Revenge So Sweet

New Adventures

Danielle Colby stood in line on the gangway craning her neck up to see.  The shear size of the ship left her breathless and a little anxious.  She took a deep steadying breath and could smell the sea.  It helped to ease her.  The ocean lapped at the side of the cruise ship and a cooling spray grazed her face.  Smiling she licked her lower lip just to see if she could taste the oceans saltiness.  She could.  With one last glance back to the shore, she again extended the handle of her suitcase and walked confidently boarding the ship.
Looking down at her ticket she memorized the room number intended to be her home for the next couple of weeks.  Repeating the room number to herself she made her way, following signs and guides stopping briefly occasionally to take in all of the different activities she might enjoy on the multitudes of decks.
Taking the last elevator she finally found herself in a corridor with several doors along it and a sign indicated her room was among them.  Finally reaching her room door she used the key given to her when checking with the receptionist on shore.
It wasn't a luxurious room.  It was simple.  Through the door and to the left was a bathroom with shower, toilet, and sink.  Further down was a Queen sized bed with side table and directly in front of that was a decent sized TV.  And at the far end curtains had been drawn.
Danielle dropped her suitcase and reached for the split in the curtains.  She flung them dramatically open as if revealing some grand prize behind it.  And what a prize it was.  Through the window was a balcony and beyond that was one of the most amazing views.  From the height of her room on the ship she could see up the towering mountainside that sloped up behind the little town they were embarking from.  There were now fewer people on the dock preparing to board.  She could see and hear a few people who were idly walking along the open decks about 2 floors below her balcony.  It was going to be a glorious adventure she thought.
Danielle giggled in glee and then flung herself back onto the bed.  She had made a good decision.  Despite the impulsiveness of her choice, she couldn't help but feel a contentedness deep in her that said she needed this more than she could have possibly imagined.
She closed her eyes and the tears shed freely.
She had come here on a whim.  So many terrible things had happened to her.  The most recent event being the breaking point for her.
She refused to even think about it if she could help it.
But it had altered everything about her and everything that had happened in her brief 23 year life span and everything that would come in the future.
A mere month after the terrible something she went to her boss requesting last minute for time off.  They rejected her request.  So she quit.  Right there on the spot closing the door behind her leaving her boss still open mouthed and in shock.  Danielle laughed heartily at his expression as she packed the few belongings she had in her tiny office into a box.  She continued laughing as she walked out of the double doors of the small newspaper company she had been working at as an editors assistant. 
Originally she had wanted to become a writer and was intending to work her way up.  But in the 10 months that she had been employed they did not utilize her to her full potential.  Instead she was a professional coffee runner, part time printer refiller, and occasionally she watered the plants.  The editor that she was assigned to taught her nothing.  He acted as if she didn't have a brain most of the time.  And sometimes he would stare shamelessly when she wore a certain type of outfit.  The other men responded the same way around her whenever she walked into a conference room or the lunch tables.  This was the very reason for the turtle neck and pencil skirt she felt obligated to wear on the daily.  It only helped a little.  Well she was finally done with that.
There was an ironic humor in her potentially self sabotaging her own life, essentially beating her circumstances to the punch line.
" Danielle.  This is the craziest thing you've ever done!"
Danielle's best friend Michelle exclaimed on the phone when Danielle told her that she had quit her job, ended her lease, and booked a ticket to cruise ship heading for another country.
Michelle Lindsey the actress, was her best friend.  Out of the two of them, Michelle was usually the more spontaneous one.  They had been roommates in college until Danielle had moved out on her own.  They hung out often though.
Danielle was positive that if she had actually planned what she was doing farther in advance, her bestie would have joined her.  But at the moment Michelle was on set for a commercial she was filming with her hot new director boyfriend.  This was for the best, Danielle thought.  Michelle unfortunately was inadvertently a reminder of several of her life's current miseries.  She was often the ear to listen or the shoulder to cry on in most of the cases.
Michelle went through boyfriends like most people went through TV channels.  She would stay just to catch the good parts and then once she was bored or over it, she was switching the station onto the next interesting or attention grabbing channel.  Danielle was relieved when Michelle had told her that her most recent ex had ghosted her.  He was like a dramatic violent horror flick that needed to be blocked immediately.  He wasn't good for her.  Michelle bounced back fast apparently.
"How are you going to support yourself when you come back and realize you have no job, and no apartment?"  Michelle asked genuinely concerned.
"I have to do this Michelle."  Danielle defended.
It was true though.  She felt she did need this.  But Danielle was starting to feel anxiety rise up in her throat the way that Michelle put it.  She had already told her landlord that she was ending her lease and most of her things had already been consolidated and sent to a storage unit.
The line was quiet for a moment.  And then Michelle said
"Alright Dani.  As long as you're sure, then I've got your back sis."
Danielle smiled wide and told her friend she loved her.  Michelle was now her only true person left in the world. 
She felt guilty for not having told Michelle about what had taken place during that terrible something.  But there was no way she could, even if she wanted to.  Danielle could not let anyone in anymore.  The terrible something had taken her desire for living.  It had been the final tragedy to take away her soul.
