I stepped from the bathroom channeling New York fashion week with a designer fragrance upgrade. Heads turned, plural. Vic glanced up from their phone. Lexie paused rifling through her luggage to stare. The self-satisfied grin that touched my lips at their reactions was to be allowed.

"You look..." Lexie smiled, speechless. "Wow."

"Thank you. You always look 'wow.' I'm only matching energies." She beamed at the compliment. It was facts. The girl carried the essence of the runway with her everywhere she went, and I had to run hard to keep up. Turning to Vic, I noticed they weren't getting dressed. "Aren't you going out tonight?"

"Changed my mind." Vic frowned at their phone, pushing their earbuds deeper.

Lexie grabbed her things in a beeline for the bathroom. "I'll be out in a jiff."

She wouldn't be out for an hour or more, I knew. Plopping down next to Vic, I studied the audiobook cover of Meditations they were listening to. "What do you mean, you changed your mind? You're holding a party hostage in there. Put that dense book down and get dressed." I pulled a random shirt from their open suitcase.

Vic snorted. "There is no way in hell I'm going with the two of you."

"Okay, that offer was not on the table, but duly noted. C'mon." Chuckling, I nudged them with an elbow. "C'mon, this ship has casinos, lounges, bars, clubs. You can lose us in the crowd. Don't banish yourself to the stateroom."

"I'm just. . . I'm not in the mood to go out."

"I don't believe you." I studied them. Vic's eyebrows were two birds winging high above the barest smile that suggested they weren't as obstinate about the idea of going out as they were pretending to be. "Look, I know there's something between you and Lexie—"

"Past tense." Vic lifted their phone to their face.

"Was something between you," I amended after a beat. Yep. That was a twinge of jealousy. "My point is, I invited you on this trip to have a good time, and I won't leave this room—"

"You promised Lexie you'd take her out." The barest smile curved deeper.

"I won't leave this room," I reiterated with a hearty laugh, "until you find a way to have a good damn time. We can sit here all night."

"It's cute that you think I'm sulking because the two of you are together." Vic huffed a laugh.

"We're not together."

Vic gave me a smirk that said I was wasting my breath, and maybe I was. My serotonin levels were high at the mere thought of spending time alone with Lexie, never mind my feeble attempts at staying detached.

"No, I got in contact with my sister." Vic swung the conversation to what was bothering them. "Jessamyn told me Brendan doesn't want me to come back. I. . . I ditched a job interview at the college where he works after he went out on a limb and put in a good word for me. Now Ina's upset. She's siding with him, so. . . I guess I don't have a home." Vic's careless shrug didn't match the way the last word rang hollow and scared.

My jaw dropped. How could anyone's parents be that ruthless over something so trivial? My heart ached. I finally registered the red-rimmed eyes and the coiled-spring tautness of the body beside mine, and I pulled them into a hug as my eyebrows hooked together. "Yo," I whispered. "Yo, don't let this bug you tonight. If your parents don't change their minds by the end of this trip, you can crash at my place, alright? Stay as long as you need until you find a spot of your own. Let's get out tonight and take your mind off it."

"Really? Are you sure? I can be your roommate?" Vic went motionless in my arms, barely breathing. I leaned out to show my face.

"Do you even have to ask? Vic, we've been homies for years. When my dad's cancer took a turn for the worse, you hyped me up to apply to grad school. You were the one who encouraged me when I was feeling hopeless about a future out of the league. I've got your back. I'll always have your back." I laughed as I gripped their shoulders and gave them an encouraging shake. "Now find you something to wear. You're going out tonight!"

~*~

It was almost midnight by the time the three of us were dressed to leave. We exited the stateroom together, but Lexie and I went one direction and Vic another. It didn't escape me that whenever it was the three of us, my date's allegiance was to no one. Maybe she was trying to win me over with hard to get. It was working, damn it all.

I had explored the thousand-feet luxury cruise liner most of the evening. It was a floating metropolis. While the ship could hold tons of passengers and crew, new health standards had reduced capacity. Ergo, no matter where we went, there wasn't a crowd. It was perfect for me. Lexie and I navigated the sparsely peopled corridors where each turn promised further opulence and revelry.

As we wandered, she talked about her future. She wanted to be a criminal profiler. Her parents preferred she take an administrative job in the local courts. A smidge of idealism colored Lexie's views of justice, but I could listen to her talk about her dreams for hours because it was her passion, and she was bright. I prayed she bucked her parents' wishes and went after the career she wanted.

"Devon, I've been on stellar vacations before, but getting to hang out with you for two weeks takes the cake. I needed this getaway after a year trapped at home. It's giving me life," said Lexie.

