by Kimberly Fox
The stewardess walks to the front of the plane and I can’t help but wonder if he got her number. What would this guy have done before cell phones? If he was born thirty years earlier he would have had to carry a black book the size of a phone book around.
I jump in my seat and whip my head around when someone taps my shoulder.
“What the hell was that?” Cynthia whispers in my ear. She has one of those travel pillows wrapped around her neck under her curly brown hair.
“What?” I ask, pretending that I don’t know what she’s talking about.
I get startled again when Julia sticks her head next to Cynthia's. “Don’t play dumb with us,” Julia says, stroking the hair on her black ponytail. “He was touching your arm.”
“And her back,” Cynthia adds.
I glance over at Aaron. The movie is still playing on his phone and he’s still oblivious to what’s going on. Yeah, and it will probably be the most action I’ll get all week.
“He’s so hot,” Julia says, staring at him. She moves her head forward trying to get a better view.
“Will you stop looking?” I ask. That’s all I need is for him to turn around and see three girls gushing over him.
“I can’t believe that he’s Lucas’ cousin,” Cynthia says, biting her bottom lip as she stares at him.
“What?” I ask, her words ringing in my head like a bell. “He’s coming to the wedding?”
They both turn to me with mischievous smiles on their faces. “You didn’t know?” Julia asks.
My heart starts pumping. Hard.
“He flew in from Chicago two days ago to come down with us,” Cynthia adds. “His name is Ethan. And he’s single.”
Too bad I’m not.
The redheaded stewardess walks down the aisle towards us. Julia and Cynthia move to let her pass but she stops at my seat. “A ginger ale,” she says, handing me a little plastic cup full of bubbling liquid that looks like champagne but smells otherwise. “From the gentleman over there.”
He turns his head looking straight at me and winks.
I gulp. Loud.
Cynthia laughs. “You can say that again.”
Chapter Two
Tanya
Day One
“Finally,” I whisper as I step onto the solid ground of the airport. I have seven more days until I’m forced back onto that death trap. I can’t get away from that plane fast enough.
And it appears that Aaron can’t get away from me fast enough. He’s already walking ahead through the airport, leaving me behind. I catch up with him and ask him to watch my bag while I go to the bathroom.
A long pee and a few splashes of water on my face later, and I’m good to go. I even got some of my color back.
“What the?” I mutter to myself when I see my bag sitting in the middle of the hallway being passed and walked over by dozens of people. I ask Aaron to do one thing and he won’t even.
He’s a few feet away at the baggage claim talking with Stephanie of all people. She throws her blond hair back like a teenage groupie and laughs exaggeratedly at what he said. He smiles and puffs his chest out.
You’ve got to be kidding me? He hasn’t said one word to me all day and here he is flirting with the one person on this trip that I hate the most. I’m starting to wonder why I even hang out with him. He was fun at first but lately, he’s just mean.
Stephanie sees me watching them and turns back to Aaron. She steps in close to him and strokes her hand down his arm.
I turn away in disgust. What is her problem? She only hates me because I’m so close to Megan. Or…was so close.
A Mexican family tramples over my bag and I rush into the swarm of people and rescue it off the floor. A warning keeps repeating through my head: Do not leave your bags unattended for any period of time no matter how short.
I drop to a knee and unzip it wondering what kind of illegal contraband was stuffed inside. I always bring a large carry-on bag full of clothes, a bikini and other necessities just in case they lose my luggage like they did last time. You can always tell the travelers who have had their luggage lost by an airline by the size of their carry-ons.
I unzip my bag and start rummaging through my clothes looking for guns, drugs or stolen diamonds.
I’m searching through my makeup bag when someone kneels down in front of me. My eyes dart up and I gasp when I see Ethan, the hot stranger from the plane, looking back at me with a smirk on his face. “It’s a little late even if you did forget something,” he says.
I shove the makeup bag back under my clothes, trying not to look as flustered as I feel.
