Short Stay
Ali liked her beer chilled, downed next to the swimming pool after a crazily hot afternoon. Much better if she could see the stars and the moon, lounging on one of the rattan chairs. Though unfortunately, her friends didn’t share her likings.
“Seriously, Ali! Stop being so damn emo!” Yuri, one of the girls, with badly damaged dyed-blonde hair, chirped one evening when she and some other friends were leaving to a nearby bar. They had been staying there for almost two weeks, but they could count with their fingers how many nights Ali agreed to go out together. When she didn’t disappear alone, she would be sitting on her favorite rattan chair, gulping the content of her favorite green bottle.
Usually, Ali would give them a ‘shush’ and a wave of her hand, then lean back and close her eyes.
It was supposed to be a good vacation. For a bunch of university students who only wanted to escape the teeth-freezing winter back home, the tropical island offered them tons of fun to try. Even for the youngest who wasn’t legal to drink alcohol. Why did we even bring Helen anyway?
They had rented three rooms in a cheap homestay with a bonus of a nice, albeit small, swimming pool. They got the fan and the AC and adequate Wi-Fi. If they’re in the mood to watch the television, even though most of the time they didn’t understand what the fuck the news anchor was trying to say, they would sit in the lobby while striking a chat with the cheerful receptionist.
There were six of them.
Kelsey, the most active one, would go every morning until afternoon to surf. She had hauled her precious board all the way from home and seemed to get darker and darker every single day. She took the term ‘tanning’ very seriously lately.
While Kelsey enjoyed doing her thing, Yuri always tagged along, claiming to wanting to learn from the pro, even though everyone knew that she only wanted to hang out with Kelsey’s surfer friends. Particularly the ones with well toned abs, slightly hairy chest, and who pronounced ‘earthquake’ as ‘aircraft’.
Tina, on the other side, was the kind of girl who found it necessary to immerse herself in the ‘local culture’ or whatever she called it. Because instead hanging around the beach, she chose to walk kilometers in the search of authentic local foods and post their pictures on Instagram. Jaq was like Tina, in some ways, though nobody would guess in the first glance that they would be the best friends. She’s a bit princess-y, though, and refused to go out without her hat, umbrella, and a generous amount of sunscreen applied to her skin. She’s the girl who hailed the taxi as soon as her legs felt the slightest hint of giving up or when the sun was too unbearable.
While Helen, the youngest, as well as Jaq’s cousin, enjoyed riding a bike and reading a book on the beach. She would often pretend to be one of the five star hotels patrons and occupied their comfortable lounge chairs on the sea side, even as far as received their complimentary drinks. How she never got caught, nobody had any idea.
On the other hand, Ali… well, she also did her own thing. She wrote, took a lot of photographs, tried some tasty looking foods, got to know a few locals, and drank her beers. She remembered joining the trip on the last minute — product of her dangerously impulsive nature — and regretted it as soon as she stepped out of the plane just to be grateful that she was wherever she was two days later.
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