First Encounter
July 26, 2018
ETHAN
She caught his eye right away. Her head was resting limply on her partially folded knees, as she sat in a ducking manner on the sand. The beach air was mild and crispy, it was a rather hot day, but it had begun to grow pleasant these past few days after sunset; perhaps as it was nearing the end of July. In this new-found less-humid weather, people had gone back to nailing the vacation itinerary they had brought in. Honestly, one could always rely on human beings to bounce back faster than anyone when it came to following patterns and the norms, especially when its concerned with traveling. People wanted to ensure they got the bang for their buck. The bangs were what had caused the main beach resort’s outer garden to turn from accommodating a crispy cool weather into a smoky hot air balloon. It was suffocating on one end, as four large bonfires had been built to appease four client parties, but it had taken the shape of a beach bonanza now. Everyone from the resort had joined in; including people from the outside. The management resisted at first, but then they let it slide, as it meant more business for their outdoor restaurants.
It was hotter, more so because of the crowd than because of the four raging fires, but somehow, the frenzy and collective adrenaline in the humidity had turned it into a pleasurable experience. This was his third trip to Bora Bora in the last six months. As always, it had been for work, and probably will be. He never really understood vacation time philosophy properly either. Working and not-working; being the central theme of dichotomies of modern work life, did not make sense in any way. Even if burn out or overworking was an actual thing, what was supposed to be the opposite? Not working? Did vacation actually fill in that gap, that idea of work? Or does vacation mean that everyone is on anti-vacation when they are working? Anywho, he had worked hard all day, and once his last presentation was finished, he sat in the office for an hour - mentally decluttering; which usually involved him rubbing his temples with his fingers slowly, while doing absolutely nothing. After that, he had two choices, hotel, dinner, and sleep or a light outing. Both were equally tempting. So, he bought a beef wrap on his way to the beach, and gobbled it up quickly on the drive. The weather was nicer, light warm breezes after sunset somehow ended up winning a nice compatibility experiment with the relatively collective droning body temperature of the tourists and inhabitants of Bora Bora, and they decided to revel in the lively beach atmosphere; somehow further riveted by the bonfires. For the umpteenth time, he thanked his lucky stars that there wasn’t some crazy college rave on the beach he had driven to. There was a wild yet friendly atmosphere and the atmosphere creators and consumers were not some particular demographic. Randomness. What a relief to the bane of those existing to manufacture or control it. It helps relieve pressure somehow to be part of chaos.
He was coolly drinking his second cocktail, observing the life happening around him. Not one of his favorite past times, but it was a relatively good ending to a two-week long tedious work trip.
After finishing his second drink, he ordered his third, and began to aimlessly promenade towards one of the bonfires, without thinking. And then, he saw her.
She was the only one, who sat there expressionless, like him. Neither smiling, nor interacting with anyone. Like him. But there was one more thing. Unlike him, she wasn’t looking anywhere. Her gaze was lost. It seemed to enmesh in the crowds before her, as if her attentions were following some crazy line of thinking and the physical tangible expression of thought was unable to follow along with the velocity of the actual thought. If someone was to observe her for more than five minutes, it was likely that they would get goosebumps, there was an incredible level of lifelessness she was able to portray with her erect knees, tilted head and the divergent gaze.
It looked like she was on her own. She was wearing one of those classic breezy overalls in a deep yellow shade, and a light pink skirt was covering her knees down to her ankles. It was the most common vacation outfit on the beach, after trendy lines of classic bikinis for women. Her hair was in a loose ponytail, but it looked absurdly different from any regular ponytail. Either she intentionally wore it in some unique way, or she had a lot of hair, as her ponytail, draped across her shoulders on both ends, also hiding almost all of her skull from the back, And, the thick bangs have managed to hide almost all of her forehead. It was a uniquely college-girl hair vibe, even if it was again the second most common hair women wore on the beach. On top of this very beachy yet non-beachy-on-her outfit, her thick-rimmed glasses managed to hide the two-thirds of her small face; the first third territorially claimed by the voluminous bangs. And yet, despite all this, her lazy gaze was able to make it out of all these visual external filters, and was able to hit him like a ton of bricks. Without thinking, he started walking towards her.
“Hi”, he said as he sat a few inches beside her, looking at the gathering around the nearest bonfire, without making any eye contact.
“Hi”, a curt yet slow response was returned. She was clearly deeply engrossed into whatever it was in her head, as she managed to begin this encounter without looking at him.
