What Happens on the Cruise

37. 19 You + Me

Austin and Tim slipped out of their cabin in an elated mood. "I'm so glad to be doing a cruise with you," Austin said, then pushed Tim against their door and kissed him.

"Oooo!" a lady's voice exclaimed.

They broke apart to see an older woman coming out of the cabin next to theirs.

"I'm sorry," she apologized to them as an older man stepped out of her cabin.

"No, we're sorry to surprise you," Austin said, relieved she didn't seem to be offended at two men kissing. "We shouldn't be so amorous in public."

She smiled, her eyes sparkling. "Oh, bosh! New love only lasts so long before it settles down. You boys should enjoy it."

The man leaned over and kissed her cheek, then smiled at them. "Are you gentlemen familiar with these kind of ships? We were looking to get some food."

"We were going to get some food, too." Austin said.

"Yeah," Tim chimed in. "Why don't y'all come with us?"

"Oh, that would be lovely!" the woman said. "I'm Linda and this is my husband, James."

"You can call me Jim," the man added, extending his hand.

Austin and Tim shook their hands. "I'm Tim, this is Austin."

***

"Hi, guys," Rob greeted as they showed up for muster drill. "So they moved you to a different cabin?"

"Yeah, we've got one with a bigger bed," Austin said.

"So what happens with these things?" Jim asked.

"It's a safety drill," Tim explained. "How to put on a life vest, where the life boats are, evacuation routes, all that sort of thing."

"Does it take very long?" Linda asked.

"Somewhere between half an hour to an hour," Austin answered. "Hey, Nate!" he greeted their merchandising manager.

"Hey, guys," Chris greeted as he and Adam arrived. "Looks like the band's all here."

"And there's the rest of our crew," Tim said, waving.

"Hello, everyone!" a cruise ship crew member spoke loudly. "We've got about five minutes before we start. We promise this won't take long then we'll get underway."

***

"I'd like to give a shout-out to the lovely couple in the cabin next to mine." Tim turned to look at the couple in the audience. "Linda and Jim Cook are celebrating their forty-ninth anniversary with us tomorrow. Let's give it up for our young lovers." Everyone applauded. "And speaking of young lovers, our next song is a Beatles tune called 'I Saw Her Standing There'. Now in the original song, they all played instruments. We're an a cappella group, so we don't. But give us a minute to get in tune..."

***

"Thank you so much for the shout-out. We enjoyed the show so much," Linda told them, stopping at the table they had gathered at after the show.

Austin turned and smiled to see Jim with a whole collection of merchandise. "Looks like you bought out our table."

"We had to get copies for our kids and some friends," Jim replied.

Tim scooted his chair over. "Grab a chair and join us."

"Oh, we couldn't," Linda protested.

"Why not? We're just decompressing," Austin said, then turned to his bandmates. "This is Linda and Jim, our cabin neighbors."