Chapter 24

                                    

                                          
Dannie pulled the comforter of the mattress idly as she waited for Seth to come back.  They had been outside talking for quite some time now but Dannie didn't want to go out and interrupt whatever they were saying.  
                          
The sound of laughter awakened Dannie from her state of daydreaming and she looked up to see Seth giving Kate a light-hearted smile.  He never looks at me like that, she thought with a tinge of jealousy.
                          
 Dannie stood up and approached them and Seth looked at her.  
                          
"Are you feeling up to dinner at the mess hall today?" he asked, still chuckling from whatever Kate had said to him.
                          
Dannie pondered the thought.  For the duration of this trip, they had ordered their dinner to eat on their balcony rather than eat in the crowded mess hall for their three meals.  But she wanted to have the complete experience of being on a cruise ship so she complied.
                          
"Great!  It's a date then," Kate said with false enthusiasm.  
                          
"A date?" Dannie asked.  Was Kate referring to Seth and herself or Seth and Dannie?
                          
"Yeah, Seth is taking me on a date," Kate said smugly.
                          
"But..." Dannie trailed off giving Seth and accusing look.  It was only a few days ago when they had made themselves and official couple.
                          
"Wait!  Hang on Kate.  Dannie and I are sort of together," Seth said looking between the girls frantically before wrapping and arm around Dannie's waist to prove his point.
                          
"Sort of?" Dannie questioned.
                          
"But you just said out there that it was date," Kate said pointing to the door where they had just walked through.  Dannie leered at the girl quietly, trying to annihilate her with her brainpower.
                          
"I thought you were joking," Seth said uncomfortably.
                          
"Well he's not.  So go find yourself another guy," Dannie snapped taking a menacing step forward.  Seth immediately tightened his grip on her, hoping he wouldn't have to stop a cat fight.  Well, with Dannie it was more like a dog fight.
                          
"He's just going to leave you in a matter of days, so enjoy him while you can, bitch," Kate said, hissing the last part quietly so Seth wouldn't hear.
                          
Dannie didn't reply, keeping an indifferent expression on her face as Kate stormed out of the room.
                          
"What did she want you for?" Dannie asked quietly.
                          
"Nothing important," was all Seth replied.  Dannie's lips arched into a frown.  "Do you still want to go to dinner?"
                          
"Nah, I think I'll just stay in my room for tonight."
                          
Seth turned Dannie around so that she could face him and looked her sternly in the eye.
                          
"If you don't show up at dinner, Kate's going to think that she's won.  I may be Kate's friend but you have to show her that she can't shake you."
                          
"How am I supposed to do that when she has shaken me?" Dannie snapped.
                          
Seth looked taken aback for a moment before dismal look flashed across his face.  "She really had gotten into you?"
                          
"You and I both know that a long term relationship won't work," Dannie said, trying not to snap at him again.
                          
"You don't think we'll work, Dannie?" Seth asked incredulously, his voice growing steadily higher.
                          
"I do, I just think that maybe we should take a break," Dannie said boldly.  As soon as the words slipped out, she wished they hadn't.  But it was true.  All week long, she had been entertaining the thought; there wasn't one person she knew who had survived a long distance relationship.