NOTE: This is my first posted story. It's part of a longer series, describing a young woman's adventures in Tahiti, where she explores herself, her sexuality, and her perspectives on living a balanced life. If you like and would like to read more, please vote and comment. Thanks!
CHAPTER 1
"Madam?"
Jennifer woke with a start, her eyes fluttering under the airline sleep mask. Taking a deep breath, she pushed the mask up onto her forehead. The airplane cabin was dark, with two lines of small LEDs on each side of the center aisle and sporadic overhead reading lights from other passengers providing the only illumination. Standing over her was the flight attendant in her tropical print uniform.
"Madam, we are landing in Papeete shortly," the attendant said. "Please return your seat to the fully upright and locked position, and please close your tray table."
Jennifer, twenty-nine, nodded and reached for the button to raise her seat back. The attendants had already taken away the nearly-empty cup holding the remnants of her Crown Royal and ice. She picked up the paperback novel she had purchased at the airport, raised her tray table, and tucked the book into the purse between her feet.
It had been a nine hour flight from Los Angeles to Tahiti, so Jennifer dressed comfortably for the long flight: a short-sleeved light blue blouse and light khaki shorts. Her long black hair was pulled up and clipped into a pile on top of her head. The recycled cabin air had dehydrated her. She blinked and massaged her chestnut eyes in order to refresh her contact lenses.
Jennifer had lucked out and reserved an aisle seat on the left side of the plane. She looked across the laps of the couple seated next to her at the shimmering lights of the island. At night, from this altitude, the capital of French Polynesia consisted of a small cluster of pinpricks of light surrounded by the inky blackness of the Pacific Ocean. Mindy, the young woman in the middle seat (wearing a t-shirt with the word "BRIDE" stamped boldly on the front) was also staring out the window, then turned and caught Jennifer's eye.
"Beautiful, isn't it," she said.
"Yeah, it's something else," Jennifer answered, squinting out the small window pane. "Can't wait to see it in the daylight."
"I know, right?"
The plane banked toward the airport and the attendants took their places in the jump seats between first class and business class. Jennifer continued looking out the window as the plane lined up on the landing strip then descended until, with a slight bump, it touched down on the runway. Mindy let out a breath she had apparently been holding for some time.
"I always get so nervous during take-off and landing," she said.
"That's what Gramps always used to say," Jennifer mused, her attention turning now to the front of the plane.
"Again, I am so sorry to hear about your grandfather."
"Thank you," Jennifer said, turning back to Mindy. "He's in a better place -- I know it."
"After you spread his ashes, will you be in the islands long?"
"Unfortunately, no," Jennifer answered. "I need to fly back to Buffalo for the reading of the will."
"That's too bad," Mindy said.
"The rest of the family is just hoping he didn't leave it all to that gold-digging stripper he married in Reno."
Mindy's mouth puckered and she squeaked out an "oh."
It only took a few minutes for the plane to taxi to the airport. Once the "fasten seatbelt" light went out, all of the other passengers jumped to their feet, eager to pull carry-on items from overhead bins and race each other out of the plane. Jennifer, by contrast, remained seated, to the slight consternation of the bride and groom she had trapped by the window.
After ten minutes, the aisle across from her finally emptied and Jennifer stood up to remove her own carry-on bag. She was tall and fit, so she had no trouble reaching into the overhead compartment. Taking down her backpack, she slung it over her shoulders, then picked up her purse and headed for the exit.
Once off the plane, she moved leisurely through the concourse, following signs in French, English, Chinese, Japanese, and a handful of other languages, all of which pointed to baggage claim and taxi stands. She passed through customs without incident, handing her declaration form to the uniformed attendant with a closed-lip smile. Fortuitously, thanks in part to her delay exiting the plane and arriving at baggage claim, her two bags appeared on the carousel just as she walked up. Mindy and her new husband, Trevor, anxiously waited next to a four-piece luggage set, straining to find an errant bag among the stream of Samsonite parading in circles before the weary passengers.
Once outside the airport terminal, the tropical humidity hit Jennifer like a wave. Despite her light clothing, she could still feel the back of her neck perspiring and she attempted to quickly assess the shortest route to an air conditioned taxi. The taxi stands were an example of lightly organized chaos, as decades-old mini-vans jockeyed around each other to pull up next to packs of tourists. Thankfully for Jennifer, a tall attractive fair-skinned brunette was a welcome sight for an eager cab driver and she had no sooner pulled her bags to the curb than she was met by a young dark-skinned young man in a t-shirt and shorts.
"Where to?" he asked eagerly, taking a suitcase in each hand and lugging them to the open trunk of his cab.
"Grand Tahiti Nui," she responded, opening the passenger side rear door and climbing inside.
The cabbie slammed the trunk shut and ran back to the driver's seat, throwing the car into drive as he sat down. The car jerked out of the way of a suddenly accelerating airport shuttle, then jumped in line behind it, pulling away from the brightly lit airport terminal and onto the nearly empty streets of Papeete, dimly lit by yellow sodium streetlights.
"On vacation?" the cabbie asked, looking back at Jennifer in the rearview mirror.
"No...well, not really," she answered, assuming a Valley Girl accent. "I'm meeting my husband.....or fiancee I guess."
