I still couldn't believe I had won two tickets over the radio aboard the Titanic's maiden voyage. And despite my best friend Chad's constant warnings that the ship was going to sink, we were both going. We boarded the ship and headed straight for the buffet. The food, entertainment and everything else on the ship was included in the tickets. "Oh, man! I've never seen so much food in my life!" Chad said, piling more food on his plate than it could hold. I laughed, shaking my head, scooping on some macaroni and cheese next to the huge slice of pizza. "You know, you can come back for seconds, even thirds or fourths." Chad's afro flipped back toward me. "You've gotta be shitting me! I've definitely died and gone to food heaven." I laughed, walking with him over to a table where the waitress had our sodas waiting for us. I sat down and picked up my fork. "Have you seen all the hotties aboard this ship?" Chad asked, sticking his fork into his mac and cheese. "I'm definitely going to be getting the hook up while we're out here!" I laughed, picking up my slice of pizza. "Is that all you ever think about? Girls and basketball?" We'd been playing ball for the University of California Riverside for the last four years, and if it hadn't been for that, we'd both be out on the streets. It's the only way we'd have gotten an education and we got our meals at the campus cafeteria that way. His parents couldn't afford school and my parents were both dead. We both spent all our time on campus, so we didn't have time for an off campus job, so we didn't have much extra money either. Chad and I had been best friends for years and we'd been best friends forever.

"Of course it is," he said, his head drifting up behind me. "See what I mean!" I turned my head to see two girls walking away from us. "What do you say, you go for the brunette, I'll check out the fine sista! She definitely looks like she could give this brotha a good time!" I looked down at my plate and back up at him. "Don't you want to at least eat?" Chad looked back down at his full plate, groaning. "Ah, damn." He sighed, shaking his head. "Yeah, we'll catch up with the fine hotties later. You checked them out good, right?" he asked, picking up a piece of chicken and taking a huge bite off of it. I shook my head. "Yeah. Got a perfect view of their backsides as they were walking away." Chad smirked at me. "Sometimes that's the best view!" I shook my head and took another bite of my pizza. This trip was going to be the best damned spring break trip I'd ever been on. It was going to be the best vacation I'd ever had and I didn't have to spend a dime on it. I still couldn't believe I had won these tickets. And there wasn't anyone else I would bring with me. Chad was my best friend. Hell, he was more than my best friend. His parents had raised me since my parents died. He was more or less my brother. So when we were both accepted to UC Riverside with full-ride scholarships, we couldn't be more excited. We would be together for the long haul, long after each of us had settled down and had families of our own. At least that's what his mother saw for both of us. What the two of us saw neither of us knew yet, but we'd figure it out soon enough. We still had plenty of time to figure it out. Either way, we'd still have each other all the way.

When we were done eating, we headed up toward the top deck. Chad wanted to check out the pool, but I knew it wasn't the pool, or rather one of the pools, he was interested in. He wanted to check out the ladies. He saw the girl from the buffet we had seen leaving with the brunette earlier laying down by the pool and turned to me, placing his hand to my chest. "Oh, man! Is it my lucky day, or what?" I rolled my eyes, shaking my head. "Go on," I told him pushing him forward. He grabbed my arm, pulling himself back. "Hey, wait." He looked around, leaning his head in closer to mine. "Would you like me to get her friend's information for you?" I laughed pushing him forward again. "You just go have fun. I'll find my own fun." Chad laughed and I turned to do just that. Leaving Chad alone, I headed off toward... something, anything. It didn't matter what. I was just here to have fun. Not that Chad and I never had fun regularly, but we didn't have school to worry about. This was just about fun in the pacific sun. Nothing but my brother and me spending the best ten days of our lives on a trip we'd never forget. I walked down the deck away from Chad who was probably about to strike out. That girl was way out of his league. I could tell that just by looking at her. I could have told that by looking at her when she and her friend had walked out of the buffet earlier. But Chad never backed down from a challenge. He'd probably spend the entire ten days trying to get the girl to even talk to him and not even pay attention to any other girl. He was a determined man and didn't back down from any thing, even when it came to his grades. He wasn't the best, especially when it came to math, but when a class would smack him down, he'd not rest until he'd at least get a C. He wouldn't even settle for a D. He'd get a C or die trying, and that was in college. I made sure Chad got into college with me with a scholarship of an A- GPA.

