Wrecked by Elle Casey Page A

to him!”  Candi begged, desperate not to be totally humiliated.  All she needed was Kevin to know she was crushing on him.  It would ruin this cruise completely.  He’d probably feel sorry for her and avoid her, which would make her feel like a complete idiot loser.
    “Don’t worry, your secret is safe with me.  And a little word of advice for you … I love my brother and everything, don’t get me wrong … but he’s not exactly very good boyfriend material.”
    “You don’t have to beat around the bush, Sarah.  I know what you’re really trying to say.”
    “No, seriously, that is what I’m trying to say – he’s not a very good boyfriend.”
    Candi started to get mad.  She was offended Sarah didn’t think she was good enough for Kevin.  Of course, Candi didn’t think she herself was good enough for Kevin, but that was a different issue.
    “Yeah, okay, so I know I’m not good enough for your amazing brother, I get it.  Let’s just drop it.”  Candi stepped over to the bed so she could try to re-pack her messy suitcase.
    Sarah reached out, touching Candi’s shoulder.  “Um, no, Candi, that’s not what I’m saying.”  She sighed in frustration.  “What I mean is that my brother usually goes out with girls who are stupid – girls he won’t fall in love with because they have nothing going on upstairs.”  She tapped her temple to emphasize her point.  “He uses them.  He sleeps with them.  And after a while, when he gets bored, he dumps them.  So like I said – he really isn’t a very nice boyfriend.”
    “Oh.  I guess I had no idea about that.”  Candi smiled tentatively, seeing that Sarah was actually trying to be nice.  “Thanks for looking out for me, Sarah.”
    Sarah brushed off her gratitude.  “Yeah, that’s me.  Always looking out for the little people.  Come on, let’s get out of here.  It’s getting too misty in here for my taste.”  She sniffed as she grabbed her small bag and headed towards the door.
    Candi kept smiling to herself.  Sarah had a hard time taking thanks from people and accepting gestures of friendship and she hid her uneasiness with sarcastic or mean remarks.  Candi could see now that this was just a defense mechanism, not meant to be personal.  She wondered what kind of life Sarah must have had to decide she wanted to have relationships like this with people.  It made Candi feel sorry for her.
    “Are you coming or not?  I want to show off my masterpiece if you’re up for it.”
    Candi smiled, brushing off her feelings of pity.  Sarah was tough – she didn’t need pity.  “Yep, I’m ready.  Let’s go meet some boys.”
    “No, dahhling,” Sarah corrected her, using her upper crust, sophisticated voice, “let’s go meet some men .”
    Candi laughed, tentatively.  She wasn’t so sure about the men thing, but she was definitely sure she wanted to go strut her stuff.  She’d never felt so beautiful before, and soon she would be having dinner with Kevin.  She wondered what he would think of her new look.
    “Let’s go to the club lounge that’s on the same deck as the dinner place.  That way we won’t have too far to walk to meet the parents.”
    “Fine, lead the way.”
    The girls left the cabin, heading off to the lounge.
    ***
    Sarah realized shortly after entering the lounge that Candi was no longer next to her, and stopped.  She turned around to see Candi still standing in the entrance, looking like a deer caught in the headlights.  Sarah walked back and grabbed her by the elbow.
    “Come on, little girl.  Time to go to the big girl party.”
    “What?” mumbled Candi, obviously panicked.
    “Never mind, just follow me.”
    Sarah led her over to the bar.  
    “We’d like two margaritas, please.”  She smiled at the bartender and leaned a little towards him at the same time, giving him a nice view of her cleavage.
    The bartender smiled back. “How old is your friend?” he said, gesturing with a slight