“Ah, haole.” The waiter grinned, looking down at Shelly.
“Yes.” I nodded my head and felt a grin spread across my face.
“What?” Shelly asked, looking from the waiter to me and back to the waiter.
“What did he just say?” She asked, looking at me with a fire in her eyes.
She wasn’t upset but I could see that the spark was there.
“He called you an outsider. You are, you’re white and you’re not from here. He just wanted to make sure that he was right.” I shrugged my shoulders, explaining it.
“Great.” She looked up at the waiter giving him a grim look.
I had to bite my tongue from laughing at her, seeing the expression her face.
“I would like some of your fresh squid cooked up nicely for us. It’s her first time trying it, make sure it’s good.” I explained to him.
“Yes sir, if you have any complaints make sure that you blame the cooks. I’m just the messenger.” He held up his note pad and wrote down the order that we wanted.
I wasn’t too worried about it, I had gone there numerous times before and didn’t have any complaints.
“Should I try something else?” Shelly asked, raising her eyebrows.
“God no, I’m telling you it’s going to be good. They will put it in a batter and deep fry it. You’re going to love it.” I sat up straight and leaned in close.
I was glad that Shelly had agreed to come with me. It was looking to be a fine day just getting to know her now that we were able to sit down.
I glanced at her a few times, the sun shining off her face when she sat back against the chair to let her sun warm her skin.
“What?” She asked, noticing me watching her.
“Nothing, I’m seeing that you’re very pale.” I was clumsy with my words.
Closing my eyes tightly when I heard her laughing at me I sounded stupid. Why would I talk about her skin?
I opened my eyes and saw tears glistening in hers she was laughing so hard. I felt like a complete idiot but if I wanted to spend more time with her I was going to have to come up with more things to do with her.
“There’s this club, a dancing club. Do you dance?” I asked, leaning in and picking up my composure.
“I do, I love dancing.” Her eyes grew wide and they gleamed.
I could tell that she wasn’t lying to make me feel better about the comment that I had made.
“Good, if you’re not doing anything tonight do you want to go out with me?” I asked, hoping that she wasn’t going to let one silly comment get the best of us.
“I would love to. It’s been so long since I’ve done fun things. I mean I work all the time for a living, who doesn’t.” Shelly rolled her eyes and she took my breath away.
“Great, we’re going to have a really good time.” I winked at her.
Seeing her blush and making eye contact with her we didn’t say anything to one another. I don’t think that either of us knew what to say.
Before the pause became uncomfortable the waiter came with our food. A large plate of deep fried squid with sauce in the middle of the plate.
“I thought since you guys came together you might want to share the plate?” He asked, raising his eyebrows at us and standing there waiting.
“Yes, that’s fine.” I smiled, being the first one to take a piece of squid to dip it in the sauce.
I blew on it, seeing that Shelly was watching me. An awful look on her face waiting to see if I was going to like it or not.
I could feel her watching me so intently. I knew that she was wanting to read my facial expression.
I liked it, I thought it was good. I loved it. Always enjoyed the squid.
“So?” She asked, leaning closer to the plate.
“So, it’s good. Try a piece.” I laughed, after swallowing what I had in my mouth.
Sitting back in my chair I watched her, I was so intent on seeing how she was going to like it that I was only focused on her.
“Don’t watch me.” She giggled, but I couldn’t take my eyes away from her.
Even if the world was crashing down around us I wouldn’t be able to keep my eyes off her.
Shelly picked up the piece of squid like I had done, dipping it into the sauce she had a curious smile on her face as she brought the piece to her mouth. Opening her mouth slightly.
“Come on, just pop it into your mouth. I’m telling you to trust me. You’re really going to like it.” I shook my head at her.
Shelly opened her mouth wide and began chewing on it.
I could tell by the look on her face that she was enjoying it. There was no disgusted look on her face and when she was done with the first piece of squid she went for a second one.
Laughing at her I raised my eyebrows and ran a hand through my black hair.
“You’re right, it was good. I like it a lot.” Shelly nodded her head, taking a drink from the ice water that she had in front of her.
“I told you.” I pointed at her, feeling even better about the day.
We sat and talked what felt like hours. The sun was high in the sky by the time I looked at my watch.
“Damn.” I murmured, seeing that my phone was lighting up on the table.
“What?” Shelly asked, her smile fading instantly.
“I forgot that I had a meeting. Can I come by the hotel to pick you up around eight tonight?” I asked, getting up from my chair so quickly that I almost dumped the rest of my water on my lap.
“Yeah. That’s fine.” Shelly looked around, wondering which way we came from.
“I can walk you back to the hotel.” I felt like such a cheap date as I threw the money down on the table for our meal and leaving a nice tip.
“Thanks.” Shelly got up slowly but there was no smile on her face.
“I’m sorry about this.” I apologized again and watched as she gave me a smile.
It wasn’t her real smile though, I was sure that I had messed up and the only way that I was going to be able to make it up to her was taking her out dancing.
