I was home for the summer from my state college and the summer break had been nothing but boring. This was my last summer before graduating next year and all I had done the whole time I was home was go to the gym, drive for a rideshare service, and try to get a leg up on the following semester's coursework. Most of my friends had chosen colleges in other states so I didn't really even have anyone to hang around with, but since I was staying in my old room at my folks' house, I was saving up some pretty decent money. One morning after I got home from the gym, my mom called my name when I walked in the front door.
She called "Stevey! Can you come in here a minute?"
My mom knows that I like to be called "Steven" but I didn't correct her. I walked into the kitchen and my mom was sitting at the kitchen table with one of her friends. Her friend was probably mid-to-late 50s, I'd guess about 30 years older than me. She had short brunette hair that was dyed blond on the tips that was cut into a pixie style, blue eyes, and tan white skin. She was wearing gray leggings, a pink tank top, and running shoes. I could see a generous amount of cleavage in the tank top and she was sitting on what looked like a nice ass in those leggings.
When I entered the kitchen my mom said "Stevey, do you remember my friend Naomi? We became friends during your junior year of high school."
I remembered thinking she was pretty hot, but I said "sure, it's good to see you again."
Naomi said "hello, I was just talking to your mom about a bit of pickle I'm in. A little over a year ago, my husband passed away-"
I said "oh, I'm sorry to hear that."
Naomi said "thank you. That's what my problem is about. Before my husband passed, we had planned to go on a cruise together. Then a couple months later, his stroke happened and with everything that was going on, I completely forgot about it. Now, it's too late to cancel the tickets or anything and I don't want to go by myself."
I said "oh, are you going to go with her mom?"
My mom shook her head and said "I can't. I have a large case-load right now and can't get away. I thought maybe you'd want to go. All you've done is work this summer and this would be a chance for you to have some fun before school starts again."
I looked at Naomi and she said "everything's already been paid for completely. It's a seniors cruise, but I bet you'd still be able to have fun at the beach and on the ship. It's a cruise to Jamaica. Think you'd want to do me a favor and come along? I don't want the tickets to go to waste. Please say yes."
I only had to think about it for about half a second before I said "yeah I'd love to get in some sun and fun before the semester starts. This summer's been a bit dull for me."
Naomi grinned and said "great! I'll call the travel agency and get the room switched from one bed to two beds. We leave the day after tomorrow. Thank you so much for coming on this trip with me."
After that, my mom walked Naomi to the door, then came back into the kitchen and said "thank you for going with her. I know she's been lonely since Tom died and I don't think it's a good idea for women to travel like that alone. Anything could happen."
I chuckled and said "that's a little old fashioned way of thinking, mom."
She shrugged and said "maybe so. But still. Being a seniors cruise isn't ideal for you, I'm sure, but it should still be fun. And you'll get to go to Jamaica!"
I agreed and told her that I was thrilled to go.
___
Two days and a plane ride to Houston later, Naomi and I were boarding a massive cruise ship. On the plane ride, we'd talked and had started getting to know each other better. Turns out she was 58, so she was 36 years older than me. She and her late husband had been married for 27 years when he had passed away due to a stroke. She had one daughter that was a year older than me, who now worked as a veterinarian in another state. I told her about going into my senior year at college in a few weeks and how all I'd done this summer was work. Naomi asked me about my love life and I told her that I had dated one girl this year for a few months, but it just didn't work out. In turn, I asked her about her love life. She said that she'd only been out on a couple of dates since her husband passed, but she said that there hadn't been any kind of spark with any of them.
When we got on the boat, it was apparent pretty quickly that with the exception of some of the staff, I was the youngest person on the ship. That was fine with me, I was sure there was a gym on the boat and that it would probably be pretty empty. The first thing we did was find our room. Or, cabin I guess they're called on a boat. I'm not very good with the terminology. When we walked in the room, there was a small bathroom off to the side of the door, a tv on the wall, a chair, a table with a telephone, and only one bed.
Naomi said "crap, they didn't switch our room. I'll call and get us moved."
She picked up the phone and spoke with someone on the other end. I could tell from her side of the conversation that it wasn't going how she'd like.
She hung up the phone and said with a sigh "the ship is completely full, we can't move to a room with a second bed."
I said "that's okay, I'll sleep in the chair."
She argued "oh no, you can't do that. The chair will probably kill your back and neck. If you don't mind sleeping next to an old lady, we can share the bed."
I asked "are you sure?"
She said "please, I insist. That thing will have you crippled by morning if you try to sleep in it."
I said okay and then we put our bags on the bed and left the room to explore the ship.
The boat was enormous. There was a casino, a movie theater, two full sized swimming pools and hot tubs, a whole shopping area, multiple gyms with rock climbing walls and saunas, and restaurants and bars everywhere. There were buffets and places to eat everywhere we went. I couldn't believe how big the ship was. All of the other guests were very nice and easily could have been my parents' or grandparents' age. After about an hour of us walking around the ship, there was an announcement that ship would be leaving the dock. We watched the land drift away as the boat left the dock and we waved to people we didn't know that were waving at everyone on the ship.
Naomi said "lets go find something to eat. I'm pretty hungry."
We ate at one of the buffets and then decided to go to the casino. I had some money with me from working all summer and wanted to see if I could win anything. Naomi and I played some slot machines for a couple of hours until it was about 10pm. I wound up winning around $200 and she broke even on the Blackjack table. The two of us were both tired after the flight and the day we had, and we decided to go to bed. When we arrived, there was couple going into a room next to ours.
The man said "hello! Or should I say 'ahoy'? I'm Rob and this is Janet. It's our first time on a cruise, I guess we'll be neighbors until we get back stateside."
We introduced ourselves and then went into our room. I went into the bathroom and changed clothes into pajamas and brushed my teeth. When I was done, Naomi did the same. She came out of the bathroom wearing a giant t-shirt that went down to her nearly her knees. I guessed that's what she wore to bed. We got into bed and we each turned off our bedside lamps. We laid there together and after a few minutes, I was about to fall asleep. Just as I was starting to nod off, I heard some laughing from Rob and Janet's room through the wall. I didn't think anything about it, but then after another minute or two, I heard the steady squeak of bedsprings and I knew they had to be having sex next door.
