What a summer. Within a span of a month and a half, I graduated high school, turned eighteen and just broke up with my boyfriend. At the time, I saw the first two events as liberation from my demanding mother. We had butted heads since she left my father. That was when I was 8. He stayed in New Jersey while we moved on to California. I lived under her roof, which meant that I had to abide by her strict and somewhat unfair rules. She always told me that once I turned 18 I could leave and do whatever I wanted. Of course, I held her to that statement and planned to move out with, my boyfriend, Kevin before we started college in the fall. The third episode left me feeling totally dejected, demoralized and just plain brokenhearted. Since freshman year, Kevin and I hung out everyday. We were inseparable. We were âKKâ (my name is Kendra). I guess in my naivety, I believed he was the one. He put up with my crazy-ass mother, my over dramatizing every situation and even waited nearly two years before we consummated our relationship. Now, after four years of what I thought was happiness, he tells me he âwants to see what else is out thereâŚletâs still be friendsâ. âBullshit- The day he told me I got half way through throwing away all of the trinkets, cards, (now dried) roses, letters, etc. he gave me when I broke down crying. âWhat was I going to doâ, I desperately thought. I, in my head, planned to be with this guy, have him take care of me forever. I tried to find solace in my girlfriends, but most of them were doing what I had planned on doing after graduation. Only a couple of my friends were still single: Gina and Vanessa. Gina hung out with me for about a week, when she finally got fed up with my groveling and subsequently stopped returning my calls. Vanessa and I were close early on in high school, spending the night at each others house (when my mother wasnât being a complete bitch), but rarely hung out after that, as she became known as a party girl in our junior year, but managed to change her ways after her father pleaded with her to get serious. He even begged her to start hanging around me again. He finally made a deal with her, that if she calmed down and graduated with at least a 3.5 GPA, he would take care of her tuition. She did, and he was true to his word. In fact, he more than pay for her tuition, he bought her a brand new Lexus! That wasnât all. A week after she told me about her new car, she called me and said she had a surprise and wanted to tell me in person. About 30 minutes later she showed up at my house, in her brand new car of course, and told the news.
âSo what is it âNess?â I asked her, apathetically, still in a haze over my recent woes.
âYou have plans, in say, two weeks?â
âGirl, I just broke up with my high school sweetie, who I planned on moving in withâ, I said sarcastically. âNo I donât have plansâ.
Vanessa just kind of stared at me wide-eyed, mouth open.
I retracted, âIâm sorry âNess, I donât mean to be a bitch. Iâm just still upset, is allâ.
âItâs all good Ken, I am about to lift your spiritsâ, she said.
âDonât tell me you started smoking pot again,â I scolded her, thinking she was going to try and get my high.
âYou are retardedâ, she said, laughing. âMy dad is taking me to the Bahamas and told me to bring a friendâŚand since you helped turn me around, I think you should come with. Whatâya say?â
âOh my God! Ness, are you serious?â not sure if she was kidding or not.
âSerious as a heart attack, Iâm going to the mall tomorrow to go shopping, Iâll pick you up at 10amâ, she replied and gave me big hug. âWeâre going to have so much fun, and youâre going to forget aboutâŚuhâŚwhatâs his nameâ, she continued and we both laughed.
The next day we were at the mall trying to find the cutest, albeit skimpiest clothing we could find. I had trouble finding stuff that fit right, because, though I was well endowed since junior high, I was still rail thin everywhere else, except my butt (Thanks Mom!). I really felt awkward and rarely showed odd cleavage, until now, that is. I was headed to the Bahamas, where nobody knew me. I kind of had a new outlook on the summer. I was going to have some fun, damn it, I was certain of that.
Two weeks later, Vanessa and her father arrived at my house to pick me up. I said my âgood-bye, see yaâ in two weeksâ to my mother as Vanessaâs father loaded my bags into his Escalade.
âYou know they probably have refrigerators at the hotelâ, he quipped. âYou can leave yours here, your mother will probably need itâ
He was always joking. I may have over packed a little, but a girlâs got to have options.
In no time we were off to the airport. Vanessa rode shotgun and I sat in the backseat behind her. We were all so excited.
âWhat are you girls going toâ do first,â Vanessaâs dad asked.
âHit the beach and look for guys,â Vanessa snapped.
âYeah not while your hanging with me, youâre not,â he replied.
âI think Iâm going to get some sleep, Mr. Orsograndini,â I said. âThe I looked up the hotel online and the rooms look really nice.â
âCall me Vincent, all my friends do,â he said, looking back at me in the rearview.
What a relief to get away from my mother and spend the time with my friend and her father. He was so nice. We were thousands of miles of away and I already felt free.
We got to the airport, checked in, made it through security in no time. We had a little time to kill, so we grabbed a little breakfast before we boarded. Vanessa and I read through a brochure trying to plan everything we were going to do. âNessaâs dad, Vincent rather, was telling us about all of the places he was going to take us to.
âWhat do yaâ need that brochure for?â he said, âIâll take the two of yaâs to the best places, places that arenât even in that thinâ, he continued, referring to our brochure. Vanessa told me later that he goes there at least twice a year. He ran some sort of trucking business and was very well off financially.
Moments later we boarded the plane, first class no less, and we were off. I couldnât wait. 10 hours to paradise! About 2 hours into the flight, Vincent fell asleep and Vanessa soon followed. I was so excited last night; I stayed up until almost one in the morning, yet I still couldnât sleep. I kept thinking about Kevin, but not in a sad way. Instead, I thought about how much fun I could have now that we were apart and how good this trip was going to be for me. I really wanted to come home a changed woman. I let my mind wander and soon fell asleep. I remember having a dream I was making love to Kevin. Only it wasnât Kevin. The body was similar: tall, athletic; but It wasnât the same face. In fact I couldnât see his face. In the dream, the figure kept moving into different positions, making me do things I had never done with Kevin. Every time I would try to look at his face, into his eyes, he would flip me over and bend me this way and that. It was quite intense. I woke up to with moistness between my legs. I got up and went to the bathroom to freshen up. I returned to my seat and in a short couple of hours we arrived at the airport in Nassau.
We arrived at sunset and it was beyond gorgeous. We grabbed our luggage, grabbed a shuttle to the hotel and checked in. Vanessa and I shared a room while Vincent stayed in the suite next to ours.
âWeâre here!â âNessa screamed, tackling me onto the bed.
âCan you believe it?â I asked, âWhat do you want to do first?â