Rubio was never drinking again.
Not only did he wake up with the worst headache of his life, but he woke up back in that damn skiff with the two people he least wanted to be stuck with again.
He didn’t even drink that much!
He thought his body was better at handling drinks than this…well, actually, he really should’ve known better.
His head pounded painfully any time he moved even a slight bit, and the sun was beaming down at them from above, forcing him to lie absolutely still with his eyes closed and his hat covering them just to alleviate some of the pain.
At least he was doing better than Thalia, who, as soon as she woke up, had leaned over the side of the skiff to vomit.
The poor girl had been doing that a lot lately; she must have a weak stomach.
Currently, she was curled up on her side, groaning with her arms placed over her eyes.
The only one who seemed to be doing even slightly alright was Astra, though he looked as annoyed as Rubio felt with the current situation.
He decided to try and piece together what happened the night before; it wasn’t like he was doing anything else; they were stuck here…again…for better or for worse.
So he thought back to his last clear memory: Thalia and Astra up on the table, singing some sea shanty.
Everything felt fuzzy as he sat in the corner; he was talking just a second ago, wasn’t he?
Whoever he was talking to had left, though, probably to join the giant crowd celebrating around the table Thalia and Astra were on.
Drunkenly singing and dancing to whatever song the band was playing.
The sight of it brought tears to his eyes.
Strange.
He didn’t remember being a weepy drunk, but the events of the past week seemed to have hit him all at once.
While he threw a small pity party for himself, someone jumped into the seat beside him, handing him some tissues.
“There, there, dear, don’t cry.” She comforts.
It was Laura.
Her cheeks stained with a healthy red flush.
She seemed more on the tipsy side than the blackout drunk Thalia and Astra seemed to be quickly attaining as they locked arms to down a fourth drink.
“Sorry, sorry, I just…I don’t know why I’m crying?” He whimpers.
“First time having a drink in a while?” She questions.
“I guess so…it’s been about,” He brings up his fingers to count.
“Five years, I think?”
“Sober?” She asks.
“Oh, no, not that there’s anything wrong with that.
I just haven’t had the time or money.” He explains.
“I see.
Your friends over there seem to be the life of the party.” She chuckles.
Rubio turns his glance over to them.
Astra was on the floor doing some sort of complicated dance, similar to the one he uses to fight, and Thalia was beside him, making noises with her mouth to the beat of the song.
The crowd was circling around them, cheering them on.
“Oh, we’re not friends.
We only met like a week ago.” Rubio denies, waving his arms around.
“Really?
There must be quite a story behind that.” Laura prods.
“It is pretty funny, actually.
We all got put in the same prison cell, then we escaped, but we forgot to grab a map and ended up at Sea for a few days until we found this island.” When he’s met with silence, Rubio glances down at Laura and finds her mouth agape in shock.
His mind tries to come up with a reason for the reaction.
Then slowly concludes that admitting you were a criminal in prison probably wasn’t the best idea, nor likely to be received well by any company.
“This isn’t…like, a Navy-protected town, right?
I don’t remember it being on any maps… and… well, please don’t alert the Navy!
I swear I’m not a criminal!” He sinks to the floor, begging on his hands and knees.
“Oh, no, no, no!
Get up, dear, I won’t.
I was just a little surprised; it’s not often you run into escaped convicts, after all!” She laughs, helping him up.
He sinks back into his seat, his vision blurring a bit just from standing.
They go silent for a second, watching the giant congo line the crowd had formed, when Laura opens her mouth, inhaling sharply before she speaks.
“I just…I wonder if I ever loved Tom.
If I still love him.
Or if I’ll ever be able to love someone again…” She trails off, staring sadly into the crowd where her former partner dances.
She then blinks and seems to come back to herself.
“Oh, I’m sorry, dear, I didn’t mean to bother you with my problems.” She apologizes.
“No, it’s okay.
It must be scary to know that all those feelings you felt weren’t actually you.
