Mark found himself pleasantly surprised by the book in his hands. Though he was a writer of science fiction, he wasn't much of a reader of it. He was on his way to his first science fiction convention to be part of a panel for new writers, a Q and A session about a defunct TV series he'd been a writer for, and he had one autograph session set up. He knew he was just a minor guest, and was reading up on the other authors he'd be sharing the panel with.
He'd just landed at LAX, flying in from Texas where they'd be taking on fuel and passengers before heading to Honolulu. His agent had been bugging him to accept offers for cons for a while, and he'd managed to avoid them, but the offer of a mostly free trip to Hawaii was too much to pass up.
Fearing how long he'd be in the air, Mark had sprung for the upgrade to first class out of his own pocket, and ended up being thankful he had. As he was fully engrossed in the novel, the young lady who had the window seat next to him arrived. Without even looking up, he started to rise, but she assured him, "Don't bother, I can fit by." She would have sounded vaguely familiar if he hadn't been too wrapped up in his book to register it.
He did, however, take note when she took off her jacket. Nice boobs tended to do that to him, and these were magnificent. Her thin white tank top hardly concealed them. It wasn't that they were big, likely a heavy B-cup, though on her slim body they looked huge. Her small brown nipples were barely visible through the nearly sheer fabric. He made sure not to raise his head, so it wasn't obvious he was gawking at her, which meant he still hadn't seen her face.
He was shocked out of his daze, though, when she spoke again out, "Mr. D? Is that you?"
Looking up finally, he had the shock of his life. The fabulous tits belonged to a former student. "Melody?"
Before he could react, she leaned down and hugged him tightly. All excitement left him, as he felt like a complete slime. Melody had been in his eleventh grade English class during his first year as an English teacher.
"How are you?!" Melody was squealing as she plopped halfway into her seat halfway onto his lap.
They spent the flight to Hawaii, catching up. He filled her in on the sordid ending of his brief teaching career, and she filled him in on her academic career, and thanked him again and again for all he did for her in high school, some of which he remembered. He, in turn, thanked her for keeping him out of prison.
During the summer after her senior year in high school, he answered a knock on his apartment door and was arrested; the accusation was impregnating a girl from his English class. Despite mounds of evidence to the contrary, and witnesses who placed him elsewhere at the time she claimed their liaison occurred, it was only a picture in the yearbook of him and Melody working the drink station at a school dance that had occurred the evening she claimed they'd hooked up that finally convinced the girl's parents to question her word. Suddenly the house of cards of her story fell apart, and she admitted that she'd gotten drunk at a party that night and was unable to identify the father since she wasn't sure who or how many she'd screwed.
It had all been hushed up over the summer, but rumor among the students had been he'd been fired for sleeping with a student, and he had been. The wrongful termination settlement he'd gotten from the district, and the defamation of character settlement with the girl's parents had left him with enough money to start another career since he'd never be able to teach again.
His lawyer, throughout the thing, had been great, and the union had picked up most of the legal tab. Through his lawyer, however, he'd met a workout partner, who became a girlfriend, and through the girlfriend, who was a literary agent, he'd met his agent, and now had published his third sci-fi novel, and had done some writing for TV. He and the girlfriend hadn't lasted, but they were still friends and on rare occasions, friends with benefits. Between the interest on the settlement and his writing, he'd managed to live rather comfortably. He was by no means a household name, but he had a small, loyal following and could pay the bills. There was talk of a possible movie deal for his first book, which would really change things.
Melody, for her part, had gone to college in LA, to get away from her very conservative Filipino family, who didn't approve of her 'lifestyle,' and still blamed her for her uncle's jail term. She'd come to Mark's classroom after school one day bawling, and incoherent, and started divulging some way too personal information, about her uncle. Mark knew enough to take her straight to a female counselor, but Melody wouldn't talk without him there, so he stayed as she detailed to the counselor how her uncle had been molesting her since she was nine, and she'd finally stood up to him when he came to pick her up from school that day. The end result was her family blaming her, and her total disinterest in men. The two combined so that her younger sister, who'd also been abused by the uncle, was the only member of her family who would still speak to her.
While in LA she'd met Kris, a grad student, from Hawaii. After graduation, she had moved to Hawaii with Kris, and was in grad school there herself. Every time she mentioned Kris, her face lightened and her eyes seemed to sparkle. "I can't wait for you to meet her! She's so wonderful!"
As they talked, Melody tended to grab his arm, or hold his hand often. The last time she'd grabbed his hand had been when she was spilling her guts in the counselor's office when she was sixteen. Now at twenty-two, she had matured physically, but still had the same bouncy energy as she had six years earlier. She'd put her jacket back on, thankfully, because between her thin tank top, and the cold air in the jet, she had been very distracting, and he'd found it very hard not to look at her chest, which continually made him feel like a pervert.
When they'd finally landed, they walked off the plane together and she insisted on taking his arm as they walked to baggage claim together. "There's Kris!" Melody ran the last few steps ahead and threw her arms around an angry looking brunette. Her anger seemed to melt a little as Melody kissed her deeply. When they broke, Melody stepped back and squealed. "This is Mr. D! He was on the plane next to me!"
Instantly the anger left Kris' face. Her pale blue eyes seemed to nearly tear up and she grabbed him and hugged him. "It's so nice to finally meet you!"
Mark had been worried about getting his ass kicked. He'd never had it kicked by a woman, but he wasn't sure Kris wasn't about to do it. She'd seemed ready to a moment earlier. Going with the flow, Mark put his arms around her and hugged her back, not minding her impressive rack smashing into him at all.
"Melody's been telling me about you since we left LA. I'm glad she's found someone that makes her so happy."
As they waited for their bags, Kris quizzed him on where he was staying and how long he'd be there. She invited him come to their house for dinner the following night. The con lasted until Sunday, and he'd reserved his room for another week, on his own dime to enjoy a little vacation. Kris insisted that after the con ended he was staying with them, and between the two of them, he had no chance of resisting.
As they left baggage claim, he saw two girls holding up a sign with his name on it. Both were about 5' 5", one a thin, dirty blonde and the other a thicker, bustier brunette. Both were definitely cute, but in an almost geeky sort of way. He'd always liked geeky girls, having been fairly geeky himself growing up.
"Looks like my ride's here."
Hugging Melody and Kris goodbye, he greeted the two girls. Offering his hand to the blonde who was holding the sign, he said, "Hi, I'm Mark Daniels."
The blonde took his hand and tried to speak, but couldn't be heard over the brunette's squeal. He'd met his first squealing fan; that was a new experience. When he could hear her again, the blonde spoke again. "I'm Kim, and this is Erin. Welcome to Hawaii."
The girls got him to the hotel where the con was to start in the morning, and got him checked into his room. As it turned out, the room was in the name of the con, so that no one but certain con staff knew where the guests were staying. Some of the bigger names were in different hotels, but he didn't think it'd be an issue with him.
They showed him up to his room, and helped him with his bags, which made him feel awkward, two college girls trying to carry his bags. The room was much nicer than any he'd ever stayed in before, and when he mentioned it, Erin blurted out. "It was supposed to got to someone else, but they cancelled at the last minute and you got upgraded."
"ERIN!" Kim's mouth was agape, and she smacked her friend on the shoulder.
"That's okay, I know I'm not that big a name."
Kim spoke again, "This is your first con, right?"
