Five

Cory

After lunch the day had gone better, or maybe my mood was better. We only had about an hour before we'd go back to the ship. A few of the guests had already returned, the sun and water being too much for a full day. Which I totally understood. Being out in it was brutal, but after today I'd just wear sunscreen. Because working out by the pool was much better than working inside and dealing with the craziness of the restaurant.

"Cory, go ahead and start stacking those chairs," Alexa said as she walked around the restaurant and buffet making sure everything was taken care of as we started to prepare for closing. "When we get back on board, you're on the lido deck." Before I could respond, she walked away focused completely on the clipboard she carried.

"Don't worry, you'll get great tips and at least you'll get to bed before it's too late," Alberto said.

"I don't mind at all." Some crew members avoided the lido deck any way they could, but I hadn't worked it yet when it was busy with guests. I was on the crew that cleared out the tables and chairs every evening after whatever activity or entertainment it had been used for.

"I'm going to remind you of that later on." He walked over to the bar to do whatever task he'd been assigned, and I got busy clearing off the empty tables. They'd already been setup for any diners that wandered in, so I had to pack up the cutlery, clear off the tablecloths and anything else that was on the tables, before pushing them to the side of the restaurant, and then stacking the chairs against the wall. Since the restaurant was completely open and the cruise didn't use this area daily, we had to pack anything we could in case bad weather came through.

The restaurant had nearly cleared out and I was just waiting for the last two tables to leave when a large group walked in. "Are we too late?" one of them asked and walked over to the tables and chairs I'd just stacked.

"You're not too late. Just give us a few minutes to set up some tables," Alexa said as she stepped in front of me and addressed the group of maybe fifteen people.

"We were on the snorkel tour and we're starving," one of them said.

"No problem, I'll let the kitchen know. Cory, you set up a few tables," she said, before hurrying past me to the kitchen.

Alberto looked at me from the bar and rolled his eyes as a few of them wandered over to him and ordered drinks. All of them were drunk, very drunk, and sunburned. From the looks of it, most of them were not done partying. I moved one table back in place and before I could put the tablecloth on it, four of them had dragged some chairs over and sat down.

"Sorry, I know you were cleaning up," one of them said, making the other three snicker.

"It's okay, the kitchen is still open." I turned to get another table as a few of the other guests were picking one up and taking it over where the first one was. "Hey, I got that," I said, but they ignored me. I walked over to the third table and two guys were standing there waiting. Neither offered to help or even acknowledged I was there. As soon as I pulled the table over, they walked over to it but waited for me to bring them chairs.

I got what was needed for all three tables and set them up as fast as I could. But apparently it wasn't fast enough. "Hey, can we order?" one of the two guys asked. He was wearing only a swimsuit and sunglasses, which I thought was odd. He didn't even have shoes on, but I didn't really care enough to dwell on it.

"Fuck I lost my wallet too," he said to the guy at the table with him.

"Don't worry, we'll call and report it as soon as we go back to the hotel," I overheard before going to get everyone a menu. I handed them out and hurried to get the tablecloths and cutlery on the other tables.

"This is so fucked," the shirtless guy said as I walked close enough to hear.

The next hour I was too busy making sure they all had what they needed and when the last of them left. I wasn't sad to see them leave at all. Johnny and Alberto were both hard at work doing everything I wasn't so we could get to the dock to catch the last tender boat of the day. When I'd finally stacked all the tables and chairs, Alexa walked over to me. "Great job, Cory, I know it was a lot to deal with at the last minute. But you handled it really well." She wrote something on her clipboard and walked over to check the bar.

I was double-checking I'd done everything when Johnny walked over to me. "Hey, let's get our things and get to the dock." We waited a minute more for Alberto and the three of us retrieved our belongings out of the employee lockers we'd left them in.

All the guests had made their way back to the ship and the only people here were either staying locally or staff. The three of us got on the small boat and waited for them to check they had everyone before pulling away.

"So on to the lido deck," Alberto said.

"I'm hoping I don't hate it," I said. "I can see it being pretty crazy there."

"Yeah, but it's also lots of fun. Tonight is the foam party. That's always a great night," Johnny said as I watched the beach disappear into the distance.

"I didn't know that." I'd helped clean up the mess left after foam parties, but I'd never actually experienced one, and after seeing the mess left behind, I wasn't sure I wanted to.

"Don't worry, we're both working it too. It'll be fun," Alberto said, but the look in his eyes and the pat on the back he gave me made me think it wasn't really going to be that fun.

The boat pulled up to the side of the ship and the crew helped us back on board. After having our identification cards checked, the three of us hurried to our rooms. "I need a shower. I'll meet you on the deck," I said, and once I was inside my room I took a deep breath and enjoyed the air conditioning. It was small, but I had it to myself, so I wasn't complaining. Usually we doubled up, but this time I'd gotten lucky and didn't have to share.

All the crew were housed on the lower levels of the ship, but even if we didn't have a balcony or even a window, it had so far been great.

"Hopefully the foam party is fun," I said to myself as I stripped out of my beach uniform and stepped into the shower. Again, it was small, but it did the job and washed off the salt and sweat of the day. When I checked the time, I knew I needed to get moving if I wanted to get something to eat before my shift. The crew mess was just a few doors down from my cabin, so after throwing on some comfortable clothes I hurried down the hall just as Johnny came around the corner from the other end.

"Fancy meeting you here," he said and looped his arm with mine.

"I'm starving," I said, and the two of us walked into the room where most of the crew were eating before going to their next shift.