Between Friends (18 page)

****

By the time we get back to the resort,
it’s a little after nine thirty. The lobby is strangely vacant,
except for the presence of the resort staff. Ben wraps his arm
around my shoulders as we walk across the marble floors.

“
Do you have plans with the
girls?” he asks with curiosity.

“
No. I didn’t get a chance
to talk with them before we left.” I say.

He looks down at me through his dark
framed lashes and whispers, “Come to my villa. Matthew and Eric are
probably out for the night.”

I laugh, “I need to shower first. Let
me think about it.”

“
Have one at my villa. I’ll
join you.” Ben smiles and plants a kiss on the top of my
head.

“
Megan? Ben?” Michelle’s
voice perks up from behind us. We push away from each other and
whip around to see Michelle and Stephanie a few feet behind us
crossing through the lobby.

“
Where were you guys?”
Michelle asks, assessing our guilty demeanor.

How long have they been watching us?
Oh God. Did they see Ben kiss my forehead? Michelle’s narrowed eyes
and sideways glance tells me she has seen everything. Stephanie on
the other hand is completely oblivious. Michelle furrows her brow
and crosses her arms in front of her chest waiting for one of us to
say something.

Ben confidently says with a
tight-lipped smile, “We took a drive and saw baby turtles hatch and
crawl into the ocean.”

“
Fun!” Stephanie shrieks,
but then pouts, “Why didn’t you invite us to come?”

“
Maybe they wanted to be
alone.” Michelle says with a suggestive tone.

“
No, it was last minute.”
Ben cuts in and shuts Michelle down. He quickly changes the subject
and asks, “What are you guys up to? We were just discussing meeting
up with everyone.”

LIES!

“
We are heading back to our
villa to grab a deck of cards. Matthew and Eric are down at the
Sports bar waiting for us. You guys coming?” Stephanie asks batting
her eyes at Ben.

“
Megan, are you going?” Ben
asks, forcing me to make the final decision.

Michelle’s curious eyes glance back
and forth between us, and it makes me insanely nervous, “Yeah, for
sure. It’s not like we had anything better planned.” I lie, because
we so did!

“
Alright. That settles
that. So… I’ll see you ladies in a bit?” Ben claps his hands
together and slowly moves backwards into the direction of his
villa.

“
See you in a bit!”
Stephanie shouts and gives him a coy wave. I hate how Stephanie
always tries to flirt with Ben. It’s pathetic.

Once Ben is out of earshot, Michelle
snaps, “What the hell was that?”

“
What?” I say tilting my
head to the side.

“
Well you guys looked
pretty cozy. Did I see Ben kiss your forehead?” Michelle
asks.

Stephanie gives me a quizzical stare,
but remains silent.

I feel myself turn a little red, but
manage to pull myself together with a nervous chuckle, “We were
just sharing a friendly hug. What’s wrong with that?”

“
I could have sworn I saw
Ben kiss your forehead.” Michelle says with a devious
grin.

“
Well you must have been
seeing things.” Stephanie snorts.

“
Why’s that?” I ask
narrowing my eyes at her.

Stephanie purses her lips and lets her
eyebrows inch a bit higher, “It’s Ben. He would never –
“

“
Like me?” I snap and
finish off her sentence, “You know what Stephanie; I really don’t
give a shit what you think. I already told you nothing is going on
between us, and even if it was, which it isn’t…it’s none of your
business anyway. So shut your mouth, and keep your rude comments to
yourself. I’ve had enough of them.”

I take a deep breath and shove past a
stunned silent Stephanie.

****

When we get to the
bar, I see Ben stretched out on his chair and sipping a drink. He
changed into a pair of charcoal shorts and a tight white V-neck
t-shit. He looks great beside Matthew and Eric who already appear
to be half-in-the-bag.

“
Hey ladies” Matthew
shouts, and waves Michelle over to his knee. She tosses the deck of
cards on the table and slides on his lap. Then she wraps her arms
around his neck and gives him a kiss.

