It also seems to be one of the reasons nobody wants to room with him (along with his sleep-whistling problem, of course). They�ve told him his �perky� attitude and �sunny� smile just hurt. Like when somebody rips the curtains open on you at seven AM, according to Dom. Well, Billy remembers, Dom had actually referred to them as the �fucking curtains.� And on the whole, people seem to consider morning Billy� well, ridiculous.
The memory of Dom�s hug on the roof is the very first thought of the day, followed by the hugs at the airport and the anticipation of kissing him. Then the� oh, Billy thinks. Snap.
But whatever discouragement he might have had is beaten down in the face of his morning smile, because after all, it�s a beautiful new day, if the sun peeking through the curtains is any indication. Perhaps things will go differently. As long as Billy keeps an eye on his own over-confidence.
Billy ponders kissing Dom; maybe that�s not the best way to approach things after all.
Not just yet, anyhow.
~
By lunchtime (which is really breakfast to all of them save Billy), Billy has formulated a plan. He will scrutinize everything Dom does and make sure Dom is still attracted to him (because last night with the beer and the almost-kiss might be a fluke), then Billy will initiate some sort of conversation on the matter. The content of the conversation is still vague at this point, but Billy will have plenty of time to fill that in. Their cruise will last for an entire week and they�ll all be each others� only company. Sort of like New Zealand. The thought causes Billy to smile into his �oatmeal,� which none of his companions notice, of course. It is only half-eleven.
�Oh! You guys!� bursts Orlando, his longish hair flopping forward and stopping just short of landing in his eyes. He has made the transition from sluggish to awake, and it�s so clear that Billy swears he heard the switch flipping in Orlando�s brain. �I forgot to tell you this last night, isn�t that crazy? Well, it�s so wild, but I learned how to sew.�
�What?� Elijah squeals. �Dude, I learned how to sew in middle school.� He is expressing the utmost pity for dear Orlando.
�No, I mean with a sewing machine!�
Viggo snorts furtively; Dom nearly squirts coffee out of his nose, it seems, and then he tries hacking up a lung. Billy, who is sitting next to him, pats his back dutifully.
�Yeah,� Elijah says in the �duh� voice, �middle school. I made a pincushion and this ratty old bag that I still have somewhere, actually.�
Dom regains respiratory control and places his elbows purposefully on the table. �If it was ratty and old when you made it, you should probably take lessons from Orli, Elijah.�
�I don�t know about that one, Dom,� Billy counters, �They might just sew each other into a big girl�s dress and not be able to escape.�
�The machine would keep running,� Dom follows. �The power would eventually go out, most likely blowing a fuse in the process.�
�Then: oops! Stuck in a dress in the dark, immobilized by their own handiwork.�
�The cordless doesn�t work and your cell phones are too far away. What will you do?�
Viggo chuckles at his tea and Billy can just see his gummy smile; Orlando and Elijah are indignant but grinning, no doubt on the verge of some witty retorts. Dom beats them to it, though, and grabs Billy�s wrist, holding it up like a piece of evidence at a trial. �Who can tell me what stitch this is?� he asks with the air of a teacher.
�Why are you wearing a long-sleeved shirt?� Viggo asks Billy.
Suddenly Billy is reminded of a day during filming that had no defining characteristics except for the way that Dom (Merry) had held his (Pippin�s) hand for quite a stretch, and Billy remembers with surprise that he had been attracted to Dom then. Then, immediately following this, there is the knowledge that Billy has always had an on-off attraction to Dom.
Billy throws a response he�s not really fully aware of at Viggo and chances a peek at Dom (who is explaining exactly what sort of stitch it is and what color thread they�ve used and what the buttons are made of). Now Billy isn�t normally one to believe in signs, but there is a tilt to Dom�s head and a cocky look on his face that reminds Billy intensely of Merry, especially with the hair scattering onto Dom�s forehead like that, and especially the way he�s flopping around Billy�s wrist with reckless abandon.
Dom is quite clearly flirting with Billy (now he�s asking Billy if he�s right about the stitch and thread and buttons, and Billy can tell he�d been bullshitting) because he won�t let go and is sitting particularly close and that hug last night was awfully tight.
But. But isn�t that how Dom always is?
Yes, Billy triumphantly thinks. That�s exactly the point.
~
Once the muster drill ends, Dom and Viggo slip out of Billy�s sight immediately; he hasn�t seen Orlando or Elijah for at least twenty minutes, either. There are just so many people all trying to go in the same direction, but for some reason they can�t figure out how to go in the same direction at the same time. Billy feels quite short in these situations. He wants to find Dom and tell him that the man next to Billy during the drill had the word �TREES� written on his forearm.
