The Dark Shadow of Thursday

by H P Steven

  “Hey Phil,” Susan whispered, as she creeped up next to me. “Don’t look now but there’s someone over there staring at you.”

  “Don’t worry Susan, happens to me all the time,” I whispered, smiling back.

  “How are you still single?” Susan laughed.

  Unfortunately, Hannah heard this, and whispered, “Burn.” Leaving both Hannah and Susan laughing their heads off. Which to be fair if Devin and Cam had heard they would have been laughing as well.

  “Wow tough crowd,” I sighed, laughing back.

  Before Cam walked over and suggested, “Let’s go get checked in guys.”

  As we walked over to the boat, I quickly veered over to talk to my admirer.

  “Hi, how you going this morning?” I asked.

  “Yeah good, excited, been looking forward to a relaxing cruise for ages,” Anna replied.

  “So if we don’t see each other,” I mentioned, before Anna stopped me.

  “We will see each other, I’m sure of it, just have a great trip,” Anna replied.

  “You to,” I agreed. Before I leaned in, but she wasn’t there. I opened my eyes and she’s smiling at me “What is it?” I asked.

  Anna suggested I followed her quickly, “Come with me.”

  Confused and a little excited as she slipped her hand inside of mine.

  We walked behind a tree, and she leaned in, as did I. I felt her lips on mine again and didn’t want to let her go.

  “Wow,” Anna breathed.

  “What happened back there?” I asked.

  “Um, your friends have been watching you,” Anna groaned.

  I quickly poked my head around the tree and see my idiot friends standing on the deck of the boat watching me. “I’m really sorry about that.”

  “That’s okay,” Anna replied. Leaning in she kissed me again.

  “All right, I’ve got to go and check in, and get this cruise started,” I remarked, leaning in again.

  “Yeah so do I,” Anna replied.

  “See you soon.” Giving her a quick peck as we straightened ourselves out. Stopping and taking a moment we both smiled at each other. Leaning in I kissed her soft lips again.

  “Just incase,” I whispered.

  As we both started laughing we parted and headed off to our boats. I walked over to the boat shaking my head towards my friends— who are now laughing and making kissing faces at me.

  “Calm down you guys,” I scolded. Walking up the ramp and on to the boat seeing my friends with massive smiles on their faces up the front. Walking over to one of the guys on the boat that looked like they were apart of the crew and introducing myself, “Hi, I’m Phil.”

  “Actually, that’s my name right there,” I added.

  “Okay Phil, thanks we’re just checking everyone in and asking them to go to the stern of the boat where we will have a welcome abroad drink and discuss all the safety stuff,” Gopher, the porter explained.

  “Sounds good,” I agreed, then joined my friends, not making eye contact with them. “You guys need to grow up!” I protested smiling.

  “Oh, calm down bro,” Devin replied.

  “Yeah it was only a joke,” Hannah declared.

  As Susan whispered, “Sorry Phil.” Still smiling.

  “Nah no worries I thought it was pretty funny, I’ll play that. So are we the only ones on this boat so far guys?” I asked, looking around. Noticing other people walking on to their boats for the start of their cruises, seeing the back of Anna’s blond head as she turned and smiled at me.

  “Looks like it man,” Cam remarked, before thinking about asking me again about what happened with Anna. I could tell by the smile on his face.

  “Ah sweet let’s grab a seat and wait for everyone else,” I suggested.

  “Hey who’s this guy and three ladies heading this way?” Devin asked.

  Cam and I just laughed at him.

  “Ah, not sure bro, Cam do you know?” I asked.

  “No idea bro,” Cam shrugged, still smiling.

  “My bad,” replied Devin, after asking a stupid question. Both Susan and Hannah were trying their best not to laugh at him also.

  “Oh man can we help ourselves to these drinks in the bucket, I could go a water?” I asked.

  “Not sure, I’ll go ask the guy over there,” Susan suggested.

  “Sweet I was thinking about calling him Gopher from, The Love Boat,” I said.

  “I’ll just politely ask,” Susan laughed, smiling at me shaking her head.

