“You’ll have to ask her. I tried to give it to her, but she wouldn’t take it. Though, I got an unbelievable present from Emily last night.”
“Oh? What did you get?” Jake had piqued Sarah’s curiosity. Once she got curious, there was no stopping her.
“You’ll have to ask your best friend.” His vainglorious face had I slept with Emily last night written all over it. Now everyone wanted to know.
“What did you get him? Why’s he so happy?” Charlie asked.
“Go to work, Dr. Reid,” I admonished.
“My girlfriend is telling me I have to leave. Have a great trip and take care of her for me, OK?”
“Jake, why don’t you come with us?”
“No, Sarah. Jake needs to get back to work. He’s going to be jobless if he takes any more time off.” I gave Jake a disapproving look while he shrugged his shoulders at Sarah. “Bye. I’ll call when I get there” was the last thing I said before we started our road trip.
The ten of us took two cars into Vegas. We crammed all our junk into the cars and hopped in uncomfortably for the next four hours. I felt like I was back in college. This was no first class to Hawaii—back to my reality. Max, Peter, Sarah, Charlie, and I squished into Peter’s Honda Accord. I sat in the back with Sarah and Charlie and felt distressed after Max and I had such an awkward ending at lunch the other day.
Sarah and Charlie tried to make eye contact with me but I avoided them. Peter went off babbling about the hotel that he booked for all of us. I vaguely heard him say something about a suite but didn’t pay much attention. I could tell Max was concentrating hard not to look back at me too often. I stared out the window at the sights and sounds of the busy freeway.
Haphazardly, I started thinking about Max and our times together in college. We had gotten into horrible fights all the time. Max was always so stubborn and hated admitting to any wrongdoing. Chuckling to myself, I remembered how he was supposed to pick me up from the library at 4:00 one rainy afternoon but didn’t show up till 5:00. I was wet and late for my study group, but rather than apologizing and making sure I was OK, he fought with me the whole time, arguing that I had told him the incorrect time. Explaining how improbable his reasoning was since I had a 4:30 study group didn’t end the discussion. We didn’t speak to each other for almost a week. Ugh! He was always so obstinate. Looking back, we were passionate about everything. Maybe that was how collegians were—eager to jump feetfirst into any situation. We loved passionately and fought just as passionately. We made it through one day at a time.
“Emily, how was Hawaii?” Peter woke me from my memory.
“It was wonderful.” I tried not to sound too mushy.
“Details, Emily!” Sarah commanded.
“Well, I met Jake’s parents and his brother, Nick, for the first time at the airport, and we instantly bonded like family. They were so warm and loving toward me.” My face broke into a deep smile. “We arrived in Maui and met Jane there. Then we did so many activities I couldn’t even begin to explain all of them. I probably lost five pounds in the four days we were there because of how active we were.”
“What were the sleeping arrangements like?” Charlie asked, guffawing like a teenage boy.
“Charlie.” I slapped his arm. “The parents were in one room, Jake and Nick had another room, and Jane and I roomed together.” I smiled, remembering how Jake had wormed his way into my bed the first night.
“Activities?” Peter kept pressing for more information.
“The day we landed, we had an early lunch, took a helicopter ride, hiked five miles, snorkeled, I had a scuba diving lesson, did yoga, and went to a luau!” I felt exhausted just remembering all the activities.
“How on earth did you do so much in one day?” Sarah sounded amazed.
“I don’t know. The Reids are all active people. I was so exhausted after the scuba lesson, I wanted to collapse. But, I kept up with them somehow and finished the day. The next day brought on more scuba and surfing lessons, and I had to drudge through a basketball game. That was a long two hours pretending to cheer for their team.”
“Did you get to relax at all?” Sarah asked.
“Yeah. On Wednesday, his parents had to go to a meeting, so Jane and I relaxed at the spa for half a day. We wanted to go the whole day, but Jake wouldn’t have it, so we compromised on a half day. We also hung out in the cabana a couple of afternoons. That was a nice respite from all the activities.”
“Was it nice being away with Jake?” Sarah continued to press. It was almost like the two of us were having our own private conversation even though everyone else was listening. I knew Max heard every detail, and I felt bad, but I reveled in the fun I’d had in Hawaii.
“I’ll fill you in on all the details later, Sarah. I have so much to tell you,” I whispered.
Just then my phone buzzed. It was a text from Jake. Reading it made me blush.
Last night was even more amazing than our first night in Hawaii. Miss you. Love you.