The crowd ebbs to the left, so Billy makes a beeline for the empty floorspace even though he�s sure the guys went in the opposite direction. But nevermind that; Billy is good at finding alternate routes and he�s good at waiting.
There is the flash of a camera, then: �So you dropped the girlfriend, I hear,� says Viggo, appearing as though he�d just stepped out of the wall. He�s hiding under a straw hat and brown sunglasses, his bright orange life preserver tucked between his arm and his ribs and his camera slung over his opposite shoulder.
Billy is still wearing his life preserver, despite its awkwardness; he figures it would be more awkward to carry. �Word travels, eh? Yeah.�
�Gonna be the ladies� man of the cruise?� His voice is gravelly, just like always (except for when he gets excited), and his skin is leathery, just like always (except for the few times Billy�s seen him in the moonlight). And isn�t Viggo always interested in hearing about other people before telling them about himself? Just like always.
Billy watches the crowd and thinks that if they actually had to evacuate this ship, it would probably take an entire day. �We�ll see how it goes.�
�Got other plans?� Viggo�s tone is just nonchalant enough for Billy to suspect something, though it�s always hard to tell with Viggo. Especially when he�s wearing sunglasses.
�Sure. I plan on cleverly persuading Elijah and Orlando to sing karaoke every night until somebody throws a rotten tomato at them. Or maybe not a rotten tomato, perhaps a bottle of whiskey. Then I�ll run up and nab it right out of the air.�
The short silence afterwards (which isn�t really a silence because the entire rest of the ship is talking) is a normal phenomenon with Viggo, although Billy uses it to wonder if he�s ever as funny alone as he is with Dom. �With tricks like that,� says Viggo after a moment, �you�ll get at least four out of five girls� numbers.� And what an odd thing for Viggo to say to Billy.
Billy wonders if Viggo�s changed or if Billy himself is different.
~
Viggo steps immediately into the room he�ll share with Orlando, but the other four are stuck in the hallway.
�We could switch off,� says Elijah. �Hey Billy, we�re talking about you.�
An expression of guilt slips off Dom�s face like oil. �Bill, you can sleep in our room.�
�Dom!� Elijah swats Dom�s arm.
Billy comes to stand in front of the three of them, all of who are leaning against the wall next to their cabins. Dom�s arms are crossed and if it weren�t for that slip a second ago, Billy would feel completely at ease.
�That was easy,� Orlando grins and turns towards his door.
Except now Billy feels quite uneasy. �So I get to introduce you two to the wide world of mornings?� he says to them. Orlando is already inside.
Elijah groans playfully. �Guess me and Dom can�t have sex every night after all.�
�It�s making love, you bitch!� Dom slaps Elijah lightly, grins crookedly at Billy and whips out his key card. �You can use my card, Bill,� since Billy doesn�t have his yet and it won�t be ready until tomorrow afternoon. His uneasiness floats away like stray candy floss.
�Or,� Elijah suggests, �You and I could use one and Billy can have the other.�
Then Billy recalls he�s never seen stray candy floss float away, and he�s never liked candy floss, and something is wrong with the way things are.
~
Situations like these aren�t supposed to give Billy time to think, because by all rights, Billy should be so happy to see these guys that he should just be. Laugh, joke, smile, tig, play and be merry, and even be Merry, too.
The ship is finally leaving the port, accelerating so slowly that nobody can feel the drag. Dom, Elijah, Viggo, Orlando and Billy are waving at people they don�t know down on the pier. Billy is between Viggo and Elijah, and Dom is on the other side of Elijah, and they are talking to each other but not to Billy. Billy thinks about joining their conversation, but he�s thinking too hard to do that. A sweat has broken out on his forehead and the insides of his elbows, the breeze is chilly and a vague sensation of dizziness lurks underneath every movement he makes. He sees a dead fly on the rail in front of him and brushes it off, watching it float on the air instead of fall, as if it has come back to life in a more graceful form than before.
Strangely unsettled, Billy swallows and turns to Elijah on his left, but looks past at Dom and waits for a pause to say, �So are you going to need any help getting to sleep tonight, Dom?� He tilts his head slightly toward Elijah.
But Elijah, who Billy had not even asked, bursts, �He�ll be so drunk by bedtime that you won�t need to help him, I�m sure.�
Dom cuffs Elijah on the head and looks at Billy. �No thank you, Billy, I�m sure I�ll have no troubles sleeping.�
But that�s not even funny. Dom has missed the joke.