“What are you looking for anyway?” he asks, clearly amused.
“Drugs,” I answer as I pull out my beach hat and look inside.
“You might want to wait until you get to the hotel before you start pulling out your illegal contraband,” he says. An airport security guard eyes me funny as he walks by clutching an M16 to his chest.
“No, I’m afraid that someone might have put it in my suitcase,” I say, sliding my fingers into my shoes up near the toes.
“Huh?”
He’s even hot when he looks confused.
So far my bag looks clean but drug dealers are crafty so I keep looking through my beach clothes. “It was left alone while I was in the bathroom.”
His laugh is like an orgasm in my ears. “People don’t smuggle drugs into Mexico.”
“Right,” I say, suddenly realizing how ridiculous I must look right now. I try to hide my red face as I start shoving shit back into my bag.
Ethan reaches in and pulls out a pair of bright green, lacy underwear that I bought for Aaron. I wanted to reconnect and try to spice things up in the bedroom this week.
My stomach drops as I see it dangling from Ethan’s index finger. He’s grinning.
If I thought I was red before I must be glowing right now.
He crumples them into a ball and stuffs them into his pocket without saying a word.
It’s such a bold move that I’m initially confused that it even happened.
“Did you just?” I ask, tilting my head to the side.
“I did.” He winks and stands back up.
“Uh,” I say, looking at him in disbelief. “Can I have them back?”
He shakes his head. “Nope.”
My heart starts racing. “Those are mine.”
“Correction,” he says. “They were yours.”
His audacity throws me off balance and I don’t really know how to act. I’ve never met a man so brazen that he would steal a woman’s underwear right in front of them.
“Give them back or I’ll scream,” I say.
He shrugs. “Then scream.”
Damn it. He called my bluff.
He just smirks and walks away. “Thought so,” he calls back over his shoulder.
The fluttery feeling in my stomach is back as I start to panic. I wore them this morning. I was planning on wearing them on the plane to surprise Aaron when we arrived at our room to get the vacation started off right, but I panicked.
I kept thinking of the plane crashing and the medics finding my mangled body with bright green lacy underwear on, and just couldn’t. I took them off at the last minute before leaving.
But I was wearing them all morning and they still have my scent on them.
And now they’re in Ethan’s pocket.
A tingling sweeps up the back of my neck and across my face. Is it possible to be embarrassed, aroused and angry all at the same time? I think I’ve discovered a new emotion. They’ll probably name it Tanya after me.
I try to clear out the lightness clouding my mind by shaking my head. It’s not working too well. Ethan disappears out of sight in the crowd of people.
I stuff all my shit back in my bag and zip it up. The baggage carousel is groaning to life and bags are falling down the chute like rocks tumbling down a hill, crushing any valuables inside. Relatives and friends of Megan and Lucas start grabbing their bags and headin
g towards the customs’ booths.
Aaron is still talking to Stephanie. Her head is tilted, her long blond hair falling straight down. How does it stay so straight even in this humidity?
I picture walking over there and shoving her onto the baggage carousel where she’ll disappear into the bowels of the airport never to be seen again when she touches Aaron for the tenth time. This time on his shoulder. She’s just doing it to fuck with me.
“Hi Tanya,” a warm, familiar voice says from behind.
“Mrs. Carson,” I say with a smile. Megan’s mom wraps her short, fleshy arms around me and pulls me in for a hug. Megan’s dad is standing behind her smiling at me. “Congratulations guys,” I say. “This is going to be so fun!”
I’ve always loved Megan’s parents. Megan was an only child so growing up they took me on all of their family vacations. They had a little RV that I still have so many fond memories of.
“Were you okay on the plane dear?” Mrs. Carson asks, looking worried. She touches the back of her hand to my forehead. Always the worried mother. She’s so cute.
“I was fine, thanks,” I lie. “Aaron was with me.” Doing absolutely nothing…
“Oh good,” she says, looking visibly relieved.
