KILTED DESIRE 3 - New Blood (18 page)

   The trip to Vegas went smoothly, Scott made good time. He collected the ring from the apologetic store owner and returned to his car. He tried to call Tiffany at home, to let her know an approximate time that he’d be back, but there was no answer. He thought she must have gone out for a while. He tried her cell. Again there was no answer, so he left a quick message to say he was on his way home. He was a little worried that he hadn’t been able to get hold of her, but convinced himself that she was fine. A couple of hours into his return journey he received a call from Tiffany to say she was fine, she’d just had to go out to the store to get something for their trip and hadn’t heard her cell phone ring. Scott was relieved, the call made the last part of his journey more relaxing. He arrived back at their house just after 5:00 p.m. Tiffany had everything ready for them to leave. He just needed to get changed and have a quick bite to eat before they set off. Within half an hour, they were on their way up I-5 towards San Francisco. It was an uneventful five hour-plus drive and by the time they arrived at Katy and Josh’s house, Scott was pretty tired. He’d been driving that day for over 13 hours. Still, he had 10 days of relaxing onboard a luxury cruise ship to look forward to, so he wasn’t complaining.

   After a good night’s sleep and a morning of hanging out with Katy and Josh, it was time to head off to board the ship. Katy drove them to the port and dropped them off a few hours before the ship was due to set sail. As Scott got out of the car he was amazed at the ship’s size. At over 1200 feet long and weighing a little more than 230,000 tons, it was indeed an impressive sight. Before long, they were on board. Scott thought it would take much longer to actually get on, but the company had staggered most people’s boarding times to reduce lines at check-in. Within half an hour of arriving at the port, they had their cabin/ID cards, and were making their way through the ship’s stunning interior towards their cabin. It was on deck 10, on the starboard side, near the front of the ship.

   Scott was in awe. He’d never done anything like this before, or seen quite so much luxury. Tiffany, on the other hand, had been around this kind of lifestyle for most of her life. It was quite normal for her, but she couldn’t help but smile at Scott’s boyish excitement. The cabin was impressive. The modern décor made it look very luxurious. It was large too. There was an area with a couch and a flat screen TV. The first thing Scott did however was go out onto the balcony and look around. The view was impressive, aside from the sheer size of the ship, the backdrop of San Francisco harbor was a sight to behold. She joined him on the balcony. He stood behind her and wrapped his strong arms around her as they admired the view.

   Their luggage arrived around half an hour later. Tiffany started to unpack and encouraged Scott to go for a walk around the ship. She knew that it took a while for people to get their bearings on a ship that size, and she was happy to let him work out where everything was. So, he went for a walk. He quickly discovered that most of the public rooms were on the lower decks, from 1-4, while the passenger decks started at 5 and went to 13. He made his way upwards. The top deck was completely open and had two swimming pools, and a few bars. It looked like that was the area for games on board too. He noticed there were markings on the deck that indicated they were for some form of activity. Eventually working out it was for shuffleboard.

   Scott was enjoying exploring the ship, and there were still a couple of hours before the ship was due to sail. On deck 12, he found the viewing area for the bridge. It was actually closed while they were in port, but a sign on the door said it would open on the morning of their first sea day. Then it would be open from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. every day. Scott was looking forward to seeing the bridge. He was very interested to see the ship being controlled.

   As he continued to look around, he passed many people, who all seemed very friendly and said ‘hello’. The majority of the passengers seemed to be American, although a lot of the crew members, especially the cleaning staff or room attendants, seemed to be of Asian descent. They were all extremely polite, saying ‘good afternoon’ and calling him ‘sir’. They all looked very smart too in their matching uniforms. Scott returned to the lower levels and tried to familiarize himself with the restaurants and bars. There was a cinema on board too, and various stages and large rooms with huge dance floors, plus a casino and a nightclub. It was going to take a while to remember where everything was onboard, but he was happy that he had a basic idea. So, as time was ticking on, he returned to the room to see if Tiffany was finished with the unpacking.

   When he walked back into the room, she was just finishing up. There was a complimentary bottle of champagne that had been left in the room for them but as Tiffany couldn’t drink, Scott didn’t want to open it. Instead they just lay down on the bed for a while. They didn’t have long as they had to attend a safety briefing an hour before sailing time. Tiffany explained to Scott that this was pretty standard on most cruises. You just had to go to a specific meeting point, or muster station, wearing the life jacket that was in your cabin. A crew member would then explain the emergency procedures to you, just like they do on an aircraft. Then they’d tick off your cabin number on their list to say that you’d attended. Apparently it was maritime law and had to be done. Scott didn’t mind, it seemed to be a pretty normal thing to do.

   Tiffany was feeling a little tired so she rested while Scott read through the itinerary for their voyage. It was going to take just over two days to get up to Alaska, there’d be a full day there seeing the sights from the ship, then it would take four days to sail down the coast and enter the port of Mazatlan in Mexico. They’d have a full day there to explore. Then it was another two days to sail back up the coast to San Francisco. Scott couldn’t wait to get started. Alaska was going to be his favorite part, but after seeing the ship and exploring it, he knew he was going to enjoy the whole voyage.

   Later that afternoon, after the safety briefing, the ship started to move. It was 5:00 p.m. and was departing exactly at the scheduled time. Scott and Tiffany made their way up to the top deck where there was a ‘Sail Away’ party underway. Most guests were dressed casually although there were a few who were dressed up in tuxedos and evening dresses. Scott was just wearing his jeans and a polo shirt, while Tiffany was in a pretty, multi-colored, floral summer dress. The champagne was flowing for most people and there was a live jazz band playing beside the larger swimming pool. It was a fun time and they met lots of people.

