All characters in this story are 18 and older.
*****
Rikka sighed, wistfully flicking through her Instagram feed. She was reclined in her favorite spot by the pool, shaded by an umbrella as a bevy of vacationers splashed a few feet away from her. A cool ocean breeze whisked past the nape of her neck, wavy black tresses of her hair tied up in a ponytail.
The cruise ship's horn temporarily broke her out of her reverie. Some people gave few cheers. But the moment passed, and Rikka's bored eyes returned to her screen, endlessly flicking as she waited.
It was the third day of the weeklong cruise her mom had dragged her to, en route to Hawaii. Rikka had insisted that she stay behind, seeing how she'd much rather just laze around in bed or spend time with her boyfriend. She'd just turned 18, after all, and the entire summer leading up to college was ahead of her.
Unfortunately for her, there was no changing her mom's mind when it was set on something.
"We need some
us
time, Rikka," she had said, excitedly packing and tossing over a brochure of the itinerary. "Your boyfriend can wait. Besides, I'm not wasting these tickets from the raffle!"
And that was that.
As expected, she and her mom barely spent any time together after the first day or so, and Rikka found herself lounging by the pool in her favorite blue and white striped bikini, sipping on virgin pina coladas. Her mom was always playing bingo or gambling in the casino downstairs, both activities that Rikka would find mind-numbingly dull.
So here she sat, scrolling through social media using the ship's dreadfully-slow wifi. Her boyfriend had offered to try and Facetime her today, but he was running late. She started to wonder if the wifi would even be fast enough to receive a Facetime call, seeing how she had a difficult time to even load up stories and refresh her feed.
She kept loading up her messaging app to see if she'd somehow missed his call until she just found herself reading over conversations she'd had with her boyfriend, the latest being a reassurance about the cruise.
Rikka smiled rereading the texts. Her boyfriend was always a sweetheart, and even when the cruise cut into time they had planned to spend together hanging out, he was ever the optimist.
Just go and have fun
, he had texted.
Have some new experiences that you can't have in Japan! It's your first time in Hawaii after all.
She had sent him a few heart emojis and a simple "
Ok, I'll try
". The conversation ended there, and there wasn't any indication that she had missed any texts or calls.
Rikka sighed again, reaching over to take another sip from her drink.
That's when she saw a man making his way from the poolside bar.
He was an American. Tall, fit, blond. He had shades on, so she couldn't quite see his face, but from the instant her eyes laid on him, she could tell that he was handsome. His body was toned, defined abs running up his front, exposed with the lack of a shirt. Rikka couldn't help but keep looking, peering over the top edge of her phone, checking out the contours of his biceps, the subtle curls of hair on his defined pecs.
Before she knew it he was only a few feet away from her, and Rikka suddenly ripped her gaze away, pretending to focus back on her phone.
He was actually approaching her. And she knew it wasn't a coincidence either; out of all the rows of reclined beach chairs, she'd picked the far corner with nobody sitting next to her for several seats.
An excited ripple shot through her skin, her pulse almost doubling as each of the man's steps got closer. A lump in her throat formed when he oh-so-casually plopped down onto the reclined seat next to her.
Rikka kept boring her eyes into the screen of her phone. She saw his tanned skin out of the corner of her eye, and a sudden temptation to look at him again spiked in her heart.
She was at a loss. She wasn't particularly good at English, knowing only a few key phrases here and there. But language barrier aside, it was clear that this man had trekked all the way back here, right next to her for a reason.
And he wasn't trying to hide that reason as she felt his eyes on her skin, roaming from her toes, up her exposed legs, across the front of her chest, up to her face.
Rikka stayed frozen. She should have left. He was most obviously a creep just coming by to hit on her. And besides that, she had a call to her boyfriend to make. It'd be awkward if he called right when this random guy just sat next to her,
leering
at her.
She had every reason to leave right at that second. But Rikka stayed put.
She gulped, wondering why. The warm sensation of his eyes groping her exposed skin lasted for a moment longer before they left. And Rikka suddenly felt herself wanting it back.
Despite herself, she allowed her eye to peek at the man. He was reclined in the most relaxed manner, not a care in the world as her body shifted away from him in instinct. He had an easy smile as he sipped on some alcoholic drink he'd gotten from the bar.
Then, to Rikka's shock, he turned his head towards her. Their eyes locked.
She instantly flushed, looking back at her phone. But it was too late.
"Hi there." the stranger said in English. Rikka looked back at him then, trying to muster a smile.
"H-Hello." she managed, the "L's" in her greeting heavily accented.