Mr. Carson lets out a chuckle. “Remember that time we brought you to Disney World with us? You puked on my lap.”
How could I forget? I was humiliated. “Sorry again about that,” I say for the hundredth time in my life.
“Poor girl,” Mrs. Carson says, shaking her head. “It was her birthday too.”
“Poor girl?” Mr. Carson asks, jerking his head back. “Those were my favorite pants!”
“I’m sorry,” I repeat.
Her mom looks around and then leans in, placing her hand gently on my forearm. “Are you upset that you’re not the maid of honor?” she asks.
Mr. Carson lets out a huff of air. “Maude, will you stay out of it?”
“I just want to know if her feelings are hurt,” she answers defensively.
It’s a sensitive topic. I glance over at their daughter Megan and sigh. She’s taking a selfie with her fiancee Lucas beside their luggage. They both look so happy and so in love. They kiss while she snaps away. Lucas is a great guy and to be honest, I am so thrilled for her. He’s good looking, he’s setting up a dental practice so he’ll make a good living, he’s sociable, fun and he’s as nerdy as her. Everyone loves him. They’re going to have a long, happy life together and I can’t wait to see them grow as a family.
“I’m just so happy that she’s happy,” I answer. And it’s the truth. Even if Megan and I never speak another word to each other I’ll always hope that she’s happy. I’ve never loved another person as much as I’ve loved her. She’s my best friend and my favorite person. Even if she did hang me out to dry.
“Good,” her mom says, nodding. “I just hope there’s no drama this week and we can all have some fun in the sun.”
She looks over in Stephanie’s direction and her eyes narrow. “I don’t know why Megan chose her. That girl is a drama factory.”
“Will you stay out of it?” her dad asks again with a pinched expression on his face. “Come,” he says grabbing her arm. “I don’t want to miss the bus.”
“It’s our personal bus, Frank,” Mrs. Carson answers as she’s getting pulled away. “And no one is on it. It’s not going to leave empty.”
Those two are my favorite couple. So in love yet always bickering. It makes for an entertaining pair.
Aaron is still chatting with Stephanie. He’s said more to her in the past ten minutes than he’s said to me all week. Time to break this party up.
I carry my bag over and they stop talking when they see me, turning and looking at me like I’m a stranger who just interrupted their important conversation.
“Thanks for leaving my bag alone in the middle of an international airport,” I say.
Aaron just shrugs like he doesn’t give a shit. Which he doesn’t. “I was watching it.”
Stephanie steps forward. “We were watching it.” I cringe at how she emphasizes the we. “Don’t worry, no one, not even the poorest Mexican, is going to steal your clothes.”
My chest tightens as they both laugh.
“Oh, relax, Tanya,” she says, slapping my shoulder when she sees the look on my face. “It was a joke.”
She rolls her eyes and leaves, shaking her head. God, I hate her.
“What’s your problem?” Aaron asks rudely.
He doesn’t really want to know what my problem is because he places his headphones back in his ears before I can tell him that he’s being an asshole.
The airport is packed full of annoyed, sweaty and cranky tourists who just want to get to their resorts and jump in the pool. I can relate. I’m one of them.
We find our suitcases on the baggage carousel and then head for the customs’ booths. Aaron speeds ahead and I try to race through the crowds of people to catch up with him but it’s hard with my large rolling suitcase. The sign says that couples traveling together should go through customs as a group, but either Aaron can’t read or he doesn’t consider us a couple because he goes through alone. I was really hoping to reconnect with him during the trip, that I paid for nonetheless, but it seems like he has other plans. Maybe there was nothing really to reconnect to in the first place.
I push the button and the light flashes green. Nice. I already had one too many unwelcome men go through my bag today. I don’t need a bunch of customs officials added to the list.
We get shuffled like cattle to the parking lot outside where there’s an army of air conditioned buses ready to drive through some terrible poverty to get to the rich man’s paradise. The air is thick with heat. It’s hard to breathe and my shirt is already drenched by the time I meet up with the group.
