Chapter Text
“How did you get your parents to agree to let us all come?” Van asked as she stared at the large boat -ship, Shauna would argue-, glancing toward Natalie who looked just as overwhelmed.
“I refused to go, there's plenty of room at my grandfather's place, there was no reason you guys couldn't.” Jackie shrugged easily, flashing one of the crew members a smile when she came over to start getting their bags. “Thank you.”
“Uh, no worries. I got mine.” Natalie said when one of the crew went to grab her bag. “Thank you.”
“Other than four of my cousins I would have no one to hang out with.” Jackie shrugged.
“And she wanted an excuse to bring Natalie, so she had to bring all of us.” Taissa muttered to Shauna, making her laugh.
Shauna was dubious when Jackie told her she was taking Shauna, as well as the rest of their friend group, to her grandfather's estate in Bermuda.
It sounded fun, but Shauna hadn't met the other half of Jackie's family yet, just heard Jackie's parents bitch and moan about them, so the idea of spending a few days on a boat with them, then three weeks on an island, wasn't exactly thrilling.
Jackie had stuck up for her aunt, saying she was actually nice, and her kids, while unruly, were nice enough.
Shauna would only agree if Taissa did, and Taissa would only agree if Van did.
Van, who had been high with Natalie at the time, shrugged easily - Shauna didn't miss the way Natalie eyed Jackie like she was some kind of meal-, saying they'd always wanted to see what that triangle was all about.
Taissa rolled her eyes fondly at the stupid comment and Van's dump grin.
Shauna watched as Jackie tilted her head at Natalie, eyebrows raised questioningly. “It's just you who hasn't said yes, Lottie's agreed.”
Natalie's lips twitched upward as she took a drag of the joint, handing it off to Shauna.
“Alien abduction does sound fun,” Natalie smirked, like she had predicted the up roar that would come from Van about how it clearly wasn't aliens, are you dumb, Natalie?
Shauna watched Jackie curiously, the way she softened at Natalie's satisfied smile; she had noticed them getting closer since Shauna started tutoring kids for a little extra cash, leaving Jackie with a little free time.
They also texted a lot more, and Shauna had seen how Jackie had smiled down at her phone, all giddy and shy.
It was sweet, and Shauna was happy for her but she hadn't brought it up, not wanting to push. It was getting harder not to call her best friend out in her bullshit when she was looking at Natalie like that.
All of Jackie's family were already boarded, Shauna could hear them talking somewhere to her left but Jackie steered them right, down the stairs to the cabins.
“Double up, I'm sure the duos are obviously, I-”
“Can I be with Lottie?” Shauna pipped up, not missing the shocked looks from Van and Taissa, the sweet smile from Lottie. Then there was Jackie, who she had expected to look betrayed, but she looked impressed, like she hadn't expected Shauna to do something so ballsy. Like she knew Shauna knew. “No offence but you snore, Jax.”
Jackie's eyes shifted to annoyance then. “Fucking bitch.”
Shauna grinned as she and Lottie split off into one of the rooms.
“If they don't get together by the end of this I'm going to knock their heads together myself.” Lottie muttered as she fell back onto her bed, pulling out her phone. “Have you met the cousins?”
“Maybe when I was really young, but not that I remember.” Shauna shrugged. “I know there are three boys and a girl, she's our age I think. The boys are older.”
“Mm,” Lottie hummed. “They're hot.”
Shauna frowned over her shoulder at Lottie, who was mindlessly scrolling through her phone. “Have you met them?”
“Instagram.” Lottie showed Shauna her phone, prompting Shauna to move closer to look at the photo and, yeah, they were all hot.
The photo was taken on the beach, two of the boys posing goofily while the girl was on the other boys back, grinning big at the camera.
They were all very similar, various shades of blond, their smiles similar. And they clearly looked after themselves, the two boys posing were ripped in a way that never did it for Shauna. But the girl and the other boy were a little more trimmed, clearly toned but slender.
“The two knuckleheads to the left are right up your street, Lot.” Shauna joked, laughing when Lottie glared at her.
They got themselves settled before Jackie appeared to take them to the deck where the rest of her family were hanging out.
Jackie's parents didn't seem happy at all, and Shauna wondered why they agreed to this whole thing in the first place, but Jackie's aunt and cousins seemed blissfully unaware of the Taylor's sour mood, laughing and joking together.
