Love Triangle

Can't catch a break

Lucy panicked immediately after she got over her first shock of seeing them here together. What on earth were they doing here? Supposing it had been only Robert, it may not have been so bad, but for both of them to come here, arm in arm and laughing together as though they were very much in love hurt more than she cared to admit. It was only a matter of time before they recognized her, so she quickly wore her shades, and pretended that she was very busy on her phone with something, while looking for a seat to sit on and get herself together. They passed by her without knowing that she was there, and the smell of Robert’s cologne, which she once loved so dearly wafted to her nostrils. That smell, which she once loved, now caused tears to well up in her eyes and almost made her want to throw up.

It wasn’t enough that they had shattered her heart into pieces. They had to stomp all over the broken pieces too. She did not think that they had come on the same plane as her, because she would have seen them. It was actually a good thing because she had no doubt that if she had seen them before boarding, she would have turned back and headed home. Now, she had no choice but to continue with her vacation, after having come all the way here. She refused to let them dictate what she was going to do, or not do with her life though. She would spend these two weeks here in Fiji and have fun, whether they liked it or not. Hopefully, she would not bump into them. With this resolve in mind, she finally headed out of the airport after she got herself under control, making sure to watch out for them, but she did not see them anywhere around. They had probably left the airport.

“So, we meet again.” A voice that she was fast coming to recognize said as she stood outside the airport, getting ready to flag down a taxi. She turned to see the man from earlier coming out of the airport with his luggage.

“Hey. I thought you already left. What are you still doing here?” She asked in surprise.

“I got held up by an acquaintance. I’m just leaving now.” He informed her.

“Oh, okay. What’s your name, by the way, in case we run into each other again? With the way we’re going, I think that is not a far-fetched possibility. I don’t want to keep referring to you as ‘the man from earlier,’ in my head.” Lucy told him, and he smiled a little before answering.

“Ah! Is that what you refer to me as?” He asked wryly.

“Well, you can’t blame me. You didn’t introduce yourself to me when I introduced myself to you earlier.” She replied, still keeping an eye out in case Amanda and Robert appeared, so she could duck and hide immediately, although she felt that they must have left the airport already.

“Ah, my bad. My name is Eric. Nice to meet you. You seem to be waiting for someone.” He observed.

“Oh no. No, of course not.” Lucy quickly objected, but could not stop the blush of embarrassment that stained her cheeks and even worse, the pain that sprang up in her eyes. Eric’s shrewd gaze raked over her face, causing the blush to deepen and then he shrugged and said,

“Well, if that’s the case, why don’t you join me in my taxi? It’s right over there. Where are you headed, by the way?” He asked. Lucy told him the name of her hotel, and his eyes brightened immediately.

“Ah, you see, it’s on my route, so we can drop you off, if that is okay with you, that is. If you’d rather not, that’s fine too. Either way, I’ve really got to go. I’ve got a date with the bed in my hotel room. I’m so tired and famished that immediately I get some good food to eat, I’m sure that I’ll lie down in that bed and sleep for three days straight!” He joked.

“Oh, sure. Thanks for the offer. I’ll go with you if it’s no bother.” Lucy accepted gratefully. He seemed like he would be good company, and she had to admit that she was beginning to feel very dejected, especially after seeing her ex-fiancée and ex-best friend right here where she was vacationing.

They got into the taxi and were on their way in no time. Lucy busied herself with looking around in awe at the amazing scenery, suddenly very glad that she had come on this vacation, after all. All she had to do now was to steer clear of Amanda and Robert and all she would enjoy herself tremendously.

“I take it that you haven’t been here before,” Eric commented. She glanced over at him to see him staring at her amusedly.

“No, I haven’t. Have you?”

“Yeah.” He replied shortly.

“Really? That means that you know all the hot places there are?”

“Hot places? What do you mean by that?”

“Oh, well. It’s just that I’m not really sure what to do while on this vacation, you know.” Lucy explained inadequately. Robert had been the one who had planned most of the stuff, as she had asked him to surprise her. Well, he certainly had surprised her far more than she imagined he would. That was for sure.

“Why did you come on it, then?”

“It’s actually a long story. One that I don’t feel like going into right now.” Lucy replied stiffly. He glanced at her curiously, and nodded, not pushing any further.

“I understand. I came on the spur of the moment too. I just wanted to get away for some time, I guess.”

“Cool,” Lucy replied shortly, suddenly not in the mood to talk anymore. The thought that she was on what was supposed to be a romantic vacation, but was now going to spend all her time alone, sleeping alone in a suite for couples and stuff like that was beginning to depress her a lot, despite how hard she tried not to think about it. Eric seemed to understand that she was not in the mood to talk, because he let her be and busied himself with something on his phone while she busied herself with looking around.

Before long, the taxi driver was pulling up in front of her hotel. It was a modest one, as she and Robert did not have a big budget, but that was fine.

“Thank you so much for the ride, Eric. It was nice talking to you.” Lucy said when the car stopped.

“We didn’t do much talking, but that’s okay. I’m not the talking type, anyway. You’re welcome. Do have a lovely vacation, Lucy.”

“Thank you. You too.” She told him and got out of the car, surprised when he got down too.

“Are you staying here too?” She asked him.

“Oh, no. I just want to get a drink at the bar and greet the owner if he’s around. He and I are acquaintances.” He replied.

“Oh, okay. Are you sure you’re not from here? You sure seem to have many acquaintances here.” Lucy remarked as they made their way into the hotel.

“Ah, but I’m not. As I said, I’ve vacationed here before. When I was little, I used to come here with my family a lot.”

“Ah. That explains it, then.”

They parted ways at the lobby and Lucy walked to the front desk to get her room key.

“Sorry, ma’am, but are you sure that’s your room number?” The man asked her in confusion, so she showed him when the hotel was booked and other information that he needed to verify that indeed, that was her room in irritation. He looked at her weirdly, but didn’t say anything, and gave her the key, whereupon she got on the elevator and went up to her room.

As soon as she opened the door and stepped in, she realized exactly why the receptionist had looked at her weirdly when she asked for the key.