Who: Liz and Rowan What: Liz and Rowan catch up When: Lunch Time (second day of Cruise) Where: Buffet Rating: low
Liz had never been on a cruise before. She didn’t think she’d ever be on one back home for a variety of reasons, but mostly because they were expensive and while her dad owned his own diner, it wasn’t like they were rich. She also thought if she was going to travel, she’d do the whole backpacking thing.
Hungry, Liz made her way to one of the buffet areas and headed for the fruits. She caught sight of someone familiar there. “Rowan. Hi.”
–
Rowan was happy to be on another cruise. Being stuck in Madison was probably the only way she’d ever end up on a cruise unless she somehow survived and ended up on one when older. Best part for her was how the cruise was going to different places than the last one, allowing her to see other parts of the world. Considering it was up in the air on whether she’d ever see anywhere outside of New Mexico.
Already having hit a few activities with being up early, she found herself starving and hitting up the buffet. Filling up a plate when she heard someone say her name, turning to see Liz. The sight of her friend brought a huge smile on her face. “Hey! How are you enjoying this surprise vacation?” She asked, excited to hear about what her friend had been doing even if it was only day two.
—
“Well, they’ve been… interesting so far.” She smiled though, which showed it wasn’t too bad, whatever her experiences have been. “I woke up with MJ in the same bed, so while that was a little weird, at least it wasn’t a complete stranger, right?” She reached over to grab some salad. “And this is my first cruise and I think the destinations sound really interesting.” Maybe that made her more of a nerd, but she was a nerd, so…
“What about you?”
–
Rowan had been ready to ask whether it was a good or bad interesting, but Liz’s face told her the answer before she even asked. "At least, it seems to be a good interesting? And yeah, weird is much better than a complete stranger." Maybe not for some, but Rowan knew it wouldn’t be fun for her, and from what she knew of Liz, it wouldn’t be fun for her either. "How are you two doing?" She asked, looking over at Liz for a moment before returning to the food in front of her to grab a bit more. "Technically, this is my second, thanks to the dome or whoever is in charge of deciding to give us this trip. I haven’t fully decided on how I feel about the destination," she admitted. "Well, I woke up sharing a bed with Liam," she told Liz. The two may have started seeing one another, but it was weird waking up in bed with him. "It wasn’t horrible or anything, just not the way I expected to wake up in the morning after going to bed by myself, you know? I know him, and that’s the important part." If she hadn’t ended up with Liam, then she’d have wanted one of her friends rather than some stranger. —
“I think MJ was more unnerved than me, but she hasn’t been in Madison as long as me so I guess I’ve gotten used to all the weird stuff that happens… well, as used to it as anyone can get, anyway.” Liz wasn’t sure you got used to it entirely, but it wasn’t as earth shattering. “Once we found Peter and heard it was kind of normal, I think everyone eased up a little, which is good.” Liz wanted everyone she cared about to have a good time.
She nodded about Liam. “Was he okay with it? I mean, I’m sure he was. I guess it depends on how far along you two are…” Would she have been embarrassed waking up next to Peter? She didn’t know.
–
“I think once you’ve been here long enough, you learn to roll with it the best you can no matter how screwed up it might be,” she offered. Rowan knew she dealt with most of the weird situations brought on by the dome better than she did in the beginning, which was a big deal considering she came from a world where everything was pretty normal compared to others. “This is the second time the dome has done a cruise since I’ve been around, but I do remember last time hearing it wasn’t the first one. So while it’s not normal for people outside a dome waking up on a cruise ship, it’s normal for the dome life.” That was something Rowan never thought she’d say in her life, but here she was.
Rowan chuckled before shrugging slightly. “I think he’s fine with it? Probably a little caught off guard like I was. We’re not that far along, but I’m hoping it will be fine. If not, I’ll be coming to crash in the room of one of my friends,” she added the last part with a laugh. “I’m joking about the coming to crash in any of the other rooms unless we had plans for a sleepover type thing.” That was the only way she would do it, but then she bounced a bit in her shoes. “We should do that though! Just like you and I should go hit up one of the activities since it feels like forever since we hung out and did something.” Which Rowan could blame on herself with how chaotic things have been mostly thanks to the dome. Bringing Stinger around had done a number on her.
—
Well, it was reassuring that it had happened before. Even if it felt weird to suddenly find yourself somewhere else again, that people had experience was nice and that meant that maybe they’d know what to expect. It left Liz feeling a little better and she’d tell MJ when she saw her friend.
“That’s good. I have no idea what would have happened if Peter ended up with MJ or I. Since we’re trying that whole… three person dating thing. I think it’d make things, awkward.” At least for the odd person out.
Liz perked up at Rowan’s suggestion. “Yeah? I’d like that a lot. It’d be nice to do something with you.” Rowan was right, they hadn’t had a lot of time together just the two of them lately. Now seemed like a good opportunity to fix that. “Want to go take a look at the itinerary together? I think it’s not too far from here.”
–
Rowan had almost made a face at the three person dating thing. Not because she was judging since while she would’ve in the past, she avoided that now or tried, especially when it was people who she cared about. While her one meeting with MJ had been as a different person, she did know both Liz and Peter. No, the almost face was because she had put herself in the shoes for a moment and couldn’t even imagine trying that. More power to them since Rowan knew it wasn’t something she could do without feeling awkward and very uncomfortable.
“Yeah, that might be a bit on the awkward side. How is that going with the trying aspect? This way you guys can spend time with Peter without one person feeling left out of the mess.” Rowan didn’t know MJ well enough to comment on her, but from how much she knew about Liz, this was not something she’d expect from her friend; however, if Liz was happy, then she was happy for her.
Smiling at how Liz perked up at the suggestion, Rowan knew the hanging out went both ways and lately, she had been slacking. Definitely something she’d need to change once back in the town. Reaching out more to do things with her friends since they were the most important people to her. She’d need to make a note of that when back in her room. “I’m always down for spending time with you, Liz! Even if I’ve been a very sucky friend lately.” She nodded at the question. “Yes, we can go see some options we both like then pick from there or what we may want to do. We’ll bring our food to eat while we go check it out!” She offered, figuring they wouldn’t care all that much as long as they didn’t make a mess.
—
"It's, um… well, it's not going bad, I guess?" Their dates with all three of them were kind of more like friends hanging out. Liz had no basis for what it was meant to look like though so for all she knew, that was normal. Liz had her good days and her bad days when it came to the whole trio things. She knew when she was with Peter, things melted away and she was happy. MJ was a great friend too. She couldn't help wondering if she was into girls if this whole thing would 'work' better.
"I like the sound of that." The food while they went to look. Rowan could be a lot like Maria sometimes - a lot of fun energy that Liz didn't have on her own. "Want to head there now?"
–
“You guess?” Rowan felt like there was something to unpack with that statement, but she wasn’t about to put Liz on the spot. She hoped the girl knew if she needed to talk, then she was here for her. But even if she was concerned, she wasn’t about to ruin the cruise by asking what may be a question or thought Liz didn’t want to deal with. “Well, I hope you know I’m here if you need anything,” she offered up. It was leaving the question alone while also making sure Liz knew she was here just in case she didn’t already know that.
“Yes, and before we head off to anything, I’m going to need to grab myself a coffee,” she warned though anyone who knew Rowan was not going to be surprised by that. The girl had a coffee addiction and it was her drug of choice that she’d never ever give up. “But come on we’ll go see what catches our attention!” Rowan turned to head in the direction to go see what they felt like doing.