca wearing a one-piece. He told me about how awful she had been at sex. He told me how much more beautiful I was than Rebecca. I swallowed it all. He had me feeling like the most wonderful woman in the world."

Then her face got more screwed up in anger and her voice raised to a yell, "Today, does he have the balls to say anything to me?! At least Rebecca said she was sorry! At least she explained why she dumped you! All that fucking asshole did was smirk! I have never felt SO FUCKING USED!"

She paused to catch her breathe. "If you hadn't stopped me," she said in her normal voice, "so help me God I was going to beat the living shit out of him. I was going to give him an ass whooping he'd never forget."

As angry as Caitlin was, I think she could have. She was as big as Jacob and had bigger muscles. Part of me seriously regretted stopping her as I couldn't imagine a guy more deserving of getting his ass kicked.

"You know what the worst thing is about this fucking disaster?" Caitlin continued. "We're paying for their love nest. We're paying for their shore excursions. They are going to have a damn great time on our dime. God, I want to put a life preserver on both of them and throw them off the fucking ship."

She sat there panting. It was like she had held her feelings in as long as she was caring for me, then exploded.

I don't get angry and I wasn't - it would be pointless. We couldn't kick them off the ship. If Caitlin had beat the crap out of Jacob, nothing would have changed. I strongly believed that success was the best revenge, but I didn't see how I was going to get revenge in this case as Rebecca was everything I wanted in a woman.

"Caitlin, this cruise isn't going to be a disaster. We're going to have a good time in spite of it all. We get along great. This is going to be like a family vacation on steroids. And you want to dance? I'll dance your ass off tomorrow night. And every night after. We won't have a great time, but we'll have a really good time." I gripped her hands. "Does that sound like a plan to you?"

She gave me a little smile. "That sounds fine."

"Good. It's my mission now to see that you're happy." If I had a mission, I had a purpose. If I had a purpose, then I had meaning in my life. I had had no meaning in my life when I walked in the cabin door. "Anything I can do - anything - tell me. Okay?"

Her smile got a little bigger, then she gave me a smirk. "You think you can dance my ass off?"

"I'm in pretty good shape. I'm certainly willing to try."

"Okay. Let's see who outlasts who tomorrow night."

I was glad to see a little sparkle in her eyes.

"It's late," I said. "We don't want to miss the excursion in the morning. Let's get to sleep."

Caitlin brushed her teeth and came back. I turned off the lights and we got under the covers. I was on my back and she was on her side facing me.

"Thanks for everything, Caitlin. I love you."

"I love you too, Thomas. Will you hold my hand please?"

"Certainly." I reached out and held her hand. "Good night."

"Good night."

As I lay there, I thought about what I owed Caitlin. The summer after my sophomore year, I had turned 21 and Caitlin had found a bar with dancing which would "misread" the driver licenses of her and her friends and let them in. I had wound up the designated driver. I hadn't known how to dance or talk with girls. Caitlin had taught me. She had shown me dance moves and had taught me how to react to my partner. She had worked on my conversation skills. She had done weight workouts with me.

The next summer soon after I had gotten back home, Caitlin had taken me to a party and I had met a girl named Lisa. The next day, Caitlin had told me that Lisa had really liked me. I hadn't known what to do next. With the two girls I had dated at college, I had gotten to know them in the dorms, had done some on-campus activity with them and, by the end of the activity, had ended up holding hands. That wasn't going to work with Lisa. Caitlin had helped me write texts to flirt with Lisa. She had written the text I sent to ask her out. When things had heated up between Lisa and me, Caitlin had explained to me in detail how to please a woman. I had lost my virginity to Lisa and we had fucked almost every day for the rest of the summer.

Caitlin had always acted like the lessons she had given me were no big deal, but I knew they had been huge. That's why I had been willing to lend her the money to buy her friends' vouchers. That's why I had been willing to buy the vouchers off her for Rebecca and me. And that's why I intended to do anything I could for her to have the best time possible on the cruise.

Tuesday, Belize
The next morning, I rushed us out of the cabin. I told Caitlin it was because I wanted to be sure to get to the pick up point on time, but I did it to minimize the chance of seeing Rebecca and Jacob. Still, I found myself regularly looking for them.

The excursion was a boat ride through the jungle to some ruins. We both wore jeans and a long sleeve shirt to minimize bug bites. Caitlin's jeans looked spray painted onto her. We were joined by three families who had school-age children. Caitlin and I were tentative at first - could we really have a good time together? Our guide was enthusiastic and proud to show us what Belize had to offer. He took the time to show us wildlife along the boat ride and educated us about the people who lived along the river. He had a great eye for spotting crocodiles on the river banks and howler monkeys in the trees. I even fed a spider monkey. The excitement of the kids was contagious and soon Caitlin and I were having a great time. We enjoyed exploring the ruins and the view from the top of the high temple was spectacular. The trip back was almost as much fun.

We had lunch on the ship then went to the pool. We knew a lot of the people there. We hadn't talked to them for very long when someone asked where Rebecca and Jacob were.

"They dumped us and went off by themselves," said Caitlin.

"Are you shitting me?" said a guy named Zach. I felt like Zach was plunging a red-hot knife into my chest.

"They had dated before, which we didn't know when we invited them on the cruise," continued Caitlin.

"That's crazy! What are the chances of that happening?" asked Zach.

"I'm going to swim to the other end of the pool," I said to no one in particular.

"One hundred percent," Caitlin muttered bitterly as I dived under the water.

I swam to the other side of the pool and turned to look for Caitlin. To my surprise, she was only a few feet behind me.

"Let's get out of here," she said.

* * * *

When we got back to the cabin, I suggested we go shopping.

