Heavy Turbulence

by Kimberly Fox

  We eat dinner and I have a great time sitting beside Megan with Julia and Cynthia on my opposite side. At one point Megan makes me laugh so hard that I almost snort wine out of my nose. It’s like we’re back to how we were before and all of the tension that’s been weighing me down for the past few weeks has been released. I feel so light that I’m almost giddy.

  Stephanie keeps eying us angrily from the other table. This isn’t even about Megan anymore. I can tell. She just doesn’t like to lose.

  Lucas gives a corny but sweet speech that has Megan beaming and after that, the music starts playing. After talking to the DJ, Megan grabs Julia, Cynthia and me and drags us to the sandy dance floor.

  Stephanie jumps up and joins us. “What are we doing?” she asks.

  Megan waves her away. “You don’t know the dance. Go sit down.”

  She lines us up in front of the two tables and smiles at her husband to be as Stephanie sits back down, sulking.

  Cynthia, Julia and I aren’t in on the secret but we can guess what’s about to play over the speakers. In grade seven we did a synchronized dance to Everybody by The Backstreet Boys in the school talent show. I think we’re about to recreate it here. I’m just happy that Ethan isn’t here to see me embarrass myself.

  “When I was a teenager I was sure I was going to marry Brian Littrell from the Backstreet Boys,” Megan says to Lucas. “Well, Brian doesn’t have a thing on my man.” She turns and points to the DJ. “Hit it Mr. DJ.”

  He’s talking on the phone, not paying attention.

  “Hellooooooo?” she says, waving at him. “Mr. DJ!”

  He glances over at us standing awkwardly in front of everyone watching, talks for another ten seconds and then hits the play button.

  The music comes on and we all take our places, dancing and moving even more clumsy and awkward than when we were going through puberty. The sand isn’t helping and we all take turns falling on our ass at one or more points in the song. Cynthia wins at four slips and eight falls.

  When the song finally finishes the tables are cheering and clapping. Lucas stands on his chair and whistles, never taking his eyes off his sweating and heavily breathing bride.

  Stephanie is on her phone ignoring us the whole time.

  It was a little too hot to do that in the Caribbean and I’m worried that I’m going to be a little too sweaty for Ethan later. I walk down to the water to get some of that nice ocean breeze to cool me off.

  “Shit,” I mutter when I see Stephanie walking over. “When will you just admit that you lost?” she asks, crossing her arms in front of me. “I stole your best friend and your man. Why don’t you just go swim away in the ocean and drown?”

  I step up to her with my chin in the air. I’m done taking her shit.

  “You did me a favor by sleeping with Aaron,” I say, getting in her face. “It showed me what a shitty piece of shit that he really is. So thank you. As for Megan,” I say, squeezing my hands into fists. “She is my best friend. She has always been my best friend. And she will always be my best friend no matter how many self-centered, stuck up, attention whoring bitches try to wedge their slutty, disgusting bodies between us.”

  We’re nose to nose.

  Stephanie steps back and she drops her eyes to the sand. She does what any bully does when they’re confronted: she backs off.

  “Whatever,” she says, shrugging as she walks away. “She’s getting boring anyway and she’s dorkier than I thought. I mean look at you nerds and that ridiculous choreographed song.”

  Megan comes rushing over when she sees us together. “What’s going on over here?”

  “Well,” Stephanie says, crossing her arms. “Your friend just threatened me.”

  “Oh yeah?” Megan says. She steps up to Stephanie with the same fire that was in her eyes when she first found out about the cheating this afternoon. “Well let me add something to that. If you ever treat my best friend like that again I’ll break your nose.”

  She seriously looks like she’s going to hit her. I step forward ready to hold her back.

  “And,” Megan continues, “I’m giving you the money back for the honeymoon.”

  “Why?” Stephanie asks, looking insulted.

  “Because nothing is worth not having Tanya by my side at my wedding. She is my bestie. Not you.”

  Stephanie rolls her eyes and turns away. “Whatever.”

