The Pleasure Cruise Ch. 05

I nodded. "Thank you. I really appreciate this."

"I'll message you once I know how she's feeling."

Emily smiled sweetly, and then, before I could stop her, she rambunctiously bounded out of bed, taking the covers with her. She kept herself covered to the chest, but I was suddenly exposed. She turned and stared lasciviously at my dick, which wasn't fully hard, but had grown a fair bit.

"Hey!" I bounded up, naked, and pulled on the loose end of the covers as she resisted. I had a tug-of-war with her for a moment as she started losing her grip, exposing her tits as she hooted with laughter. We kept that up for a moment before I remembered myself, let go of the blankets, and grabbed my robe off the floor, pulling it back on and cinching it at the waist.

Emily made disappointed noises and dropped her end of the covers. She headed over, still topless, and grabbed her own robe off the floor. She threw it back over her shoulders, but left it open, her tiny breasts still hanging loose. I tried not to make my stare too obvious.

"This was fun," she said innocently. "Thanks for flirting with me. Please don't be offended. I told you. I'm a pervert."

"We're not even anymore," I grumbled in mock indignation.

Emily thought for a moment, then fully opened her robe and slid a hand into her panties. She quickly moved the gusset aside for a split second, exposing herself so quickly that I just saw a flash of her bare slit. "Better?"

"Much better." I pulled her into me, hugging her. "Thanks for telling me how Danielle is feeling. I would never have known."

"No problem," she answered. "I'm glad Lauren's on her way up. I haven't had the best luck resisting temptation on this cruise, and I'm feeling some pretty strong temptation right now."

She quickly gave me a peck on the cheek, cinched her robe closed, and exited. I remade the bed then climbed back in, and a few moments later Lauren entered, still wearing the same formal dress as the night before.

"Good morning!" she bounded energetically. "I brought you some coffee."

I eagerly accepted a steaming mug as Lauren quickly stripped out of her dress, then climbed into bed nude beside me with her own cup. "I heard Danielle's side of it, but what happened to you last night?"

I quickly recounted my evening, leaving out nothing, including hooking up with Hannah after Danielle walked out on me.

"It's probably best if Danielle doesn't find that out," Lauren observed once I'd finished. "But I probably would have done the same thing in your shoes. Lord knows I've had some shameful hookups in the past thanks to booze and hormones. I'm also proud of you, despite everything. Your confidence is definitely back, not that getting Hannah to suck your dick seems like it would have been much of a challenge."

"It wasn't," I responded, "and I feel terrible about it. Last night it just beat jerking off after getting so wound up with Danielle."

"We've all been there," Lauren said sympathetically. "I think Emily and I convinced Danielle you didn't do anything wrong. Did Emily update you on our conversation?"

"She did."

"Good."

"We'll see what happens today," I continued. "I'm not getting my hopes up about it, but it would be nice. I still really like her. Emily is going to message me when she knows more."

We sat in silence for a moment sipping our coffees.

"Speaking of Emily, how was round two?" I asked.

"It was fun," Lauren responded. "Emily was less overwhelmed than the first night, more confident, less willing to lay back and let me take charge. She wanted to be an active partner this time, and it turns out she's a great fuck. Milos is lucky to have her. She's creative and energetic and really dirty-minded."

"And, how are you?" I pressed.

"I'll talk later," she answered. "I know I have to do that today. But not yet."

"I'll respect that."

"I know you will." She smiled. "You know when to push me and when not to. Tonight, you might have to push me." She finished her coffee and set the cup down on the nightstand.

"I'll push you right now!" I exclaimed, and I gently shoved her, playfully. She shrieked and attacked back, as the two of us started to playfight like energetic kids getting out excess energy. Lauren had always been strong for a woman, and I was a skinny guy, so while I was still stronger than she was, it was a fairer fight than one might think. It took some time, but I finally managed to pin her, holding both her arms above her head as I lay on top of her, pinning her torso as her legs kicked violently.

"You fucker!"

She finally relaxed and stopped struggling, breathing hard, her face inches from mine. I suddenly realized my leg was pressed right between hers, and I became aware of rapidly growing damp heat on my thigh as my erection grew, hardening against her hip. Lauren suddenly moaned, quietly, gently.