Jackie's extended family was a lot like Jackie; cheeky and charming, the opposite of Jackie's parents, who Shauna was sure she had never seen smile.
It was just the boys and the mom who were in the living room, Jackie introducing them to each of her cousins; the oldest Josh, the middle Nate and the youngest Frankie.
“Where's Mel?” Jackie asked the boys as the young adults settled down in what Shauna was sure she heard Jackie call a conversation pit , while the adults headed downstairs.
“She's down stairs, she shouldn't be too much longer.” Frankie said, holding up one of the switch controllers. “I know Jackie sucks, who can give us a bit of competition.”
Jackie glared at her big cousin, crossing her arms with a huff.
Shauna snorted, pointing at Van, who grinned widely at being the first choice.
They took turns on the switch, breaking off into four groups and playing a round robin kind of thing.
“You take my turn, Jax,” Shauna said as she stood. “I'm gonna go pee.”
Shauna wandered out of the room, down the hallway that was entirely too large for this being someone's private boat .
She turned the corner to head down to the cabins, almost barrelling into someone as she went, if it wasn't for the girl in front of her gently grabbing Shauna's hips and spinning them around they would have gone head on.
The girl tilted her head, before taking a step back and taking her hands off of Shauna.
Shauna gave her a once over; the photo Lottie had shown her hadn't done Melissa any justice, apparently.
Melissa was prettier than Shauna had thought; dressed in a pair of green combat trousers and a black triumph sweatshirt, her black cap sitting backwards on her head.
It was all very frat boy, and that didn't do it for Shauna when it was a man, but when it came to women? Apparently Shauna was into it.
“Sorry, my mom's always telling me I'm too clumsy to be rushing around.” Melissa said, fixing the cap on her head with one hand and pointing to Shauna with the other. “Shipman, right?”
“Shauna is just fine,” Shauna corrected, cursing Jackie under her breath.
“Shauna,” Melissa hummed with a little smile, pointing to herself in an awkward way that Shauna found a little charming. “Melissa.”
“I know,” Shauna hummed, Melissa tilting her head curiously, probably wondering what Jackie had told her. “You're Jackie's favourite cousin.”
That made Melissa light up. “That's not hard, my brothers are morons.”
Shauna chuckled at the playful comment.
“How many of you did she bring?”
“There are five of us, not including Jackie.” Shauna said, remembering that Jackie had said Melissa hadn't been allowed to bring anyone. “It's not really fair Jackie got to bring all of us and you didn't get to bring anyone.”
“Yeah, well, Jackie has always been the favourite grandchild.” Melissa said, but there was no malice or annoyance in her tone, it was just a fact, one Melissa didn't seem overly bothered about. “I did manage to convince my grandma to let me bring my best friend, but she's feeling sea sick so she's in bed.”
“We haven't even set sail yet,”
“Yeah, it's not looking good for Gen over the next few days.” Melissa chuckled, back peddling away from Shauna. “I was just heading to find her something to settle her stomach, she's still lookin’ a bit green.”
“I've got Kwells back in my cabin,” Shauna offered, pointing over her shoulder.
“Are they any good?”
Shauna shrugged, now moving backwards away from Melissa. “I haven't tried them but Misty said they're good.”
“Cool, that'd be perfect.” Melissa nodded, following Shauna to her cabin, lingering in the doorway.
Shauna watched as Melissa took note of Lottie's language, not a shred of pink in sight.
“Are you rooming with Jackie?” Melissa questioned, frowning at Shauna.
“No, Lottie.” Shauna said as she grabbed her bag and threw it on the bed.
“Oh. Are you and Jackie fighting?”
“No,” Shauna chuckled, turning to look at Melissa. “I was kind of playing wingman.”
“Ah,” Melissa hummed, like she understood, like she knew everything. “Natalie?”
“Yeah,” Shauna frowned. “How do you know about Natalie?”
“If Jackie isn't talking about you she's talking about Natalie.” Melissa snorted. “It's obvious when Jackie likes someone, she doesn't shut the fuck up about them.”
“Tell me about it,” Shauna groaned playfully, turning back to her bag to find the tablets.
“So you switched so she could share with Natalie?”
“Yeah,” Shauna turned after finding the box of pills, moving to hand them to Melissa. “Honestly, they are starting to piss me off, I need them to stop pretending they aren’t into each other.”
“So, you were being entirely selfish?” Melissa said, grinning at Shauna as she took the box from her.
