�Hey, remember when my brother and Derek were here and we were talking about going to the Caribbean?�
She and Ben were eating at the Tropical Smoothie shop during her lunch break. She called him and whined him into meeting her.
�Yeah.�
�We�ve decided on Jamaica.�
�Nice, when are you going?�
�Two weeks, we�re going for a whole week.�
�Have fun. I�m jealous.�
�You don�t have to be jealous.�
�What?�
�Come with us.�
�I can�t come with you.�
It would be nice to go to Jamaica. She had been to the Bahamas with her mom, stepfather and Lance but it wasn�t Jamaica and it wasn�t as an adult free to do whatever she wanted.
�I have to work.�
�No you don�t. I already asked your boss and he approved.�
�What?�
�Since you were going to have to ask kind of late I asked him and told him it was for the wedding of a close friend who was going to Iraq right after.�
�What? I can�t believe you did that. You�re such a little liar!�
�I told him you didn�t know I was asking-�
�I didn�t.�
�And that you really wanted to go but you didn�t want to mess up the schedule.�
�I can�t afford that. A week�s worth of salary lost plus no commission and I would have to pay for a ticket and a hotel.�
�Ok, I looked it up already. A roundtrip ticket is less than two hundred dollars. And you don�t have to worry about a hotel. We�re all going to be in a house on the beach. The guys are taking care of it. You and I get to shack for free.�
Oh why oh why did it have to be so tempting?
�Come on. I know you can survive one month with a little less money if you are strict before and after the trip. And come on Maleeyah, the trade off is unbelievable. A week in Jamaica and you don�t have to pay for a hotel.�
�I guess I can put the ticket on my credit card, not eat out as much and no excess driving.�
The gas prices were outrageous.
�Exactly and you have everything you need in Winter Park. School, home, work; its all within five miles of each other. And if you need to go somewhere far off you can take my truck.�
�Why are you so hell bent on me going? Are you the only one without a female friend? I�m not going to be your vacation bunny.�
He laughed, �Actually, you�re the only girl that�s going to be there.�
�Why is that?�
�Why not? They have their friends and I wanted mine.�
�Surely there was someone from the dorms you could chase Jamaican tail with.�
�You need to have a vacation. Have fun.�
Ben, for some reason, felt she had lived a very hard life. In fact, she really hadn�t. Sure, she grew up without her father but that was the only real problem in her life. Her mother always took care of her and she never needed for anything. She had horseback riding lessons, friends and because of her mother�s career she was able to experience some pretty neat things.
When mother finally remarried, they moved from a nice neighborhood in Druid Hills to the extravagance of Buckhead. She couldn�t blame Ben for thinking the only bit of luck she had was inheriting the house. She didn�t even tell him her tuition was paid for; there were only a few things she told Ben. Life was a puzzle and there wasn�t one person in the world that held all the pieces to her�s.
�Alright, I�ll go.�
Maybe she could get a little spending money out of her mother.
**
It was a quiet Sunday night and Monica and Maleeyah were sitting in the dim atmosphere of Urban Flats.
�I�m going to for Jamaica for a week.�
Monica�s eyes stretched and her mouth transformed into a smile, �Are you finally going to take one of those rich men up on their offer to go away with them?�
It happened at least once a month. She was invited to various wonderful places from New York to New Orleans to St. Croix.
�No, Ben and I are going with his brother and Derek Jeter.�
She had to say Derek�s last name or she wouldn�t know who she was talking about. Even saying Derek Jeter Monica only knew he was a professional athlete because Maleeyah looked him up on the Internet and told her all about him. Monica didn�t like sports, so the name Derek Jeter might as well have been John Smith.
Monica didn�t get the least bit excited about Derek when she found out Maleeyah hung out with him that one night. And it wasn�t because she didn�t acknowledge celebrity status she was simply unaware of the fact that she should be impressed. Now if 50 Cent, Ludacris, Will Smith or Morris Chestnut had been mentioned, Monica would have swan dived off the bed.
�That�s going to be nice. Damn, you�re lucky. I couldn�t get a day off if I wanted to. Where are you going?�
She frowned, �Actually, I have no idea.�
�Hell, its Jamaica. I guess it doesn�t matter.�
�No, especially since I don�t have to worry about anything. We�re going to stay in a house on the beach.�
�Lucky. Make sure you take plenty of pictures. I want to feel like I was actually there.�
�You got it. Look, next year we�re going somewhere; a cruise. We�re going to start planning and saving now.�
�I here that.�
�Are you ladies ready to order.�
She looked up at the waiter. Cute, she wanted to flirt; just a little.
**
She was so glad when she got the Victoria�s Secret catalog and saw the string bikinis on sale she bought them. It was a great bikini and she bought it in black, red, white and turquoise. Those three went along with her halter bikini with the tiny hot shorts.
She didn�t need to buy new suits but she wanted a new sarong maybe. She could find those in Target.
�You should get this.�
She turned to see Monica holding up lingerie. �I don�t need that. This isn�t a honeymoon.�
�Yeah, but you�re going to be in a house full of guys. You can�t walk around in a man�s shirt.�
She never gave much thought to being in a house full of men. She hoped she wasn�t the only female that was going to be there.
014 | No Ordinary Girl