Something Better

As I looked through my bad, I picked out a simple, yet classy outfit for tonight. I didn’t want to go too formal, but I didn’t want to go in just jeans, either. So I thought my choice was pretty good, since Joe had packed my bag for me before we left. I had a black short-sleeve button-down blouse, a white flow skirt with white rose designs that came to just above my knees, and black ballet flats with a big black bow that laid flat against the very tip of them. Good enough, right?

I took my clothes and went into the bathroom to take a quick shower. I didn’t even bother to see if Joe wanted to go first. He takes too long, so he’ll just have to wait until I’m done. Ha!

The bathroom in here was really nice. Not too big, but not too tiny as to think that I was in some cheap motel somewhere. It looked like a perfect bathroom for a suit on a ship.

(The picture of the bathroom is at the bottom in my author’s note, if you guys want to go check it out.)

As I waited for the water to get warm, I looked around for a towel. There was a rack of them on the wall right next to the shower stall. I grabbed one and put it on top of my clothes pile on top of the counter. Just as I was about to strip out of my current clothes, there was a knock on the bathroom door. “Hey Alyssa, are you taking a shower?” Joe’s muffled voice asked through the door.

“No. I’m running the water to see how long it would take until the whole bathroom will be flooded.” I sarcastically answered back. Honestly, what does he think I’m doing running the shower? Stupid…

I heard Joe laugh softly on the other side of the door. “Shut up. I was just asking, jeez.”

“Well a stupid question calls for a stupid answer.” I answered.

I heard Joe laugh again and then there was just silence. I figured it was safe to go in now.

My shower was only about ten minutes before I unwillingly turned off the hot water and walked out of the stall into the air-conditioned bathroom. The tiles on the floor froze my feet, so I quickly dried myself off before quickly slipping myself into my dinner outfit. I hung my towel on the back of the door and wrapped a smaller towel around my hair.

When I walked out of the bathroom, Joe was laying down on the bed with his legs hanging off the end and his arms behind his head. He was just staring at the ceiling quietly. He looked like he was in deep thought, which is something he rarely ever does.

“Hey Joe, is something wrong?” I asked him, truly worried.

Joe looked over at me with the same thoughtful expression on his face. “No. I’m just thinking.” He replied calmly.

“About what?” I carelessly threw my dirty clothes in a pile in a corner of the room.

“I don’t know…” He looked back up at the ceiling again. “I just have this funny feeling in the pit of my stomach.”

I un-wrapped the towel from my head and shook my hair out. Looking at myself in a mirror on the wall, I asked, “Could it be anxiety?”

Joe sighed. “Possibly.” He got up off the bed, grabbed his clothes off of his dresser and headed towards the bathroom. While he was passing by me, I saw him stop in his tracks and look me up and down through the mirror. As his eyes roamed my body, a small smile appeared on my face.

“My oh my. Well aren’t you just looking lovely today?” He said and came up behind me, a smile playing at his lips.

“Yeah. I just thought that since you were going to propose to me that I should look really nice. I’m glad you like it.” I stopped playing with my hair and locked eyes with him in the mirror, trying to hide the smirk that was dying to come out on my face.

Joe rolled his eyes. “Can’t you just pretend like that never happened?” He rubbed his eyes with his hands.

“Nope.” I said, and let the smirk form on my lips.

Joe rolled his eyes again and walked back towards the bathroom. “I’m gonna take a shower.”

I set the hair towel on the bed and plugged in my hair dryer. “You do that. You smell really bad anyways.” I quietly laughed to myself. I heard Joe yell something at me, but I turned my dryer on so I couldn’t hear him.

As soon as my hair was nice and dry, I plugged in my straightener and took a seat on the edge of the bed, waiting for it to heat up. The shower was still running, which wasn’t surprising. It’s a miracle if he gets out in 45 minutes. Honestly, how many times does that dude need to rinse and repeat?

I sighed and got up off the bed when the little green light went on the straightener. By the time I was pleased with how my hair looked, I heard the shower turn off.

I went through my bad and looked for some make-up that Joe would have put in there. Luckily, I found some in a little sandwich baggy. Hey, at least it was there.

As soon as I finished putting on the last of my make-up, I unplugged the straightener and put it away back in my bag. Then I just stood there, in the middle of the room, trying to figure out what to do while I wait for slow poke to be done. Oh wait, I haven’t even checked out their T.V. yet. I wonder what kind of channels they have… Hey, by the looks of this ship though, you don’t have to be a brain surgeon to figure out that they have cable here. So I headed downstairs and into the living room area.

I looked around a little bit, trying to find the remote. Seriously, wouldn’t they like, place it on the coffee table or something? Or is that too smart for these losers to handle? Jeez… first the think walls and now the remote. What next? The tables are going to break and fall apart?

Oh man, I hope I didn’t just jinx that… I stood there staring at the coffee table, waiting for it to suddenly just fall into a million pieces like what happens in movies.

I finally realized that it was really stupid to just stand there waiting for the coffee table to break, so I continued my search for the remote. Close to ten minutes later, I’m still looking for the damn thing. I’m beyond frustrated at this point. I checked under every surface, in all the cabinets in the living room, and even under the seat cushions on the couch just in case they were playing a practical joke on us or something. Still no fucking remote!

