Island Vibes

2. over it

The cab driver hauled my case out of the car and dumped it unceremoniously on the sidewalk, before taking his fare and leaving me feeling like I'd been the victim of theft. 

I wheeled my case up to the door of my parents' place and then fumbled around in the pocket of my blazer for the keys. They had a tacky palm tree keyring attached to them; I'd been meaning to change it ever since they'd given this spare set to me.

The house was exactly like in the photos my parents had showed me before buying the place. It was basically a tricked-out beach hut that practically begged you to pad around it in little more than sandals and a kaftan. I'd never really been a beachy person, but this place was already making me re-consider things. The front door swung open to reveal the house's innards – all cliché wicker furnishings and a little too empty to fully be called a home. Well, a vacation home, sure, but it was obvious no one was living here.

I was surprised to see a fresh bouquet of flowers – mostly hibiscuses – somewhat unceremoniously arranged into a pale blue vase on the glass-wicker coffee table in the lounge. Had this been, like, a reverse robbery?

Luckily, a little note was stuck among the flowers.

WELCOME TO PARADISE, BOSS

The big letters were written in a scruffy scrawl. Penmanship was not the forte of the writer – who I assumed had to be Noah, realistically. Who else could call me boss? Not that I wanted anyone to call me boss, anyway.

The words were underlined by several doodled sunshines and a crude rendering of a palm tree not unlike the one that made up my tacky plastic keychain. I had second thoughts: it was either Noah, or a fourth grader.

I breezed through the house quickly after that, checking the rooms before stopping to ditch my case in the bedroom and leave my backpack on the bed. I felt cooler now I was out of the sun, but the humidity was inescapable, so an outfit change felt necessary. My blazer and chic mini dress combo would've been perfect to impress at the airport, but... it wasn't really working, anymore.

I unzipped my case and rummaged through everything as carefully as I could – I'd spent hours neatly folding everything – before coming across a loose, long dress. It was the lightest thing in the case, though it also had the most fabric to it, so it was bulky enough to be easily found among everything else I'd thrown in there. The handkerchief hem would look cute with my new sandals and I did want to make a good first impression, so...

Fifteen minutes later, I'd changed into the new outfit and fixed my hair up, just to get it off my neck. What was so appealing about the heat, again? I was already over it.

I checked the cupboards and the fridge and found an odd mix of items. There were a few cans of fruit, a tin of mixed vegetables, and a box of cereal to be found in the cupboards, which wasn't too weird, but the fridge had clearly been invaded by – well, either Noah or the fourth grader, I guessed. It had a carton of orange juice, a jug of milk, a pack of strawberries, five cans of beer whose plastic bindings gave away the fact that they'd originally been a six-pack, and two tupperwares with mysterious contents.

I pulled the lid off the first of the two stacked plastic boxes and frowned. Some kind of stew? I could see veggies and meat, but couldn't tell what kind of dish it was exactly. The second was similar – but this looked more like lentils, chickpeas and vegetables. I sealed them both back up and slotted them back where I'd found them, chilling beside the almost-six-pack of beer, feeling somehow more confused than before. Was he – or someone else, I supposed – using my parents' fridge to store his junk?

I checked my phone and huffed a sigh. This would've all been so much easier and less weird if he'd just picked me up.

Grabbing my neat little shoulder bag from my case, I loaded it up with my purse, my phone and a tube of suncream – just in case. It was after four and I was hoping to find somewhere to sit inside and borrow some wifi, but the last thing I wanted was to get caught in the sun and end up with a sunburn on my first day on the island.