I didn’t want to mess anything up with her. I had a good feeling about Shelly and I was sure she thought that I was lying. I was half tempted to show her my phone to have her believe me.
We weren’t even dating, I had barely met the woman and I was wanting to be faithful. I was wanting to show her the proof that I wasn’t standing her up for someone else. That I wasn’t lying to her.
It was a quiet walk back to the hotel. I shoved my hands into my pockets and looked down at the ground in front of me.
“Things happen, things come up.” Shelly pointed out to me after a while.
“I will pick you up tonight at eight. The front lobby.” I promised her as we stood in front of the hotel just staring at each other.
“I’m looking forward to it.” She gave me a full smile, the smile that melted my heart and I had the urge to just kiss her, to know how her lips felt pressed against mine.
I fought the urge and turned to walk away from the hotel lobby. To walk to the parking lot and get into my car before I said something stupid to ruin the good day that we had.
Chapter 9
Shelly
I went to the room sulking. I was sure the girls were out having fun without me, I had been gone for hours but it didn’t mean that I didn’t want to share the good time that I had.
I put the key into the door and opened it. I was surprised to see that Jasmine was sitting there doing nothing. Just laying on her bed.
“I thought you’d be out.” I told her softly, shutting the door behind me.
“I thought that you’d be out later than what you were.” She propped herself up onto her elbows.
“Where are the girls?” Looking around I didn’t see them.
“Jennifer went down to the beach and Alice found Scott. I guess they are doing whatever.” Jasmine smiled, she wanted to know how things had gone.
“He wants to take me out dancing tonight. I guess he had a meeting th
at he forgot about.” I acted like it was no big deal.
“He probably did, like you said he’s a very busy man.” Jasmine gave me the look as to not assume anything until I had proof that he was lying to me.
“It makes me sad that you’re just sitting here doing nothing. This is a vacation for you too.” I reminded her, sitting down on the edge of the bed.
“I am having a wonderful time, even more so since you’re back.” Jasmine sat up beside me.
“What do you want to do then?” Sighing, I didn’t have any other plans. I had set everything aside for Jackson.
“Nothing really, it’s too hot out there now. When the sun goes down you’re going to be gone already.” Jasmine put on the best smile she could.
“I will make time for you. I didn’t think that he was going to want another date so soon. I thought that he was just going to have lunch and call it a day. Then we got to talking.” I laughed, seeing that Jasmine wanted to know how things were going for me.
Jasmine listened intently as if it was her date that she had gone on. She was such a good friend to me, she didn’t interrupt when I talked about the food, when I talked about the walk and how my feet had hurt when I thought that we were going to go all over the place.
“You would think that he would’ve taken you in the car. He has a car, right?” Jasmine frowned.
It was what she did. She listened to a story and then picked it apart. I laughed, knowing how she was.
“Of course, I don’t know why we didn’t take the car. Maybe he liked to walk. I hope that we take his car tonight.” I thought about it.
My feet would be too tired to even dance if we walked the way we had that day.
Before I could tell her more about my date there was a knock on the door.
“Who is it?” Jasmine called out, being the first one to get off the bed.
“Room service.” The woman’s voice came back.
“We didn’t order any rooms service.” Jasmine replied, but by the time she opened the door the person was gone.
“What’s out there? Whose out there?” I asked, knowing that it sounded odd that someone would announce who they were and then not be there.
“I don’t know, there’s a red box out here and it has your name on it.” Jasmine looked over her shoulder.
“I don’t know why someone would bring something to me.” I shrugged my shoulders.
She picked up the box and brought it into the room, letting the door close behind her.
“Open it, it doesn’t say who it’s from.” Jasmine tried to look for another name, there was none.
“What if it’s something that we don’t want? What if it’s something alive.” I asked, feeling my heart leap into my throat.
“If it was something alive than it would have holes in it and it would be a much larger box.” She laughed at me, shaking her head.
“You open it.” I shook my head at her, not daring to laugh.
“It’s addressed to you.” Jasmine pushed it towards me and I pushed it back to her.
Jasmine sighed, shaking her head. She knew that I was being silly. It wasn’t the first time that I refused to open something that was mine.
She lifted the lid of the box slowly and I wanted to close my eyes. I didn’t want to see what was in the box. My nerves getting the best of me.
When I saw blue, I felt a sense of relief wash over me. I put my hand against my throat tightly, feeling the veins pumping against my fingertips.
“Well?” Jasmine asked, not bothering to look inside the box.
I took the box with joy and set it on the bed beside me.
Taking out the blue piece of clothing it was the dress that I had seen in the window when we were walking by one of the shops. I laughed and shook my head.
“This was the dress that he saw me eying.” I pulled it out and showed her it.
“That’s nice. I like that.” Jasmine’s eyes grew wide.
There was a message inside the box and I picked it up.
I can’t apologize enough for having to end our day so early.
