Use my phone! Accept my apology! Can we try again? I swallowed the nonstarters and blew out a grumpy sigh. What was the use? Why would Vic want to talk to me after the way I had ghosted them? Being the bad guy sucked.

I flumped to a chair at a table in the shade of the overhanging deck. I had been on the way back to the room to tell Devon that the crew couldn't move us to a larger suite. However, I needed to vent first. I jabbed the Facetime button on my phone, and I waited for my best friend to answer. "This is a disaster!" I wailed.

"You haven't been on the ship a day. Calm down." Breanna's masked face filled the screen. Amusement colored her voice.

"Girl, Devon thought I was bothered by having to spend two weeks alone with him. So, he invited a friend to take your spot. The friend is Vic Diwata!" I whisper-screamed.

Breanna's laughing eyes widened. "Shut the fuck up! Did he really?!"

"Yes, yes!" I sobbed. Breanna had heard enough about my old flame over the years to understand my dilemma.

"That is wild! What is with your luck, girl? You're not over Vic, but you're too into Devon for y'all to be crammed together for two weeks like this. Do they know?"

My eyes smarted as I shook my head. I felt déclassé for wanting them both. "And I'm interrupting you at work. Where are my manners? I'm sorry, Bre—"

"Honey, I'm on my lunchbreak. Let's figure this out."

"I told you I couldn't go on this cruise without you." My humorless laughter morphed into a groan. "I have feelings for Devon, but there isn't a closet big enough to hide my attraction to Vic, which is why I ghosted them. I can't be myself with them here. I mean, what am I? Am I bi? Am I pan? I can't be that! Because my parents—"

A woman swishing by in a brightly colored skirt backtracked. "Did I hear you say you want your fortune told?" She juggled a tacky crystal ball from hand to hand.

My forehead crinkled at the interruption. Her irises were two different colors—gorgeous, but kind of weird. "No, thank you," I replied, catching Bre's eye on the phone. "Anyway, I can't, okay? I don't want anyone to get hurt, especially not my parents."

"Sweetheart, what do Craig and Melinda have to do with this?" My best friend scrunched her eyes, peeved. I knew that look and what would come after it. "When you say you can't be yourself, you mean you can't be the version of yourself that you fake for your parents' approval with Vic there. The real you will come out. Well, maybe Devon needs to see the real you. He'd love you! Look, I get that you want to keep your parents happy, but you do NOT have to live your life for anyone except you."

"Go best friend, go! Bestie understands the assignment. Your Day-One should always remind you to step into your power. Tuh! Where are my manners?" The woman spoke with a New Orleans dialect. She took a seat across the table from me and dug out a card that read, "Diviner to the Stars," name-dropping Sza, Kehlani, and Chloe Bailey. "Samentha, pronouns she/her. Nice to meet you. Are you sure you don't have a question for your guides to answer?"

"Oh, crap," Breanna hissed, preoccupied with something on her end. "Let me call you back, Lex. The physician's assistant keeps popping her head in here, and I'm already five minutes over my break."

I tucked away the diviner's card. "I thought you said you had the time, Breanna."

"I'm gonna call you later. M'kay? I love you. Bye-eeeee!" Bre ended the call.

Suppressing a frustrated growl, I shook the diviner's hand, though my mind leapt back to freshman year. A few late-semester drinks with Vic had ended in vodka-soaked cherry kisses on the dance floor, a rushed introduction to queer sex in the backseat of the math tutor's Subaru Forester. Still, Vic hadn't been and would never be what my parents envisioned for my future.

Devon, on the other hand, was. Despite a rough background, he had impressed my folks with his intellect, grit, and determination. There was also something wild and furious within him, drawing me like a song to which we both knew the words. I felt like he might understand me.

However, it was trippy to have sexual vibes for two different people. I didn't want to care what my parents would think I should do. Could divination help me figure out how to move forward with this vacation? Whether or not I believe in clairvoyance, Samentha might spew practical advice, woman to woman.

"Samentha, is it? I'd love some guidance," I gushed.

"An excellent choice." Samentha squinted at the crystal ball. In the afternoon sunlight, the transparent orb gleamed like it held the cheat code to life within its glowy depths. She squinted at me with a grin. "And choices abound! Beaucoup choices."

"Uh-huh, you eavesdropped on my conversation," I scoffed.

The woman waved a careless hand. "Aye, the universe puts me in the right places, at the right times. You're at a point in life where the status of your parents' approval can make or break the support you can expect from them when you move into the real world. It's tempting to see them as scapegoats for the decisions you make or fail to make right now."

My jaw dropped at the misread. "Ma'am, I have a degree in criminal justice, and I minored in behavioral science. I think I understand accountability, thank you. For example, it was silly of me to think you could help. See? Holding myself accountable. Be blessed." Miffed, I rose to leave.

"Oh, I know the truth is more complicated, Lexie Cambridge."

When had I told her my name? I hesitated, trying to remember.

"Accountability," she coaxed me with a nod, "rarely follows a straight track. Everything is connected. You're a product of your home environment, but your home environment is a microcosm of the community. Double back, communities are made up of individuals, and the cycle goes on, a snake swallowing its tail.

