Seven
‘Strategy-wise, I think we’d be smart to get to the captain’s dinner early tomorrow night and stick to Brooke like glue,’ Heidi said, lowering her voice. ‘We want to be sitting either side of her during the meal.’ We’d been brainstorming in the Japanese zen garden for over an hour now and both our notepads were full of scribbles.
‘Can we choose where we sit?’ I said, thinking there’d be no way Leo and Zach would let us get away with that. Or Brooke for that matter. ‘Due diligence’ and all that. ‘There’s bound to be a table plan. They can’t have any old random sitting next to the captain.’
‘A-ha. The early bird switches the place settings,’ she said, tapping her nose. ‘We’re only interested in where Brooke is sitting in relation to us so it’s a double switch at most.’
‘Sneaky tactics. I like it!’ I didn’t particularly fancy a client sandwich for dinner, but we needed time to understand what made Brooke tick and get a sense of what she might be looking for.
We had the rest of the day off to experience the cruise through guest eyes and enjoy ourselves. But while I’d planned to sit by the pool with my book and a bottomless pina colada, Heidi had other ideas. She wanted to map out creative territories for the pitch and feed them back to the studio in London. There was a game of croquet going on and cruisers running around enjoying the sun and instead of the creamy cocktail I’d envisaged, Heidi and I were sharing a calming pot of jasmine tea.
‘Did you see the dress code is chess-themed?’ she said. ‘I read it on the app.’
‘What? No? As in black and white or dressing up as pawns?’ My mind went to the denim dress I’d planned to fancy up somehow for dinner and how I might still make it work. ‘I thought it wasdress to impress?’
‘I know. I got it wrong. Can you wear your “impressive dress” and go as a queen? What colour is it?’
I hated being on the back foot. Any theme-related changes would have been useful to know when I was at home, packing. ‘Pink,’ I blurted out, knowing she’d freak if I said denim. However cool or glamorous I’d planned to make it look, Heidi was very anti-jeans. ‘I could put a paper crown on and go as a fairy queen?’
‘Or pretend you misunderstood and go as a prawn?’
‘What are you wearing?’ I asked, getting palpitations.
Heidi flushed with pleasure at the question, desperate to talk me through it. ‘I’ve got a black lace gown, with a full skirt and petticoats and a fitted bolero jacket.’ As you do. ‘I just need a crown to go as the black queen. I’ve been keeping an eye out for something to repurpose.’
‘Like a lampshade?’
She rolled her eyes. ‘Possibly. If it’s a small one. If I can’t find anything appropriate then I’ll plait my hair in loops and cover them in necklaces.’
‘Awesome,’ I said, my brain whirring.What the hell was I going to wear?And more importantly, who takes a bolero jacket on holiday? This was giving me a headache. ‘I’ll have a think about how to play it – don’t worry.’ Like I didn’t have enough going on.
Heidi had loads of dresses and hadn’t offered to lend me one, so she couldn’t be that bothered about my outfit. Her eyes narrowed. ‘As long as you don’t show me up.’
‘I’ve got plenty of options,’ I said, mysteriously, which was a lie and having seen some of the outfits being flaunted on deck as daywear, I had nowhere near the right level of glitz for the occasion. ‘In fact, I might just pop back to the room now and have a look-through.’
I could feel panicked tears coming and tried not to blink, waving my hands in front of my face to dry them out. I needed to stay focused and logical and work out what to do. I kept my face hidden and raced down the corridor towards my cabin, turning a corner too fast and colliding with Barbie Queue. She was dressed in green velvet with long blonde plaits and a thick fringe, and even without the stage setting and the microphone was still a force to be reckoned with.
‘Hey,’ I said quietly, with a half-nod.
‘Ey up, cock!’ she called, striding past, then stopped sharp and turned. ‘Are you OK, love?’
‘Fine,’ I muttered, speeding up.
‘You might want to tell yer face that. You’ve not been cryin’ ’ave yer?’
I rubbed at my cheeks, embarrassed. It would sound superficial and vain if I admitted I didn’t have anything dinner-appropriate to wear and I didn’t want her to think I’d be so pathetic as to get upset over something so trivial. But it was deeper-rooted than just the dress – it reinforced my imposter syndrome when I tried so hard to fight it. Proof that I didn’t really belong in this world, even after all this time. That I wasn’t properly prepared and didn’t know how to act. This would never happen to the likes of Heidi or Leo. People with money were always prepared. They instinctively knew what to do in every situation and that was what set them apart.
‘It’s silly, honestly, please don’t worry.’ I quickened my step to try and get away, but she rounded on me and blocked the path.
‘Hey, hey,hey… this don’t look like nothin’ to me! What’s goin’ on?’ she said, catching me up.
I felt like a right prat now.
‘I don’t have an outfit for dinner at the captain’s table tomorrow night. I missed the memo about the chess theme.’
Barbie’s concerned frown switched to an eye roll, her eyelashes fluttering. ‘You’re cryingactual tearsbecause you need a dress?!’ she said, incredulous. ‘I can sort that out for yer in two minutes flat. Come with me.’
‘Can you?’ I felt a rush of relief as I trotted after her. Although the green monstrosity she had on wasn’t going to cut it. ‘I’m not sure your… er…lookwill be quite right to be honest, Barb. No offence.’