  Coming back with the four other passengers,

  “Hey Phil, you can help yourself but we all have to do a shot to start the cruise so might pay to stick to the non-alcoholic drinks till after. Oh, yeah guys this is Mike, Lisa, Nat and Cat. This is Phil, Devin and Hannah and my partner Cam,” Susan explained, introducing us all.

  “Hey bro,” I said, getting up and shook Mike’s hand. “Ladies.” Raising my hand into the high five position. I could see them all starting to laugh, but Nat stepped forward and high fived me followed by Cat and Lisa. “Great to meet you guys,” I declared.

  Cam then tried to bring us in for an all hands in cheer. Which by the looks on their faces was one of the worst and funniest things they had seen or heard of in a while.

  “Dude, what is the Soul Glo doing to your head?” I asked.

  Catching this, the four new comers started laughing at Cam as did we.

  “He lost a bet,” Devin, explained to the new four.

  “Bro, we should wait. The rest of the ship might want to laugh at him and find out the story as well,” I suggested.

  Devin laughed. “Yeah true, that makes a lot of sense.”

  “So how do you all know each other?” Hannah asked.

  “Well, that’s a long story,” Mike replied.

  Smiling back. “Well, we’ve got time,” Hannah suggested.

  “Hang on,” I insisted. Grabbing a water and sitting down to try to make myself more comfortable.

  “Well, me and Lisa use to date,” Mike started.

  “But, we’ve stayed really good friends. Another couple were supposed to come with us but it ended badly with them so Lisa asked if she could bring a couple of her friends, and I said, yeah why not,” Mike said.

  “Okay cool,” Hannah replied.

  “Wow, that wasn’t that long at all,” I joked.

  Just then the rest of the boats passengers turned up and we were eventually greeted by the captain, “Morning ladies and gentleman, just quickly. I asked the deckies to point you to the rear of the boat, this is our muster station just in case something happens. In case of any on board emergencies. We will be setting off in a few moments but first it is customary to have a shot of Croatian tequila before we set sail for luck, so if you can each take a shot glass as they are being handed around,” the Captain explained.

  We all took one, and said the first toast that comes to mind.

  I turned towards Hannah and yelled, “Prost!”

  She tried not to laugh but nearly looked away, but quickly replied, “Prost” back.

  “All right ladies and gentlemen, make yourself comfortable, we will be off very soon,” The captain spoke, before turning away and heading off. As the captain disappeared, we introduced ourselves to everyone, until.

  Mike asked, “So how come Cam’s got a Perm?”

  Stopping everyone in their tracks as expected, we knew they would want to know as well.

  So, I stood. “Hi guys and girls, my names Phil, I’m the reason Doctor Soul Glo here has a perm.” I pause for laughter, none came. “A few months ago, myself, Cam and Devin went on a golf trip to Ireland and the loser had to get something done or have something done to them. By chance the night before the deciding game; Coming to America was on TV. Just by share luck, being on mine and Devin’s side in what was incredibly, fortunate for us both, unfortunately though our good friend, Cam here lost. But, being such a good sport. He had it done a couple of weeks before coming on this trip. As for their feet, you can
ask them as this trip goes on. So, if you need any tips on golf, best to ask Devin,” I explained.

  Before turning and talking to a few of the new comers. Joined shortly by Devin.

  “Hey man,” Devin said.

  “We gonna get a beer there’s an honesty board inside and a couple kegs tapped up, do you want one?” Devin asked.

  “Ah yeah man sounds good.” We headed inside and one of the deckies poured us all a pint each. “Ah, looks like we’re about to set sail, but it’s quite warm in here let’s head up top,” I suggested to the others.

  “Yeah sounds good,” Cam replied.

  “Just gonna wait for Hannah and Susan, they’re just grabbing a ladie’s drink from the bucket,” Cam added.

  “Yeah man no hurry, let’s get sorted and get into relax mode,” I said.

  “I think my body still hates me from Contiki, shouldn’t have gotten hammered for thirty days. Lesson learnt. I need a relaxing trip like this,” I added.