“Would you like a sip?” He released the straw from his lips, and offered her his drink. Yes. He knew this was not how you were supposed to offer drinks to someone, by offering them your own, especially after giving them a visual of you drinking it yourself. But, he wasn’t really thinking tonight. He was leaving the very next day, and he was in his off-mode then. He was in his work clothes, sitting on sand, inhaling crazy amounts of sugar through his third cocktail, and he had no plans, intentions or consideration towards anything other than making it to his flight on time at 7AM in the morning.
Something touched his hand, and his eyes immediately tracked the location of the place where he sensed it. She had taken his drink, again, without looking, and was slowly sucking on the straw.
Alright then.
He tilted his head slowly. Something is definitely going on in her head. He quickly stole a glance at her. Yup, its the big hair. She had a lot of hair, as her bangs were practically covering half the circumference of her round skull, reluctantly teetering or withheld by imposed restrictions of the bend, near her ears.
After downing a few light gulps, she returned him his drink.Again. Without looking.
“Ethan”. He said matter-of-factly. If this was how this interaction/encounter or whatever this was supposed to go, then thats how he would take it. Non-chalant.
“Shay”. A quiet response again.
“Last night?” He asked.
“First”. Another response.
He gave a short chuckle.
Him: Isee. Like it so far?
Her: Dont know.
Him: No?
Her: (sighs) …..No.
He took a few more sips, and started to regret his decision to follow his rebel impulse of breaking the social code and not getting a separate drink for her. Maybe, not-thinking-anything-at-all was not a decent strategy, even if it was his last day after a two-week busy work tour. He was about to get up and get two more drinks, but suddenly, her hand touched his fingers again. This time, she took his drink, took one little sip, and gave it back.
Still not looking …
Alright. his brain had already started making active notes of this random encounter.
After a twenty-second pause, a little thanks was sent his way.
She sighed a little.
Honestly, should he get up and get two more drinks, or order two more? Was there anyone there who was even taking orders? A small thought had slowly begun to whip up his already-descended-or-resting conscience into fight-or-flight mode which fit this situation.
He made two quick movements with his neck as he assessed the beach-garden situation, trying to pinpoint walk-in waiters, and bars.
“Dont worry. I have mine here. I just liked yours better”. A short comment was swiftly made.
He looked at her again. Same lazy gaze,still…. havent looked towards him.
What were they doing? Was it weird? Sorry, that wasnt a question. It was weird for sure. Was it too weird?
“Am from Scotland. Came here for work. You?”, he couldnt help asking.
And he simultaneously cursed at his human engine, which could not deal with the burden of the encounter. It was aching to kick into gear, sliding slowly into the pattern it recognized. Introductions, name, place. Blah blah…. And to think he was just mocking the beach-goers-itineraries a few minutes ago…..eye roll.
“From Lebanon. On a vacation.” A soft voice came, coupled with an exasperated sigh.
“First time to Bora Bora?” He turned his head towards the bonfire-turned-dance-party that had erupted near them.
“No. First time on ….vacation…..or break.”
“And?” I emphasized on that one-syllable word in three different phonetic tones - quizzical, comic and objective?
Her: And… (sighs), I dont ….I cant understand this… like…(another sigh)
For the first time she turned. He felt her lazy gaze shake itself into focus as her head took full view of him.
“Vacation concept?” He blurted out.
“Yes.” She sighed with a hint of relief. “Not just the vacation concept. Just probably in the context of my life, I guess.” A light chuckle escaped her throat.
Few more minutes passed.
He didnt know why he did that, but…..
Him: “Can I try your drink?”
Another chuckle…
And I saw her swinging her arm out of her overall, picking up her drink. I was also able to notice the sleek hard external of a laptop which was resting out of sight because of her sitting posture, in between her bent knees and stomach.
He took a sip. Lime.
“You know, first rule of vacation is to not carry your work with you.” He said.
“I like working.” Same soft tone.
“This….”, she intuitively paused, relaying the effect of what she meant bythis(referring to idly sitting…), “ I dont understand this.”
“Ahh…..” He slowly said like he actually understood what she meant.
“Maybe, you are going to have to learn the ropes of…..vacationing.”
He made a light-hearted comment like he actually had pioneered vacationing himself, when he was usually working throughout every holiday. He did understand what she meant, but, he had actually made peace with his idea of vacations which were all work trips where he worked in office during the day, and walked about the city after work hours..