  But Megan isn’t done. “You slept with her boyfriend and you’ve been shitty to her all week.”

  Stephanie points at me. “She started it.”

  “If you weren’t my fiancee’s sister than I would have you kicked off the resort,” she says, walking back to me and grabbing my arm. “She’s going to be my maid of honor. It should have been her from the start.”

  I squeeze her arm, feeling so happy at finally hearing those words.

  Stephanie stares at us with cold, hard eyes. “It’s better this way anyway. No one wants a maid of honor who is prettier than them.”

  Megan’s jaw tightens. “That just got you downgraded to the last row.”

  “What?” Stephanie asks.

  Megan smiles at her. “You’re out of the wedding party.”

  Stephanie cocks her head back and her eyes widen. “I’m the sister of the groom!” she says, sounding outraged.

  Megan smirks. “The sister of the groom who listens to whatever I say and is madly in love with me? That groom?”

  For the first time ever Stephanie is at a loss for words.

  “You’re out,” Megan snaps.

  “Hey Megan,” I say, turning to her. “Isn’t this dinner exclusively for the wedding party?”

  Megan’s eyes are locked on her soon to be sister-in-law. “That’s right, Tanya, it is. Thank you for stopping by Stephanie but you’re no longer welcome here.”

  Stephanie bares her teeth and thrusts her chin into the air. “You bitches,” she hisses. “You’ll both regret this.”

  She storms off the beach, kicking up sand as she goes. She grabs Aaron’s shirt and pulls him with her. “Come with me,” she barks at him. “We’re leaving. By choice.”

  Aaron follows her out like a sad little puppy.

  Megan is smiling and looking proud. I start to sing to her from one of our favorite movies and she joins in, alternating verses:

  “Ding dong the witch is dead

  Which old witch?

  The stupid bitch.”

  “Ding dong the witch is dead

  The bridesmaids are switched

  The witch has been ditched.”

  “Ding dong the witch is dead

  She was really cruel

  Let’s hope she drowns in the pool.”

  “Alright, that’s enough.”

  “Agreed.”

  I smile at her and let all of the hurt and anger wash away like the morning tide. “BFFFs?” I ask.

  She nods. “Best Fucking Friends Forever!”

  “Let’s go party,” I say, hooking my arm around hers and pulling her back to the dance floor. “It’s your last night single!”

  N’Sync comes on over the speakers and we squeal like teenagers as we meet up with Cynthia and Julia to get our dance on.

  Megan and the girls go to bed early to get their beauty sleep for the wedding tomorrow and I head to the cocktail lounge where Ethan said he would be.

  He’s sitting at the bar, looking hot as he nurses a drink by himself. I stand back and watch him for a minute in his green shorts and white shirt that hugs his muscles. A flip-flop is hanging off his foot between his toes.

  He smiles wide when he sees me. “I’ve been waiting for you all night.”

  His voice still gives me the warm and fuzzies inside.

  “I got here as fast as I could,” I say, sitting on the empty barstool beside him.

  “It’s okay,” he says, grinning at me. “I would have waited forever.”

  The bar is almost empty and the band seems to be packing their instruments away. I don’t feel like going t
o bed right now but I think the bar is closing. “What do we do now?”

  “The night is still young,” he says, reaching over the bar when the bartender isn’t looking. He grabs a bottle of wine and two glasses from behind the bar. “Let’s go sit on the beach.”

  We walk through the resort in silence, nodding at the other couples we pass. He slips his hand in mine and I get goosebumps as I take it. I really don’t want this week to end.

  We find a quiet place in the sand near the dark ocean and sit. The muted music from one of the bars back on the resort mixes with the sound of the warm breeze and the lazy waves. Ethan fills the two glasses with wine and hands me one. “Cheers.”

  I sit back and relax, looking up at the bright stars and enjoying the crappy wine and Ethan’s calming presence. “So many stars,” I say.

  Ethan looks up and I sneak a peek at his jawline. “Which one is your favorite?” he asks.