Fuck! Abort! I quickly released her, and the two of us stared awkwardly at each other.

"Have you had a shower yet?" she blurted.

"No, have you?"

"Yeah, in Emily's cabin." An awkward silence descended.

"I think I'll go have a shower," I said finally.

"Good idea. I'll be here."

I turned and headed for the shower, turning it on and climbing in, trying not to think about what had just happened. I consciously forced myself to ignore my erection until it finally went away.

I emerged back into the room in time, finding Lauren in a floral sarong covering her green and yellow bikini. She avoided watching me, seemingly deliberately, as I quickly threw on a bathing suit and a Hawaiian shirt.

"Any plans for today?" she asked.

"None, apart from hoping Danielle still wants to hook up, and making you talk at some point." I smiled sweetly.

"I will."

"You?"

"Allison invited us to lunch with her and Oliver," she said, reading from her phone. "They've apparently decided to keep hooking up."

"Hannah and I kind of walked in on them last night," I admitted.

"Nice. What happened?"

"You were right, she does have nice tits."

"Told you."

I pulled out my own phone, checking for messages for the first time that day. Lena had written to me earlier that morning:

Hey, sorry I missed your message last night. Brianna and I overdid it in the Dominican and went to bed early. I'd still love to see you today.

I read on to the next one, sent only a few minutes ago:

Hannah got you into bed last night, huh. She had been talking about it since Grand Turk, and usually she doesn't have any trouble convincing men to go along with what she wants.

I wrote back: Yeah, it happened. She's very persuasive. I'm sorry.

The response came back quickly: You don't have to be sorry. Hannah is who she is, and I don't have any jealousy over you. We're total strangers who had a random vacation hookup. But if it comes down to it tonight, I hope you'd pick me over her.

I absolutely would, no contest, I wrote. We had good chemistry together. <3

We really did, she responded. And I might have bragged to the girls about how good you were a little bit yesterday... okay, maybe a lot. I was trying to make them all jealous, because I'm not usually the one telling hot stories about sexy boys. It was so much fun telling them all about the hung stranger that made me cum so easily. Hannah was already green with envy after she made a drunken fool of herself on scavenger night. She had wanted you then, so telling her what she missed out on was like throwing gasoline on a fire. I probably should have warned you.

I'm not upset if you're not, I wrote.

I knew what I was doing. Hannah might have been gasoline on a fire, but I was the one that doused her. I knew full well she was going to go straight to you with a book of matches in hand. But you boys are so predictable, she wrote. A guy would always light the match given the chance.

I've avoided it before, I wrote. But yeah, not often.

We're going to spend the day by the pool, she wrote. Come find us if you'd like, stranger.

Sounds good, stranger.

"We have an invite to spend time at the pool with Lena, and I'm assuming some of the other sorority girls," I told Lauren.

"Sounds like it could be fun," she answered. "So, does that mean you're giving up on Danielle?"

"Not a chance," I responded. "I wouldn't hook up with Hannah again, there wasn't much chemistry with her. I'm planning to leave that as a one-night stand. Lena, maybe, but I really like Danielle. I don't want to think of Lena as a consolation prize, but I would only sleep with her again if I knew Danielle wasn't an option."

"Listen to yourself, stud," Lauren shot back, her eyebrow raised. "Trying to decide which of three beautiful women you're going to fuck today. You've come a long way over a six-day cruise, eh?"

"I owe it all to you," I answered. "I don't feel depressed anymore. But I'm still willing to play wingman for you and find a way to get you laid by some handsome man tonight, if you want the help. I owe you at least that much."

"It's not hard finding a man to fuck on my own, though I thank you for the offer," she answered. "I don't honestly know why I haven't gone out and done it yet. But I'm not making any decisions now on what's going to happen tonight. Maybe I'll get myself laid by some strapping, big-dicked young stud after all."

"Do you want that?" I asked.

"I don't know anymore, and I don't want to talk about it yet," she responded quickly. "We have about an hour until lunch with Allison and Oliver. What do you want to do?"

"I'm content just to sit here on the balcony and read for a bit," I said.

"Same. More coffee?"

"Sure."

