“That’s a lot.”
“Yeah, but then I have the younger two. Dena still lives at home with our parents. She has a retail job, but she’s always trying to start her own business, which takes money, no matter what you do, and she changes her mind a lot. Sometimes, I thinkthat’s just an excuse to stay home. But whatever, Mom and Dad dote on her. She can do no wrong.”
Joey slurped the bottom of his drink. “Mmm…so good.”
“Right.” I picked mine back up and sucked the juices that had started melting off the top.
“What about your youngest brother?”
“Yeah, Kirby was the surprise of surprises. He’s barely twenty-one now, and he’s into clubbing. About twice a month, I have to go pick him up because he drank too much.” I shook my head. Kirby was probably the most like me out of everyone in the family, but it didn’t make us close.
“My brother’s kind of a douche canoe most of the time, and the rest of my family doesn’t really get me. They think all the social media stuff is a game. Or they did until I started making money with the marketing. Honestly, I’m good at it, but I like social media better.”
“Don’t you use social media in marketing?”
“Yep. That’s what makes it a good fit for me.”
“I see that.”
Joey set his empty cup on the table between the chairs. “So what now?”
“We could swim or just splash around.”
“No, I meant for you and Warner.”
“Oh. I don’t know.” I still had to really think about all of this, but talking about it helped. “Last year’s pride trip and watching Crow and Skyler get together made Warner start talking more seriously. It’s like he saw his friend getting serious and well, I was right there. But I don’t know if I’m ready. I’m having fun, and I’m falling for Warner for sure, but… I don’t know, half the time I think I’m being a brat.”
“Well. Weigh the pros and cons and the consequences.”
“Relationships shouldn't have consequences.”
“Yeah, sure. But that’s not real life. Everything does. Whatever you do or don’t do, there’s some kind of reaction. By the people around you, or within yourself.”
“How’d you get so smart?”
“Probably rubbed off from Vince.” He cracked up laughing at that, but I didn’t think it was far from the mark. Before Vince, Joey was a club kid with a reputation for sleeping around and with the wrong people, but he’d cleaned that up. Now he was committed to his daddy. And he was a sweet friend.
“Okay. Forget all this serious talk. Let’s get in the pool.”
“Race you.”
“You’re on.” We jumped into the pool and splashed each other. Then we actually raced.
Day 3 of The Cruise
“Wakey-wakey…Daddy has the coffee…” Warner woke me up early and handed me a big cup of coffee.
“Oh…” I stretched and sat up before taking the coffee from him and getting a few sips in. “Mmm…yummy coffee.”
“Are you ready for the day?”
Remembering we were going to swim in the ocean, plus the coffee, had my eyes open faster. “Yay! We get to swim.”
“Don’t bounce with your coffee, you’ll spill.”
“Oh, right. Sorry, Daddy.”
“Here, give it to me so you can get up and get moving.”