  They all look the same to me. “I wasn’t aware that they were different enough to have a favorite.”

  “Are you kidding?” he asks with excitement on his handsome face. “Each one is another world.”

  I didn’t know that he was into astronomy. I picture him as a little boy looking into a huge telescope and smile. There’s still a lot of stuff to discover about each other and it makes me sad that we won’t have the time to learn any of it. Tomorrow is our last full day.

  “Which one is your favorite?” I ask.

  “Uh, that one,” he says, pointing up.

  “You just pointed at random didn’t you?” I ask, raising an eyebrow.

  “Busted.”

  Still, I look at the star and memorize its location. I’ll think of him every time I see it.

  I inch over towards him and rest my head on his shoulder.

  I want to ask what’s going to happen next. What’s going to happen after the trip? Will there even be an after? Will we ever see each other again?

  I take a deep breath and decide to just enjoy the moment. I have to stop living in the future and just enjoy the present for once.

  I have to enjoy the moment.

  Because I don’t know if we’ll get another.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Tanya

  Day Six

  Ethan wakes me up with some heavy petting. “You’re feisty this morning,” I say as he kisses my stomach.

  “How can I help it waking up next to you?” he asks between kisses. His hard erection brushes against my leg and I push him off.

  “Let me take a shower first,” I say. “I’m so sweaty and disgusting.”

  He holds me down playfully but I squirm out of his muscular grasp and run into the large walk-in shower.

  I’ve barely put the shampoo in my hair when he joins me with his long, hard cock jutting in the air.

  “I thought you might need some help washing your tits,” he says with a grin.

  “Thank you, sir,” I say, talking like Marilyn Monroe. “I’m such a dirty girl and I need a big, strong man to help me get clean.”

  “Good,” he says, taking my soapy body in his solid arms. “I love dirty girls.”

  He steps under the jets and we have awkward, uncomfortable, but amazing shower sex. It’s always so hard to find a comfortable position in the shower but Ethan remedied that pretty well. He just picked me up in his jacked arms and lowered my pussy onto his dick.

  After my long shower that leaves my fingers all pruney and my heart pounding, I meet up with the bride and other bridesmaids for breakfast. I sit down at the table with my banana, apple and yogurt.

  Stephanie is with Aaron sitting at a table across the restaurant. She looks pissed.

  “I can’t believe you’re getting married,” I say to Megan. “It still feels like I was cutting gum out of your hair in high school only yesterday.”

  Megan laughs. Her bangs were uneven for months. “I know!” she says. “I’m so grown up. I’m freaking out!”

  “It’s going to be great,” Cynthia says, placing her hand on Megan’s. “And if it isn’t you get a fake passport and move to Alaska.”

  Megan shakes her head. “No. Too cold.”

  “Okay, Fiji,” I say.

  Megan nods. “Now you’re talking.”

  “He is going to love your dress,” Julia says.

  The girls gush over Megan’s looks for a bit while I zone out. I have other things on my mind. And that thing just walked by the restaurant to the pool. Ethan has his towel draped over his shoulder and he’s wearing the sunglasses that I like. A strong urge to run out and say hi tries to overtake me and I have to hold onto my chair to make sure that I don’t jump up. I watch him as he walks up to the pool, pulls off his tank top and tosses it onto an empty chair.

  A woman nearby lowers her book then her sunglasses and watches him. Two young women walk by and gawk as he takes off his sunglasses. They stop walking and pretend to talk but they’re really only stopping to steal glances at Ethan every few seconds.

  He’s so hot.

  The women watch as he dives into the pool and swims the entire length before coming up for air. It’s weird to think that Ethan has a whole life in Chicago that I’m not a part of. He has a townhouse that I’ve never stepped into full of clothes that I’ve never seen him wear. He has two businesses that I’ve never been to and a motorcycle that I haven’t ridden on. I feel so connected to him and it feels weird knowing that tomorrow he’ll be going home to a different life that I’m not apart of. A life that is separated from mine by state lines.

