Life In Frames

Chapter 3 - The Arrival

"Be a good boy to Aunt Meghan, Thor!" Alexa cooed at her whining dog.

Maybe it was the suitcase acted as a sign, but Thor always knew if she had to leave him longer than a couple of hours. As soon as she had started packing, his mischievous Siberian Husky started to give her a constant dirty look. In his overly attached dog mind, Alexa was going to abandon him forever. He walked around the apartment with hesitant curiosity, sniffing at her scattered clothes around her suitcase. Sometimes he sneaked a glance toward his busy master, looking for an opportunity to hide one of Alexa's unattended belongings. Unfortunately, she knew her dog's habit too well to let that happened. Everything his muzzle got a little too close to her belonging, she called him out. Then Thor just went on with his innocent face, like he was just doing his routine inspection. His face was like saying, "What? Can't a dog sniff around anymore in this house?" That antic of his always succeeded to make her smile.

"Don't call me Aunt Meghan in front of him! It's weird and it's not okay for you to act like he's your child."

Meghan wasn't exactly a dog person, but she's willing to take care of her dog whenever Alexa was away. She always acted like it was such an inconvenience for her, but Alexa knew that Meghan secretly liked having Thor around. He was properly trained and such a goof ball.

"Aw, don't listen to your aunt, baby," Alexa made a show of covering Thor's pointy ears, while giving Meghan a teasing wink. "She is just jealous because she can't come along with me!"

"Okay. That's it. You can take your child dog and find someone else to care for him."

"Don't be so dramatic, Meg." Alexa laughed at her friend's pouting face. "Thanks for taking care of him though. He hates the kennel and absolutely loves you. Just look at his face! How can you say no to this cutie?"

"Yeah, yeah." Meghan waved her hand dismissively. "Go get your ass moving. He's going to be fine with me."

Alexa gave Thor a final pet on the head and took her bags. She gave Meghan a one armed hug. "See you in a week, Meg!"

"Remember," Meghan said as Alexa climbed into her car, "I expect nothing less than juicy stories when you come back!"

*

The road trip from L.A. to Palm Springs was uneventful. The traffic was kind of okay and the weather was sunny as always. She pulled up to the parking lot and examined the resort that would be her home for the next week. The reception area has this crossed look between modern and rustic. Glass curtain walls combined with wooden accents here and there, somehow the architect pulled off the uncommon combinations. A sleek acrylic reception table was strategically placed under a circular light well, making it glowed under the intense light of Palm Springs. She checked in at the reception desk and got herself a pass and starter pack for the event. She thanked the receptionist and moved on to see the rest of the resort. The resort was consisted of the main hotel building adjacent to the recipient building, and small private cottages, scattered around the resort area. Coming by herself, without any entourage, she was given the hotel room on the second floor, looking over the main pool on the center of U-shaped hotel building. The place was already crowded by the event's guests, which meant a lot and lot of women. Alexa should be happy surrounded by attractive women, who were supposedly swung her way. All she felt was suffocated. Apparently it took sometime for her to get used to people again. She rushed to her room, looking for shelter from the hectic atmosphere.

As she walked briskly to the second floor, she knocked a woman on her way. The woman was about to fall on her back, but Alexa's fast reflexes managed to catch her before she hit the floor.

"Oh, God! I am so sorry." She shot her apology while she steadied the woman with her arms on her waist.

"It's okay. It's my fault for not looking where I go." The woman waved off Alexa's apology.

The woman's pleasant voice tempted Alexa to look up and take a good look at her face. The sight that graced her eyes didn't disappoint her. The woman's face was as attractive as her voice was. Blond hair, kind smile and big bright blue eyes captivated her attention. Far off in her mind, she knew that she had to stop staring, but she was powerless to turn away from the beautiful sight. The woman friendly smile turned into a teasing one, with her eyebrow arched questioningly.

"Well, I am okay now," she said, glancing at Alexa's arm, which were still resting comfortably on the woman's waist.

"Sorry," Alexa muttered, smiling sheepishly. She broke off her gaze and bent down to pick up her duffel bag, which she threw in haste to safe the woman from falling.

"It's okay. It was enjoyable," the woman said, still in a teasing tone.

Is she flirting with me? Alexa was unable to come up with an equally flirty response, so she stuck with her sheepish grin. She knew she had to say something anytime now, as the woman kept watching her with an amused smile. She was out of practice and the woman was really pretty. It was not a great combination.

"So you're here for the event?" The woman asked, finally broke off the awkward pause.

"Yeah," Alexa nodded. "You?"

"Yup. I'm Cassie. I guess I'll see you around."

With one last wink, she went off to catch up with her friends. Alexa watched Cassie sashayed away, appreciating how her fabulous hips swayed as she walked. Only after the woman disappeared around the corner, she shifted her gaze away. Still grinning widely, she silently thanked Meghan for insisting her to come to this event. It was surely off to a great start.

*

"What took you so long, Cass?" Ally said to her grinning friend. Cassie was just a step behind them, but suddenly disappeared as they descended the stairs.

"Ally," Stevie elbowed her clueless girlfriend, "look at her face. It's the face of someone who's just spotted her prey."

"Oh, come on!" Cassie protested. "I am not that bad!"

"Yeah?" Stevie retorted. "So you did not just see a pretty girl and got distracted?"

"Well, I got distracted alright," Cassie chuckled. "A girl knocked me off while she climbed the stairs in hurry."

"Someone we know?" Ally inquired further. After being in the scene for sometime now, there was not much that they didn't know around here.

"Nope," Cassie shook her head. "Dammit, I didn't get her name."

Stevie and Ally shared a knowing look. Both of them knew that their friend wouldn't stop obsessing about it until she got herself a name to match the pretty face. Cassie caught the passing look and folded her arms across her chest. One of the worst part of being the last single person on their circle of friends was being judged of just, well, being a single person. Being in a long term relationship apparently had made her friends forgot the cruelness of dating world.

"Oh, stop it, you two!"

"What?" Ally held her hand up, while the other still circled around her girlfriend's shoulder. "We didn't say a thing!"

"Exactly!" Cassie said as she stormed off to the main pool.

"So sensitive these days," Stevie shouted at her from behind, still teasing her. "Don't worry, babe. Plenty of time to get your mysterious girl's name later."

Being single was great, for a while. But seeing her friends all paired up and settled down, it made Cassie reevaluated her single lifestyle. She didn't show it, but she was jealous of the affectionate looks shared between Ally and Stevie. She wanted the same unrelenting love in a relationship, still going strong even after the novelty wore off. She often looked at her friends and wondered, how the hell they got so lucky, finding love within each other. Until now, all she had were lousy relationships. Women who were only interested in her looks, not really care about the girl behind the pretty face. Her friends called her serial dater, but the truth was she just knew exactly what she wanted and didn't give up easily. She was a hopeless romantic, looking for her princess charming. Especially on an event like this. Cassie was on the hunt.