"Choices, choices, beaucoup choices being made by everybody, everywhere." Samentha's full lips parted in a gap-toothed smile. "What—if anything—is within anybody's control, understand? See, a moment ago, you said you wanted to make your move on this new moon cruise."

"I—I didn't exactly say that." But I had thought it.

"And, through no fault of your own, fate has conspired to make you show and prove. Looks like you have to make a decision, Little Miss Alexis."

I hadn't told her my name. Had Samentha heard Breanna say it? It was possible, but I couldn't remember my friend calling me by name, either. The diviner's astute observations snagged my curiosity. I slowly returned to my seat. "Choose between Vic and Devon? Alright, that's like asking whether I want to get rid of art or music for the rest of my life. Two weeks is not enough time to decide something so consequential."

"Life comes at you fast." Samentha lifted her eyebrows. "Your guides want to gift you with a touch of magic for a fortnight."

I cackled. "What do you mean, like the game? What magic?"

"They want to give you the gift of urgency, boo. For fourteen days, whenever you make an honest, satisfying, snap-decision on your own, you'll find yourself rewarded. The quicker the better 'cause the quicker the truer to yourself. You heard me?""

"Rewarded how?" I held a hand over my mouth to hide my skeptical grin. Yep, it had been silly of me to take this woman seriously.

"How would I know that? It depends on what you decide," she said. "A word of warning, though. Use your free will or lose it. Whenever you fail to choose a course of action that satisfies you, you gone find your options—" She rippled her fingers past my face. "—removed, and by the end of this trip, the choice of Devon or Vic will be out of your hands. Now, what else do you need to learn to decide for yourself?" She set aside the crystal ball and opened her palms.

I blinked at her and shook my head. "I better go and grab lunch." With a polite smile, I stood to my feet a second time. I had to get back to the room and to see how the three of us were supposed to cohabitate.

Samentha's coy smirk arrested me. "Lunch sounds divine. This ship has a fancy Michelin-starred dining room, up-tempo casual restaurants, poolside hibachi. The spa has food, too! Or maybe you'd like to order room service? Your choice."

Damn, it was too many choices, and I didn't have time to think. "You know what? I'm not even hungry." My stomach growled loud and wrong as I hurried off.

"Good to meet you, Alexis. Enjoy your stay with Three's Company."

I checked my reflection in the windows I passed as I sped to my stateroom. Loose tendrils of kinky hair wisped around a face that refused to betray my inner turmoil. Perfect. I needed Devon and Vic to think I had my shit together until I could figure out what to do with them.

And how the hell had Samentha known my name?

~*~

Later that evening, after Devon had agreed to a club night out, I went to the spa. The Libra in me needed to look and feel good, especially for a date. I made one last stop at the overpriced cruise line gift shop before returning to the room.

When I tiptoed in, the stateroom was empty, and I climbed in bed, reveling in the solitude. The heavy tiredness that had clung to me throughout the morning finally had its way with me. It had been draining, comparing the pros and cons of getting serious with Devon versus reigniting things with Vic. Add to that the tension of my wishes being at odds with my parents'? I slept hours.

The hushed rustle of curtains opening awakened me. My eyes narrowed. Cool moonlight slanted across my face. It had to be around eight or nine o'clock.

"Am I late?" I mumbled.

From the balcony, Devon peered over his shoulder.

It hit me that we hadn't done any of the things I had daydreamed for this trip. No lounging on deck, watching the shoreline recede together. No taking pictures to catalogue our every holiday move. A wistful sigh escaped, and I sat up and scooted to the edge of the bed.

"I was trying not to disturb you," he said.

"It's fine. I hadn't planned on sleeping that long."

I joined him imbibing the magnificence of the nocturnal seascape. The ocean smelled like adventure. Faint music and excited chatter roared distantly in the background. Overhead was a purple sky with lavender clouds, pinpricks of yellow stars, and a new moon, like Samentha had promised.

Irrespective of the lack of a romantic send-off, it was surreal that Devon and I had weeks left of this.

I caught his nervousness. His shoulder brushed mine, and I gave him a nervous smile. Did he feel the chemistry? Was I leading him on with Vic? Technically not. I wasn't official with either of them. Devon's eyes held mine and slid to my mouth. He licked his lips with a hunger I recognized because we matched energies. We inched closer as the silence thickened.

Without warning, the door to the stateroom flung open, and Vic entered.

I shifted—a subconscious, thoughtless retreat—which I didn't even realize I had done until too late. Devon nodded ruefully. "About the club tonight, you probably need your rest."

"No! I mean, if you. . . I still want to go out," I stammered.

Vic hummed tunelessly, ignoring us. My gaze flicked from them to Dev and back again. Yet, Vic heaved a gusty sigh and disappeared into the en suite with their luggage. Crisis averted. I crossed my fingers that the gift shop phone I had placed in their things would allow them to reach their family. With the data package I had purchased, calls could be made even this far out.

Devon cleared his throat. I tore my attention from the en suite door and squeezed my eyes shut. "Should we maybe talk about the elephant in the room?" I asked.

He poked my side and smiled. "You don't have to explain a damn thing. We can be three friends on vacation together. Nothing more, nothing less."

Then, he placed a soft kiss on my forehead and released me, shouting a joke to Vic through the en suite wall as he powered on the stateroom television. Three friends, huh? Nothing more, nothing less. FML.