We just reach La Vista and it's already 3:00 in the afternoon. The long drive sure did make my butt ache. I actually feel a little dizzy I want to have a good long bath.
"Hey Mel, let's check the beach!" Toni says excitedly. She's running together with Erika.
These girls really love beaches.
"Wait." I stop them. "We should check-in first."
"Come on. We are just going to check it. We're not swimming ... yet." Erika insists.
I stare at them and they stare back at me, with hopeful eyes. Dang! At this point, I can't do anything against them.
"Okay. Let's go." I agree, giggling. We run together leaving our bags behind like as if this is our first time to see a beach.
"Wow." We gasp almost at the same time.
It's a wonderful scenery. Everything around me is just ... beautiful. The shore of the whitest powder like sand, so long that I can hardly see both ends. Across us – in the middle of the ocean, are islands with unique shapes and variety of sizes. The water is so clear. It even looks like a vast bed of diamonds glittering as sunlight hits it.
Palm trees are standing along the shores together with different huts. Everywhere I look, I could see people with smiles on their faces, enjoying themselves.
It's a paradise.
* * *
Erika's scream fills the room.
In an instant, Toni and I rush to the CR where Erika is.
"What's wrong?" I ask as I open the door. I find Erika in the bathtub with the hotel's brochure on her hand.
"This place has over ten bars. We should go to each one of them!" She says excitedly.
"Seriously?" Toni says with her what-the-heck face.
"Come on guys. This is going to be an epic bar hopping."
"The next time you'll scream like that over things like this, I'll kill you." Toni glares at Erika and walks away.
"What? You're no fun." Erika defends herself. "Right, Melissa?" She says looking at me with hopeful eyes.
I just laugh at her and walk away.
"Whatever. We'll hop from one bar to another!" Erika shouts. "And find guys everywhere!"
Toni and I continue unpacking our things. I feel happy to share a room with my best friends. We're lucky to get this room for three.
"We're going on an island hopping tomorrow, right?" Toni says while hanging her clothes in the cabinet.
"Yep." I reply enthusiastically.
"I'm so excited!"
"I know right."
La Vista offers island hopping activities to its guest. I've been dreaming to be here for such a long time and now I'm finally here – for free.
"We should check out the whole place tonight. Let's go around and enjoy ourselves!" Erika proposes after coming out of the CR.
"We can't stay late. Call time for tomorrow is six in the morning. We need to sleep early." I disagree.
"Sleep?!" She says in a shock voice. "Goodness, Melissa. We can sleep all we want when we get back, but since we're here, there is no need to sleep: we should explore everything and have fun. That's what a good traveler does."
I look at Toni and she just shrugs. "She's right."
I laugh and shake my head. I can't really do anything of these two agrees on a thing. "Okay. Let's go."
"Wait. As in right now?" Toni asks.
"Yeah. If we'll leave early, we'll be back early too. Aren't I a good compromiser?" I walk to the doorway. "Let's go."
It's about twelve midnight when we got back to the hotel. We went to many places. We even bought souvenirs for us and for our friends. We tried different foods. We only decided to go back to the hotel when we ran out of money to spend.
I found myself standing on the veranda of our hotel room. The cold night breeze from the ocean is gently brushing my skin. The wind here is very different compared to that of the city's. It's fresher... cleaner... safer. It's totally different from the polluted city air.
I close my eyes to further appreciate this wonderful midnight breeze.
I hear a door cracks open. It is not the one behind me. The sound came from somewhere from my side. I immediately open my eyes and witness Alexander comes out from the room adjacent to us and slowly steps into the veranda of their room.
"Hey." He says with a shock face.
"Hey." I said in a whisper looking at him.
We stand there looking at each other in silence. It was too silent – an awkward silence. I can't hear anything aside from my racing heartbeat.
"It's really nice here, right?" I say trying to sound lively as possible covering up this awkwardness.
"Yeah." He answers and looks away. He moves forward and leans on the railings.
The wind becomes colder.
Wait. It reminds me of something.
It reminds me of the night at the cliff – the night we shared kisses.
It was also cold that time but I felt comfortable unlike this time it's awkwardly cold.
What's wrong Alexander?
He remains silent while looking at the darkness.
I also remain silent looking at him. I am aching to run to him. I want to hug him tightly. I want to ask him what is wrong. I don't want to feel cold anymore. I want to feel warm with him – in his arms just like that night. But apparently, I am standing frozen on my spot.
"Alexander?" I call him. "I-I want to ask you a question." I badly need to know what this cold play all about. "It's really bothering me. Why are you -."
"Excuse me." He cuts what I was saying. "I need to go back to my room." He immediately walks away and enters his room. He moves quickly like he was running away from something – from my words... from my feelings.
"- so cold to me?" I finish my sentence.
Warm tears stream down my face.
What is wrong? Why is he acting this way? I don't understand it.
Two pairs of arms embrace me. I feel warm but it's not the warmness I'm looking for.
"It's okay." Toni says. "It's okay."
"No, it's not." I reply. Everything about it is not okay.
"It may really be fucked-up for now but it would be okay." She says encouragingly.
"Yeah." Erika agrees. "You see, while we were hiding somewhere and watching your conversation with him, -"
"Erika!, It's not helping." Toni snaps.
"Let me finish first. When I'm saying my words of wisdom, I need an introduction to have a greater impact." Erika defends herself. If not for the situation, I would have laughed. "Anyway, while we were watching you get cold treated again, I noticed that he seemed really problematic. There might be something that's bothering him right now. Let's just see what will happen tomorrow, okay? Everything might be different, for all we know."
"Yeah. Let's do that, okay?" Toni agrees.
"I hope so." I reply sobbing.
I hope so. I silently pray looking at the place where he was just standing a while ago.
YOU ARE READING
Someone Like You
Teen Fiction"Are you avoiding me?" He says looking straight into my eyes. "Why?" I raised my eyebrow. I tried to look calm, hiding the fact that I was shaking inside. "This is how were before Alexander. Don't ever think that everything's changed just because I'...