  He says that he’s interested in a long distance relationship but who knows? I’m hoping that he’ll want to continue this but it’s easy to fall into unrealistic, fantasy land expectations when you’re on vacation at the beach. It’s another matter entirely when you go back to the real world and get sucked back into the daily grind. I’ll just have to wait and see what happens.

  Ethan climbs out of the pool and runs his hand through his wet hair. Drops of water cascade down his tanned, chiseled abs. The two young women have stopped pretending to talk and are outright staring at him now. The woman with the book is reaching for her camera.

  I’ve never been with a man who had abs before. I like it. He struts back to his chair and lies down on his back with his eyes closed. The urge to walk over there comes back, but this time, I want to kiss him on the lips.

  “What do you think, Tanya?” Megan asks.

  “Huh?” I ask in confusion. I was completely blanked out there and have no idea what they’re talking about.

  Cynthia grins as she bites down on her straw. “She’s looking at her Prince Charming over there.”

  Julia turns her head. “Holy abs. You can wash your clothes on his stomach.”

  “And hang them to dry on his cock,” I say. I think his crudeness is rubbing off on me.

  “Tanya!” Megan says and we all burst out laughing.

  I’m staring at him through the large open window when the laughing dies down. I can see Megan out of the corner of my eye watching me. “Is this just a fling?” she asks. “Or something more?”

  I take a deep breath and bite my lip. “That’s the million-dollar question.”

  And one that I’ll only find out in a few days.

  We all get ready at Megan’s suite and by the time all of our hair is done up, our makeup is painstakingly applied and the four of us are dressed, the honeymoon suite is trashed. There are hair rollers and mascara and brushes everywhere. I feel sorry for the maid, or for Lucas, whoever comes in first I guess.

  “Come here,” Julia says, fixing a strand of loose hair on my head. She spent an hour fixing it with hairpins, elastics, hairspray, and I think at one point she even had a glue gun working up there.

  My mind drifts back to Ethan as Julia carefully fixes me up. I haven’t seen him since this morning and it makes me sad since this is our last full day together. I’m with my favorite girls and my best friend is getting married today. I should be thrilled and excited but I just can’t shake the tightness
in my chest and the feeling like my heart is breaking. I hide it all for Megan’s sake and pretend to be happy but that’s just making it worse inside.

  Megan comes out of the bathroom after changing into her dress and Julia squeals in delight. She looks stunning in a simple, strapless white dress that is tight around her torso and then flows freely by her legs. When I see her some of the excitement that I should be feeling comes back.

  “Megan,” I say, “you look hot as fuck!”

  The bride smiles. “Really?”

  “Not as hot as your mom’s old dress we wore when we were eight but still good.”

  She turns and smiles when she looks at herself in the mirror. “He’s going to like it.”

  “He fucking better,” Cynthia says. “Or I’ll marry you.”

  Megan gushes over our bridesmaids dresses and hair as I tuck a red flower, the same one that Ethan put in my hair on our first night, behind my ear. He tried to claim me that night by putting the flower in my hair and now I’m sending a subtle message back to him: I’m his.

  Hopefully, he likes my dress. It’s a light pink breezy dress with a sweetheart neckline and a pleated front. I must say…I do look smoking hot in it.

  I wonder if I’ll ever be the one in the wedding dress walking towards my groom. Of course, the groom standing in my fantasy is Ethan. I can’t see myself being happy to walk to anyone else.

  When you’re young you think it is a given that you’ll meet the man of your dreams and get married but as the years pass and you jump from failed relationship to failed relationship you start to question the notion that you always thought was solid. And the answer can be pretty scary.

  Will I ever meet my soul mate? Will I ever be the bride?

  Little did I know that I would get a marriage proposal that very night.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Ethan

  Day Six

  The guests are all sitting on the folded chairs on the sand waiting for the bride to join us. It’s late afternoon but the sun is still going strong. It’s hot as shit.