A few of Lucas’ friends and relatives are at the tiny tiki bar in the parking lot ordering drinks. He is there. Standing beside the bar drinking a Corona and staring at me with a smirk on his frustratingly beautiful face. He raises the bottle to me and tilts it in a cheers before putting it to his lips and taking a long sip. I roll my eyes and look away in fake disgust.
I smile at Cynthia and Julia who are are walking over with their bags.
A strong pull that I find irresistible is yanking at me and I have to turn back. Ethan is still watching me. He elbows Lucas who’s standing next to him and asks him something that I can’t hear from over here. Lucas looks over at me and I turn away with my ears burning hot.
“Check out what our girl bought,” Cynthia says, laughing.
“What is it?” I ask, thankful to have a distraction.
“These are totally in style,” Julia says, pulling a pair of white, thick-rimmed sunglasses out of her purse. There’s a little price tag dangling from the frames that I’m afraid to look at. Julia is a compulsive shopper with a closet that would make Kim Kardashian jealous. And on a kindergarten teacher’s salary, she’s got another closet full of unpaid bills.
Cynthia takes them from her and tries them on. “I thought they took all of your credit cards away?”
“They did,” Julia says, checking her hair in the reflection of the glasses. “I got a new one.”
“Great,” Cynthia says with a chuckle as she takes them off and looks at the price tag. “Three hundred dollars? For sunglasses?”
“What?” Julia asks defensively. “I had to have a white pair. What do you think I’ll be stuck wearing my silver and gold Ray-Bans all week like a poor person?”
“Poor would be an upgrade for you,” I say, taking the sunglasses from Cynthia and trying them on. “Having zero dollars would be an upgrade for you. You have like negative thirty thousand.” And all in retail debt.
“That was last year,” Julia says as I hand the glasses back to her.
“You paid some off?” I ask. Maybe our girl is growing up.
Cynthia snorts out a laugh.
“No,” Julia says nonchalantly. “I added another ten.”
“What?” she asks with a shrug. “It’s a new season. Have you seen the spring collection at Louis Vuitton and Channel?”
She goes on about how she has so much self-control since she only bought one purse this season and I tune out and glance back at Ethan. He’s laughing with his cousin Lucas. His face is beautiful when he laughs. His nose curls up and his eyes sparkle. It’s a laugh that’s contagious and I start to smile as I watch him.
His eyes dart onto me out of nowhere and I turn around in panic. Oh shit. Busted.
“Oh my God. He’s still watching you,” Cynthia says, interrupting our babbling friend.
“Who?” I ask innocently.
Julia’s eyes narrow. “Who? Don’t play dumb with us. You know who she’s talking about.”
I can feel my ears reddening again. “It’s nothing,” I say, looking at the cement. “I got airsick and he was helping me back to my seat. That’s all. I’m just happy I didn’t puke on his shoes.”
“Mm-hm,” Cynthia hums, not buying it at all.
“I got a new bikini too,” Julia says rummaging through her bag.
Cynthia laughs. “Just one? How much did this one cost?”
I glance over my shoulder back at the bar and Ethan smiles when we make eye contact. He stuffs his hand in the pocket that has my lacy underwear in it and feels around. I swallow hard as I watch the smirk on his face. He takes his hand out and subtly smells his fingers, all the while never taking his eyes off mine.
I give him a look of disgust and turn back around. I’m suddenly very aware of my heartbeat. It’s pounding like crazy.
“My girls!” Megan screams, shuffling over with her arms raised. She wraps an arm around Cynthia and Julia’s necks and squeezes. I force out a smile to my best friend as the two girls struggle to get out of her iron grasp. “I’m so happy you guys could make it over here,” she says. “It means the world to me. I couldn’t imagine walking down the aisle without any of you there.”
I smile even though I feel like walking away from her over to the bus.