After we left the grill, I kicked myself in the butt for not having tried the chocolate banana pie, our whole reason for going there. Amid the excitement, we’d forgotten to order it.
We stood in the middle of a shopping district, unable to decide between the Dolphin Encounter and snorkeling, so we ended up hitting the stores instead. The dolphin thing would have been cool, but Yoli had already returned to the ship, and it was her idea to begin with. We’d have to come back next year. Maybe we could do this every summer as a tradition. But without the street fight.
Plus Killian “really, really, really” needed to buy herself something after the puta incident. So we entered a jewelry store where the people behind the counter stared at us like in that movie with Julia Roberts where she’s a hooker with a lot of money to spend. I didn’t know why they were looking at us like that, because Killian had some serious cash to drop.
She made the lady take out practically every pair of earrings in the store, then put them all back. I knew she was doing it to be a pain in the ass because of the way they were examining us. Then she asked the clerk to take out some bracelets with pretty blue stones on them.
“What is that?” Killian asked the woman, who was probably starting to wonder if we were going to buy something or not.
“Larimar. It’s native to the Caribbean.”
“Larimar?” Killian repeated.
The woman gave her a vacant stare.
“It’s beautiful,” I said.
“It’s a hook bracelet,” the salesperson explained. “If you wear the hook facing your heart, then your heart is taken and good fortune will come your way. If you wear it away from your heart, you’re available.”
“Without good fortune?” I asked.
“With good fortune.”
Killian and I looked at each other, impressed. “We could definitely use some good fortune,” she said. “How much?”
It was pretty expensive for just one bracelet, so imagine my eyes when Killian asked for four of them to be
wrapped in little boxes with bows. The salesperson was highly surprised, especially when Killian’s credit card matched her ID and the transaction went through without a hitch.
“Killian, what are you doing?” I asked.
“I just wanted to buy you guys something for graduation.”
Outside the store I gave Killian a big hug and took out my new bracelet. “Thank you, chica.”
“Yeah, man, thanks.” Alma kissed Killian’s cheek and tried hers on.
It was really pretty. I made sure to wear it with the hook facing toward my heart. Killian and Alma faced theirs away. “Maybe that will change by the end of the cruise,”Killian said.
“Come on, you said Tyler was a jerk.”
“I didn’t mean Tyler. I meant anybody. But Tyler is a cutie. Woof, is he a cutie.”
“Yes, okay, we know!” I said. God! Who cared about him anymore?
We drifted in and out of shops along the street. There were lots of beautiful skirts and dresses, but it was all stuff I could get at home. Miami had a lot of the same clothes.I felt like I had to buy Killian something in return, but my cash had to last through the end of the cruise. Besides, Killian didn’t need anything I could afford to buy her anyway.
Killian sighed and fingered a scarf hanging on a big wooden ring. What was up with her? “You guys swear not to tell Yoli?”
Some local kids screamed as they ran past us. Alma gasped. “You did him.”
Killian tried to look offended. “I told you I didn’t, Alma dear. Why would I lie?”
“Then what?” I asked, touching my bracelet, feeling the smoothness of the larimar stone.
Killian plucked the scarf off the ring and tried it on around her neck. “Tyler and them?”
“Uh-huh … ?” She couldn’t have divulged her info any slower.
“You thought I was crazy? Those guys are worse. They do this cruise every year after finals and have messed-up parties in their rooms like every night.”
“Messed-up?” I asked. Did I really want to know?
“Yep.”
“So they’re in college?” Alma said, getting her facts straight.
Killian laughed sarcastically. “Yeah. And they’re all alkies too. If you can think it, they drink it. Plus Tyler’s got all kinds of … stuff.”
“Drugs,” I guessed, a little too loud.
Killian’s hands stopped in their tracks, and she eyed me. “Louder, Fiona, so everyone can hear.”
“Sorry.” I winced. “Tell me you didn’t do any of that the other night.”
Killian rearranged the scarf and shrugged. “Like I need any of that to be high.”
“True,” Alma said, watching a tall, elegant man walk by. “The world is your drug.”
“Exactly.” Killian tried to see herself in a blurry mirror tacked onto a wooden column. “Does this make me look like an old lady?”
“Yes,” Alma and I said together. Killian pulled off the scarf and put it back on the ring.
We left the store and slowly walked in the direction of the bus stop. “So you just hung out with them, nothing else?” I asked. If I chipped at her enough times, eventually the truth would come out.
“I had a few beers with them in the room,” she said.“But that was it, I swear. I just watched them for the longest time. It was funny. They’re bad … like really bad. They had girls there all night, going in and out of rooms, closing doors and stuff. One of them was running around with a whipped cream bikini on.” She laughed. “She went into the bathroom with one of Tyler’s buddies, and you know those bathrooms, how tiny they are!”
“So you lied!” I flounced in place. Aha!
Killian smiled. “It’s no big deal. I was only there for a little while.”
“So they have wild parties in their rooms,” I reiterated, trying to imagine the frat boy scenario in my head. Seemed normal, I guess. I’d seen it in movies enough times.
Killian’s eyes opened wide. “Yeah, except they’re all players. They’re on this quest to get with as many girls as they can. To see who ends up sleeping with the most.”
“How would you know? If you’re one of the girls they’re after, I mean,” Alma asked.
Killian did a little butt shake. “Takes one to know one.” She chuckled.