Usually.
Okay. Mostly.
A soft chuckle….
Was this her third chuckle?
He felt her turn again. He turned too. She was looking at him.Looking at him. He knew he made it sound intense, but the way her gaze was lazily meandering the crowds before, this was intense.
He also stared.
His mouth curved upward. He didnt know why. Smiling is socially acceptable behavior. Behind the layers of things between her eyes and him- the bangs, glasses, shadow of the bangs, the overhanging lights had caused to appear, he could still sense a crinkle near the corner of her eyes.
Transferring her drink to his other hand, his hand moved. It was taking off her glasses slowly, carefully managing to not let his finger touch her very small face. The hand carefully folded her glasses, those were some thick-rimmed glasses. Perhaps her eyesight was actually really weak. She kept looking with the same dead eyes, the momentary intensity all gone. Now, she was just looking. He carefully placed her glasses on his lap, then his hand slowly moved towards her bangs, and slowly tried to part them, trying to find a break in the thick matted coverage which had clearly covered all of her forehead, if not her eyes. It took a minute.
He managed to get some of them to move a bit. She had a small face, like an actual small face, with her distinctive blanket of very large hair. He sighed as his gaze landed on her eyes again, where amusement was slowly making its way back. Perhaps, she already understood his struggle and admitted defeat of her hair. He refocused his eyes back to the top of her head, his hand moving slowly towards her ponytail, He held it in a stable grip, slowly dragging it against the thick bundle of hair. She clearly didnt go for any unique style. It was the hair again. Too much of it. He managed to slide the band down, and finally her hair let loose. He quickly moved to the natural next step…..
He casually ruffled her hair, so they can ease out freely, after being let go of the chains of that band. All this time, she kept looking at him.
He took another sip of her drink, which he was still holding.
She turned her head away slowly, for real this time, and left it resting it on her crossed arms in a comfy position. Her hair covered all of her back, which was all he could see.
Without thinking, he kept sipping her drink.
He regretted his decision the second time, to let his brain go into off-mode completely. He took the sip from her drink and realized he had drunk it all. She was still looking in the other direction, head completely turned away. She could have been sleeping, and he didnt know. He slowly got up, walked back to the place he got his drink from, got two more drinks, a lime for her, and her drink for himself, and made his way back to Shay.
She was still as he left her. Clearly, she was truly letting her brain take a vacation, which was as it should be. People usually try to make conversations when strangers accompany them this way. But perhaps, it was a moment of irony. He slowly walked up to his old place next to her, placed her drink down, casually shooting her face another look.
Okay, she was asleep.What?
And,....her face was visible the first time.
Okay, she shouldnt be asleep, like this in public, and …
He checked his watch, force of habit. He had to leave for his hotel. It was getting late. He looked around, holding his drink, which he had already planned to offer her.
He softly nudged her shoulder.
“Shay…?”
SHAY
She didnt know how, but as soon as Ethan managed to loosen her ponytail, she felt drowsiness overcoming her senses. And next time she regained her senses when she heard her name. He gave her two drinks, couldnt know why, because I was half-napping and he clearly had to leave.
She didnt know whether he was looking at her or not, but she could see his leaning body, clothed in office wear and a loose tie.
“You’re clearly on your first break, so a tip”, he leaned closer. She tried to stop gazing at his neck which was in her direct eyeline.
He sighed, as if he had caught up with her lazy approach to this entire encounter properly. “You dont have to accept drinks from people you dont know, especially when you are completely knocked out….. Here.” His forefingers touched her temple exactly when she turned her gaze to him.
He looked at her, expressionless.Was he still expecting something? She could just stare absently all night long.She wondered.Was his overworked head thinking about sharing contacts, because its another social convention he was trying to address?
Just like that, he kept gazing at her bored face.
“You have a lot of hair.” He said.
She mouthed a littlesorryto appease him, or the best she could do in her completely dreary state.
“I hate them too”, she whispered solemnly.
A small smirk started to form on the left side of his mouth, revealing a deep dimple in his left cheek. She looked away. He brought his hand forward again, and softly brushed away the bangs that were determined to not leave her forehead. She shut her eyes. Again.
Five more minutes passed.
As she felt the heavy sleep rolling in again, she had to force her eyes open. Afterall, she was completely on her own at that place.
Two drinks were beside her. Lime and something he clearly bought for himself.
He had already left.
