Aboard the Black Rose

     ¨I can’t believe you said no!¨ Cass glanced up briefly from her book to look at her roommate. She was across the room, eyes wide looking at her phone. Then she started tapping away, and to whomever she was talking to Cass knew that they were getting quite the essay. ¨Adam West! Cassandra, you said no to Adam West.”      Cass shrugged slightly quickly going back to her textbook, ¨I don´t know, Emily, I´m just not interested in him.¨      Emily sighed, strode across the room towards Cass, and shoved her phone in her face. On the phone was a picture of Adam West. He was shirtless on a boat in the ocean. His blond hair was messy in a way that made girls want to grab a hold with their fingers. He wore his short low, showing off the cut lines of his abs. His muscles glistened with saltwater, every one of them defined and hard.      ¨Not interested, Cass. How the f**k are you not interested in this.” Emily bit her lower lip as she stared at the picture, “Oh God, what I would let that man do to me.” Her body shivered causing her to tremble and her eyes rolled slightly in the back of her head in euphoric exaggeration.      Cass pushed the phone away from her as she continued to read. ¨I am just not interested in a boy who wastes that much time building his muscles rather than doing something… more important.¨      ¨More important? I mean, what are you even interested in Cass?¨ Emily hits the book with her phone, ¨you don't seem to do anything but schoolwork. Do you just read these books for fun? I thought you already took anatomy and physiology?¨ She looks at her phone again licking her lips as she takes another look at the half naked man on the screen, “I would definitely like to take a closer look at his anatomy. Maybe even see where that "v" is pointing to.¨      Cass scoffed ¨Probably nothing impressive. With how quickly he has been able to bulk up the past year he is most likely on steroids, and those have a tendency to, shrink things.¨      Emily shakes her head at Cass, ¨I just can´t believe you would rather spend your time here, reading some medical book, than even give someone a chance.¨ She left the room before Cass had a chance to reply, but with the turning of the page there is some question in Emily´s mind if her sullen roommate would have said anything in response.                                                                                     ****      Cass should have known something was up when Emily decided to have an impromptu party in their house. Usually Friday nights were quiet for Cass. Emily would go out to the bar to party, and since Cass wasn’t 21 for another year this gave her an easy excuse to not go. But today was different. Emily had asked Cass if it was ok to have some people over for games and drinks, and despite how much she didn’t want it, Cass knew her roommate would just bother her about it for the rest of the semester.      Cass not joining in was also out of the question. She knew if she tried to hang out in her room all night that Emily would just use that as an excuse to be even louder. So since she wouldn’t be getting any work done tonight, Cass found herself on the couch next to Adam West as Emily was making out with a boy on the chair across the room.      “So Cass. Cassandra? I’m so glad you decided to give me a chance.” Adam smiled at Cass, his teeth perfect and white.      Cass had to make conscious effort to not roll her eyes. “Yeah, Emily was uh, pretty excited about us hanging.” Adam smiled even bigger and scooted closer. His leg touched Cass’s and she moved herself a little bit further away, her side pressing against the arm of the couch.      “So I heard that you are trying to go into medical school after you graduate.” He scooted closer until their legs touched again. Cass attempted to scoot further away but the arm of the couch stopped her.      “Uh huh,” she looked away from his smiling face, her cheeks flushed with their closeness.      “That is pretty cool.” He leaned in further, “do you, like, want to be a doctor?”      Cass shrugged, “I don’t really know what I want to do. I just thought medical school sounded like a good idea.”      Adam leaned close once again, and Cass could feel his breath on her cheek. “I think doctors are hot.” He wrapped his arm around her shoulders and pulled her in close. Cass was very aware of the proximity of his hand and hovering above her chest. He moved in, his mouth practically kissing her ear. “I think you are hot.” His breath was warm as it hit her ear and her cheeks reddened.      “I, uh… I could use a drink.” The words barely made it through her lips as her brain started working overtime trying to think of how to get out of this uncomfortable situation.      Braxon removed his arm from her shoulders and stood up. “Let me get you one.” His smile was wider than before and Cass nodded in thanks as he went to the kitchen.      Cass was not used to this much attention from boys. She had never dated before, spent her high school and college time studying and getting good grades. Friends in high school had always said that boys were interested in her, though she didn’t know why. Her hair was red-orange and her pale skin freckled whenever she spent any time in the sun. She was very thin and her chest wasn’t particularly large. Cass knew she wasn’t ugly, but she also wasn’t a catch next to her blond, tall, large chested roommate. If she were to choose between the two, Cass knows that she wouldn’t be her first choice.      