“You don’t know what it’s like to watch them flirt all day then have Jackie in your ear complaining about Jeff. ”
“Jeff,” Melissa scoffed. “Have they broken up yet?”
“Yesterday,” Shauna nodded. “For the fifth time this year.”
“They have three weeks, it has to happen.”
“We both know how dumb Jackie can be,” Shauna said with a little smile.
“I guess we will have to put all of our hope in this Natalie, then.” Melissa shrugged easily, her grin a little crooked, her Shauna found her eyes lingering there for a split second.
“That isn’t exactly promising, either.” Shauna lifted her eyes to Melissa’s.
“I better get these to Gen,” Melissa held up the box. “But I will see you upstairs?”
Shauna nodded, and Melissa left with a quick thank you , leaving Shauna frowning at the empty doorway. Jackie had told Shauna a lot of stuff about all of her cousins, most of which Shauna only half listened to.
She remembered Jackie telling her that Melissa had gotten accepted to MIT, that she was some sort of engineering genius , Jackie's exact words.
They had set sail by the time Shauna joined her friends again, sitting down between Jackie and Melissa, accepting the can of cider Jackie handed her.
“How's your friend?” Shauna leaned a little closer to Melissa as she spoke, Shauna's eyes not leaving the competitive Mario Kart race happening on the screen between Lottie, Van, and two of Melissa's brothers.
Melissa nodded mid drink of her beer. “She took one of the pills when I left, I'm gonna go check on her soon.”
Gen joined them a few hours later, still looking a little pale but was at least up on her feet. She sat down on the other side of Melissa and immediately leant into her, her head tucking into Melissa's neck as they muttered quietly to each other.
Melissa had called Gen her friend, multiple times, but Shauna wondered if it was just a way of keeping her grandparents from knowing that maybe it was more than that.
Mario Kart dissolved into drinking games, then to them breaking off into small groups.
Shauna had sort of checked out from the conversation she was in with Jackie and Taissa, and Melissa seemed to notice, because around midnight she felt Melissa nudge her knee with her own, prompting Shauna to look over at her.
“Do you wanna go smoke?” Melissa questioned quietly.
“Smoke?” Shauna arched an eyebrow, a mischievous little grin pulling on Melissa’s lips.
“Yeah, smoke.”
Shauna knew the boat was a good size, but it wasn’t that big, she was sure Melissa’s parents, or Jackie's, would be able to smell it, but she decided not to bring that up. “Sure, yeah.”
Melissa smiled, placing a hand on Gen’s shoulder as she stood, telling her she would be right back.
Gen placed a hand on Melissa’s in acknowledgment, her conversation with Van not faltering.
It was intimate, and kind of sweet, and it had Shauna curious again, Jackie had never mentioned Melissa having a girlfriend.
Jackie caught Shauna's wrist as she stood, frowning up at her. “Where you going?” she asked, glancing past her toward Melissa, who was walking out the door.
“Melissa wanted to show me something,” Shauna lied, and she knew Jackie could tell, but she didn't push, instead squeezing Shauna's wrist and turning back to her conversation.
Melissa was waiting for her outside the door, flashing Shauna a little smile. “What was Jackie saying?”
“Just asked where I was going.” Shauna shrugged. “I told her you wanted to show me something.
Melissa grinned. “Good, I don't wanna share what little I have on the boat with everyone.”
“But you don't mind sharing with me?” Shauna teased, grinning over at Melissa.
“You looked bored and I could use the company.” Melissa shrugged. “I left some at the house when I was there at Christmas, so I will share then.”
Melissa led her to the cabin she was sharing with Gen, disappeared to a room off to the left while Shauna lingered in the middle of the room, looking around at the slightly messy space.
Melissa reappeared, with a small box in her hand and holding a hoodie out to Shauna, nodding down to the long sleeves t-shirt she was wearing. “It’s gonna be freezing out there, and I don’t want to have to freeze my ass off in the name of chivalry.”
Shauna snorted and took the hoodie, holding it up to see Highlanders, Melissa's high school soccer team, plastered on the front. “Are you trying to get me in a different school's colours?”
Melissa grinned cheekily at her, “Red’ll look better on you.” she said, moving to start rolling each of them a joint.
“Won’t your parents lose it if they find out?” Shauna asked, watching as Melissa expertly rolled the joint.
“My parents gave me it for my birthday,” Melissa snorted. “Jackie’s parents are the problem, but I know my aunt pops sleeping pills and uncle Gregg finished off a bottle of whiskey by himself, so they won’t be a problem.”
