Fanboy: Cruisin' Around

By Rebecca Lovell

Scoring a ticket on the OceanTides Adventurer would have been exciting enough, but it's even more special for the fans of the hit  show "Paranormal." For the first time ever OceanTides is holding a fan convention on a cruise ship and Matt Tucker managed to get his hands on a ticket. A surprise encounter on a forum with his favorite author leads to their planning to meet up on the ship, and Matt can't imagine a better way to start off his cruise. He doesn't know that his perfect vacation is going to end with him falling in love and finding strength he never knew he had.

Jessica Weaver has been burned by the entertainment industry before. She hides her writing behind a screen name, though she can't hide her popularity. After taking a chance to meet a sweet fanboy, she finds herself wondering if it's all right to love someone again.

As their relationship  blossoms on the water, neither of them expect that danger from Jessica's past is strolling the halls, and it will take everything they have to hold on to one another and their love.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Rebecca Lovell
• Release date: Mar 1, 2021
• ISBN: 9781393464655

Book preview

1

At two minutes until midnight, Matt Tucker started getting the same gurgling feeling in his stomach that he did every Thursday night. He wasn’t sure why, it wasn’t as if it required anything other than sitting in front of his computer, but it was like clockwork. He got up and walked around for a moment to try and calm his nerves, then sat down and refreshed his browser window at exactly 12:00 AM, holding his breath.

There it is! Matt’s heart leapt into his chest as he saw the update on the Paranormal fan page. The new chapter of his favorite fan fiction was up, and he would be the first to read it as always. He pushed his black-framed glasses up higher on his nose and leaned forward. He’d always been a fast reader, even more so when he was about to devour a new chapter by the writer known as ParaNatural. He’d been writing stories based on their favorite show for years now, and Matt had been addicted to them from the start. Whoever the guy was, he was a master at cliffhangers.

Chapter 113: Your Red Right Hand, he read softly aloud. Just the title gave him chills, and his hazel eyes flew over the words one after another until he reached the words he hated more than anything in the world. To be continued.

Matt leaned back in his chair and let the chapter sink in for a moment, then sat forward again and opened a review window. Amazing chapter as always, he typed. Are we to deduce from Kasey’s work with the Unearthly Beam that he’s had amnesia all these years and is himself a member of the Crimson Conspiracy? I can hardly wait for the next chapter, thanks for another great one.

As soon as he hit send, the butterflies in his stomach started up again. Reading the new story chapter was only part of what was exciting to him. The other part was about to hit his phone, or at least he hoped it would. Matt went back to the new chapter and started reading again, this time with a bit more intensity, until a small ping from his phone caught his attention. He glanced down and saw that his Paranormal Fan App was telling him he had a reply to his review and he reopened the window excitedly.

Thank you for your review, it read. You’re just going to have to keep reading to see, but keep in mind that Kasey once canonically said that he’d rather die than be brainwashed. It’s always great to hear from you, DaemonHunter. I’d love to read something of yours sometime.

I don’t think I could ever write something as good as you do, Matt wrote back hurriedly, as if they were going to disappear if he didn’t type quickly enough. You’re the best fanfic writer in the entire Paranormal community, hands down.

Hands down, huh? The reply appeared, and Matt’s heart jumped into his throat. Hey, can you PM me? I’ll put your name on the whitelist.

The whitelist! Matt didn’t think his eyes could possibly get any wider behind his glasses. He switched to the Private Message screen and typed ‘ParaNatural’ into the search bar. When the blank space where his picture would be popped up, Matt eagerly opened a window and typed into it. Hi, he typed, glad ParaNatural wouldn’t hear how nervous he was. Here I am. Did you want to give me some spoilers for the next chapter?

Not a chance, came the reply almost immediately and the young man wondered how fast the writer was able to type. I wanted to let you know that there won’t be a new chapter next week.

No new chapter? Why? You’re not going on hiatus, are you? The fluttering in his stomach turned to ice and he gripped his mouse as he waited for the reply.

Nope. I’m going to be driving down to Galveston to catch a cruise and I won’t have time, what with my job and packing and all. I can’t very well update from the boat, either. I don’t trust the Wifi and the last time I brought my own hotspot to a convention it got stolen.

Galveston? Are you by any chance going on the Paranormal Fan Cruise?

Ha ha, yep. I’m going to be on the fanfiction panel, as a matter of fact. Why, are you going too? The casual way ParaNatural was typing made Matt wonder what he was like and it was making it easier to talk to him as well.

I wouldn’t miss it for the world. Panels, viewings, and the boat is supposed to be amazing. Plus, I heard that Robbie Kasuga is going to be there signing autographs. Wouldn’t it be amazing if we saw him just hanging out by the pool? The thought was enough to make Matt grin and he wondered if ParaNatural was doing the same thing.

That’d be something, all right. Hey, I had an idea. Want to meet up during the cruise and hang out? We could grab coffee and talk about the show. I hear they have an amazing food court. What do you think?

Matt was stunned. Not only was ParaNatural talking to him online, the guy was suggesting that they grab a latte and chat for real. He wanted to type in all caps that yes, he wanted to, there was nothing that could be more awesome, and that it would be the highlight of his cruise but his fingers wouldn’t move.

You still there?

Yeah, yeah I’m here. And yeah, I’d love to grab coffee. We could talk about what they’re going to do on the seventh season. Matt’s hands were shaking as he typed his reply. Thanks for the invite.