  “All right, hey guys and girls we just gonna head upstairs, and have a few drinks, once you’re all sorted get yourselves a drink and come up,” I suggested, quickly to the rest of the boat.

  “Do you think we should have sorted out our room situation?” Cam asked.

  “Probably,” Susan added.

  We held on to our drinks tightly as one by one we made our way up the ladder like stairs up to the top deck.

  “Ah man this is the life,” Devin declared.

  “Yeah man, this is awesome,” Cam added.

  “Yeah time to party, who’s planning on doing much sleeping anyway bro, time to go explore this country and have some fun,” I commented.

  “Oh, we know what type of fun you’re looking to have Phil,” Hannah added.

  “Yeah, I’m always down to dance battle Hannah.” As I moon walked across the top deck, just reaching the other side of the boat to quickly grab the rail, as it’s a bit of a wavy mess at that moment; with what seemed like all the boats trying to leave the harbour at the same time. Not trying to slowly depart it seemed, more like there was a race on. Most of the guests standing on the top decks of most of the boats, smiling and having a good time. Seemed like the perfect way to start our Croatian adventure.

  “Well looks as though I don’t quite have my sea legs yet,” I joked. As I tried to moonwalk to save the embarrassment from nearly falling over.

  “Or the ability to moon walk, what the hell was that?” Hannah asked, hiding the smile on her face terribly.

  Both of us laughed before I commented, “Oh, let’s see you do better.”

  “Not just yet, but sometime during this trip. I’ll bust out the moonwalk,” Hannah replied.

  “Look what you started bro,” Devin laughed.

  Just then Mike popped up to join us.

  “Hey guys, what a day,” Mike remarked.

  “Yeah bro, been looking forward to this for weeks,” I replied.

  “So what do you do out in the world?” I asked Mike.

  “Oh man, where to start. I’m an accountant aye. Been in London before and saved a bunch of cash on the ancestral visa, and was lucky enough to come back again,” Mike announced.

  “Oh mean mate,” Cam replied.

  “I work in internet security and got sponsored. So been in London for about six years now,” Cam added.

  “Nice,” Mike answered. Before adding, “Actually I felt like a bit of a change so I’ve been working as a casual chef in a Chinese restaurant as well.”

  “Wow, that’s a massive change of scenery,” Susan added.

  “Yeah mate, why the change?” Cam asked.

  “Just the expression on people’s faces, when they’re enjoying the meal. I’ve just made them is really satisfying, if you know what I mean?” Mike added.

  “Yeah, nice one. I got the same thing through baking, so know exactly where you’re coming from. You should head down and grab a beer and come back up, bring some others with you, man. Let’s get this party started,” I suggested.

  Taken back a little, Mike agreed and headed down and grabbed a beer before heading back up.

  “So are you ever gonna tell us, what’s next for you Phil. We only heard you quit your job and you’re doing something that excites you?” Susan asked.

  “Maybe later on,” I replied finishing off my beer, I turned to everyone and asked. “Hey guys I’m heading down for another, who wants one?”

  “Yeah man, I’ll come help you,” Cam replied.

  Just as we reached the ladder, a group of other guests made their way up. Including the Italian couple that didn’t speak much English. Cam and I looked at each other when we checked out the chick, then Cam turned to Devin.

  “Hey Devin, in coming bro.”

  Completely lost on the girls, we waited then popped down, anyone else we saw, we suggested heading up to the top deck with a drink. So, we could mingle and get to know each other.

  “Hey you two,” one of the crew announced.

  “We’ve put your bags in three rooms just down stairs, one of you is sharing with another guest.”

  “Oh cool thanks bro,” Cam replied.

  “So looks like I’m bunking in with Susan bro,” I joked.

  “Ha, good luck with that mate.” Cam laughed.

  “Worth a try.” I laughed back.

  “Ah man, so what are you doing back in London?” Cam asked.

  “Oh I got some stuff sorted. So now I can take the rest of the year to finish off a novel, I’ve been working on. In fact, the people that helped me out. One of them is having his thirtieth birthday today before heading off to Italy, with his missus and daughter,” I replied.