Shauna hummed, watching the way Melissa - admittedly long– fingers easily worked to wrap the joint.
Then she brought it up to her mouth and Shauna had to look away then, if Melissa's fingers were apparently doing something for her she couldn't watch what happened next.
“There's a spot at the back of the boat that's mostly hidden from the wind.” Melissa explained as she led them out of the room. “Whenever we're here I usually hide up there with Jack, just to get away from the adults.”
Shauna smiled at the image of young Jackie and Melissa hiding from their parents, and teenage Jackie and Melissa smoking up there.
They ended up in a little divot at the back of the boat, a wall at their back and sides to stop the wind but there was a clear view of the darkness in front of them.
“So,” Melissa started as she lit her joint, the initial ignition of the end sparking up lighting up Melissa's eyes in the darkness. “Did Jackie cry to let her parents bring you guys?”
Shauna laughed at the random question, lighting her own joint when Melissa passed her the lighter. “I wasn't there unfortunately but almost definitely.”
Melissa chuckled and shook her head. “She used to get everything she wanted when we were kids just by putting on the waterworks.”
“Proper little princess,” Shauna added with a fond smile.
“She used her powers for good, though.” Melissa said, her face playfully serious. “Whenever me or my brothers wanted something she would do it.”
“How benevolent of her.” Shauna said dryly, smiling mostly to herself when Melissa laughed. “What are you studying? At MIT.”
Melissa frowned. “How do you know about that?”
“Like you need to ask,” Shauna snorted. “She was, like, ridiculous proud of you when she found out.”
Melissa smiled sweetly, almost bashfully. “Aerospace engineering,”
“So, NASA?”
Melissa shrugged. “Maybe. Or maybe the ESA. Honestly, anything like that is, like, the dream.”
“I've never really thought about it,” Shauna muttered, tilting her head back to peer up at the dark, starlit sky. “What's happening up there”
“I've loved it since I was a kid,”
“You had stars on your ceiling, right?” Shauna said, before realising just how creepy that sounded. “Jackie liked them, she would always come home and talk about them, kept asking her parents for them.”
“Thanks for clarifying.” Melissa laughed. “Don't worry, I won't think you're a creep for knowing shit about me if you don't think I am for knowing shit about you.”
“What do you know about me?” Shauna frowned, turning to Melissa, who smirked cheekily.
“Oh, lots of things.” It was said in a lofty tone, like Melissa knew too much, but Shauna knew Jackie wouldn't tell her anything important.
Melissa's mischievous smile confirmed that for her.
“Mostly soccer stuff.” Melissa shrugged. “That you were dating Jeff's best friend, that you got into Brown. She was proud of you for that, by the way.”
Shauna thought back to the twisting anxiety of telling Jackie she was applying for Brown, she thought about just not telling her at all, but she knew that would just be worse in the long run.
Jackie had lit up at the idea, immediately offering to help her out with the application. She had never outright said she had been proud but she was always supportive.
“Yeah, I was scared to tell her, she had all these plans.”
“The pink and green room.” Melissa hummed, taking a long drag. “She's sad you'll be four hours away, but she's still happy for you.”
“She will drive up every weekend,”
“I hope not, for other road user's sake.” Melissa snorted, her head falling back to stare at the sky again.
Shauna smiled at the playful dig, her eyes lingering on Melissa for a few more seconds, her mind hazy and quiet, before mirroring Melissa.
“What do you like so much about it?” Shauna asked, her eyes locking in on one particular star and didn't stray.
“Everything,” Melissa said with a shrug. “The big stuff is interesting but so is all the small stuff.”
“Would you go up there? If you had the chance.”
“Absolutely, I'd go to Mars on a one way trip if I could.” Melissa tilted her head to look at Shauna. “Would you? Go to space.”
“I'm not even great with planes so, no.” Shauna snorted.
Melissa smiled, something sweet and soft. “That's fair.”
They smoked mostly in silence after that, staring up at the starlit sky, even a little while after Melissa had jammed the ends of the joints into her empty bottle.
Shauna felt a little like she was floating, the sound of the waves only adding to that sensation. “Can we stay out here for a while?”
Melissa shrugged easily, her head still tilted back. “Sure, I love it out here.”
Shauna was never really good with people, Jackie had been an anomaly, a persistent kid who wouldn't take no for an answer, and the other girls were thrust upon her when she joined the team.
