The bachelorette party as they arrive.

Six women boarded the SS Awesome Excelsior as one group. Even the other guests gave them a wide berth as they climbed onto the deck of the ship. The women were chatting away as if no time had passed since their last meeting, though it had been months since they had all been together in the same place.

Charlotte glanced over her shoulder at her group of friends with a feeling of satisfaction in her heart. It was always so much work to bring six grown women with their own lives and jobs together, no matter how much they wanted to see each other. But on special occasions, none of them had any doubts that they would be there for one another, and this was most certainly a special occasion. It was, after all, a celebration of the coming marriage of their good friend Melody Zhang, who was walking next to her. None of them had passed on the opportunity to celebrate Melody and her fiancé, Jim.

That being said, this particular gathering wasn't all rosy. Even since their graduation from New York's University Poetica Amet (UPA), they had all lived in the same city. They had always been able to carve some time to see one another, if only in small numbers sometimes. But just before they had set out for this trip, Melody had announced that she and Jim would be moving to Ohio after their wedding to care for her new in-laws. Charlotte preferred not to think about that, especially since it was so far from what this vacation was all about. This cruise was about partying, which was exactly what Charlotte liked best.

"Afternoon, ladies," an older man dressed in a traditional navyman's uniform said. He tipped his cap at them, even as he was holding his cigar in his teeth. "It's good to see such gorgeous new faces on board the Excelsior. We would never want our days to get bland." The man grinned as he jutted his hand out.

Charlotte handed over their tickets, trying to resist the urge to roll her eyes at Samantha, who was blushing at the man's comment. "Are you the captain?" she said. She matched his smile with a winning one of her own, looking him right in the eye.

"I am," he said. "Captain Mac." The captain glanced over their tickets and handed them back to Charlotte. "Feel free to head on down to the cabins on the first level below deck. Prime cabins for prime broads."

That only made poor Samantha blush harder, but that was hardly saying anything. Everything embarrassed Samantha.

"Come on, ladies," Charlotte announced. "Let's go settle in."