A Day Earlier

It was a universal fact that every teenager hated family vacations.

They had to because Jen sure did, and she couldn't imagine anyone her age that could have possibly felt any different. If she had it her way, she'd spend the entire school break in her darkened room with nothing but her electronics and the occasional Hot Pocket.

"Next."

Stepping up to the uniformed crewmember at the end of the gangway, she handed him her Sea Pass. He scanned the bar code on the back and glanced at the monitor on the podium in front of him before looking back at her.

"Jen?" he asked with a smile, although the frowning ID picture of her in the system—taken not ten minutes earlier on check-in at the cruise terminal—must have matched her current demeanor exactly.

"Uh-huh," she grumbled before being waved through. The rest of her family was already rounding the elevator bay, and she followed. Upbeat instrumental music piped through the sound system, the unmistakable Caribbean steel drums getting louder as she entered the atrium.

"Whoa," Jen let her surprise slip out at the sight. Although she still didn't want to spend the next five days at sea, even she had to admit that the open space reaching five stories up with its open balconies, sparkling railings, and glass ceiling was impressive. She was also happy to see there was a Häagen-Dazs ice cream shop on level two, which she'd definitely visit later. And by the look of the coffee cups a woman was carrying, there was a Starbucks nearby, as well.

As soon as she saw the recipient of the coffee, Jen forgot about her need for a caffeine fix. Holy mother of pearl. A guy with Shawn Mendes' smile crossed with Timothée Chalamet's jawline took the cup and leaned against the rail, inadvertently looking straight at her. As she stared like a dope back at him!

Thunk.

In her distracted state, Jen tripped as the tile floor turned to carpet. While she wasn't hurt, she did end up unceremoniously sprawled on the floor. She didn't dare look to see if the hot guy had noticed. With her luck—

"Hey, are you okay?"

Crap. Well, someone had noticed.

Jen jumped to her feet just in time to face another boy about her age with a mop of frizzy blonde hair handing over her discarded carry-on. "I'm fine. Uhm, thanks," she mumbled, feeling her face redden.

"You're welcome," he said, adjusting a tiny guitar case on his shoulder. "I'm Sam, by the way."

Wanting nothing more than to vanish into thin air, Jen did the second best thing. Finding her family already heading toward their cabin on the other side of the atrium, she scurried after them. "Great. See ya," she said, leaving the helpful boy behind.

The End