Lauren left, cups in hand, to head up to the Lido deck as I went out on the balcony, sat down in the patio chair, and pulled my book out. A few minutes later, Lauren returned, and the two of us sat silently in the late morning sun, engrossed in our reading, enjoying the quiet time together. It was our last day of warm weather and our last full day together before we parted ways, and I was determined, above all else, to enjoy her friendship today.

I still had no speculation as to what was going on in her head, not that I ever really did. But I was still feeling like I owed her my time that evening, even if it came at the expense of a resolution with Danielle. If Lauren needed me today, I was going to be there for her.

After an hour spent in total, blissed-out silence, hunger pangs told me it was nearly lunchtime.

"Ready to head up?" I asked.

Lauren stirred slightly; she'd apparently dozed off on the balcony. "Sure," she finally said, groggily.

We made our way to the restaurant at the stern of the ship rather than to the Lido. While the buffet-style food was always available, one had the option of dining a la carte in the restaurant for brunch at no extra charge, and I was happy to give it a shot on our sea day. Our usual table was in the middle of the restaurant, but for lunch we were seated right at the ship's stern, able to look out the plate glass window at the impossibly blue sea foaming beneath us, churned up by the ship's wake several decks below.

A few minutes after we entered, I saw Allison and Oliver approaching, holding hands. They were both dressed informally, he in a seersucker shirt and shorts, she in a see-through blouse over a bikini top and a loose, flowy skirt. As they sat down opposite us, I noticed a hickey on her neck that she had clearly tried to cover up with makeup.

After making our greetings and placing our food orders with the waitress, Allison looked Lauren and me in the eye and began.

"I wanted to say thank you."

"You're welcome," Lauren and I said in unison. There was a pause.

"...Why?" Lauren added.

"Because I was spending an expensive vacation in paradise sulking over being mistreated by my sister and her friends," Allison began. "I wasn't having any fun. I was just counting down the days until it was over. But you lifted my spirits, and you made me stop feeling sorry for myself. You made me cheat my way into gaining my sister and her slutty friends' respect, if not their friendship. You made me remember to make my own fun on this cruise. And you introduced me to this guy here." She made puppy dog eyes at Oliver, who leaned over and kissed her on the forehead. "I apparently needed a cruise fling. And look at him! He's way out of my league."

Oliver blushed. "Oh, stop."

"It's true!" she insisted.

"You are kind of gorgeous," Lauren observed.

Oliver turned even redder. "I don't think of myself that way, but I appreciate the compliments nonetheless."

"We've met lots of new friends on this cruise that we're going to have to stay in touch with," I added.

"I heard," Allison said smugly. "Two bachelorettes down, three to go, is it? Four if you count my whore sister."

It was my turn to blush. "I don't like how Olivia and Andie treat you, so I wouldn't go there. I don't think I've even spoken to Brianna. As for you, I'm assuming that wasn't a proposition just now, given that you seem happy with this guy here. So no, I'm not thinking about it like that."

"I'm definitely good with Oliver here, and Brianna's a lesbian, so yeah, it was just an expression. But all I know is that Lena wouldn't shut up about how good you were in bed, so Hannah was determined to find out for herself," Allison giggled. "Last night, after you were done with her, she came back to the room walking on air, and I got to hear all over again about your prowess." She turned to face Lauren. "If you've never had the pleasure with Sean, I've got a couple of five-star Yelp reviews I could pass on."

I rolled my eyes, then glanced at Lauren. It wasn't often I saw her off-guard, but something about that seemed to have struck a nerve as she looked away from me.

"Speaking of, sorry about walking in on you last night," I offered to the couple across the table, trying to change the subject.

Allison and Oliver exchanged a knowing glance. "Don't worry about it," she finally said. "You wouldn't have known any better. I should have messaged Hannah telling her to stay out."

We just... kind of were in a hurry," Oliver added slyly. "Sorry, not sorry." The two of them exchanged another deeply meaningful look, mutual lust in their eyes.

Just then, our lunch was delivered, breaking up the moment.

"So, how's Liam?" I asked as we dug in.

Oliver sighed. "I'm finding him a little tough to take at the moment, and I've been happy having Allison as a distraction."

"Why's that?" Lauren asked.

