Arriving in the cabins.

The cabins were two to a room, meaning that the bachelorette party had three rooms to share between them. They had been assigned to their cabins randomly, but each woman found their way to a different partner without saying a word. It was the way they had always been. Charlotte would be sharing a room with Melody, Samantha would share hers with Mariah, and Brooke would bed with Emma. Their luggage had been left outside their rooms by the valet, making the switch an easy process, and they all disappeared inside their rooms to set things up for themselves.

"Wow," Melody said, dragging her wheeled suitcase behind her. "It's like we're back in the dorms, all over again."

The bride-to-be had a point. The cabin was tiny, with only a few feet between the beds on either side, and a small doorway to a bathroom with a tub and a shower in the gap. Their luggage would be stowed below the bed-- to avoid anything falling on anyone with the rocking of the ship at night.

"Then it's a good thing we won't be spending very much time in here," Charlotte said. "We'll sleep in here and spend the rest of our time on the deck, swimming, sunbathing... partying." She grinned, tapping the top of her suitcase knowingly. "It is pretty small, though," she said with a scowl. "I guess that's what you get when you get your tickets for free."

"I'm still so amazed you did that," Melody said, absolutely beaming. Seeing Mel smile was one of Charlotte's favorite things in the world, especially when she was the one who had made her smile. "Thank you for organizing all of this, Char."

Charlotte returned Melody's smile and drew her in for a deep hug. "What else are maids of honor for?" she said. "We're supposed to make sure you can have fun in your one week away from wedding planning." And you last week in proper civilization, she thought to herself. She wouldn't dare say it out loud. Charlotte knew how important Jim's family was to her best friend, and it wouldn't do anyone any good to start complaining about their impending separation. Even if it was bullshit.

In the next room over, Mariah and Samantha had already gotten their bags stowed, and found themselves sitting on their beds. They stared out through the tiny porthole, where they could see the glittering blue of the ocean not far away.

"What do you think Char has planned?" Samantha said quietly.

"Who ever knows with her?" Mariah said. She snorted, starting to do up her hair for the long day ahead. "I stopped trying to figure her out a long time ago. But I would willing to bet that whatever it is, I'm going to be the one that's going to have to deal with all of the fallout."

That was probably for the best. Mariah had never been able to predict Charlotte's elaborate and insane plans, not even in college. She just knew that she had to be present, to make sure that no one got too seriously hurt. Not that she was always able to prevent that. Hell, Mariah didn't even drink. She had seen too many screw-ups from her friends and classmates back in their youth to risk that kind of embarrassment.

"Yeah," Samantha said, not looking Mariah in the eye. "Yeah, you're probably right."

Brooke and Emma were often the 'odd ones out' among their group of friends. They got along excellently, but it was more because they were the only ones without the natural kinship of Melody and Charlotte or Samantha and Mariah. In many ways, they couldn't be more different. That tended to just work out in a Yin-Yang sort of way.

For example, Brooke was already making her space her own, plastering pages from her newest PC gaming strategy magazine across the underside of the ceiling. She had once explained to a guy who asked but didn't really care about the answer that it made her 'absorb' the top tricks and tips in her sleep, making her a better gamer and leaving her days open for her other hobbies.

Emma, on the other hand, didn't change a thing about her half of the room. She didn't even open up her suitcase. Her time on assignment for the paper had allowed her to master the art of planning, to the point that she was already wearing the sandals and properly-casual sundress that would be the best fit for Charlotte's plan. The reporter was even pretty certain that she understood what the maid of honor had in store, even before anyone had heard it yet.

In all three rooms, everyone's phones buzzed at once. A new text had just arrived in the group chat. It was written in all caps, as most of Charlotte's were. It read:

ALL RIGHT, BITCHES, IT IS TIME TO PARTY! MEET ME IN THE COMMON ROOM ACROSS THE HALL IN FIVE!