“Fabulous.” Alma blew out a staccato snort. “So they’re having pimp wars.”
I doubted anyone ever had pimp wars over at the French Culinary Institute, and I was definitely glad no one was playing me. These were college situations I’d definitely be missing out on. Which was fine. I was never one to be making merry with pimps anyway. But this was right up Killian’s alley.
Well, a bit of a shocker, but it could’ve been worse. I suppose they could’ve been sex-slave scouts looking to abduct a few American teens to take back to faraway countries. Then again, if they were, would they advertise it? Normally, I’d shrug off that kind of thought as neurotic, but there was that whole prediction issue to watch out for, so my stomach did a flip. We should stay away from those guys. Just in case.
Alma fished around in her purse for another cigarette. She had to take advantage of the shore leave. “So, last time we’ll ask … Did you do the deed with him?”
Killian scoffed. “No! Why won’t anyone believe me? Yes, Tyler definitely tried to get with me at first, but when he saw he was wasting precious game time, he quit trying.”
We gave her doubtful stares.
“I swear!”
“Then why can’t we tell Yoli?” I asked.
“Go ahead if you want, but I don’t think we should. She’s on that mission to do something wild, and telling her might drive her to it.” Killian sounded a bit too mama hen–ish herself.
“Yeah, but shouldn’t we let Yoli decide that for herself?” I asked. “I mean, she is a big girl. Plus Madame Fortuna—”
“Ay, please!” Alma interrupted. “Enough with Madame Fartuna already.”
Killian laughed. “I know, right? Nothing’s going to happen to us, Fiona. It would’ve happened already. Don’t envision problems where there aren’t any.”
“I’m not.” My tone sounded defensive, but was that true? Was I now imagining things because of the tarot reading?
We came to the end of the shopping district. I thought the conversation might be over, but then Killian had that faraway look of hers again. Something was brewing.
“Listen… .” she said, watching some kids have a pebble-throwing contest in the sand. “Yoli saved me once.”
Alma chuckled. “Killian, we were kids. You weren’t really going to fly off the Himalaya at the fair. You know that, right?”
Killian’s eyes were focused. “Whether I was or not, doesn’t matter. The point is, she thought she was saving me. And that was more than anyone did for me at the time. So I owe her one, you know?” She turned a sad smile toward me.
I nodded. Yeah, I always knew Killian felt grateful for that. But still, maybe it was just better to tell Yoli straight out. However, Killian could be right: The new Yoli might find Tyler’s antics even more appealing.
We crossed the street and walked along the beach wall for a while. The sun started its early-evening descent. The sky was still blue, but the sides of the buildings were bright orange. “Anyway,” Killian added, “Tyler and his friend Edgar—”
“Allan Poe?” Alma said.
“Seriously.” I laughed. “Who’s named Edgar anymore? You mean the ugly guy?”
“He’s not that ugly. Well, anyway, they want to start a production company in the future, like that guy did with Girls Gone Wild? And he told me that I could be in their first film.”
Alma scuffed some gravel with her sandal. “Tell me you didn’t fall for that.”
Killian grinned. “I know he was trying out a line, but you never know, maybe they will. And it might be a good way to get noticed, like if I ever went into acting.”
I hated when Killian talked this way. She was smarter than this, but sometimes, for some reason, the dumbest crap came out of her mouth. “You think talent agents are going to care that your wet T-shirt starred in a low-budget film? You’d be killing your career before it even got started.”
“Fee, a lot of actresses do stuff like that before making it big. Forget it, I shouldn’t have said anything to you.”
Then I felt bad. If I acted like a mother hen, I’d be treated as one. The only way to get through to Killian was to make her feel it was okay to tell me. “Sorry, just … Go on.”
She eyed me sideways and made that frying-egg sound she loved so much. “I’m not saying I’m going to do it. I’m just saying it might be fun.”
“‘Fun,’” I repeated. I just couldn’t believe her, yet it shouldn’t have surprised me.
“Yes, Fiona … fun. Did it ever occur to you that I might want to have a relationship one day, that I might want to get married and have kids? That this is the only time in my life when I might get to act spontaneous?”
Great. Killian wanted to star in a college boy’s home videos. A perfectly smart, capable girl keeping herself down.Suddenly, I wanted to head back to the ship. Find Yoli.Someone halfway sane to talk to.
“Anyway, I’m not doing it,” she said, stretching her long torso. “Even though the offer still stands. I only wanted you to know what those guys are up to.”
“Well, they sound like nice boys,” Alma said in an old lady voice. “Just loverly.”
Fine. So I was a bit disappointed. I couldn’t imagine Killian, who was interesting enough for a bona fide Hollywood film, involved in that crap, even if it was for the sole purpose of being spontaneous. Why she felt the need to rebel was a mystery to me. I know her parents weren’t the most nurturing of folks, but it’s not like they were never there. Actually … they weren’t. Never mind.Me, the craziest thing I would do on this cruise was maybe kiss someone else.
Bad, Fiona! Why would you even think that?
Suddenly I felt guilty for not missing Lorenzo enough.
During the whole trip back through the winding mountain roads, I tried to ignore the feeling. But I kept playing with my hook bracelet. Away: heart available.
Toward: heart taken.
Away.
Toward.
Away.
Toward.
For a minute, I left it at away. Just to see what it would
look like.