�What, ah,� Billy says, �what about your seasickness?�
�He�s wearing one of those patch things,� Elijah offers, lifting Dom�s ear as though he were a dog to show Billy the skin-colored circle behind it.
Of course, Billy thinks, and that�s what the answer has been all along.
A few blinks later Billy turns away and looks down at the railing again. Another fly has died there.
~
This is the third time Billy has vomited in fifteen minutes, despite the fact that his stomach has been empty since midday. The guys left for dinner twenty minutes ago, and he insisted he�d join them fifteen minutes ago. Now Billy can only hope desperately that one of them will realize he�s developed a crippling illness and come rushing back to let him know where Dom�s put his seasickness patches, because Billy has looked and looked and looked but just can�t find them.
Billy did, however, stumble across Dom�s journal. Well, diary, Billy thinks, Dom always likes to call it his diary.
Billy�s always been a moral sort of guy. (He�s too afraid.) He doesn�t open the diary at all. But he remembers exactly where Dom has put it; inside the pillowcase on the underside of the top pillow on his bed. It�s not a spot where Billy had thought the patches would be, but Billy is a thorough searcher.
Once he�s brushed his teeth (again), Billy plods weakly to Dom�s bed and tentatively falls onto it after dragging the rubbish bin to the floor beside it. There are only two queen-sized beds in the room, and one sofa; of course Elijah and Dom had already laid their claims before Billy joined the party.
It must have only taken five seconds for the clock to get from 8.18 to 8.30, as if Billy isn�t disoriented enough. He�s laying on his left side on the very edge of the bed, the bin directly below his head, just incase. With an anemic grab he pulls his mobile off the nightstand and holds it, trembling, in front of his face. Dials Dom, but it�s tough to press the buttons hard enough.
No signal.
~
Billy figures it�s a bad sign that when he wakes next, he can�t read the clock at all. Then he vomits into the bin, which is surprising considering he hadn�t even felt it coming and could have easily vomited on the nightstand instead.
After he manages to sit up, he stills himself for a few moments to deal piecemeal with the spots before his eyes, and then the dizziness. The balcony curtains have been left open so that Billy can see by the moonlight a little: Elijah is sleeping in the other bed and Dom is on the sofa. A small blue-gray form is perched on the desktop across the room: a towel animal, Billy thinks fuzzily. Their room steward must have come in while he was asleep.
Billy tries looking at the clock again, and it takes some time before he can read the numbers: 4.16.
It�s more complicated to walk the bin to the loo than Billy feels it should be, and when he gets there he almost vomits again. He throws back a glass of water, all the while squinting against the hostile lights. Another teeth-brushing session, another glass of water, and he ambles to the sofa and drops his bum right down on the floor. �Dom?� he whispers, his voice sated with please.
Strange, but necessary, Billy knows�to wake Dom up, he�ll have to do what he always used to do in New Zealand. He pinches Dom�s ear. Tugs on it. And it still works like a charm. Billy tries to smile, but only about half of it makes it through the sickness and the darkness.
�Bill?�
�Where are your patches?�
�Mmnn? What?�
Billy feels too close to Dom, now, so he scoots away to a distance of about twenty centimeters and lowers his eyes. �Your seasickness patches. Where�ve you put them?�
�Trousers.�
So Billy crawls to the blue jeans on the floor and pulls a plastic case out of the pocket.
~
He is only just falling asleep again when Dom appears next to Billy on the bed. Dom feels Billy�s forehead and cheeks, and whispers, �How�re you feeling?�
A bubble of elation curls Billy�s toes and the corners of his mouth, because Dom will do silly things that don�t really make a difference, like hold his hand and stroke his thumb across the back of it. Just to make Billy feel better. �Feel like a surf. Up for it?�
None of Dom�s face is visible; just the silhouette of the head and the ears. Billy closes his eyes because it aches less. �Have you been throwing up, Bill?� Dom�s hand passes over Billy�s forehead again, but doesn�t go near Billy�s own hand.
�Yeah. You can�t smell it, can you?�
�No, no. That�s what you always smell like.�
Billy is certain Dom should be holding his hand, and since Dom doesn�t seem to realize this, Billy reaches out for it himself. He finds Dom�s fingers loose and warm. �Dom.�
But they�re slippery, too, and are gone, along with Dom, once he tells Billy, �Shh. You�ll feel all better by morning. Goodnight.�
