Seasickness

Part 1

Ryan shifts his weight from one foot to the other, choosing to stare at the floor rather than the ship looming in front of him.

He's beginning to wish he'd never agreed to doing this. He needs a summer job, sure, and the pay is going to be amazing - but he's not exactly sure what it's all going to entail, and if anybody he's going to be spending the next three months with is going to be nice. He wishes he'd been in town for the training day, too - he's a little worried he'll mess up, and end up sacked within a day.

All of the cruise stewards and stewardesses are supposed to be meeting on the ship at ten, and Ryan is half an hour early. Clicking his tongue against the roof of his mouth, he leans against the barricade pole and examines the ship, taking in it's luxury and whiteness and it's, well, way of scaring him senseless. It's a hell of a big ship, and he's only ever been sailing on a humble boat before.

"Nice, huh?" comes a wistful, male voice by his side, causing him to jump. Next to him is stood a brown-haired, blue eyed boy, who can't be any older than himself. The boy meets his eye, and smiles. "I bet you wish you could go on something like that."

"Not really," Ryan shrugs, warming to the stranger a little. There's something about his voice and the way he stands that makes Ryan feel at ease. "I mean, it's cool, I guess. But I'm going to be stuck on it for three months and I'm not exactly running around with excitement."

"You are?" the boy asks, eyebrows shooting up. "No offence, but you don't look like the type of person I know has booked this out."

"I'm going to be a cabin steward," Ryan explains, wrinkling his nose to show his embarrassment. The title sounds rather pathetic, now he thinks about it. The boy's eyes flood with recognition, and he grins, holding out a hand. Ryan takes it, a little startled, but pleased all the same.

"Spencer Smith," the boy says, shaking his hand firmly. "Your fellow cabin steward, you'll be happy to know."

"Ryan Ross. I should have known, really." He nods towards the suitcases Spencer's placed down next to him, and then at his own. "You look like you're packed for a year, and no offence, but you don't seem the passenger-type, either."

"Definitely not," Spencer laughs, and then checks his watch. "Hmm. We should probably get on the ship now to meet up with everybody else. You have your staff card, don't you?"

"Uh, yeah, I think so." Ryan pulls it from the pocket of his jeans, and shows Spencer, who nods. They pick up their luggage and make their way over to the ramp leading up to the ship, nerves biting at Ryan's insides. "Listen, d'you know what we've actually got to do? I mean, I know we have to do cleaning and stuff, but -"

Spencer throws him a strange look over his shoulder, as they show the attendants their cards and head onto the boat. "Seriously?"

"Yeah."

"Didn't you go to the training day? I thought I hadn't seen you before, but I thought I must have just missed you."

"I couldn't make it over," Ryan shrugs, beginning to feel a little stupid. "I was kind of counting on learning as the job went on. It won't be too hard, will it?"

They come to a halt as they reach the top deck, leaning against the railing, admiring the city swarming in front of them. It's higher up than Ryan had imagined, and he has to take deep breaths to keep calm. Spencer sighs, eventually, and looks at him a little pityingly.

"Have you ever been a cabin steward before?"

"No."

"I can't believe they'd employ someone with no experience," Spencer muses, and then smiles, kindly. "I'm not meaning to be rude or anything, sorry. It's just that the people who've booked up this boat are like, stupidly famous and rich and all that. The company is really strict on people leaving any kind of bad impression on them, in case it gets them a bad reputation. A positive thought from any one of the passengers will get their cruises booked up years in advance."