Chapter 5

I wake up to find myself nearly pushed out of the bed and Beth in a fetal position.

"Baby?" she makes a small sighing sound. "Baby, what's wrong?"

"Nothing." she groans.

"Beth, don't tell me nothin', baby, I can see somethin' wrong. Are you upset? Sick? Are you seasick?"

"I'm not seasick you idiot!" She snaps. "So stupid." she adds under her breath. "I have cramps. I'm fine. Go away."

"Cramps? Why would you have ... oh..." I hadn't even thought about her cycle. And Beth's was bad the first couple days. "Ok. What do you need?"

"I need you to leave me alone."

Alex comes out of the bathroom, dressed. I could still hear water running and realize that it's the room's hot tub filling. "Hey, Beth, I started the tub. You want it hot hot or just kinda warm?"

"I want a hot bath." She snaps at him. "Not so hot I can't get in it but hot. Is that too hard to figure out?"

"Jeez, Beth! Don't be uh bitch." he rolls his eyes, "I'm tryin' ta help."

"Prick! I'll do it myself." she starts to uncurl herself but I've seen her stay home from school on the first day.

"Stay put." I get up before she could really move - and even that caused her to whimper. "I'll get it." I pull Alex back in the bathroom and close the door. First, I check the bathwater. "Ok, yo' Mom or Gracie get PMS?"

"How the hell would I know?"

"Trust me, you'd know. Look, for the next two, three days, don't give her any shit, ok? Just agree with whatever she says."

"It's that bad?"

"She usually starts taking Pamprin like the week before. Aunt Candice won't call her for a shift if she knows she's on."

"So she's gonna be uh bitch for the rest of the week?"

"Likely just the next couple of days. But, shit, I'll bet she ain't got supplies with her."

I turn off the water before the tub overflows and go back into the room. Beth's curled around the phone. I could just hear her softly ordering personal supplies from the shop. When she hangs up, I kneel next to the bed. She looked like she slept badly. "How you holdin' up, baby?"

"Ok, see, if I were a baby, I wouldn't be having cramps, ok?" She slowly pulls herself up. "I'm gonna take a bath and then I'm gonna go down to the promenade deck, find the general store and pick up some things."

"They can't deliver?" Alex asks.

She glares at him like it's his fault. "They can deliver if I'm willing to wait another hour. Or two."

"Tell you what," I cut in before Alex gets us killed, "you get in the tub an' we'll go pick up your order."

She sighs, "Fine. I'll wait for room service first, then."

"Room service?"

"They're bringing some mint tea and honey."

Poor brave bastards. "Ok, you go soak, Alex will wait for room service - with his mouth shut" I look at him and he yields, "and I'll go downstairs." She doesn't really have the energy to fight. I pick her up and carry her the few feet to the bathroom.

Once she's settled in the tub, I pull Alex into the hall. "I don't care how stupid she sounds, whatever she says goes today. She has two moods when she like this: pissed and weepy."

"Can I just say this officially sucks?" Alex shakes his head. "Gay guys don't have to deal with this shit."

"Kinda makes ya wanna convert, don't it?"

Beth's period. I hadn't even considered that. If I had I would have insisted on two rooms instead of assuring Gran-gran that we could share one big one. And, since we're gonna be a month and a half all told, she's gonna have at least one more before we get home. I am beginning to think this trip was a bad idea - definitely more than I could handle. I find the store; they have all the right products and none of the right brands. I hope like hell that Beth won't care about that.

I get back up to the room as fast as I can. Beth was soaking in a bubble bath, sipping hot tea. With her hair tied up and the bubbles, she looked like a pin-up girl. I wonder for a moment how messy period sex in the tub would be. I wonder if she'd actually let me live after I made the suggestion.

"Ok, I know this may not be the right stuff, but it's what they had. I'm sorry, baby. When we get to port tomorrow, I'll see if we can find something better, ok?"

She doesn't lift her head. She doesn't even open her eyes. "I need twenty-four hours without seeing either of you. Go away."

I open my mouth then decide that maybe I want to argue this one later. Like tomorrow.

I go out to get Alex only to find he's not in the room. "Where's he?" I ask from outside the bathroom.

"I told him to go play with the room service guy. He left."

I grab my cell and leave the room. Alex, I find on the upper deck trying to talk a girl I don't recognize into sunbathing topless. If I tried that, I'd get thrown off the ship, Alex get her to giggle. I grab a plate of breakfast, a mai-tai, a deck chair and plan on spending most of my day in the same spot.

"She got uh sister." Alex wakes me a couple hours later.

"So?" I had remembered to cover with sunscreen but since he woke me, I was debating braving Beth to get my swim trunks.

"So, they have a two-sleeper cabin."

"So we find a room to sleep in by finding a girl to sleep with?"

"Better than sleeping on deck, right? And hey, what's uh little fun, we goin' ta hell anyway?"

I just wish I didn't think it sounded like a good idea.

We go to lunch with the girls and when I mention that I don't have access to my trunks, they take us to the top deck, clothing optional pool.

"Alex says you won a medal this year." one of the girls says coyly, "race you!" she dives in.

I strip to my briefs, letting her get more than halfway across the pool. Then I follow her in and beat her by, well, enough to meet her on the edge of the other side. "He did tell you I'm fast, right?"