“His stuff is in our cabin, he got on the ship on time,” Daphne told Justin’s mom. They had been looking for him for hours, his mother was ready to have him paged but Daphne knew how embarrassed he would be.

“He’ll be at the welcome dinner, Jennifer. You need to stop worrying,” Mr. Taylor said.

“I know,” Mrs. Taylor said, still looking worried. “Are you kids going to join us for the fireworks show?”

“Ummm…” She didn’t want to promise that they would because she and Justin didn’t really want to hang out with his parents.

“I have some business to attend to after dinner,” Mr. Taylor said.

“Oh, Craig, Molly was so looking forward to you spending time with us. I don’t know why you wanted us to come on this trip if you don’t spend any time with us.”

“Here I am spending a small fortune for you and the kids and this is the thanks I get. You’ve never wanted for anything, kids go to private school, you have the nicest car on the block. All that stuff doesn’t come for free, I have business,” he said before turning and leaving in a huff.

It all made Daphne feel very awkward. She knew the reason she was there was because Justin couldn’t stand to be alone with his family for any extended period. They had grown in the last year away from their parents. She didn’t do everything her parents wanted anymore, and Justin wasn’t hiding who he was. Sure, he wasn’t as Out as he could be, but he knew it was the game he had to play.

“I’m going back to the room and wait for him,” she said meekly before leaving Mrs. Taylor and Molly.

She passed a brightly dressed man trying to get a plain looking one to go for a swim. There was also a man following his granddaughter, she was begging him to hurry up. A woman with wild red hair followed after them telling the girl to slow down.

Once she was back in front of her cabin, she felt like she could relax. Being around Justin’s parents she always had to be ON. They were so much do deal with; it was one reason Justin was forever staying at her house growing up. His parents weren’t abusive…just cold sometimes. She always liked his mom, but it seemed she didn’t want to see that his dad was trying to turn Justin into something he wasn’t. It was only when Justin told him that he was gay when his dad changed his mind about art school. Before that he was alright with him going, his dad always made her uncomfortable. Not because of how he acted towards her, but he just seemed like he was on edge of something. Her own parents were strict but very loving, it just made her sad for her best friend.

She used her wristband to open her door but was shocked when she walked in on a half-naked Justin.

“Justin?”

He looked shell-shocked. After a few moments it seemed he wasn’t going to answer her but then he spoke quietly. “I’ve done something completely idiotic.”

“It couldn’t have been that bad, we’ve only set sail two hours ago.”

“I had sex…with a guy.”

Her eyes widened. “What?”

“Nevermind.”

“Hell, no. You don’t just blurt out that you’ve had sex for the very first time ever…well with a man and clam up. Spill, who with? Does he work on the ship? Is he a pirate? Does he sell vacuum cleaners door to door?”

“God, Daphne, it was once and all I said was I thought he was cute.”

She giggled. When they were thirteen a man was trying to sell a vacuum to her mom, Justin had been in love with him for a whole day until they started summer camp and met Counselor Greg. Justin had so many crushes over the years that she could write a book about all of them. Not that anything happened with any of them, well…Counselor Greg a little but that was just weird to her.

She sat on her twin bed and patted beside her. “Sit. Spill. I want all the details.”

Justin flopped down beside his best friend. It was all so great until…he blurted out that he loved him. He had sex with a complete stranger and then told him he loved him. He would have to hide in this cabin for the rest of the trip, no seeing any of the islands.

“It can’t be that bad. Remember what it was like with us, at least it had to be better than that.” He knew she was trying to help but it had been worse than their one time. They had been awkward and weird. With Brian he was absolutely humiliated.

“I don’t want to talk about it,” he groaned, putting his hands over his face.

“He didn’t force you or anything did he?” She looked a mixture of upset and angry.

“No, nothing like that. It’s just what I pictured it being. He was gorgeous and talented, but I was just a body, I wanted more. I guess I’m just stupid falling for a cute guy.”

“Oh, Justin, we’ve all been there. Remember, it was me who liked Chris Hobbs when we were twelve.”

“You really did have horrible taste.”

“Baxter Thomas.”

“Shutting up.” She would bring him up. Another crush he had that turned into nothing but pain.

“I’m not going to let you hide in here. Get dressed, we’re young and gorgeous, we’re going to have a fun time before we have to meet your parents for dinner.”

“Ugh, can’t you tell them I’m sick?”

“Nope, if I have to put up with them you do too. Get dressed.”

“Why do I have to watch the rugrat if you brought a babysitter?” he asked for the fifth time.

“I told you she can’t work all day; I’m giving her nights and weekends off. I thought with my family here it wouldn’t be such a big deal.”