Danielles parents had intended for their only child to be something great and important.  She was enrolled in several of Florida's most prestigious private schools where she maintained high marks.  She also participated in athletic endeavors including track and field, and fencing.  Her senior year in high school however, her family had lost everything when her fathers business had gone belly up.  She was pulled from her private school and enrolled in the nearby public school where she graduated.  Luckily she was accepted into the university of Miami where she had a partial scholarship for fencing.
Tragedy hit once again, when both of Danielles parents had died in a car accident while she was in her 4th and final year of college.  At 22 she had inherited what little her parents had left.  She was just barely able to pay for her final year in college.  That senior year of college had been a drunken haze of parties with her then roommate turned best friend Michelle, up and down Miami and just squeezing by on her grades.  She immersed herself into the typical college girl gone bad routine getting hammered as often as possible, which did not help her mental situation or her heartbreak.  In hindsight, this was her way of coping with the loss of her whole family in one night and the lonely unknown future she faced.
In the 2 years since her parents death and her graduation things had calmed down for her.  Only occasionally now, the recklessness in her would surface.  This was usually when the loneliness and depression caught up with her and she needed the outlet.  She knew more Miami bartenders than colleagues at her previous place of employment.
Life for her was little more than an extremely scarred past, a degree in literature, and a job that she hated.
All of this was added to the fact that she had never known love.  It was as foreign to her as the countries she would soon be visiting.  She thought that if she ever found that one person, she would know it.  It would change her inside and out completely.  They would challenge her, and yet protect her.  And she would protect them.
Sometimes, she would joke with Michelle that she suspected she had turned lesbian after watching a Saturday Night Live episode where Kate McKinnon and Gal Gadot kissed in a skit.  This was not entirely a joke.
Men had certainly tried to date her, and while she tested the hetero waters, she found most of the men she knew to be shallow and pig headed.  They would take her out and when the conversation became less easy, they would become bored with her incessantly chattering.  She was a deeply passionate history and literature enthusiast, but none of the men she dated shared her interests.  Danielle often felt like she was the only one trying while the men just left it to her to keep the conversation going or keep the interest there. 
Surely at first these men found her interesting, but Danielle suspected their interests to be solely physical in nature.  Danielle felt that she was much more than her body.
She was by no means ugly, if the way that most men goggled at her was any indication of that.  She was blonde haired and hazel eyed, had an athletic build, and most importantly, for men anyway, she was well endowed in the tits and ass area. 
However, she was definitely not brainless, she was educating herself and she was a hard worker.  Although, most men were willing to have sex with her despite her brain, she was much more picky.  She wanted someone who made her feel.  She wanted passion as much as pleasure.  And she wanted substance to her chosen partners character.
The few women she dated were much more a bit more promising.  Yet none piqued any carnal urges.  She had begun to think it was a mistake to be a litt major.  Danielle wanted a love like the ones she read about.  Maybe her expectations were too unrealistic.  Maybe she would be a hopeless romantic forever never finding anyone who measured up.
She was embarrassed that she was a virgin unlike most of her peers.  Some of whom she knew were seasoned vets.  Michelle came to mind.
One time, Michelle had asked her a serious question.
"What the hell are you waiting for Danielle?"
"What do you mean?" Danielle had asked confused.
"I mean, what are you holding out for?  You're hot.  You could get anyone you wanted but you're holding out, dangling that gorgeous physique in everyone's faces but not giving anyone a taste.  What's it gonna take for these people to get into those silky black panties?" Michelle asked.
"How do you know what kind of panties I'm wearing?" Danielle asked bemused.
Without a word Michelle answered the question when Danielle felt the elastic band of her panties stretched and then let go, smacking her hip.  Danielle blushed and made to pull her pants up and her shirt down.
"I'm not holding out!  I'm just, ya know...waiting for the right person."  Danielle said, while Michelle waited expectantly for further explanation.
This made Danielle step back and really think about it.
Other questions emerged in her head to herself like:
'What am I waiting for?' 
And 'Am I just being overly picky?'
'What am I looking for?'
And
'Why is this so hard?'
Danielle pictured her potential mate and told Michelle,
"I suppose my person would have to be kind, funny, strong."  She shrugged.  "Oh and passionate.  Lots of passion." She finished her short list.
Michelle rolled her eyes.
"Okaaaay, now let's talk about sex baby."  She said grinning.
"Well I don't know!" Danielle exclaimed.
"Here, I'll give you some examples of what I like in my sex partner." Michelle offered before giving her a long list of physical attributes and sexual prowess required of her desired man.  Michelle was unabashedly an open book.
Danielle blushed.  But gave no answer.  Michelle finally gave up and the conversation had turned to other topics.
But the question had sometimes popped up in Danielles mind and got her thinking, but ultimately her thoughts never bore any fruits.
Thus, Danielle had settled it in her mind that there was something wrong with her, and therefore she would likely never find anyone. 
Then there was the terrible something.  That above all else was what led to her new and lonely adventure.  The realization of just how alone sunk in when she awoke and looked out the window.  The ship was on the move.  She stepped out on to the balcony.  The sun was quickly setting and she could just barely see the lights of the town they had departed growing smaller as the ship cut through the ocean.  It was quiet when she sat on the chair provided on the balcony.  Danielle sighed to herself. 
Suddenly she heard something.  A voice was being carried in the wind.  Someone was singing.  She curiously sat and listened.