But Melissa was easy, she had this laid bad vibe that seemed to radiate out to the people around her.
Or maybe it was just the weed.
Jackie clocked them immediately when they re-entered the room, her eyes narrowing, the barest hint of a smile on her lips.
“She wanted to show you something, huh?” Jackie smirked, and Shauna smiled lazily at her and shrugged.
Melissa had made a b-line for the kitchen to grab snacks, dropping a few beside Shauna, if she decided she wanted any.
“Are you high?” Van asked, narrowing her eyes at Melissa.
“Maybe,” Melissa grinned as she popped a few more chips into her mouth.
“What the fuck?” Van huffed, her eyes moving to Shauna. “And you shared with Shauna?”
“What the fuck is that supposed to mean?” Shauna scowled while Melissa laughed.
“I have some at the house, I'll share then.” Melissa huffed.
“How do you have some at the house?” Jackie frowned.
Melissa shrugged easily, her smile relaxed. “Left that at Christmas.” she said, grinning around her bottle as she took a swig.
Shauna felt her cheeks heat up a little at the sight, turning her eyes away and making eye contact with Natalie, who was watching her knowingly but, in true Natalie fashion, she didn't bring it up, simply giving Shauna a nod and looking off toward Van.
Most of the girls headed to bed not long after that, when she headed down with Jackie and Natalie it was only Melissa and Gen still downstairs.
Shauna tossed and turned for an hour or so, she had never been good at sleeping in new places, so just after half two she decided to get up, just sit up for a bit to sober up then maybe she could sleep.
She knew someone was awake as she came up to the door, the light from the TV filtering under the door, but she couldn't hear talking so she figured it would be either Gen or Melissa.
When she opened the door she knew it was Melissa, even though she was sitting with her back to Shauna, her hood up.
“Can't sleep?” Melissa glanced back at Shauna's voice, looking a little startled. “Sorry.”
“I just wasn't expecting anyone to be up,” Melissa said, her chin resting on the back of the sofa. “You okay?”
“Yeah, I just couldn't sleep.” Shauna shrugged, her eyes straying to the TV, playing something about the ancient Greek. “What are you watching?”
“It's like a mix of stuff about the ancient Greek and Greek myths.” Melissa glanced back at the TV. “You just missed a romantic one, kind of. As romantic as mythology can be.”
“Oh, yeah?” it had never been something that interested Shauna, mythology of any kind really, but she found herself moving closer to Melissa anyway.
“Yeah, some musician whose wife died so he went down to the underworld, right? Which is nuts on its own ‘cause very few mortals have ever done it. Then he played the god of the underworld some music, and it's so good Hades is like yeah, you can have her back but you can't look at her until you're out of the underworld. ” Shauna found herself smiling at the rambled, very roguish take on the myth. “Easy, you would think. But this guy gets suspicious that it isn't really her and looks, and when he does she disappears.”
“This is the kind of stuff you watch to relax?” Shauna tilted her head curiously.
“It's calming.” Melissa shrugged, nudging her head to the sofa beside her. “Maybe it will be enough to bore you to sleep.”
Shauna smiled at the invite, moving to side down near Melissa's feet, tucking her legs under herself.
“Could you not sleep?” Shauna asked, glancing at Melissa.
“I kind of toss and turn a lot if I go to bed while my brain is still going,” Melissa shrugged. “I didn't think that would be fair to Gen so I'm just hanging out here until I'm tired.”
“Are those tablets still working?”
“Yeah, she still had a bit of colour in her cheeks when she went up to bed.” Melissa smiled. “Thank you, by the way.”
“Yeah, no problem. Turns out I don't get seasick, anyway.”
“Well that's good, you'll be spending a lot of time on this boat.” Melissa said, her eyes moving back to the TV.
Shauna watched the show in silence with Melissa until it finished, Melissa yawning and stretching.
“I'm gonna head to bed, Gen will probably have me up for breakfast.” Melissa groaned as she stood.
“Yeah, me too.” Shauna stood with her, following her to the cabins, Melissa turning to Shauna when they reached her door, but continued to walk backwards.
“Night, Shauna.” she said, almost tumbling over a small box attached to the wall, but quickly righted herself, but continued to walk backwards.
“Watch where you’re going,” Shauna chuckled, rolling her eyes at the sheepish grin. “Goodnight, Melissa.”