"Thanks for inviting me." I slowed in search of the hip hop venue I had seen earlier. "The place where I'm taking you has top-notch reviews. I think it's this way." Smiling, I locked fingers with hers and squeezed as I took off again. At her playful tug back, however, I stopped and stared. I had to.

Lexie was striking in a dusky rose dress. One arm and shoulder were bare, a thin gold band on her wrist. The other had a long, puffed sleeve. It was sheer. I marveled at how the dress fit her like second nature. Soft cleavage strained the asymmetric neckline. The mid-thigh length demanded the eyes pay tithe to her curvy legs. I brought my gaze back to her exquisite brown face. Tucking a strand of curls behind her ear, her smile confessed that she was still uncertain with me.

"There it is. Club Industry." I nodded ahead.

Draping an arm around her waist, I witnessed the very moment her expectations were exceeded. We walked through the black marble archway that spanned the entrance. The club used clever tricks to give the illusion of expansion.

Strobe lights lured us bit by bit inside, and between the laser bursts, there was ambient darkness. I peered at a ceiling that mimicked the night sky. Speckles of light were far-flung constellations. Mirrors liberally expanded the club's horizon. The architecture and design aimed to appease the senses.

Lexie's eyes enlarged. "Am I the only one who feels like this cruise ship has to be magical, the way everything fits?" She laughed in surprise.

Bobbing my head to the music, I crossed the packed dancefloor to the bar with Lexie. Some new pop song had everybody inside the venue lit. I surveilled the room for the DJ booth. Whoever was manning the turntables was giving a hundred and ten percent.

"You want a drink? What would you like?" I asked over the music.

"Can I get a Kiss on the Lips?" she shouted. Several pairs of eyes swung her direction, and her face blossomed with embarrassment. Grinning, I knuckled her chin upward to taste her luscious mouth. For a split second, she felt like mine. She glowed as we separated. "I meant the drink. Thank you for taking the heat off."

"My pleasure." I placed her order.

Moments later, drinks in hand, I turned back to the dancefloor, but Lexie scrunched her nose and shook her head. "We could talk. Want to sit with me?" she suggested.

Bro, this girl was. . . Adorable. Nodding, I gestured to the other side of the club. We found a duo of leather chairs by an aquarium wall. Exotic fish swam lazy circles while we chatted and cracked jokes. Another round of drinks slackened Lexie's reserve, and with the catchy mix of dance songs in rotation, she had some restless chair choreography going on.

I pointed at the dancefloor again, grinning in encouragement. "Let me take you out there."

"No, I'm a terrible dancer!" She giggled as she rocked with her hands over her face.

"Can I tell you a secret?" I leaned in. "I am, too. Let's go be terrible together."

"Oh, my god! I can't believe I'm doing this. Don't record anything, okay?"

"Wouldn't dream of it. Come." I downed my last shot of malt whiskey and drew her by the fingertips. We joined the boisterous crowd of twenty-somethings having a rousing good time in their clubwear best. The hottest person there was Alexis, hands down.

Lexie swayed her hips to the rhythm. Her cheek rested on my pecs, and my arms went around her waist. "Okay, you want to know why I invited you on this cruise?" she asked. I shrugged, smiling against the crown of her head. "Because my parents, Breanna, everyone thinks we should be together."

"Should we? What do you think, Lexie?" I was struck by the sudden realization that we might both have qualms about that. We clicked, but not in the ways either of our parents wanted. My family required too much as it was. Lexie's family refused to let her live. Ultimately, I needed freedom, and she deserved someone who wasn't hand-picked by her parents.

She gave me a vulnerable head tilt.

The DJ hopped on the mic and announced, "Alright, alright, we got a special request. This next song goes out to the lovers!" The reverb button made him last word echo as the beat came in." When the song began to fully play, Lexie froze. Her eyes zeroed in on the DJ booth, and there was Vic.

Vic looked stunning. With almond eyes and finely drawn lips, their skin was honey in the sunlight, and wavy mid-length black hair perfectly framed their ambiguous face. Dressed in a blazer and Marcos Alvarado art tee with a black velvet choker, black leather pants with stilettos, gold cross earring dangling from one lobe and gold rings on several fingers, they channeled queer icon.

It was Vic who had made the special request. Vic and Lexie spotted each other at the same time. It didn't take a genius to realize the melody blaring through the speakers was "their" song. My date quickly pivoted. The distress on her face said her world was off-kilter. Vic was dancing with another girl, some attractive stranger.

A server passed by with a tray of shots, and I grabbed one at random and tossed it back. Maybe this was destiny. "Maybe I was wrong," I said aloud. "I think the three of us need to go ahead and have that chat about what happened between you in the past."