Page 27 of Never Been Shipped

Steve leaned in, obviously trying to hear John over the bingo numbers being announced and the noise from the crowd. “Oh yeah! Once Micah figured out that transition, it was a piece of cake. Like riding a bike. Hey, want to see a video of my kid learning to ride a bike?”

“Sure.”

Steve handed his drink to John, reaching into his back pocket to grab his phone. He scrolled through a bunch of pictures, stopping to show John several—Tyler with birthday cake all over his face, Tyler at the playground wearing an Elsa costume, the back of Tyler’s head at the zoo, the back of Tyler’s head reading a book. Finally he handed his phone to John, switching it out for the drink as a video already in progress continued to play of Tyler riding a bike with training wheels down a suburban driveway.

“That’s awesome, man,” John said, handing the phone back once the video was done. “He’s really got the hang of it.”

Not that John had any idea what made a kidgoodat riding a bike at that age, but it seemed like the thing to say. And it worked, because Steve beamed like the proud father he was. “He does. Little speed demon. Remind me, do you have any kids? Wife, girlfriend, kid on the way, anything like that?”

“None of the above,” John said. “Just haven’t had time.”

Steve nodded, like that made sense, but truly it was justsomething John hadsaid. It didn’t actually make any sense at all. He’d had nothing but time. He didn’t even know if he wanted kids, didn’t know if he felt any particular pull toward “settling down” just to do it. But he couldn’t blame it on time. He thought about his days spent playing in various local bands, hanging out at the music store when his favorite clerk was on duty, eating cereal on the couch while watching a TV show. And suddenly it felt like such awasteof a life. Was that all he’d been doing?

Down on the stage, someone had brought props for the band members, and now Frankie had a lei around their neck and Ryder was hamming it up with a pair of cruise-branded sunglasses over his eyes. Micah had a cute little sailor hat she’d perched on top of her head, and it kept almost falling off every time she laughed, until she had to hold it with one hand. Frankie had said something to make Micah legitimately, full-on lose it, and John caught himself smiling, too. It was good to see her laugh like that, especially after the way she’d looked yesterday.

“B-4!” the host announced, and a roomful of papers shuffled as everyone checked to see if they had that one. Frankie, Ryder, and Micah had each been given a few cards themselves, and Micah leaned over Frankie’s shoulder, trying to see if they had that number.

“I need to step it upbeforeI lose my ass,” Micah said into the microphone, and Frankie grinned at her.

“You should’ve thought of thatbeforeyou challenged me,” they shot back.

“Ladies, ladies,” Ryder said, looping his arm around Micah’s shoulders. “We can all go back tobefore, don’t you worry.”

And with that, he planted a big kiss right on Micah’s cheek, knocking the sailor hat down to the stage.

Even from up in the balcony, several yards away, John could see the way Micah tensed up. The problem was that the crowdlovedit. There was a collective, almost involuntaryaww, followed by whispering that gained volume as people got more and more excited. Several people had their phones up for the entire bingo game, so John had no doubt this entire thing would be on YouTube later, filled with comments about how cute they were together or how people had called it, theysaidthey weren’t done yet.

Micah played along, smiling and continuing to make the occasional comment into the microphone, but once the bingo game was over she was the first one off the stage. Sometime in the middle of everything, Steve must’ve also found a way to sneak off for the pool time he’d desperately been wanting, so John was alone as he made his way down the stairs. He kept getting stopped, and he scribbled his autograph on several bingo cards just to be able to climb up onstage and make his way behind the curtain to try to find the rest of his band.

“Ladies?” Frankie was in the middle of saying. “Come on, you’re such a troll.”

“It’s a word,” Ryder said. “And it was just akiss, Christ, Micah, don’t be such a drama queen about it. Everybody was into it.”

“Iwasn’t,” Micah said. “Iwasn’t, and that’s the most important part. Ever hear of consent, you dirtbag?”

“Oh, like you asked for ourconsentbefore you completely snaked our album deal out from under us?” Ryder said. “I don’t recall being asked how I felt about that.”

John expected Micah to fire back after that, but she didn’t. Instead she just grabbed her own pair of cruise-brandedsunglasses, setting them on her face before pushing past John toward the exit. He barely had time to decide whether to follow her or stay when she’d already gone.

“What the fuck?” he asked Ryder. “You owe her an apology.”

“I don’t owe her shit.”

“Your pathetic career isn’t her fault.”

Ryder stretched his arms wide, as though encompassing the entire ship. “Look around you, Johnny boy,” he said. “This isallher fault. The fact that we’re some one-hit-wonder joke, the fact that we’re one step above a cruise ship talent show act when we should be selling out stadiums by now, the fact that we can’t get through a single one of these events without being at each other’s throats. And I’ll play your stupid fucking song tonight, but never forget that while you’re so busy looking out forher, all she cares about is looking out for herself. Callmepathetic? It’s your fault that you’ve never been able to see that.”

Once again, John felt the overwhelming urge to punch Ryder right in his pretentious, arrogant face, but once again he felt powerless to do anything but stand there. Ryder shoved past him hard enough to jostle his shoulder, and still John just took it.

Frankie looked at him sympathetically once Ryder had gone, leaving only the two of them. “She mentioned wanting to get some air,” they said. “I bet you could catch up to her.”

Chapter

Fourteen

Micah was sittingon one of the deck chairs on the very top level of the cruise ship, the one reserved for only the artists and any entourage they might have brought with them. She’d already spotted Tatiana looking fierce in a tiny bikini, surrounded by a few other women she assumed were part of her group. If the situation of this cruise had been any different, maybe she would’ve tried to flirt with Tatiana a bit, just to see if she was all the way straight or if she was a little curious.

But that was the last thing on Micah’s mind now. She just had to figure out how to get through the next four days without wanting to throw herself—or Ryder—off the ship.

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