"I don't have any money," Caitlin replied.

"You don't have to have money to shop. What do you suggest we do instead?"

She thought for a bit. "Okay. Let's go shopping. What shall we shop for?"

"How 'bout some clothes for you? I wouldn't mind checking out women trying on nice outfits."

We went to the ship's information desk and got some suggestions on where to shop. We took a taxi to an area with several small clothes shops. Rebecca didn't like to shop for clothes so it was something different for me.

Caitlin moped more than shopped. She would look at a dress she apparently liked and give a big sigh. "They have some nice black cocktail dresses. The one I brought is getting worn. I wish I had the money to buy a new one."

"I'll buy it."

"Come on, Thomas."

"I'm serious. Get a sexy one. You're my girl for the rest of the cruise. When we're dancing tonight, I want the other guys in the dance club to be envious."

"But..."

"And while we're shopping, let's get you some shoes with a decent heel."

Caitlin smiled. "Okay."

Caitlin's mood brightened considerably once she knew she was going to wind up with a dress and shoes. She tried on a few then we walked down to another store where she tried on some more. I enjoyed her modeling the different dresses for me. They all looked good on her and some made her look smoking hot. She eventually bought the one I liked best - a dress with a strap on only one shoulder and lots of lace holes in the top front so I could see most of her chest. It also clung tightly to the rest of her body and ended a little below her crotch area. She looked fantastic in it.

"How are you going to wear a bra with that?" I asked.

"Who says I'm going to wear a bra?" She gave me an evil grin.

Shopping for shoes wasn't nearly as interesting as I don't care about women's shoes.

"Are you going to get shitfaced tonight?" Caitlin asked me. We were in shoe store number two.

"Why would I do that?"

"Because you feel miserable over losing Rebecca."

"And how would getting shitfaced make things better? In college, I got shitfaced once. Puking my guts out afterward was probably the worst I have ever felt. I don't care to re-live that moment."

"Will you do me a big favor tonight and drink more when we're dancing than you're used to? I don't want to get drunk, but I want to get buzzed and it isn't fun drinking that much alone."

I thought for a minute. I wasn't much of a drinker and it didn't appeal to me.

"You told me to tell you anything I wanted you to do to make me happy," said Caitlin.

"Yeah, but did I say I would do it?" I smiled. "Seriously, as long as you promise to keep me from getting drunk, I'll do it."

"What type of drunk are you?"

"The I-wish-I-were-sober type."

* * * *

"When did you know it was over between you and Rebecca?" We were in shoe store number four.

"When she didn't want to do the Full Rebecca Sunday night. We always did that. The Rebecca was the first more-than-friends thing we did together. If we had had a bad day, doing the Rebecca always seemed to make things right. For her to not want to do it told me she was pulling away. The next morning, it was a matter of watching her and confirming she had pulled away."

"What the hell is a Rebecca?"

"It's a long story. It's something we did at night. I don't want to discuss it."

"Okay. What do you think of these shoes?"

"They look like the last dozen you've tried on."

"Men!"

* * * *

We had dinner in one of the main dining rooms. We sat with some people we didn't know and had a pleasant time. After dinner, we went to the early show. It was a musical I hadn't seen before and I enjoyed it a lot. After the show, we went drinking and dancing. Caitlin looked incredible in her new dress. I got a strawberry daiquiri when Caitlin did and I matched how quickly she drank hers. While we were dancing, a slow song came out. I didn't think it was appropriate to slow dance with my sister, so we went back to our drinks and took a long break. As we were talking, a guy our age walked up to us.

"Hey! I'm Tyler. You're brother and sister, right?"

"Yeah..." I said slowly.

"Then you don't mind if I dance with your sister, do you?"

"He might not mind," said Caitlin, "but I would. I don't dance with people I don't know."

"I liked to get to know you..."

"But I wouldn't. Go!"

We finished our drinks and went back out on the dance floor. We danced until another slow song came on, then we got some new drinks and talked. While we were waiting for a fast song, another guy tried to ask Caitlin to dance. She told him to buzz off equally as firmly.

"If you want to dance with somebody else," I said, "I understand completely."

"I don't want to. I don't want to have to worry about him slipping a roofie in my drink then using my body all night. Too much nasty shit has happened to friends of mine. At parties and bars, I stay with people I know and I tell them to not let some stranger try to take me home."

"Wow!"

"I try to not date a guy unless I've known him for at least six months and know one of his former girlfriends. Too many scary weirdos out there."

"Did you do that with Jacob?"

"No. See how well he turned out? We aren't sitting out slow dances anymore. I'm tired of getting hit on every time we do."

I had a great time dancing with Caitlin. As she had taught me how to dance, she danced how I wanted my partner to dance. The slow dances were awkward at first, but I got used to them. We kept a little space between us. Some couples close to us were groping each other.

At eleven, we left the dance club and went on the deck. We got some food, sat down and stared at the stars while the wind whipped through our hair.

"Are you going to dance my ass off tonight?" Caitlin asked me.

"I'm willing to keep trying. I'm going to hate the alarm clock in the morning."

"You're a much better dancer than Jacob."

"And you're a much better dancer than Rebecca. I'm sure her parents never let her go to a dance."

We made fun of the way they danced for a few minutes.

"Had you gambled with Jacob before?"

"We went to a charity casino night a month ago and had a great time. It was the first time either of us had done casino gambling."

"He seems to have caught the bug. He's obviously studied up on it." A random thought came to mind. "How is Lisa doing?"

"Okay. She doesn't like living with her parents but she doesn't make enough to live on her own."

"I'm sorry to hear it."

"When my lease is up, we might get a two-bedroom place together."