No prob. I wanted to know at least one person on the cruise and you seem like a chill guy. How about we meet at the coffee shop on the food court deck at about three? That’ll give us time to put our stuff away and take a nap or change or whatever.

That sounds great. My roommate is driving me and I’ll need a nap after five hours in the car with him. Either that or one of those three-foot-tall beers they have.

LOL, I can imagine. I have to go get some sleep. The day job calls to me. Though he couldn’t hear any sound, Matt could imagine ParaNatural yawning and stretching, mainly because he had been doing the same thing until the chapter went up. See you next week, Daemon.

See you then. The green dot beside ParaNatural’s name turned red and Matt stared at the conversation they’d had, re-reading it the way he always did the chapters. Out of all the people who read his fanfiction, ParaNatural had picked him to message and meet on the cruise. It was like a dream come true.

With a yawn, Matt closed his laptop and set it aside. ParaNatural wasn’t the only person who needed sleep and had to go to work in the morning. He got up from the desk and went to brush his teeth, then stopped.

Maybe I’ll just read it one more time, he said aloud. As he was headed back to the desk, there was a knock on his door. With a sigh, he went to it and pulled it open. Unsurprisingly, it was his roommate Jack.

You still awake? Jack leaned into his room. On that fan site, I bet. For once I wish I’d come in here at midnight and find you with a girl. He laughed. Not likely, though. All the Paranormal fans are sad dudes who live in their parents’ basements.

Did you just come in here to give me shit?

Nah. I’m making a taco run and wanted to know if you wanted any. They have a midnight special, twelve tacos for the price of six. Matt could hear laughter in their living room and shook his head. You sure?

Yeah, I’m good. I’m about to go to bed anyway. I have to open the shop in the morning. He pretended to yawn widely, and halfway through it turned into a real one. Thanks for the offer, though.

No prob. Jack turned to go, then looked back. Maybe you’ll find a girl on that cruise if you break away from the rest of the fanboys for a while. That’d be good for you. Not waiting for an answer, Jack went back down the hall and Matt closed his door.

Shaking his head, he continued on his way to the bathroom. The world didn’t revolve around finding a girlfriend, and besides, he was hopefully going to be spending a lot of time with ParaNatural. He’d rather spend time with his favorite writer than be on the prowl around the pool, but if it made Jack happy to imagine him smearing sunscreen on some stranger’s back, so be it.

I don’t really care, he thought as he looked at himself in the mirror. He wasn’t a bad-looking guy, in fact he was kind of handsome when he wasn’t wearing pajamas and his hair didn’t look like a bird’s nest. He shook his dark head and picked up his toothbrush. Whatever.

2

"A nd do not forget to feed my fish, Matt said to Jack as he hauled his suitcase out of the backseat of the car. One pinch, that’s all they need. Don’t overfeed them or the snails will go crazy."

I know, I know, Matt said. One pinch once a day and those gross worms on Saturday. The guy will come on Sunday to change the water and do whatever else they’re going to do. I’ll take care of them, bro, don’t worry about it.

All right, Matt replied dubiously. The ship has Wifi so if you have any trouble, just DM me on Twitter and I’ll get back to you right away. I didn’t get the international plan because it was astronomical, so my texting may not work.

I’ve got it, man. You act like I’m some kind of idiot. It took everything Matt had not to tell Jack he was some kind of idiot but instead he just shook his head. Have a good time, Jack said, slapping Matt on the back hard enough to make him stumble forward slightly.

Just don’t forget. Matt put the strap of his bag over his shoulder and joined the crowd of people who were making their way toward the gangplank of the cruise ship.

When he reached the side of the boat, he looked up at it in awe. The OceanTides ships were famous for their size and variety of amenities, but he hadn’t realized the ship was going to be the size of a small city. It was painted white and blue with the name ‘OceanTides Adventurer’ in script on the bow and Matt smiled. It seemed like an apt name for the cruise, and he wove his way through the crowd to get to the gangplank.

He was welcomed at the top by a man in what looked like a captain’s uniform, and a young woman in a blue uniform. They were both smiling broadly and the captain reached a hand out for Matt to shake.

Welcome to your own personal adventure, he said. If you’d like to have a commemorative photo, we have them here and by the pool starting at three o’clock.

Uh, no thanks, Matt said, somewhat uncomfortably. He didn’t really want to remember getting on the ship by himself when there were families and tour groups grinning in front of the life preserver background. But thanks anyway.

Of course. As I said, it’s your adventure. Make the most of it. The captain turned to the next person in line and Matt moved out of the way, avoiding the photo station as he did.

He looked down at his ticket for the hundredth time and confirmed what he had already memorized. The room was on the Mermaid Deck, section 6B, and he wondered if there were elevators on the ship. They had laser tag and a roller coaster, surely they had elevators.

Unfortunately for Matt, they did have elevators but there were so many people that the line was outrageous. He decided to take the stairs, only to discover that the stairways were crowded with other passengers trying to get to their decks. Several small children were crying and people were pushing and shoving, making Matt feel like he was seasick when the boat hadn’t even left the dock.

When he finally emerged onto the Mermaid Deck, he breathed a sigh of relief. The hallways were wide enough to accommodate plenty of people and he found his room – 618B – easily. He opened the door with his keycard and sighed as he looked into the place he would call home for the next week. Or rather, the broom closet. Because Matt had to save up for his ticket, he hadn’t had