Emily and her boy moved to the bedroom while Adam was away. Before she turned the corner Emily gave her a quick wink and Cass felt her cheeks redden. She had no intention of doing anything with Adam and just the thought of something happening made her nervous.      Adam returned with three glasses in his hands. Two of them had a royal blue liquid and the third was clear. “I got us blue vodka lemonade. I also know that you aren’t really a partier so I got you water if you prefer.”      Cass smiled uncomfortably “Water is perfect, thank you.”      He handed her the glass of water and she quickly started drinking, her nerves had made her throat dry. As soon as the water was down, Cass started to feel the room spin a little. It was probably just her nerves.       Adam quickly downed one of the blue drinks and sat down next to Cass, his arm immediately wrapping their way around Cass’s shoulder. This time his hand didn’t hover just above her chest but instead landed right on it. Cass flushed deeply but she didn’t know what to say. Adam took a sip from the second glass of blue liquid then leaned in close to her ear. His alcoholic breath hot on her skin. “I would love to show you a good time.” His hand squeezed her chest and Cass jumped up from the couch, spilling the other blue drink all over his shirt.      “Shit.” Adam stood up fast, holding his shirt away from his skin. “What the hell!”      Cass stood as well and started backing away, “I-I-I…”      Adam stepped towards her and she moved even further away, her back hitting the wall. “What the hell is your problem!” He got really close to Cass. His face was red and he let go of his soaked shirt. She wasn’t able to say anything, her mouth was opening but no sound was coming out.       Adam took another intimidating step closer to Cass, his hand reaching out as though to grab her. Emily came from around the corner. Her face was flushed and her clothes were disheveled as if she had quickly thrown them on. “What’s going on here?” She looked from Cass to Adam and back to Cass again.      Adam took a step back from Cass. His face was red and his fists were clenched. “Your roommate is a freak. A prude freak. I don’t know why I even came over here. Don’t ever try and hook up with one of your loser friends again.” He glared at Cass, turned, and stormed out of the house, the door slamming hard.      Emily turned to Cass, “What happened?”      Cass, her back still against the wall, slowly slid down to the ground. She leaned forward, placing her head in her hands, “I don’t feel so good.”       Suddenly Cass started to throw up, her head dizzy. Emily crouched down next to her, rubbing her head on her back. “Let's get you to the shower. I know what drinking for the first time can be like.”      Cass wanted to tell her that she hadn’t been drinking. That she only had water. She wanted to tell Emily that she thinks there was something in the water, how scared she had gotten, but the words wouldn’t come out.      Emily helped her up and helped her to the shower. “Let me know if you need anything, ok.”      Cass nodded. As soon as the door was shut she started taking off her dirty clothes, letting them fall to the ground. Was she really a freak? Why didn’t she want to date? Why didn’t she like fun?      Cass stepped into the hot shower. She sat down in the tub, letting the hot water flow over her. I wish I was different. She thought about Emily and Adam, and what they had said about her. Am I really a freak? Am I boring? Cass closed her eyes, focusing on the sounds of the water hitting her. I wish I could just be somewhere else. Start over. Live life. Between the warm water running over her body, her head swimming with her thoughts, and everything that happened that day, Cass fell asleep.                                                                                         ****      When Cass awoke she felt like her whole body was still spinning. No, spinning wasn’t quite the right feeling. She felt like she was swaying. She breathed in deep. The air smelt salty. Metallic. She had heard of hangover symptoms before but she had never heard of anything like this. She opened her eyes. The room around her was dark, almost pitch black. What time is it?      Cass wondered who had helped her out of the tub, and wondered why they didn't help her get dressed. She was as naked now as she was when she got in the shower. She started feeling around for her phone and realized she wasn’t on her bed. In fact, the floors were rough, wooden, but not like the hardwood that was in her living room. Before she could even begin to wonder where she was there was a loud creaking of a heavy door opening.      “All I am saying Captain is-” Two people entered the room. Light from the hallway illuminated the room. The tall one had stopped speaking when he spotted Cass. His mouth gaped open for a moment as he stared at her.      The other person that walked in was a woman. Both of them were wearing what Cass could only describe as pirates clothing. The woman stepped forward towards Cass, a look of irritation on her face. “Who are you and what are you doing on my ship?”      Cass looked from one to the other and then glanced around the room quickly. She was most definitely not in her house anymore. She was in a large room with barrels and crates packed tightly together. She looked back at the two people who seemed as confused as she was.       “Where the f**k am I?”