Preparation

There were two days until the Cruise. With everyone in a great mood, these days were flying by and people were coming in and out of Manny's house finalizing all of the plans. Everything was set to go, with the exception of some small preparation. Leena had been over frequently to discuss the fun that awaited them

"So, aren't you excited?" She asked for at least the tenth time. They were in his bedroom getting some of his clothes picked out.

"Yes, yes, and yes again. Now quit asking me" He responded playfully. Grabbing a nice blue Hawaiian shirt, he folded it and put into his suitcase.

"Well, sorry, I just can't stop thinking about all the fun we're going to have. All of the beaches, all of the hours spent in the pool, and guess what!" Her voice perked up immediately as she remembered she hadn't told her boyfriend yet. She didn't care for his blue shirt, and promptly took it back out.

"What?" He said dryly, expecting her to say something about the dog friendly areas, or maybe the magician shows that play often onboard. She loved magic. He was so-so on the subject.

"There is... get this... sit down... prepare yourself... take a breath..."

"SAY IT ALREADY" He spurted with impatience, while also taking a seat on the bed.

Stood in front of him with arms wide above her head ,"GAMBLING! THE CRUISE LINE ALLOWS GAMBLING FOR 18 YEAR OLDS!", she proclaimed.

Manny was actually surprised. He didn't expect her to say something that sounded actually fun. Neither of the two could be consider gamblers, yet they were interested in the idea of having some fun doing something that they would normally have to wait until they were 21 to do. It felt a bit devious, even though it was perfectly legal.

"Okay, that does actually sound fun. You got me this time. When did you find that out?" Manny inquired.

"Just the other day" she said more casually now, grabbing a purple shirt she thought would be much better that, coincidentally of course, matched her favorite dress. "Actually I was just poking around in the cruise details and I noticed it said gambling. I did some research and found that a lot of cruise lines have gambling on them, but some of them make you be 21. Not ours!" she finished with a wide smile. He thought she was so cute when she was excited.

"Well, we don't actually have a lot of money..." Manny confessed sheepishly.

"Couldn't you ask your parents for a little bit of play money? Isn't the point of this whole thing to celebrate our becoming adults and have a great experience together before we go off to college?"

"I guess I could" He answered hesitantly. He knew his parents had plenty of money to spare a little bit for gambling, but he didn't much like asking them for extra money for things he didn't need. He liked to be self sufficient. He grabbed his final pairs of blue jeans and underwear from next to him on the bed and topped off his suitcase.

She looked at him with a sweet puppy dog look that he couldn't resist. "I mean yeah, yeah, I could ask them for a couple hundred. BUT!" he said sharply. "We have to offer to pay them back, even if they won't take it."

"Deal" She said. With the packing finished, she moved towards him with a loving look on her face. She wrapped her arms around him and sat in his lap. "Babe, I can't wait. I think this will be so awesome for our families, and I can't even begin to imagine the experience and memories we're going to have together." She was quite the optimist, always positive and bubbly, yet he had to admit to himself this was shaping up to be an awesome vacation.

"And..." She said in a sultry tone of voice, moving her finger playfully across his chest.

"And what" He said, intrigued by her change in mood.

"And we're going to have our own room's inside our cabins... and we've been talking about losing our virginities for a while now..."

"You think this is the time? On the cruise with our families? What if they find out or worse, walk in on us?" He said, nervous about the idea of being on a family cruise.

"What, you don't think they aren't already going to be assuming the worst? Come on Manny, we're young and we're going on a cruise together...? Plus, the rooms have locks. And I'd be willing to bet our parents are going to be a little busy at night themselves" She said with a laugh.

"Gross. But I guess you're right, and I definitely don't wanna miss an opportunity with the best looking girl in the world" He flirted.

"Oh shut up" She said with a light hearted hit to his shoulder.

The mood was light and they were unaware of the passing of time when Manny remembered something.

"Hey, didn't you need to get home soon to go to the passport office with your parents?"

"Shit, you're right" She said moving quickly off his lap and gathering her items. She swiftly kissed him and made her way to the door.

"Hey, see you tomorrow?" He asked.

"Duh, our families are having our going away party. At your house. Of course I'll see you" She teased.

"Good. Love you" He looked at her adoringly.

"I love you too. See ya."

And she was gone.

With nothing left do for Manny except wait out the hours until they would be underway on their voyage, he decided to take it easy for the night and play some video games and go to bed. He had a hard time falling asleep because of his racing thoughts, especially now that there was a good chance he wouldn't be a virgin for much longer.

Wow. This is life huh. He thought to himself. With a dream forming, he drifted off with images of boats and beaches, and of course boobs, in his head.