Surviving Paradise (Full Draft Version)

CHAPTER 2

"You are with some fine ladies"

"Will, I meant it do not do anything"

CHAPTER 2

Clutching the rectangular plastic lined bag, Allisa did her best to suppress the nausea.  Focusing on the font of the bag, she concentrated hard on the letters spelling out “seat occupied,” and on the opposite side “for motion sickness.”  Then she lost the battle and dry heaved.  Shoulders drooped in embarrassment, she dared an empathetic sideways glance across the aisle to her best friend Jane who seemed to be sharing the same symptoms. 

    More than anything, she wished the privacy of a tiny restroom cubicle, but the plane was barely past take off, and the seat belt light was still aglow.  Never in her life had she been airsick or suffered any kind of motion sickness, and her mind flicked back over anything she and Jane had both eaten in the last several hours, that the guys hadn’t. 

    The guys, Will, and  Ashton, were suffering no ill effects.  With a resentful glare at both of them, Allisa pressed a thumb to her wrist in a manner that she knew was known to subdue nausea. 

    Will, seated next to her, had tried to lend some comfort at the onset of the symptoms with a squeeze to her shoulder and some well meaning words, but in her embarrassment she had shrugged him away, and whispered a mortified “Don’t..”

    As a result, her boyfriend was staring out the cabin window of the plane, respecting her space, although she would feel a concerned gaze directed her way every minute or so.  The nausea thankfully ceased as quickly as it had started, and Allisa saw this to be true with Jane as well. 

    The flight was simply a puddle jump from their tiny town to a larger airport, and because the plane was so small, the seat belt light remained on.  A kindly flight assistant was quickly on hand with a trash bag, a towelette, and a fresh airsick bag–the latter thankfully neither girl had any further use for.

    Waving away Allisa’s apology, the attractive woman tipped her lips in a friendly smile.  “It’s okay sweetie, you wouldn’t believe how many passengers get sick on this flight.”

    Meekly, Allisa roved her gaze around the small aircraft cabin at some of the other passengers, finding them otherwise occupied with electronic devices, closed eyelids, and the usual in flight distractions, of which she was no longer one.  However, her embarrassment lasted until the landing gear came down. 

    The next flight was uneventful, and the puke fest of the first flight became an indistinct memory as she bantered with her friends and looked forward to the vacation ahead.

    It had been years since she had been anywhere, except the tiny college town where she had met the three friends who were accompanying her now to the Mexican Riviera.  Allisa had never been a spring break type of gal, but upon her graduation from the university, her parents had surprised her with this travel package for four.  The biggest surprise had been that her parents were staying home, and had generously intended the trip for her and her friends.

    Maybe this didn’t sound all that unusual, but when one factored in that her parents had given her nothing but grief over this group of friends, both as a whole and individually, then yes, it had been astounding to read their names on the reservations along with hers.

    They disliked Will on the premise that he was her on again off again slightly older boyfriend for the last couple of years.  Jane drew their frowns with her sarcastic personality and grungy attire.  And Ashton, although he looked like the sweetest guy one would ever meet, he-wasn’t what he appeared--