I walked up that way and there it was: a big, bright, burbling hot tub, set deep into the fake lava rocks. It was perfectly private. Yet, standing there, I could also see the pool below, and beyond that, the glowing white of Cinderella Castle, itself.
In the spa, as I’d now expected, were Emily, Allison, and Mike. However, they had two other people with them. Though, at this point, I can’t say I was stunned to see them, either: Cassie and Jack.
The way the five of them were situated, however, was more unexpected. Mike and Cassie were so close to each other, they looked like a couple. On the other side of the spa, Jack was sitting next to my Emily. In fact, when I first saw him, it looked like he had his arm around her shoulder. But the next time I glanced it was gone.
Allison, seated closest to the stairs by herself, turned and gave me a wide, welcoming grin.
“There he is,” she called out as soon as she saw me. She had a drink in her hand, a colorful glass with pink liquid, and gestured it my way.
“We’ve been drinking!” Emily said, almost bubblier than the hot tub she was sitting in. Again, I wondered at where my reserved, geeky wife had escaped to. Maybe we’d left her at the airport. Like accidentally grabbing a suitcase that looked exactly like mine but turned out to belong to a stranger.
“We definitely have been drinking,” Cassie said. She showed me her own, mostly finished glass.
“Speaking of which, it’s time for the next round,” Jack said, popping up out of the water. “Let me get you something.”
He slapped my shoulder convivially (why did people keep hitting me on this trip?), then lumbered past. I stripped down to my suit and got in, sitting next to Emily. My petite wife had her brown hair up in the same bun as before and had kept her glasses on, as well. Along with the black straps of her bathing suit, she seemed oddly formal for the hot tub.
“I missed you,” Emily said. She leaned over and gave me a wet, sloppy kiss. Tongue and all. It made me feel very aware of everyone around us. “I’m so glad you finally showed up.”
My wife wasn’t a big drinker and I worried that alcohol plus hot tub had equaled trouble. I turned to Allison, sitting on my other side, who seemed to be the soberest of the group.
“She’s fine,” Allison said, “Don’t worry I’ve got you.”
“We’re playing a drinking game,” Cassie said from across the spa, as if that explained everything. She was wearing the same plum bikini from before. Again, I was taken aback by how close she and Mike were sitting. Practically cuddling. “But Allie realized we’ve all been drinking a lot, so we decided to play for other things.”
“I had to kiss Jack,” Emily said, a bit too excitedly. I startled.
“Just on the cheek,” Allison quickly cut in. “It was nothing.”
I nodded back at her in thanks. Emily’s announcement left me feeling oddly off-balance. I wasn’t too worried — Emily simply wasn’t the type to take things too far — but even if she was, I had Allison to keep an eye on things. And we were in Disney, not Vegas, how inappropriate could things get, really?
“Jack smells fantastic,” Emily said, dreamily, “Like wood smoke mixed with something amazing.”
Cassie laughed. “My husband’s cologne collection is unreal,” she said, “Honestly, it makes me feel a little inadequate sometimes.”
“You smell good, too,” Mike said, sniffing at the beautiful blonde. “Like peaches and cream.” Cassie rolled her eyes, but she was chuckling.
I looked over at Allison, aware of how left out she must feel with the other ‘couples.’ So I leaned over and took an oversized sniff of her hair.
“Coconutty,” I said, and the group gave a playful cheer.
At that moment, Jack stepped back into the spa. He distributed tall, icy glasses to each of us, then took his seat on the other side of Emily. She grinned at him, goofily.
“Back to the game!” Mike declared, once he had his new drink in hand.
“I think it was Allison’s turn,” Cassie said.
“Well, we’ve gotta give Paul here a chance to catch up, right?” Jack said. He smiled my way, patronizingly.
I dutifully took a sip of my drink. It tasted like a tropical-style Long Island Iced Tea, with way more alcohol than I would have expected from Mickey. I could see how my wife had gotten underwater so quickly. I had to stop myself before I sank beneath the bubbles, as well.
“We’re playing two truths and a lie,” Cassie said, “If we guess right, you have to drink. Well not anymore. Now you have to do a penalty of the guessers’ choosing.”
“That’s how I ended up kissing Jack,” Emily said, excitedly “Cassie said I had to. Oh, and Mike had to kiss Cassie. And Cassie kissed Allison.”
“I think Paul’s all caught up on who’s been kissing who,” Allison said, a bit of pink rising in her cheeks.
“This is so much fun,” Emily said, “I love Disney.”
Who was this woman?
“You haven’t even been to the parks yet,” Mike said, shaking his head in mock disdain. “OK, so I guess Paul should take a turn. You’ll know when he’s lying, cause he’ll be talking.”
I shot the blond man a glare. I didn’t mind when Allison ribbed me about my reticence, but Mike managed to make it seem cruel.
“Go for it, Paul,” Allison said, then repeated the rules. “Two truths and a lie.”
I did my best to keep my accent neutral. Talking like an American wasn’t hard, I just had to flatten everything out in my mouth. Remembering to do it all the time, especially with alcohol, was the challenge.
“I grew up in Russia,” I said, “I work as a computer programmer. I once won a world championship at chess.”
“No cheating here, Emily,” Jack said, touching my wife’s shoulder, fondly. “Let us all figure it out.”
“It’s gotta be the chess one, right?” Cassie asked, turning to Mike. He shrugged back.
When I scanned the spa, everyone seemed stumped. But then I saw Allison was smirking. She looked very pretty that way. Her blonde hair was dark from the water. Her navy, one-piece swimsuit clung to her athletic body. But it was the fire in her eyes, the thrill of competition, that truly took my breath away. She was downright striking with that gleam — even Cassie came off as plain in comparison.
“It’s number one,” Allison said, “You’re from Ukraine. I remember you telling me the first time we met.”
I had to admit, I was impressed. Even I didn’t remember saying that to Allison. She gave me a winning wink, clearly proud of her own attention to detail.
“Wait, you’re really a world championship chess player?” Cassie asked.
“He played in a regional tournament when he was eight,” Emily said.
“They called it the Local Youth Junior World Championship,” I said with a shrug.
“Still, that’s impressive, Paul,” Cassie said.
I didn’t think it was all that incredible, there were only five other kids in the tournament, but whatever. If the beautiful blonde woman wanted to be impressed, I was more than happy to let her.
“Now to your punishment,” Mike said, rubbing his palms together.
“Paul can kiss me,” Allison said, surprisingly quickly. Then she recovered. “On the cheek, of course. That’s the going rate these days.”