8. RUSSELL

I never won the costume contest, and neither did Griffin. It wasn't like either of us wanted it, even if there was a two-hundred euro prize for the best costume. Ryan and Thom were both pretty pissed that they didn't win either. The best dressed went to someone in Britney Spears drag. And there was plenty of that happening.

We went to bed soon after the results were announced. Tomorrow was the trip from Cadiz into Seville. I was excited by it, only because it would feel like a date with Griffin, rather than waking up beside each other, going to breakfast and immediately being a couple, I'd get to see him in an element outside of the ship.

But before any sleep happened, we engaged in some sleepy drunk conversations with each other. It was strange to admit my entire life story to anyone, but I was so comfortable around Griffin, and in a way, being on the cruise felt like being in a zone where time and space stopped.

We learned a lot about each other, but once we woke up, I couldn't remember half of the slurred words we uttered.

Griffin was up before me, again.

"It's gonna be hot outside," he said, rifling through his suitcase on the ground. "I need to find the perfect pair of shorts. I don't want my denim ones, and I don't want these black ones. Have you seen my light blue ones?"

I'd barely been able to rub my eyes or let out a yawn. "Did you unpack them?" I gestured wildly at the open closet.

"Yeah, I might've checked there," he said.

"Are they the ones you wore yesterday afternoon."

"Oh." His eyes lit up with realization. Of course, they were the ones he wore yesterday.

I laid my head back on the pillow before glancing at my wristwatch. We had two hours until we docked in Cadiz. Since looking at the trip and booking it, I did a lot of searching on the internet. I hadn't realized that Seville, the excursion spot had so much rich history, which probably just made me sound uneducated just to think it.

"We're gonna be there all day," I said.

"And evening," he said. "There's that flamenco event."

"Right, so make sure you're not gonna be cold."

"You're kidding, right. I checked the weather, it's going to be pretty hot even through the evening."

For a hot second, I'd forgot where we were and the season we were in. It was an easy mistake to make when the air conditioning was blasting the room.

Griffin jumped on top of me in the bed. "I hope I didn't wake you," he said. "I woke up and I was super excited. Like, I just knew today we'd get to have a fun day out together. Just the two of us."

"Just the two of us?"

"Yeah, Ryan and Thom are doing their own thing. They've been talking about the orange trees of Seville for ages," he said. "And I'm not too bothered about those. We'll see them, but like, it's an orange tree. How special can they be?"

"Maybe really special if you can eat them," I said.

He opened his mouth and placed his teeth on my cheek. "I can eat you."

"Do your best." I tried gnawing him back. "Nom, nom."

It was both nice and strange to fall into this behavior. It was definitely forced on us from sharing a cabin, but I was happy to accept that as part of the terms and conditions. Plus, it was basically a given that a vacation romance should feel like you'd been with them forever, that was the beauty of it.

I learned a lot about Griffin. Whether it was what he'd mentioned last night coming back to me now, or through seeing him in action. As we finished putting together our things before heading out, I took a peek inside Griffin's large backpack and in it, what he said were the essentials. I took a peek inside to see sunscreen, moisturizers, cologne, a water bottle, trail mix, a clean pair of underwear and socks, and then I spotted a binder, similar to Ryan's.

"What's this?" I asked, taking the binder out.

"I forgot that was even in there," he said. "It's my portfolio. I use that bag for castings. Open it up."

"Wow." The first image, a black and white headshot. His eyes were striking. Tucked into the elastic, there were sheets of paper with his information printed on them. It was filled with all his measurements; height, weight, shoe size. "I'm surprised they don't have you list your blood type as well."

"O positive," he said. "And I don't have any allergies, I'm just a little scared of snakes."

"So the Britney VMA's performance is out of the window then?"

"I can see them, but I don't wanna touch them." He shuddered. "They can stay in their own little slithering world. The same with those tiny gecko things, you know, the tiny ones that climb on the walls and drop their tails when they're scared."

I gestured him over and tucked my hand into his. "Well, you don't have to be scared anymore. I'm going to protect you for this trip. And I don't think we're going to need to take your portfolio with us." I folded it shut. "Unless you've got a casting."

He smiled. "I wish, then I could've expensed at least part of this trip," he said. "And I don't want to carry it around with me." He took it from me. "We should take extra water, just in case they don't have any shops."

"We're going into a city, they'll have shops," I told him. "It's not like we're going back in time." Although from some of the images I'd seen on the internet about this place, we were going to be looking at a lot of architecture that would have us believe we were stepping back in time.

With a packed bag and plenty of water, we listened to the announcements of our port and all the information they threw at us about transport into Seville. An hour away. It was on that note when Griffin rushed around looking for something to use as a hand fan. A piece of card stock folded on one side like an accordion.

