"It's just two weeks mom," I heard myself yelling through the phone. "Shelli is going with me and I'll call you as soon as we get there. You have nothing to worry about...Yes...I'll be careful...I know...yes, I know...love you too."
I couldn't blame mom for worrying. It hadn't been that long that I still lived at home. I can't begin to imagine how big of a change it was for her to watch me leave for college. I still get teased about how my mom cried the whole way down the steps as she left me 'alone' on campus my freshman year. She used to call me just about every day, but slowly, she was beginning to realize the little girl she worked so hard to raise, had turned out ok.
Shelli was my roommate and became a sister to me. We were the complete opposites, but that only seemed to make us closer. She even talked me into cutting my hair short like hers once, and I wanted to cry all night even though she insisted it looked cute. I counted calories and watched what I ate, while she ate nothing but pizza and chocolate and never gained an ounce. We did everything together, so when she won a vacation for two on a remote island beach, she wasted no time in inviting me.
Now taking a vacation to a deserted island was not something you would ever see me doing. I had worked so hard all through out high school just to make it into a good college that I seldom went out with my friends. When everyone else was out at the movies or at a party, I was at home studying. I knew it even then how much I was sacrificing, but knowing how proud my parents were to see their first born go to college was more important to me.
Even while I kept a straight A average all my years in school, including college, I never had a problem with the boys. I was lucky enough to have inherited my mother's curvy body and while the other girls were stuffing their bras, I was doing my best to hide what God had given me. I hated getting 'that' kind of attention sometimes. I couldn't even have a simple conversation with a guy without him staring down at me. I can't tell you how many times I was called a prude, but that was ok with me.
Shelli was a different story altogether. She had terrible grades in high school, but aced her entrance exams. It was no secret that she was not a virgin, and had not been one for quite some time now either. She wasn't the prettiest girl in town, but she had that confidence and personality everyone wanted to be around. She was the first person that was able to make it through the many barriers I had built around me. She loved that I worked so hard in school, but insisted that I have a life outside of college. She would drag me out to parties or weekend trips, and slowly I began to feel her winning me over. Maybe she was right, I would think to myself. Maybe instead of planning for my future, I could take some time for me today...right now.
"It will be perfect girl!" Shelli screamed as she showed me the tickets. "It will just be you and me -- on the beach! We'll get drinks brought to us by a sexy half naked waiter and get massages while listening to the ocean waves around us! C'mon Jackie...tell me you'll come. Please come."
A few minutes later, and I was on the phone with my mother, trying to calm her down. I tried to tell her we would not be alone. I explained to her how there were about fifty other people that had also won so we would not be alone in the streets in some foreign land just waiting to be kidnapped. It took some convincing, but she agreed NOT to come get me and take me home that night, and I hung up the phone with a new excitement I didn't remember ever feeling before.
Shelli took me shopping the week before we were to leave. She told me over and over again how important it was to have the perfect bikini to fit my body. Here I was looking for a nice one-piece I could hide in, and she was bringing me smaller and smaller bikinis to try on.
"I'm telling you Jackie. You have a great body and it's ok if you show it off every now and then. Try this white on. I think it would be perfect on you."
I reluctantly tried on the hundredth bikini on and slowly opened the changing room door. "So...how does it look?' I asked with the sexiest pose I could muster.
"Damn, I wish I had tits like you." Shelli laughed as she walked around me checking me out from every angle. "Wow...That one fits you like a glove. That is the one. What do you think?"
"All I know is I am tired of changing and if you say it looks good, I'll take your word for it. Let's go before you change your mind."
That night when I went to bed I kept thinking of how good it felt to be standing there in that bikini. I wasn't shy at all when I had it on, and to my surprise, I didn't mind Shelli staring at me or anyone else in the store for that matter. Maybe I did look hot, I laughed to myself. I guess it would be ok to show off for once. Besides, nobody would know me there so it wouldn't hurt to let my hair down for a few days. I was getting more and more excited about this trip as the days flew by, and soon Shelli and I were boarding the boat.
I hung up my phone and turned it off knowing I would not be turning it back on until we stepped off the boat. "Sorry Shelli...I had to call my mom one last time. I promised her. Now let's go find the bar and get into some trouble!"
After the first night, I promised myself never to drink again. I never got into the whole drinking thing, but I just couldn't say no to a drink all night long, and now I was paying for it. The whole next day I spent in my room waiting to arrive at the island. Shelli stopped by every now and then to check up on me and I swear each time she came by, she had a different man on her arm. Finally the captain announced we had reached our destination and slowly they began to ferry our way to shore.
We found the best beach waiting for us when we made it to shore. The cleanest sand I'd ever seen. We laid back in our chairs with the umbrella over us and watched the sun set in front of us. "This is so beautiful Shelli. Thank you for inviting me."
"It is, isn't it. Just think Jackie, we have four more days of this to enjoy."
They had a small bar setup nearby and most of the other people hung out there all night. Shelli and I enjoyed a few daiquiris and then decided to go for a walk down the beach. The sun had already set and now the full moon was making a path for us along the sand.
"Isn't there something wrong with this picture?" I stopped walking and waited for Shellie to stop and turn around. "Here we are...two young and hot girls on a beach, and there are no guys with us. I thought we were supposed to take romantic walks on the beach with our future husbands!!"
