Page 49 of Falling Overboard

Lucky????

What do you want, François?

This is Georgia! Where R uuuuuuuu????

Why do you have François’s phone?

It took a bit before she could respond and I wondered if she was having a hard time hitting the buttons correctly, as she had most likely drunk more than her fair share already.

I dropped my mobile in the harbor so I had to borrow François’s which probably means I have HPV now.

Not able to help myself, I laughed.

She asked again:

Where R U?

On the ship watching a movie with Hunter.

Are you having, as the French say, ze sexytimes?

Yes, we are having all the sex.

I added some laughing emojis so that she would know I was joking. Then I added:

I told you I was going to leave early.

Right. Okay. Have fun and I will see you later. Or not.

That made me feel worried, given her earlier statement regarding desperation and dating apps.

Be careful. Stay safe.

I am in my garden implement phase of life and can make no such promises.

“What’s got you smiling?” Hunter asked as he returned to the room with damp hair, his clothes slightly sticking to him.

Perfectly outlining everything that I was missing out on.

“Georgia just texted me from François’s phone. She lost hers in the ocean, apparently.”

He got into the bed next to me and I realized that he had put on his cologne. The scent filled my senses and I had to make my entire body go rigid so that I wouldn’t reach for him.

“The crew really have a ‘work hard, play hard’ thing going on, don’t they?” he asked.

“More like ‘work hard, then destroy your liver.’”

He rewarded me with a laugh, and that warmth from earlier spread through me again.

“The hangovers they’re going to have tomorrow will not be pretty,” I said.

“You know the trick to curing a hangover, don’t you? Don’t stop drinking.”

Now it was my turn to laugh, but the sound died when he pulled a length of rope out of his pocket.

“Why do you have that?”

“Thomas and François have said my knots aren’t up to par. I’m supposed to practice.”

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