I heard Joe come down the stairs. He probably must have put it somewhere when we came in, so I decided to ask him about it. Unfortunately, he beat me to it. “Are you okay, babe? You look a little frazzled…” He slowly walked over to me with a scared expression on his face.

Pfft. I would be frightened, too, if I walked into a room and saw me looking like this.

“I just wanted to watch some nice T.V., but I can’t find the damn remote! Did you do something with it when you walked in?” I asked, trying to mat down some fly-a-ways in my hair.

Joe looked around. “No. I didn’t even touch it.” He turned around, and then out of no where, started laughing. I watched him curiously, trying to find the humor in this situation. All though with Joe, he could find the end of the world funny.

He grabbed something off the dining room table. Turning around, he held the remote and a T.V. guide in his hand.

Out of all the places… THE FUCKING DINING ROOM TABLE!

I sighed and slapped my forehead. “Did you still want it?” Joe asked, trying to contain his laughter.

“No. Can we please just get going? That was a freaking nightmare… and for it to be right there on the table, too! Ugh!” I closed my eyes and shook my head, trying to calm down.

I heard Joe put the remote back on the table. “Alright. Are you ready?”

I sighed and smiled at Joe before saying, “Yup. Let’s go.” We linked arms and walked out of the room, Joe locking the door as we went out. As soon as we headed down the hallway, I had this strange feeling in my gut. It was almost like… coming here was a bad idea. Like it was too late for something…

I ignored the strange feeling. This week, it was just me and Joe. No worries, nothing else, except for us. This was going to be a week I’ll never forget.

…

When Joe and I finally sat down at our table, the waiter handed us our menus and excused himself. The whole top area of the ship was beautiful. We were on the topmost deck, right under the stars with nothing above us but sky. I tilted my head up and just looked at the stars as they very slowly passed by. You could barely even tell they were moving unless you paid very close attention to them. I was so mesmerized by my surroundings that I didn’t even notice when Joe tried to get my attention.

I tilted my head back down and looked at Joe with a blank expression. “Huh?” I asked, raising one eyebrow.

Joe slightly chuckled before asking, “What do you want to drink?”

“Oh! Um…” I thought for a few seconds, trying to make it quick. I didn’t even realize that the waiter had come back… How long was I looking at the stars?

“I’ll have a sprite.” I smiled politely at the man. He had to be in his late 40’s.

He smiled back at us and said, “I’ll be right back with your drinks.” Before turning and walking off. Joe immediately burst into laughter right as soon as the waiter left.

I didn’t even have to ask Joe to know what he was laughing about. “Shut up.” I mumbled, embarrassed at myself for going off in my own little world for what seemed like the zillionth time today.

“Dude,” Joe said in between laughter, “I was calling you for like, two minutes.” Then he busted up laughing again.

“You could have at least nudged me or something to let me know other than yell at me. You made me feel like such an idiot.” I crossed my arms over my chest, not finding the humor in this situation.

Joe started to calm his laughter down. “You’re right, you’re right. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to embarrass you.”

“It’s alright.” I mumbled. I uncrossed my arms and opened up the menu, looking at the choices they had. Mostly sea food and steak.

“Are you mad at me?” I heard Joe ask. I looked up from the menu to see a huge pout planted right on Joe’s face; puppy-dog eyes and everything.

I rolled my eyes and said, “No, I’m not mad.”

Joe stopped making the puppy-dog eyes, but the pout was still there. “Do you still love me?”

Of course, I ad to smile at his childishness. That was just so… Joe. “Yes, I still love you.” I said and chuckled a little bit.

A big toothy smile replaced the pout on his face. We stayed smiling and staring at each other for a few minutes, until the waiter came back over. He seriously as to ruin every single one of my moments, doesn’t he?

“Here are your drinks.” He said while giving me my sprite and Joe his coke. “Are you guys ready to order?” The waiter looked between Joe and me.

Joe looked at me. “Are you ready?” He asked.

“Yeah.” I answered, quickly looking down at the menu and picking the first ting I saw. “I’ll have the Fillet Mignon, well done.” The waiter nodded, writing it down. “And can I get broccoli instead of the potato?”

Without looking up from his pad, he said, “Sure thing Miss.”

I looked up at the stars again as Joe ordered his food. It’s funny how you can clearly see every single star in the sky. There are no lights illuminating from the city to ruin the beautiful blackness of the sky. There are more stars up there than I had ever dreamed of. When you look up at the sky in the city, you can see a few here and there, but definitely never this many. It’s so breathtaking…

I heard the waiter walk away sooner than I would have liked. I looked at Joe to see him staring lovingly at me. “I’m so happy to have you here with me right now.” He said, grabbing one of my hands and taking it in both of his. Joe’s mouth opened to say something, but a big loud “BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOFF!!!” sound interrupted him. The sound came from under us, shaking everything for a few seconds as it did so. Joe and I shared the same confused expression as we both stared at each other, dumbfounded.