Unexpected

Chapter 6

“Well, when in doubt, there’s always grad school right? Although what can you do with a history degree? I don’t mean that as an insult at all -- my undergrad degree is in Political Science, also rather useless in the real world.” I thought for a moment, “Hm, would you want to be a professor?”

“I can honestly say I've never thought about it,” he said, although I could tell from his face that he was thinking about it at that moment. “I would quite like that, I think.”

“I just figured your career out in five minutes. You’re welcome, by the way. I think you owe me another drink.”

“Of course, excellent idea,” he flagged down the waiter again which wasn’t hard as I’d noticed him hovering nearby since he brought us drinks earlier -- the service at this place was really incredible, although the waiter we had today was much more attentive than any of the others I’d had. Must be their star employee. “Another round, please. And keep them coming, if you don’t mind.”

“I like the way you’re thinking!”

With a fresh drink in hand, I finally got the courage up to ask him the question that had been on my mind since early in our conversation.

“So...,” I hesitated, then forged ahead with a deep breath, "I figure I could ask this in a more roundabout way but that sounds exhausting. Soooo, this resort, the traveling, Cambridge--your family must be really rich, huh?"

Alex choked on his drink, breaking into a coughing fit.

"Sorry, brash American you know," I blushed. I hadn't wanted to make him uncomfortable at all, but it felt like the elephant in the room. Although maybe it only felt that way to me as I wasn't wealthy -- maybe rich people don't wonder at all if other people are rich.

Once he was no longer fighting for breath, he replied, "Yes, my family is well off. I'm well aware of how fortunate I am."

"I really am sorry, that was ridiculously rude of me. It's just that all this," I waved to our surroundings, which included a young family romping in the ocean further up the shore line as well as a few other groups of people some distance from us, "is so incredibly foreign to me. I’m here as my friend Maggie’s guest -- I’ve never been anywhere like this. We took trips to state parks for vacations when I was growing up, not flights to private islands or on elaborate cruises. Not that I'm complaining, I had a great childhood. It's just that my parents were both teachers so we lived a fairly simple life."

"Where precisely in America are you from?"

"Nebraska. I'm going to go ahead and figure you have no idea where that is, as most Americans likely don't. It's in the middle of the U.S., they call us a ‘fly over state’."

"Thank you for not forcing me to admit that I know sod all about Nebraska. I'm sure it's a lovely place though," he said, smiling.

"Shush, it is! Perhaps it isn’t the most exciting place in the world, but it’s a great place to grow up. I lived in a pretty small town until I went to college -- we didn’t even have any stop lights. But I loved it -- I got to be a part of anything I wanted to do. I could be in sports and a cheerleader and in band and the one act play. With my parents being teachers, the faculty all felt like aunts and uncles more than teachers, for better or for worse -- I couldn’t do anything wrong without my parents knowing almost immediately.”

“You don’t seem like the type that got in much trouble, am I right?” At my smile and nod, he continued, attempting to be casual, “So...you were a cheerleader?”

I rolled my eyes. “Typical man. Yes, but just for a couple of years. I got too busy with sports after that.”

“Cheerleading isn’t really a thing in England, I was merely curious, that’s all,” he said, hiding his smile behind his drink as he took a sip.

We continued to chat and exchange stories, with a constant stream of drinks, the rest of the morning. My stomach started to hurt from all the laughing, but I was having an amazing time.

After a break in our conversation, Alex looked skyward, assessing the sun’s position in the sky. “How about lunch? I’m feeling like I need something to soak up some of this alcohol. I’m well on my way to being totally pissed.”

“Lunch sounds great. You thinking of heading to the main resort restaurant? Or just eating at one of our villas?”

“Clearly you haven’t had as much to drink as I have -- I hadn’t thought the whole lunch thing through more than just wanting something to eat.”

“That’s just because I’m pretty much a professional drinker at this point, law school does that to ya. My villa is right over there, does that work? We could just make some sandwiches or I can just have the chef whip something up -- hold up, I cannot believe that the phrase ‘have the chef whip something up’ just crossed these lips,” I said, then cracked up laughing at myself, Alex joining in. “I’m sorry, I might be a little drunker... wait, should that be more drunk? Anyway, I may be a little less sober than I thought!”

Alex stood, then reached out his hand to help me up. I rose, wobbling a bit as I searched around the sand for my flip flops. Once located, I almost tipped over as I tried to slide them on and grab my beach bag at the same time.

Thankfully Alex grabbed my elbow, righting me again. He stared at my face, seemingly momentarily paralyzed. He swayed towards me, then abruptly said, “Food, we need food.”

I burst into laughter. “We’re a couple of soaks, huh? C’mon, this way to sobering up.” I pulled on my cover up as Alex put on a t-shirt and we were ready to go.