Brian rolled his eyes. He didn’t mind all that much watching Polly, she took care of herself pretty well. But now he knew what Claire was up to he didn’t like it. She was bringing a complete stranger into his niece’s orbit. This man had the potential to destroy his niece’s self-worth. Since the day she was born she had been treated like a princess by all of them, if this man treats her like a mistake or just someone to own, he would be livid at his sister for bringing him into her life. There had to be a reason he hadn’t been in her life. Now the question was…why?

Everyone was already in the dining area when they arrived. There were several restaurants on the ship, but they decided to eat at the ship’s dining room since they had already paid for it, he might change his mind if it was awful. Polly was sitting by their dad; she knew Pawpaw would sneak her sweets. On the other side of Polly was Claire’s spot where she sat down. Next to her was Emmett, then Ted, David, Michael, Aunt Deb, Mel, Lindsay and Gus in a highchair. He took the empty seat in between Gus and his dad.

“Can you believe this place? It’s huge, I got lost several times. Thankfully a very charming cruise director found me, if I didn’t know better, I think he was stalking me,” Emmett said, waving his hand dramatically.

“It would be your luck to find a stalker and be murdered on a cruise, Honeycutt,” he said, looking at the menu.

“Brian, little ears,” Claire said, glaring at him.

“Bug, what does “little ears” mean?” he asked, knowing what she’d say.

“Hell, if I know.”

The table broke into laughter. Brian wondered where Bug’s babysitter was, but he wouldn’t want to eat with these maniacs if he wasn’t obligated too. As they talked his mind drifted to the twink earlier. When the kid left, he felt bad, he didn’t like hurting people, but they had to know that a fuck was only a fuck. It had been a long time since he was with someone so innocent. Actually, he didn’t remember the last time he had been. Maybe high school, he couldn’t really say. The blonde hair, pale skin with the bluest eyes. The kid would have men tripping over themselves here. This might not be a “gay” cruise, but this cruise company was known to have very inclusive. He had already seen gay men and women, he had a good gay stare, as his dad always said.  

He looked up just in time to see the twink walk in, he had a young woman with him. His eyes followed as they sat with a man, woman and little girl. As he looked closer, he noticed it was the man from before. He turned to say something to Ted, dragging his eyes away from the family.

“Uncle Brian, are we going to see fireworks tonight?” Polly asked.

“If you want.”

“I don’t want her up too late,” Claire said, looking back at him.

“It’s not like she has work in the morning, let go of the apron strings for a minute. She’s old enough to drink and gamble if she wants.”

“Brian,” his father snapped. Fuck, he hated when his dad gave him that voice and look.

“Fine, we’ll only watch a few. Hopefully, you’ll be back from your errand by then.”

“What do you need to do?” Deb asked.

“I just need to see someone, it’s not important,” she muttered.

Just as he was about say something a loud smack was heard in the room, it felt like it echoed in the dining room. Everyone in the dining area looked at the scene that was happening in front of them. It was the kid, Justin’s table. He was on the ground, holding a hand over his cheek. The little red headed girl of about eight was crying, holding on to her mother. The young woman with them was kneeling by the boy, looking back, glaring at the man.

“I won’t have your disgusting lifestyle in my family. Pick now Justin, your family or your sick perversion?”

“Craig, please, people are looking,” the woman sobbed. That irked Brian, it seemed she only cared that people were watching not that her husband hit their son and kicking him out of the family.

Just when Brian thought the kid would buckle, he surprised him. The kid stood up and got into his father’s face.

“I’m not sick or disgusting. I’m gay. I’m tired of you telling me what I can and can’t be. I’m not dating Daphne, she’s my best friend.”

“You can forget about going back to school, I won’t pay for it.”

“Good, I never wanted to go to Dartmouth anyway. I put in for a scholarship for PIFA, I found out I got in a while back. Daphne is transferring to Carnegie Mellon. If you don’t want me in your life, I can’t change that. I’m done being ashamed of who I am. I had sex today…with a man. Guess what, I liked it. I’m going to do it again and there’s not a damn thing you can do about it.”

As one him and David jumped out of their chairs and rushed towards the boy and man. They both saw what the boy didn’t, the father had snapped. The man had grabbed the very sharp knife off the table. Brian grabbed the kid and pulled him down as David tackled the man.

The woman started screaming, the girl’s sobbing got louder but it was over. The ship’s security had seen the knife action too and took the man. He would be held until they docked then he would be kicked off the ship. That was all…Brian wondered if he would have been in any trouble if he’d actually stabbed his son.

Once the commotion had settled back down Justin and the young woman with him were gone. The mother was begging security to let her husband go, that he would have never hurt their son. That was a lie, he saw it in the man’s eyes, he was going to kill his son in that moment.