Jackson
“See, now if he was doing something wrong he wouldn’t have gotten something for you. It sounds like a sincere note.” Jasmine whined at me, after she took the piece of paper from me and read it herself.
“Why does he want to be with me? What makes me so special?” I asked her, not sure what the motive was behind it all.
“Maybe he just likes you.” Jasmine put it plain and simple to me.
“He’s a millionaire Jasmine. A millionaire. You’re telling me he’s just interested in me?” I sighed, throwing myself down on the bed.
“Crazier things have happened, and you know that.” Jasmine stated.
“Yes, I know, but nothing like this ever happens to me.” I fretted, chewing on my bottom lip.
Whenever I was happy about something it went to hell. There was no in between. If I was happy bad things happened and if I wasn’t happy than life resumed the way it had always been.
I had to find out why he liked me so much, what he found attractive about me. What he was drawn to.
Jackson Miller could have anyone he wanted. He chose to spend his time with me, he chose to get me gifts and I couldn’t see what he saw in me.
I didn’t see myself as anything special. When I looked in the mirror I was just a normal woman trying to do the best she could in a world that was crazy half the time.
“Go take a shower and put it on. I want to see you in it.” Jasmine took me by my hands and helped pull me off the bed and onto my feet.
“I’m going to wear this dancing.” I looked down at the dress, the smile coming back to my face.
“I would assume that’s what he got it for. He wants to see you in the dress that you were gawking at. Knowing that you liked it.” Jasmine rolled her eyes.
I could be so difficult sometimes, but she put up with me.
“He told me that it was nice, and I agreed with him. I didn’t say that I liked it. I didn’t say that I wanted it.” I laughed at her, shaking my head.
“See, he knows you already. He knows what you like without you having to say anything. It means that he studies you.” Jasmine pointed out a good trait that he had.
I didn’t know what to say to that, so I took the dress and walked into the bathroom, shutting the door behind me.
Could what Jasmine had said be true? That he was studying me without me knowing about it? Seeing the likes and dislikes of me or of what I liked as a person in general?
“Stop, just stop. You’re going to think so much you’re going to tire yourself out before tonight.” I coached myself in the mirror.
Quickly getting undressed I got in the shower and loved how the jets on the shower walls sprayed my body.
I wasn’t sure about the dress when I got out of the shower and dried off. I put it on and it was tighter than what I thought it was going to be. It made it look as if I had bigger breasts when I didn’t.
I loved it other than that.
“Come out here and let us see how you look!” Jasmine shouted, making me jump.
One of the girls must’ve come back while I was in the shower.
“No!” I hollered back, laughing at her as I dried my hair.
Jasmine tried the door it was locked. Within minutes she used her credit card to unlock the bathroom door and I stood there.
“You look amazing!” Jasmine cried, I saw Jennifer standing behind her and nodding her head in approval.
“Are you sure?” I gave her a funny face.
“Yes, he’s going to love it. It was a good idea to get that dress.” Jasmine told me truthfully.
I could see the truth in her eyes as she nodded her head at me again.
I looked in the mirror and thought it wasn’t as bad as I first guessed. I smiled at myself and my eyes began to gleam.
“The dress matches your eyes and I bet that’s what he was thinking when he saw you looking at it. If your eyes looked the way they d
o now there’s no doubt that he thought that it matched. It seems he even has class when it comes to clothing.” Jennifer pointed out to me.
“If we’re not here when you get back tonight don’t worry. Jennifer and I are going to go out and have a few drinks ourselves. Away from the hotel since you and Alice aren’t going to be around.” Jasmine warned me.
“How do you know that Alice isn’t going to be around?” I raised my eyebrows at her.
“Scott’s working tonight so we know she’s going to be down at the bar. We’ll just grab another key from the front desk before we head out tonight.” Jasmine smiled at me.
I was glad to see that she was finally going out and having fun. That she wasn’t going to mope around the hotel room because that was the last thing that I wanted her to do.
Chapter 10
Jackson
I was pacing the lobby floor again, looking at my watch. It was already eight-fifteen. She was fifteen minutes late.
I wondered if she had got the dress, if she was mad at me and decided that she wasn’t going to even come down and tell me that she didn’t want to see me for leaving her the way I had earlier in the day.
It wasn’t like I meant to forget about the meeting with Bob, but I let the time slip away from me. I forgot just about everything while I was with her.
Running my hands through my hair I didn’t know what I was going to do if she stood me up.
Shelly was a good woman, I could see it from the second she had bumped into me.
When I turned around I saw her standing there. the dress was beautiful and the blue sandals that she had bought from the gift shop matched nicely.
“I thought that you weren’t going to show.” I looked at my watch again.
“You’re a man of time, of course I was going to make you sweat it out.” She laughed, walking closer to me.
I could see that Shelly was having fun with her little game. She put me off for as long as she could, and it showed me that she didn’t like to have plans cancelled at the last minute or disrupted.
Virgin On Vacation Page 4