But that doesn’t mean you won’t heal, that you won’t be able to feel love again one day.
Even if it’s not romantic love, it could be the love you have for your friends, your siblings, your children, or even yourself.
Love doesn’t always have to be romantic.” He comforts.
“You’re right…thank you, I’ll remember that.” She sniffles, wiping some tears away.
“What did it feel like for you?
It’s been so long now, I can’t seem to remember what the beginning was like.” She muses.
“I…” He takes a moment to swallow down the nausea he felt.
Even remembering it made him feel sick.
All those romantic feelings that were so familiar, stirring up for someone else.
Someone he didn’t even know?
He shivers.
“Ah, that was a bit insensitive of me; you don’t have to explain.” Laura quickly rescinds her question.
“No, it’s fine.
It’s just, I’ve had a partner for around eight years now.
He’s the love of my life, so to suddenly have all those overwhelming feelings for someone I didn’t even know?
It was awful, one of the worst experiences of my life.” He admits.
Laura grabs his hand, the warmth grounding him.
They sit in companionable silence as the party dies down around them.
Rubio had just finished his second drink; his head now felt foggy, and he had to blink himself awake as sleep tempted him.
He didn’t even realize he had fallen asleep again when he blinked his eyes open to see Astra and Thalia, a giggling mess, collapsing into the two available seats at the table.
“Rubio…Rubio!
My friend!” Thalia sidles up to him, shouting into his ear.
“Volume!” He chastises, pushing her away.
“And what do you want?” He asks, fixing them with a suspicious glare.
They keep sharing glances and giggling.
“I just had a great idea!
What if we leave in the middle of the night!?” She suggests.
Rubio blinks at her, uncomprehending as Astra howls with laughter.
“I don’t get it.” He sighs in frustration, too exhausted to deal with any shenanigans.
“Ugggh, you’re so boooring!” Thalia whines, tilting her chair onto its back legs.
“Let me explain.
I’m better at it than you anyway.” Astra states.
“Yeah, right!” Thalia scoffs.
“You’ll probably just forget everything when you begin talking anyway.” Astra glares, then sweeps the chair out from under her.
She crashes to the floor with a yelp.
“So anyways, the plan was…uhm.” The Harpy pauses for a second.
“What was the plan again?” He asks, turning to Thalia.
“See!
I told you!” She cackles, fixing her chair.
“Can you two focus?
I’m falling asleep here.” Rubio complains, placing his arms on the table and resting his head.
“Right, right.
So anyway, the plan is we leave secretly, so that when all the townsfolk wake up the next morning, they’ll think we were ghosts or something.
Isn’t that great!” She grins.
“And what boat are we going to take?
What supplies will we have?” Rubio points out.
“Uhhh.” Astra and Thalia reply eloquently.
Rubio rolls his eyes.
“Oh, oh!
We could use the skiff!
And Laura!
Could you pretty please give us a ton of supplies?
You promised to do us a favor.” Thalia begs the Halfman, who hadn’t left the table throughout all their planning.
“Sure, I don’t mind.
But is that really what you want to do?
If you spend a bit more time in town, we could make each of you a boat.” She offers.
“That sounds like a great-!” Rubio is cut off by the enthusiastic ‘No!’ from Thalia and Astra.
“This is about to be the best prank I’ve ever pulled; we’ll be in…in…inf…oh, what’s the word?” Thalia snaps at Astra.
“Infamous.” He supplies.
“And why are you agreeing to this?” Rubio turns his gaze toward Astra.
“Because it’s funny.” He grins, starting another laughing fit between him and Thalia.
“Fine, do whatever you want, but leave me out of it; I’m going to bed.” He promptly closes his eyes, conveniently missing the grin Thalia and Astra share.
While he’s asleep, he doesn’t seem to notice as his body is moved from the tavern and into a boat.
Only realizing what happened when he wakes up the next day, with no island in sight.