“
You
know you two are putting us in an awkward situation.” Eric says,
“What is going to happen once we get back to Chicago and we forced
to be around
your
boyfriend” he points to Michelle, “And
your
girlfriend?” he points to
Matthew.

“
Oh relax” Matthew
says.

“
Well?” Eric says
shifting his eyes between the two of them.

“
Well, you’ll keep
your mouth shut for starters.” Matthew snaps.

“
It doesn’t matter to
me.” Michelle says with conviction, “I’m breaking up with him once
I get back home anyway.”

“
You are?” Matthew
says raising his eyebrows at her.

“
Yeah I am.” Michelle
says and slides off his lap into a vacated chair.

“
Oh God,” Stephanie
moans, “Here we go.”

Matthew throws his
hands up in the air and shouts, “Come on Michelle, make up your
mind already!”

“
Well what are you
going to do? Keep on dating Felicity or whatever her name is after
all of this?” Michelle asks leaning back in her chair.

Matthew let’s out an
earthshattering moan and drops his head in his hands. Despite the
drama coming from their end of the table, Ben smiles at me while
taking a sip from his drink. I wearily smile back, feeling a bit
bleak that the tropical heat is clouding our recent romance. I
can’t help but wonder if Ben and I could end up like them. Their
reality is my worst nightmare, and it is the exact reason all this
tends to scare me in the first place. I can’t fathom losing Ben,
ever.

It wasn’t long ago
when Ben and I engaged in a lengthy discussion over the dramatic
relationship saga of Matthew and Michelle. After Ben found himself
dragged into one of their more explosive fights, he rushed over to
my place, flopped down on my sofa, and asked me to grab him a beer.
Then he patted the seat beside him so he could reveal what he had
witnessed.

According to Ben,
Matthew let it slip that he was seeing another woman (coincidently
his present girlfriend Felicity). Michelle’s vein popped out of her
forehead and her immediate reaction was to reach into the freezer
and whip a frozen bag of peas at him. She screamed and shoved him
up against the wall, but before she stormed out of his apartment
she slapped him across the face and claimed they were officially
over. Once she left, Matthew broke down and confessed to Ben that
he loved Michelle, but he couldn’t see a future with her because of
how volatile they were together.

Ben and I became so
wound up in their web of drama; we couldn’t contain ourselves from
judging their problems. We gossiped about how everything changed
for them once they added sex into the mix. We poked fun at how
stupid they were for thinking it could actually work. But suddenly,
I am not feeling the same way I did back then, when I was so quick
to judge their circumstance. How would Ben and I ever muddle
through a break-up? Would I experience such great demons of hurt
that I would find myself whipping a frozen bag of peas at him
too?

Hopefully, I never have to find
out.

Chapter 14

The next morning, I crawl out of bed
with a smile plastered on my face. I prance into the bathroom, take
a quick shower, rub some anti-wrinkle cream on my skin, and hastily
apply mascara. I begin to brush my teeth, and flick on the iPod doc
to select my Taylor Swift playlist. I sway back and forth to
“Fearless”, alone in front of the mirror with toothpaste foaming at
the sides of my mouth.

When the song ends, I simultaneously
spit and rinse admiring myself in the mirror. Not in a vain way,
like I am obsessing over how beautiful I am, because it’s no secret
that I am no super model, but in the way that I can’t believe my
luck. How is it possible I can actually have the best of both
worlds?

My good mood puts me into a
full on OCD cleaning mode. As “You Belong with Me”
blares off the iPod, I start to organize our
makeup, wipe down countertops, and pile used towels under the sink
for the cleaning staff. I even organize our shampoos, conditioners,
and body washes by lining them up in three little sections of what
belongs to whom, as the lyrics dance around in my head:

She wears high heels, I
wear sneakers

She’s cheer captain and
I’m on the bleachers

Dreaming bout the day when
you wake up and find

That what you’ve been
looking for has been hear the whole time

If you could see that I’m
the one who understands you

Been here all along so why
can’t you see?

