“What did you just do?”, I asked, gritting my teeth.
“Prolonging our little’ trip”, he said grinning from ear to ear.
I had a date on Tuesday. The cute guy next door whom I had been giving the smiles to all week after he had moved in, had finally asked me out. I had said that I would return on Monday. We had already set the date to Tuesday.
“I had an important presentation to make on Tuesday. I am sorry but we can’t stay longer than Sunday”, I reasoned.
“Presentation about your body?”, he asked.
“Excuse me?”, I asked, incredulous.
“Hey Tim! Tuesday’s great. I’ll miss you”, Steffan mimicked.
I grew a bit hot with all the embarrassment. No, not due to the guy. It was just that I generally wasn’t feminine outside of my love life.
“None of your business coz. And I do have a meeting where a really important presentation will be presented to the Board members”, I said coolly.
“But you don’t care, do you? It’s the guy you care about. Or perhaps the lack of guy, going by your phone”, he said.
“I don’t really care for a guy. It’s all fun for me”, I said.
“Suuuure!”, he drawled.
He had started on his fourth beer.
“The Red Ring”-the place we had stopped to eat was more crowded than the places we had stopped at.
“Let’s dance!”, he said.
So we got up and went to the dance floor where there were already a few people although it was hardly three o’ clock.
My cousin was now dancing with a tall voluptuous girl. I was by myself but enjoying nevertheless.
Just then I was asked to dance by a handsome-looking dark sort of guy. I could not see why not.
“I’m Rory. You from around here?”, he asked.
“Cassy. Nope, we are on a road trip”,I said.
“You seem to be quite tolerant Cassy”,he said.
“What?”,I asked.
“Well, the girls from around here would not take it as calmly if their man swayed with a girl like that”, he explained.
I looked around. Steffan was now grinding against the girl he was dancing with. His hands seemed to be everywhere all at once.
“Excuse me”, I said to Rory and marched towards them.
“Steffan darling! I think that is enough”, I said.
The girl withdrew sheepishly and Steffan grinned.
“Alright sweetheart! If you want some of me now”, he said and grabbed me.
“You should control yourself a bit. Not make a spectacle of yourself like that”,I hissed once we were out of earshot.
“Aren’t we here to enjoy?”, he said.
He was not dancing with me like he had been dancing with the girl. Even with the drink, he was guarded.
“Yes! But-“, I tried to think of something reasonable to say.
“Relax coz! I would almost think you were a virgin”, he said.
This time I really did blush, quite uncomfortable.
He was watching me carefully. I checked my watch. It was nearly five!
I gave a small shriek.
“Dude! We are extremely behind schedule”, I said.
“OK, if we must”, he said reluctantly.
He took a few brochures from the door while we walked out.

***
“Why don’t we stop by the Rainy Inn”, he said.
It was eight. I was still driving.
He was still drinking.
Like a fish.
“But we have to get to the next stop by eight tomorrow”, I said.
“We already arranged for us to be home by Thursday!”, he said.
“Only in your head”,I said.
“I am feeling a bit dizzy and the only place we can stop by is the Rainy Inn. It is hardly five minutes away now!”, he said.
“No! For the last time. We are not stopping”,I said firmly.
He sulked for a while. And then suddenly he plopped to my side.
And started shaking.
I checked his forehead. It was burning.
Oh shit!
I took the brochure. The place he had wanted to go to was just a mile away. I sped up the car and soon we had reached the inn.
I went to the reception and asked if there was a doctor.
Luckily, the Inn had one and soon Steffan was brought to the Inn to be examined.
“He’s just had too much to drink”, said the doctor.
“Is he going to be alright?”, I said anxiously.
“He will need plenty of rest. At least till tomorrow evening”, the doctor said.
I was flabbergasted!
There was nothing I could do.
“Do you need a room, Ma’am?”, the receptionist who had been pretty much hounding me, asked.
“Yes, one for the night”, I said.
We were escorted to the room.
Steffan was snoring away. I checked his forehead. It was already normal. Weird!
I decided to take a rest myself and plopped beside him on bed.
That night I had a dream about Tim. Only he changed into Steffan. Steffan was then kissing me, forcefully. I was trying to push away. But he was being pushy. It made me extremely uncomfortable because it reminded me of an old flame who had been that way. I knew I had to get away but my whole body was fighting to not give in. I tried to fight him off but I was immobilized.
Then he sniffed my ear.
Wait what?
I woke up with a start.
Steffan again had his arms around me. And he was gently breathing into my ear. His arm was really tight around me. So I must have felt immobilized in my sleep.
I sighed and went back to sleep.