"Carnival ships kind of have a reputation as being floating parties," he began, "and I think Liam went into this cruise thinking it was going to be easy to pick up chicks. As the cruise has gone on and he's struck out with all the girls he's pursued, it's started to bother him that it hasn't worked out the way he expected. Plus, he knows Allison and I have gotten together, and he's heard Sean's gotten laid a couple of times, and all the girls in the bachelorette have hooked up at least once. Emily and Danielle have boyfriends, so they're kind of off limits, despite the way they were flirting with us. And Lauren, I'm not asking you to kiss and tell, but I'm assuming you would have gotten some by now if you wanted it."

"I've gotten laid this week, yeah," Lauren confirmed, without elaborating.

"And our tablemates at dinner are two honeymooning couples, which means they're fucking like rabbits every chance they get. So now every single person that he's met on the ship, male and female, has had sex since the cruise started, except him. It's bothering him, being surrounded by sex and not getting any himself, and as his entitled attitude gets worse, it makes it less and less likely that he's going to get any. Since I met Allison, I've mostly just been spending time with her."

"Why are you even friends with a guy like that?" Lauren demanded.

Oliver sighed. "He's a good friend and a good teammate. He's the captain of the lacrosse team. He's a born leader. The guys on the team would be willing to follow him into battle unconditionally."

"Where's that Liam and why is he not on this cruise?"

"He..." Oliver cleared his throat. "His biggest character flaw is that he's a man's man. He has no sisters, no female friends. I think the only woman in his life is his mother, and they don't really get along. He doesn't see women as people, only as objects. I've told him before that all he needs to do is be himself, his true self, around women and he'd have a lot more success. To treat them like one of the boys. But he doesn't get it. I don't know if he ever will. He's never had a proper girlfriend who likes him for who he is.

"I like everything about him except the way he treats women, but this is the first time I've ever been one-on-one with him for this long, and I don't know if I would go on another holiday with him like this. He's definitely starting to get on my nerves."

"That guy just needs to get laid," I observed wryly.

Lauren punched me in the arm. "Ow!"

"He definitely didn't seem happy for Oliver that we got together," Allison continued. "It was jealousy, or at least that was how I saw it. Plus, after we tallied the scores on scavenger night, Oliver and I left in each others' arms, Hannah was too drunk, you left with Lena, and my sister had that musician guy. He probably could have hooked up with Olivia without much effort, as long as he didn't mind risking getting an STD from the dirty bitch. She's not known for being picky, and Liam is still a good-looking guy. But I heard he tried to hit on the gay girl instead, and by the time Brianna had shot him down, Olivia had left."

"That was a fun night," I remembered.

Allison blushed again. "I've definitely never done anything like that before. Any of it. I had so much fun, even though I was terrified. I also heard all about that 'Last Time You' game you guys played together. I'm sorry I didn't know you then, it sounds like it was really hot. I don't know if I would have had the courage to join in, but I'd like to think I would have. I want to put myself out there more."

"So, when was the last time you had sex?" Lauren deadpanned.

Allison exchanged a knowing glance with Oliver. "About... twenty-five minutes ago?" she finally said, burying her face in her hands.

"Maybe thirty," Oliver added.

"Both of you lose clothing," I said solemnly. "It's the rules."

"I don't want to get kicked out of the restaurant," Allison said fearfully, then realized I was joking. "Sorry. This is still kind of new to me."

"It's too bad Liam kind of ruined the game," I continued.

Oliver sighed. "I was so angry at him after that. We were right on the verge of things getting wild, and he ruined it by not playing it cool. All he needed to do was chill a little."

"I would have kept going if Liam hadn't been there," Lauren confirmed, "and Emily and Danielle said the same thing afterwards. He was just acting a little too creepy. Better to end with six terminal cases of blue balls than to go too far with someone you don't trust."

"Pity." Oliver looked disappointed. "Have you seen Emily and Danielle since we played?"

Lauren and I exchanged a glance. "Yeah," I began, "we're tablemates, so we see them every night, plus we've been hanging out a lot otherwise. They're great people. Danielle and I went on a hike together in Puerto Plata, and Emily and Lauren have been spending time together too."

"That's cool," Oliver said. "If we had another couple of days on board, maybe we'd try something like that again, with Allison in place of Liam. But I don't think we're going to have much free time. I've got plans for her for the rest of the day."

Allison looked away, embarrassed.