I had to do better than that. I usually didn't take less than a B, and even then that was in rare cases. I wasn't the smartest, but I definitely wasn't going to sit back and let my college career go away because I'm not caring about it. I had to think about my future. I didn't know what I was doing with it, but I was taking the generic way through it so I could do what I needed to do with it when I did graduate. I was getting a business degree so I could do whatever. I was prepared for whatever life had to throw at me, and I would be able to handle it too. I'd probably do whatever I did with Chad too. Probably open some kind of sports shop with him, selling sports goods. We'd talked about it before, and it would actually be quite a bit of fun. Chad was my best friend and working together would be the best thing in the world. We had planned on a few more years at Riverside and then we'd graduate. We could open our shop any time between now and then. Actually, the sooner the better, even if it would mean we'd be more stressed out with classes and playing on the team than we already were. But if we owned the shop, we could open and close it whenever we wanted. It would be our shop. Then again, it wouldn't be wise to shut down the shop for games and such. It would be best to wait till after our last season was over. Chad wouldn't see it that way, but we had to have a steady head on our shoulders, and that would be mine. He was good with people, he had charisma, there was no denying that. Not that I wasn't, but I would still say Chad was better at it than I was. We were a natural for this business, so I thought we should really start discussing it. It would be happening sooner rather than later.

I headed back toward the stern of the ship, finding myself drawn back here for some reason. Not many people were gathered back here. Maybe fifteen or twenty. But there was one. And I knew her. Well, no, I didn't know her, but she was familiar. The girl from the buffet, walking out with the girl Chad was trying to … Well, I knew exactly what Chad was trying to do with her. I wasn't going to tell her friend what my friend was intending. I wouldn't interfere with my best friend's chances of getting laid on this trip. If he was going to get laid, I'd let him. He was good at hooking up, and I wasn't going to hinder any of his chances. The brunette was leaning over the back railing, possibly farther than I felt a little too comfortable for, as I leaned my back against it beside her. "Good afternoon." She looked over at me, squinting her eyes and holding her hand over her eyes like a visor, shielding her eyes from the sun. "Hi," I said, holding my hand up to her to introduce myself, "my name's Troy. You are?" She looked me over for a moment before looking back out over the water. I raised my eyes a bit, scratching the back of my head. "No English?" Was that even possible? "Francais?" Yeah, like I'd be able to talk to her. "Italiano?" I shook my head. Still wouldn't be able to say anything more than ciao. "Espaniol?" Again, all I'd get out is adios. I was sunk. If she didn't speak English, I may as well turn tail and walk away. She turned back to me, shading her face from the sunlight again, and holding her other hand up, backwards to me, a huge diamond twinkling in the sunlight. And when I said huge, I meant HUGE. "Engaged," she said, before turning back over the railing.

For some reason, when she said the word engaged I didn't hear happiness in her tone. She said it more matter of factly and just so I didn't impede on another man's property. Is that how she saw herself, as another man's possession? I didn't. If she did, then she was mistaken. We certainly didn't live in 1912. We may have been on the Titanic, but we weren't in an age where women had to ask "How high?" whenever their husband told them to jump. In fact, that woman could tell that man to fuck off if she really wanted to. But this girl didn't seem to have that spirit in her. Maybe she wanted to, but something in her was … afraid to. Not maybe of her fiancé, but of doing anything that would break away from the routine she was used to. "What's your name?" I asked, pushing this conversation a little more, turning toward her more. She turned toward me, squinting her eyes again, coming back from how far she was leaning over the railing. "Gabriella," she told me slowly, turning to face me more, holding her hand up to shield her eyes again. I smiled at her, raising my own hand, blocking the sun from her eyes. "Do you have some sunglasses, Gabriella? Maybe you could go down to your cabin and pick them up?" She smiled, but only briefly, shaking her head. "I do, but … I'm sorry I was so rude, I just... I came up here to be alone, and … Well, you being here, I'm not really alone now." I looked up at my hand and back down into her eyes. "I'm sorry I intruded, Gabriella. I just thought... you looked like you could use someone to talk to. Maybe I'll see you around." I smiled at her and turned to leave, but she grabbed my hand. "Maybe..." she started, wrapping her arm around mine, walking with me toward an entrance to the ship, "talking wouldn't be that bad."