****

The next morning, I was woken up by Steffan. And breakfast in bed. He was already happily munching away.
“You!”, I growled.
He looked at me innocently, like it was perfectly normal for him to be in a strange bed chomping away breakfast.
“You have cost us a day of travel!”, I said.
“Well, you deserve it. Vacationing, I mean”, he said, and put mashed potato in my mouth.
I glowered at him.
I went to the bathroom to change and then went around to explore the area.
It was a beautiful place. The place had a tropical theme about it. The swimming place was full of bikini laden beauties. Sure enough, Steffan was already chatting up with a few of them.
I went to the reception to ask about some activity which could be possible. The receptionist had changed. It was now a cute guy with lovely green eyes.
“Hey!”,I said.
He smiled warmly at me.
I should have put on the mascara!
“I just came here yesterday night and I was wondering if there was anything I could do around here to pass my time today”, I said.
“Well, there is a jungle walk at ten. Tropical sightseeing and fishing at one. There is a campfire at five. If you take the whole day package, it will cost you much less”, he offered.
I was wondering if Steffan would be interested, when Steffan himself appeared beside me.
“I say we take the whole package”, he said jovially.
The receptionist continued,”Why don’t you take the couple package? It will save you a hundred bucks!”
Steffan said,”Done! Lead the way man” while I was still wondering how further behind our schedule we would be.
Steffan seemed to be noticing my thoughts and murmured,”Relax… It’s just a day. Timmy can wait.”
Well, what the hell!
I decided to relax. I took a few things from the room and met the guide along with Steffan at ten.
The jungle walk went by without any event. There were six other people and all of them were couples.
After the jungle walk, the fishing turned out to be in a secluded beach where every couple was at least half a mile away from everybody else. There was enough space and the availability of thickets and bushes for the couples to try a few indecent romantic acts.
So Steffan and I took our fishing gear and marched off to the east. Only one other couple, Sam and Sandra came towards the east and still they gave us a wide berth.
Steffan seemed to be on a strangely cheerful mood.
“I bet you a beer that we will be catching most of the fish”, he said.
I rolled my eyes.
I knew what he was implying.
We would perhaps be the only “couple” bothering with fishing.
We came to a stop after we found an area with loads of fish and then proceeded to lower the hook. It was boring. Steffan soon caught a fish after around twenty minutes. That was the most exciting thing to have happened an hour later.
“So Cass… Tell me how you’ve been”, he asked.
“Remember Steve? Two years back? Well, it was hard after we broke up. I constantly thought of him. But I just could not call nor text him after that. It was enough”, I said.
“I always thought he was an asshole really”, Steffan said.
“No he was not. It just did not work out coz”, I said.
“Whatever! Douche bag”, he said in a mock girly tone.
I laughed at him.
“What you say we abandon this place in search for greener grass. Or in this case, more fish?”, he said after a while.
I nodded.
I was thinking to myself what Steffan would do if he found about my other pursuits after I had broken up. I had never been in a relationship after that but I had not been a good girl either.
After around five minutes, we came nearby a clearing. Steffan found just the perfect place where we were at the edge of the clearing and shaded from the light.
We sat there and began fishing.
“What about you? I remember Jenny. You said you lost it with her that one time we met three years back. Wait- you were with Fiona then… I don’t think you are now. So what about you?”, I asked.
“Jenny and I drifted away. Fiona double-timed me. Jaz, the princess was lovely but far too shallow. All the others were more of a one night stand. Maybe two”, he said.
“Whoa! You have to be kidding me!”, I said. And all the time I was wondering how my uptight, holier than thou cousin would take my wandering around.
You remember that guy with the guitar? I started fancying him after a while. I sort of kissed him a year back”, I said casually.
“No way! He was totally not your type!”, Steffan said.
“Well, it was really romantic actually. Only we were both drunk. It was a chaste kiss. No touching and stuff”, I said.
“So you went out with him for a while?”, Steffan asked.
“No, when he came back to his senses, he realized that he didn’t really like me so I spent the next four or five months chasing him”, I said.
“Tough luck Cass!”, he said.
“Yeah… And there was another guy. This one was actually before the guitar guy. Actually he was this guy’s best friend”, I started.
“Holy shit! That’s mean!”, he said, his eyes wide open and teasing.
“Well he had a girlfriend. He kissed me and then decided he was in love with me and he broke up and then we made out and then I realized I was not okay with him… Then I discouraged him. He made up with his girlfriend and here I am”, I said.
Steffan really was shocked.
“Why don’t you just get into a relationship like a normal person!”, he said.
“I did try!”, I said and looked away.
“There is more right!?”, Steffan asked.
I shifted uncomfortably. This one was actually a hard thing to narrate.
“He was kind of older. Liked by everyone else. Seemed like a gentleman”, I said.
“But turned out he was a total creep. He tried to take advantage of me. He blackmailed me till I could not even believe my friends. Tried to take another girl by force while we were supposed to be in a secret relationship. And then tried to persuade people that he had just made a minor mistake and was in fact, in love with me”, I continued.
I could not look at him. The last one had broken me. It had cost me some of my friends. It had cost me a lot of time worrying about what was wrong with me that I had not been able to spot him for who he was from the beginning. It made me squirm at every choice I had made with him while we were together. Every time he had tried to coax me to have sex and I had tried to just satisfy him with a blowjob which he made me feel obligated to give. Every time he tried to make me feel guilty for having refused him sex. Every moment I thought that maybe I loved him before being completely disillusioned about him.
Steffan said nothing. He just stared ahead. He put the fishing rod on the ground and put his arms around me.
“I was there the whole time, Cassy… Every time. You could have just given me the motherf**ker’s address and I would have given him a … Piece of my mind”, he murmured.
I gave a weak smile. He pulled me to him and hugged me tighter.
“It was hard because he was supposed to be good. Everyone thought he was the definition of a gentleman”, I said.
“He was not, was he?”, he said.
I found myself telling it all to him. About the blackmails. About the way he used to be when we were together. I had kept quiet and had decided to lose my friends rather than tell them the truth. Now I found herself telling Steffan everything. All the while, he just held me tighter and stroked my hair.
Without knowing it, the sky was changing color. Suddenly, someone came to the clearing. Before we could spring apart, our guide informed us that it was now time for the campfire and that we’d better have caught something.
Even after the guide had gone back, I couldn’t bring myself to detach myself from him. It was not just physical. That afternoon, I had felt like we had been united from our very core.
He took the fishing rod and stood up. I collected my stuff too. I felt a little put down as he had drawn away but as we started walking side by side, he put his arms around my waist again and our hands just naturally intertwined with each other..

*****

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