“Seven A.M., the usual morning lineup,” is what woke Jason up the next morning.
It was coming from somewhere he couldn’t quite place. But that was because he was in a room that, until now, he’d only seen dimly lit, while he was also very mentally distracted. He sat up out of bed and looked around for where the music’s origin could be. Ahh, there it was on the other side of the bed’s nightstand. Kelly’s hand reached out from under the sheets and stopped the tune. Her head turned, and she opened her eyes.
“Oh, good morning, Jason,” she said with a little awkwardness in her tone. “Sorry about the alarm, I just have it always on.”
“No worries,” replied Jason, “I need to probably head out and start getting ready for the wedding anyway. I guess you do too, huh?”
“Oh, I don’t have to be there until right before it starts. I’m guessing you have more things to be part of?”
“Yeah, there’s a bunch of photos to take while they’re getting dressed and whatnot. Need to be there by nine.”
Kelly abruptly sat up, and the covers slid down a bit, reminding Jason that she was still naked. He was suddenly ready for round two and started to lean in towards her. She slightly recoiled to his lean, and Jason’s confidence deflated.
“Oh, uh, I’m sorry. I guess. Well, I guess I’ll head out then,” Jason said, trying his best not to show her his sudden feeling of shame.
“Sorry, I had a great night, Jason, but…”
Jason’s eyes widened. Dear god, what had he just done? He thought he’d focused on her needs, but she probably just faked it all to-.
“I think you’re late. It’s 9:30.”
“What!? Your alarm said 7!” Screamed Jason as he jumped out of the bed and started looking around for his clothes.
“That’s just the lyrics for the movie...”
Jason found his underwear and quickly put it on. He realized after grabbing his jeans that his phone was still in his pocket, so he pulled it out and took a look: 22 messages and 6 missed calls. He put one hand on his head to absorb how much everyone was going to hate him right now. Kelly just stared at Jason, now standing still, reading texts while only wearing fairly tight blue boxer briefs. She felt bad about his stress right now, but she couldn’t stop being distracted. She had no regrets.
“Fuck, I’m sorry, but I’ve gotta go right now,” said Jason in a stressed voice. He started moving towards the door, still looking at his phone.
“For sure,” she said back to him. Jason, still staring at his phone, reached out for the door handle. “But maybe you should put your pants on first?”
Now fully clothed, Jason speed walked down the hall to his room. He opened up his missed calls and saw that 5 were from Greg, one from David. He switched to the text messages and started reading Greg’s first.
“Good morning! We’re on our way to the buffet if you want to meet up.”
“We’re heading out now to go get dressed. Do you think you could meet us in our room for some photos?”
“Are you ok?”
“Seriously, we need you now, or we’re going to start running late.”
“You had better be in a coma.”
“We’re going to the main lobby for photos without you. I guess it’ll be on my iPhone instead…”
Then Jason looked at the 2 messages from David.
“????????”
“!!!!!!!!!!!!”
Jason felt like an absolute piece of shit. They got him on this cruise, and he only had one job. One job that he’s already failing at. All caught up, he decided to get it over with and call Greg. It only took a single ring for Greg to pick up.
“So you’re not in a coma then?”
“I am soooo sorry,” pleaded Jason. “I’m getting the camera now and running to you. Maybe, like ten minutes.”
“Well, you already missed us getting dressed, but we’re at the grand staircase in the main lobby now. What the fuck happened?”
“I ended up chatting with-”
“Actually, never mind. It’ll only take you longer. Just get here.”
Greg hung up.
Nine minutes later, Jason, now reasonably dressed with a camera in hand, walked timidly into the main lobby. He was conflicted with how much he wanted Greg and David to know he was there while also not wanting to be seen at all. As he looked around the small crowd moving about, he finally noticed Greg and David standing on the grand staircase.
“I’m so sorry, really. I feel terrible,” said Jason as he walked up to the couple. He could see the annoyance firmly on Greg’s face, but David had more of a wide-eyed, ‘this is awkward’ kind of look on him.
“Yeah, well… let’s just get something still,” replied Greg with a frustrated tone.
“Ok, what would you like to start with?”
David chimed in now, “Just some standard smiling couple shots on the steps here. Maybe start with close-ups and then get some that show off the full stairs. Ooh, maybe one of those fancy high-brow artsy ones where you see the cool ceiling above us.”
“Ok, yeah. Sounds good,” replied Jason as he started looking through the camera at the soon-to-be married couple. “I think where you’re standing is good. Just give me a good smile.”
Jason snapped a couple of shots, turned the camera into portrait mode, and snapped a couple more. He stopped for a second and looked at both of them directly again.
“So, this is awkward, but, uhhh… Greg, despite my tardiness, you do need to smile for these photos.”
David elbowed Greg in the ribs.
“Be happy, honey,” David said through his firm smile.
“That doesn’t make it easier,” said Greg as he winced a bit from the pain. He somehow managed to fake a smile for the camera through it all. “So please at least tell us you had a good reason for delaying our wedding plans.”
“Oh,” said Jason, “well, I started chatting with Kelly last night and-”
David let out a loud squeal of joy right as Jason snapped the next picture.
“Now who’s ruining the photos?” asked Greg sarcastically.
“Shhh, let Jason tell us all about it,” replied David.
“Well,” Jason started as he went back to snapping more photos, “we just kind of hung out and talked for a while and then…”
“Yada, yada, yada?” asked David.
Jason nodded while failing to hold back his grin as he snapped another photo. He knelt at the bottom step to set up the ceiling shot. David let out another squeal with a spurt of joy, clapping this time.
“So this made you forget to set your alarm?” asked Greg while looking at Jason, now lying on the floor.
David responded before Jason could, “Well, it’s ok, we forgive you.”
“I didn’t agree to that yet,” said Greg.
“WE are about to be legally one entity, and I chose to speak for both of us.”
Jason took the last ceiling shot photo and stood back up.
“Ok, anything else before we go to the ceremony venue?” asked Jason.
“Uhh, there are like hundreds more before then,” replied Greg.
“More than enough time for you to tell us all about what you guys discussed last night!” said David.