   Scott was enjoying meeting the other passengers, but most of all he was enjoying the view. As the Golden Gate Bridge drew closer, Scott was enthralled. He was looking forward to passing underneath it, there was only supposed to be a few feet of clearance. He watched excitedly as the ship approached, then sailed underneath the mammoth bridge. It was a great sight, and it did appear there wasn’t much room to spare as the giant ship crept underneath the famous structure. As the ‘Pacific Dragon’ sailed on towards the open ocean, the party started to wind down. Most of the guests were getting ready for dinner, so Scott and Tiffany returned to their cabin to change.

   Being as though it was the first night on board, Tiffany insisted that he wear one of his nice suits to dinner. He had a black designer suit that she’d bought him for work. Even though he wasn’t a big fan of dressing up, he did like that one. He wore it with a dark grey shirt and black shiny tie. Tiffany loved to see him dress up, it didn’t happen very often so she made the most of it when he did, and ogled him as he stood waiting for her to finish slipping into her black evening gown. Dinner was a glitzy glamorous affair in the restaurant. It took over two hours to complete as there were seven courses served. There were lots of gourmet choices on offer, but the portions seemed small. Scott was out of his element, but was trying his best to fit in and enjoy it. He wasn’t thrilled about having to wait two hours to finish a meal though. He liked his food, and when he ate, he wanted all of his food at once, not a little piece every 20 minutes or so. This was something he was pretty sure he wouldn’t get used to. There were other restaurants on the ship though, so maybe the next day they could try a different one he thought.

   After dinner they found themselves in a bar on deck 4. It was called the ‘Shanghai’ and seemed to be the most ‘down to earth’ bar aboard. It was still very elegant though and featured lots of tables and chairs by picture windows where the view would be great. Only it was dark, so nothing was visible. There was a line of bar stools around the bar and in the corner of the room, was a small area where there were two dartboards. There was a small partition separating the darts area from the rest of the bar. Scott wasn’t expecting anything like this, it seemed like a cool little place and it wasn’t too busy. They found a seat by one of the large windows and Tiffany sat down.

   “So what would yer like tae drink Tiff?” Scott asked as he remained standing.

   “It’s okay Scott, you can sit down. Someone will come to us and take our order. You don’t have to go to the bar,” she replied smiling.

   “Och,
okay,” he said as he sat next to her.

   “You’re not used to this kind of thing are you?” she said holding his hand.

   “Nae, can yer tell?” he quipped.

Soon a waitress arrived at
their table and took the drinks order. Tiffany had an orange juice while Scott ordered a bottled beer. Again Scott’s lack of cruise knowledge surfaced when the drinks arrived, as he tried to pay with cash. Tiffany laughed and explained that he just needed to give them the room card and it would all be charged to their account. She wasn’t laughing at him, she was laughing with him, she explained as she snuggled up beside him. In fact she found it quite endearing. As the evening wore on, they were both starting to feel a little tired.

   “It’s a shame yer cannae have a drink, but I guess when yer booked this, we did nae know aboot the wee lad,” Scott said as he gently placed his hand on her stomach.

   “I know, but I don’t mind. I like a drink occasionally but it’s really not that important. I’m quite happy without alcohol.”

   “Yer look a wee bit tired actually, how are yer feeling?”

   “I’m starting to feel a little nauseous actually. I don’t normally get affected by seasickness but I guess the baby is changing that.”

   “Is there anything I can get fer yer?”

   “No it’s fine. I have a tablet in my purse. I brought some just in case but I didn’t think I’d need them,” she said as reached into her purse for the tiny pill and took it with her juice.

   “Do yer want tae go back t
ae the cabin? I’m tired as well. We could both do with a guid night’s sleep.”

   “Yeah soon, I’m fine for a while. You can finish your drink,” she replied gripping his hand tightly.

The bar had started to fill up quite a lot. On the next table across from them were a couple of younger guys. Scott was a people watcher and enjoyed checking out what people were doing. He suspected the young men were gay but wasn’t sure. It was confirmed however when they started to hold hands. Suddenly, one of the men sitting at the bar saw them and took exception to what they were doing.

   “Hey, cut that out. I didn’t pay all this money to have to watch a couple of fags! You make me sick,” he raged as he drunkenly staggered towards them.

The young men were shocked and embarrassed and immediately let go of each other. They both seemed quiet and shy. Scott was outraged, one thing he didn’t stand for was bullying, of any kind. He stood up and got in between the angry man and the young guys at the table.

   “Calm doon, they have nae done anything tae yer. Just leave them alon
e,” he said authoritatively.

   “What’s the matter with you? Do you think that type of thing’s okay?” he said aggressively, pointing his finger in Scott’s face.

By now everyone in the bar was watching, but nobody was doing anything.

   “Don’t hit him, Scott,” Tiffany pleaded.

   “It’s okay babe dinnae worry!” he replied as he stood his ground in front of the man.

   “I ought to punch you right in the face,” the drunk said,
once again pointing his finger in the direction of Scott’s face. The smell of alcohol on his breath was overpowering.

   “Go ahead, but yer better make it a guid one, as it will be the only yer get!” Scott replied, not flinching at all. He didn’t want to fight the man, he was obviously intoxicated. Plus he must have been nearly 60 years old. He didn’t seem the type at all to cause trouble
, dressed in his fancy tuxedo. By now a few people were gathered around telling the man to return to his seat. He stared at Scott for a few more seconds before turning around and walking away. At around that time, a security officer came into the bar. One of the crew behind the bar must have called them. The offender was quickly pointed out and the security officer had a chat with him. Scott didn’t know what was said, he didn’t really care but he’d never been one to ignore bullying. No matter what the odds were, he would always step in. He sat talking to Tiffany for a while as the security officer spoke with a few more people in the bar, including the young men at the next table.