Thom and Ryan were both already up at the deck to departure from the ship once it was in port. We only saw them briefly as a queue had formed and we were near the back. Considering there were close to a thousand people on the ship, it didn't appear that many of them were getting off right away, but those that were represented all the colors of the rainbow, forgoing practical walking shoes for aesthetics.

"I'm kinda glad they're ahead," Griffin said. "Ryan is a little much."

"I've met people like him. He's a planner. And when a planner doesn't get their way, they freak," I said. "Are you a planner?"

"I live in chaos," he chuckled. "I have a planner, and her name is Jill. She's the one who makes sure I'm where I'm supposed to be."

"Ok, so I need to get in contact with Jill then once the cruise is over," I mused, staring into his eyes. "You know, to schedule a—"

"I knew where you were going with that."

"Good. Because I'd like to see you after the cruise."

"It's only been two days, you might get fed up of me by the time it's over."

I didn't see myself ever getting fed up with him, but it was too early to tell. Griffin relaxed me, and it had been a while since I'd been this relaxed, he was like the haze in your eyes when you wake up from a dream. Maybe it was too good to be true, but I wanted to experience it for as long as possible. "Never," I mumbled to myself.

When we made it off the ship, I turned back to look at how big it was. Now I could see how a thousand people could fit on it. It was like standing right beside a high-rise building in the city.

There were several tour guides waiting at the end of the docks by the parking area. Some of them were offering excursions, others were from the cruise itself. We avoided all of those. We were headed straight for the coach so we could solo sightsee.

"Wouldn't you prefer going on a guided tour?" I asked as we navigated the parking lot to find the right coach or bus.

"No," he said. "I got a ticket for the flamenco, but other than that, the best way to discover a city is to get lost in the city."

"How about I take charge of directions then?"There was one thing about me that Griffin should've realized. I hated getting lost. I was someone who checked the map in a zoo whenever I came across it just to make sure I could see the you are here sign.

He smiled and nodded. "Happily. You can direct, but that won't stop me from letting myself get lost."

It was the freeness in his approach to life that seemed to balance me out. A feeling I now craved, and the reason I was already trying to make a plan to meet up with him when we were back in the States.

The coach had comfy seats that reclined, a very small screen you could only surf select webpages and stream music, and air condition that had an odd smell to it. It felt like this would've been the height of luxury ten years ago.

"Write down all the places you want to see, and I'll map them out," I told him. "It means you can get lost, but I'll always have an idea where we are."

"I already know," he said. "I'm just following this site. It's ten sights to see in Seville, or something. I'll send you the link." He pulled his phone out of his shorts. "Wait. Did we even exchange numbers?"

"No, but we can now." Maybe that was the plan all along to get his number. "Do you have international data?"

"Of course, the amount of time I spend travelling, I've got to have data," he said, sharing more of his freeness. I envied more of it now. I hadn't even thought of it at the time, and so I fell for my network's extortionate travel data plan.

"How often do you travel?"

"We spoke about it last night, didn't we?"

I wished I could remember. "Maybe. Where's your favorite place been so far?"

"London," he said without hesitation. "You don't need to learn a new language, and they do things so different. It's fun."

A couple things clicked. We had spoke about it. Griffin's voice was soothing. He was a talker, and once he started, he wasn't going to stop. I remembered snippets of him playing pretend with the toys, making voices and characters for each of them. I liked listening to him and the stories he told.

"How many times have you been?"

"For work? Maybe two or three times. There's a clothes brand there and they've invited me to their head office a couple times."

"Wait. Are these—" I tugged at the side of his shorts.

"Everything I wear out is clothes I got from a company," he said. "I don't have to wear them, but they were free, and they're usually expensive, so of course, I'm going to wear them."

"What about the onesies?"

"There aren't any onesie fashion brands," he said, rolling his eyes. "But if there were, I'd one-million percent try a casting for them."

I wished I'd looked through more of his portfolio before closing it. "Do you have any campaigns in Spain?"

He shrugged. "I have no idea. Maybe. I could ask my agent, she'll know. I hope not. I kinda get a little anxious seeing myself with other people around."

"How about I show you some businesses I've worked with and you can show me some of your campaigns?"

He opened a social media and handed me his phone. "You can just look through my account. It's just full of pictures. Business really."

On the account, there were over ten thousand followers. Most of the images were artistic, black and white. "Wow." Seemingly all I could ever say when I was looking at pictures of him. "I can take pictures of you when we're out today. You know, if you want to mix this up."

"These are mostly professional stuff, but you can take pictures of me," he said. "As long as I can take pictures of you." He winked at me. I'm not sure those were the right type of pictures to be taking in public.

"We'll save those for later," I said, handing him his phone back and slipping my hand between his thighs.

"Promise?"

"Absolutely."

That was one promise I had no intention of breaking, not that I had a habit of breaking them at all.

"I still need to send you all the places I want to visit," he said.

And I still needed to think of all the poses I could put him in to take pictures of. It seemed we both had things to do for the next hour on this coach ride into Seville.