  “Oh nice one man, about time,” Cam insisted.

  “Yeah, I reckon.”

  “Oh well, let’s grab some drinks and head back up,” Cam suggested.

  “Yeah, I’ll get one for Devin and we can grab a few chick drinks on the way back up, hopefully there’s still some in the bucket,” Cam added.

  Pointing up to the air con unit I mentioned, “Hey bro.”

  “Awesome,” Cam replied. “Was so hot in Greece it’s good to know that’s there,” Cam added.

  “The rooms are just down those stairs, and the crew and a couple of other guests must room up on the top deck?” I questioned.

  “Sweet, anyway let’s head back up and join everyone else,” Cam declared.

  As we walked back around to the ladder/stairs up to the top deck.

  “Yeah man, I’ll pass these beers up to you, and here’s a couple of drinks for the girls,” I remarked.

  “Cool man,” Cam added. Heading back up to the top deck. Seeing everyone talking amongst themselves, we headed back over to Devin and the girls and hand them their drinks.

  “Thanks guys.”

  “Yeah no worries,” Cam smiled.

  “You are welcome,” I added. “So what’s the go?” I asked.

  Just then the captain reappeared, “Hey ladies and gentleman, looks like everyone’s having a great time. We’re coming up to lunch that will be served in the dining hall in a couple of hours, we should be at an inlet for roughly four hours so plenty of time to eat then go for a swim. We will be heading to a small port where you’ll be able to get off the boat and have a look around and try out, some of the restaurants. This is basically how it’s goes, breakfast and lunch on the boat. Though when you can organise it amongst yourselves, let us know and we’ll plan a BBQ on the boat for dinner for everyone.”

  “Thanks skipper!” I yelled which caught a few giggles. “All right, hey guys,” I declared. Walking up to a bunch of guys who are obviously great mates. “So where are you guys from?” I asked.

  When one of them mentioned, “Ah Clapham Junction, I’m Simon by the way.” shaking hands. “This is Matt and this is Pete. We’re all accountants.”

  “That sounds like a bit of a kiwi accent there bro?” I asked.

  “Yeah we, all went to Waikato University together,” Simon mentioned.

  “Ah nice,” I re
plied, before continuing around to meet some more people. Just as I ran into Nat and Cat. “Hi ladies, how’s it going?” I asked.

  “Um, really good thanks Phil.” Nat smiled, holding up her hand in the high five position.

  Laughing as I high fived her again. “All right, I’m just cruising around saying hello to everyone, forgive the pun,” I added.

  “Cool, speak to you soon, we’re gonna go talk to those three guys,” Nat added.

  Filling Nat in to who which one was, “Oh right the short blond one is called Simon and the other two, the one on the left is Matt and the one on the right is Pete.”

  “Oh thanks Phil.” Nat smiled. Before her and Cat walked over to say hello.

  So, heading back over to the group. I’ll meet everyone else at some stage on this trip.

  “Hey guys what’s happening?” I asked.

  “Any idea what’s for lunch?” Cam asked.

  “Hey, Devin’s in charge of the stupid questions, know your role bro,” I laughed.

  Which wasn’t lost on the others, judging by the smiles on their faces.

  “So who have you met, anyone interesting?” I asked.

  “No just seems like a good bunch hay,” Hannah declared as the others nodded in agreement.

  “Oh cool, should a be fun cruise then. Check out the deck chairs, might head downstairs and grab my towel,” I added.

  “Towel, did you buy a towel when we were in Split?” Cam asked.

  “Yeah bro, didn’t we all?” I replied.

  “No, why didn’t you say something?” Cam questioned.

  “Say something like what bro?” I asked.

  “Nah it’s all good, I’m sure they’ll sell towels at the first port we come too,” Cam replied.

  “Actually Cam, I’ve got two towels in my bag,” Susan added.

  “I got them when we were at the market, but I put them in Phil’s bag,” Susan explained.

  “Ha, saved by the better half bro,” I added.

  “Oh cool, towels. Do any of you want another drink?” Cam asked.