You belong with
me…

I smile to myself and think how those
lyrics, in a strange kind-of way reminds me how I feel about Ben -
until the bathroom door flings open and I nearly jump out of my
skin. Michelle storms in and shuts off the iPod looking quite
haggard. Her hair stands up on end, knotted and scrunched. She has
big bags under her eyes and is horribly pale.

“
Megan, it is six in the
morning!” she shouts, “What on earth are you doing?” She looks
around the sparkling clean bathroom, and drops her head in her
hands.

“
What?” I giggle, “Am I
bothering your beauty sleep?”

“
You are obnoxious” she
laughs and starts to walk out of the bathroom, “I hate you and your
Goddamn morning glory.”

“
Wait!” I shout and watch
Michelle whip around, “I am going down to Jessica’s room to wake
her up. Make sure you are both up and ready to meet us at the Spa
for nine.”

Michelle nods and disappears back
under the covers. I on the other hand, apply a sheer layer of gloss
to my lips and skip my way to Jessica and Michael’s
villa.

To my surprise when I get there, the
door is slightly open and I can hear voices arguing. I slowly push
myself inside and the hinges loudly creak. Jessica is throwing
pillows and blankets all over the room, yelling at Michael to help
her look for something. Michael is running his fingers through his
hair and saying he told her to be more careful. I debate on closing
the door, sneaking out and leaving this little argument, but as I
take one step back, Jessica spins around in my
direction.

“
Oh Megan! Thank God you’re
here!” she exasperates, “I lost my engagement ring!”

Michael kicks over a garbage can and
mumbles how this is so typical of Jessica. Which I have to agree it
is, and probably why I am not at all shocked by this ring’s
mysterious disappearance. Michael I have actually shared a private
conversation about Jessica’s constant drama. We both think she does
things on purpose to create immediate attention and tragedy in her
life. Sometimes I wonder if she should’ve pursued a career as an
actress in Hollywood.

She yanks me into their villa, “This
is a travesty! I have no idea how I lost it! I know I had it on
last night. I really don’t understand how I could have possibly
misplaced it.”

I watch Michael on the opposite side
of the room, and his face is completely red as he rifles though his
luggage, “Shut-up Jessica. Keep on looking and stop talking. If you
actually lost this ring, my mother is going to flip
out!”

She lets out a growl, “You know what
Michael! This isn’t my fault. Stop being such a jerk!”

Michael turns his back to her and she
flips him off when he isn’t looking. Somehow I become dragged into
this quest, searching on my hands and knees under their
bed.

To say this ring is spectacular is an
understatement. It’s been in Michael’s hoity-toity family for five
generations. It’s a stunning two-carat, radiant cut light orangey
pink diamond with two honking flawless diamonds on either side. She
has been able to wear it safely every day for the past year, but
how she ends up losing it the day before her wedding is beyond
me.

Just as I am wedging my arm underneath
the dresser, Jessica shrieks, “I found it!”

Michael bites his tongue, rolls his
eyes and storms past the both of us. He escapes into the bathroom
and slams the door shut.

“
What’s his problem?”
Jessica says and slips the ring back onto her finger, “Thank
goodness I thought to check behind the nightstand. It must have
slipped.”

“
Must have.” I mumble and
yank my arm free. Jessica beams down at her ring finger and becomes
lost in its glimmer. The clock behind her catches my eye and
flashes that it’s already eight-thirty, “We better head down to the
Spa. We don’t want to be late.”

She starts squealing and jumping up
and down, “I’m so excited! I can’t believe tomorrow is almost
here.”

Surprisingly, Stephanie and Michelle
are already waiting for us by the front doors of the Spa. Jessica
immediately shares her ring disappearance story and exasperates how
she thought she had lost it forever. Stephanie and Michelle absorb
every little detail of Jessica’s tale, and tell her how lucky she
was to find it, while I can’t help but think she knew where it was
all along.