**Lydia** "This is crazy," Lydia whispered to herself as she stood at the docks, staring up at the huge cruise ship in the water in front of her. It was bigger than she had expected it to be and she could already envision herself getting lost once she boarded. That was not what was crazy about this situation, however. The crazy part was that she'd sold her spare ticket to a man that she didn't even know. Mark had assured her that he and this Steven guy were good friends and that she wouldn't have any trouble with him but even so, she felt a nervous ball of energy knot low in her stomach. She had managed to convince the travel agency to change the room from a double to a twin but she would still have to share a room with a virtual stranger. Mark had also implied that it would be good for her to get to know Steven because he would likely need her assistance navigating a new place until he was more familiar with his surroundings. He had explained that the young man had lost his sight in a house fire and had showed her a picture of him so that she would know who to look for once he arrived considering he would not be able to see her. That must have been awful for him. To go from having perfect vision one day to losing complete sight the next must have been a terrifying thing to endure. It was a shame that he would not be able to see how beautiful the waves looked as they glittered beneath the sun, or take in the sights they would likely see along their way. Lydia turned her attention from the ship and focused once more on the crowds of people, her eyes searching for her travel companion. She leaned her weight against the suitcase she had with her, brushing her hair back from her face as it ruffled in the sea breeze. It was a beautiful day and she was excited to finally board and get going, despite her worries about making a potentially terrible decision. At least it would be a story to tell, she just wished one of her friends had been able to join her. She was sure Steven was nice and all, but things were likely to be awkward for a little while. What if they did not get along at all? She caught her bottom lip between her teeth as she worried. At least it was only for a week. She could get through a week with him if he did happen to be a total ass. Mark was usually a good judge of character, however. She had to imagine that Steven would be as nice as he'd claimed.

“Where to mac?” The taxi driver asked a young man as he climbed inside of the cab. “This dock please.” The blonde said, extending a piece of paper to the man in the front. A black lab sat in the seat next to him, quiet and patient as his tail thumped against the seat. Both the dog and the young man seemed excited about going to the dock. “What’s taking you to the dock?” The driver asked a he started out into the traffic. “We’re going on a cruise. Meeting a friend of a friend who happened to have a spare ticket…” While the young man was talking, the cab driver looked in the review mirror to see the young man had a dog sitting with him. The dog had a vest on stating that he was on duty and to please not pet. “Yes, I’m aware that I might not be able to actually see what’s going on but you’d be amazing at how well my other senses have kicked in.” The man’s attention turned to the road considering that the blonde in the back seat seemed like he was at the understanding of the driver’s questioning nature. The port was crowded as Steven Anderson climbed out of the cab and accepted the bag from the driver. The man was nice and Steven actually admitted that he was one of the few cab drivers who hadn’t attempted to screw him out of money. It was a nice change to find less people attempting to take advantage of a blind person. He paid the old driver and used one hand to roll his luggage while the other held onto the harness of his black lab. “Okay Rocky, no causing issues and no going for a random swim. The last thing I need is for you to jump overboard to chase a whale.” A small chuckle left him as he followed the dog’s lead. He was happy to get out of his house and do something unexpected. As you can imagine, the hardest thing for him was to pack; Mark was kind enough to come over and help him, even label things so he wouldn’t have difficulty pulling them out of his bag or guessing if he had grabbed his swim trucks but low and behold he grabbed his boxers. It’s good that he had the chance to avoid that embarrassment. Apparently he’d be rooming with a woman, a friend of Mark’s. Though he didn’t know much about her, he was always up for meeting new people. Though he would have to asked what the bed configurations would be because Mark wasn’t exactly specific about it. And hopefully she didn’t mind dogs…