Don't Forget to Breathe

“I swear to God, Peyton, if you make us miss our flight….I will personally strangle you in your sleep!”
Peyton simply waved off her friend who was impatiently tapping her foot by the front door of their shared apartment. As far as she was concerned, they had plenty of time to arrive at the airport and Addison could stand to wait a few more minutes.
“Getting there two hours early wont make the plane take off any sooner!” She called out to her friend.
Addison just made a disgruntled exhale in response. She had been packed and ready for nearly three days for their dream trip. It was all she talked to Peyton about, particularly the possibility of flirting with attractive men on a hot, tropical beach somewhere in the French Polynesia.
“Hurry. Up.”
Peyton zipped the side of her carry-on and slung the strap over shoulder. It was fairly light in comparison to her friend’s massive travel luggage, but she figured there would be no need to pack too heavily, since they would only be there for 10 days.
“Finally!” Addison threw her hands up in exasperation, “let’s blow this popsicle stand.”
The girls took hold of their luggage and made their way to the awaiting cab driver. Peyton quickly communicated which airport they were departing from to the driver and received a nod in understanding. They were on their way to the best week and a half of their lives.

“I wasn’t sure which to pack, so I brought both bikinis. What about you?”
Peyton pulled out her plane ticket as she responded to her friend.
“I only brought one, but I think that’ll be enough for the trip. If not, I can always purchase another at a local store.” She logically answered.
“I need you to promise me something before we get on that plane.” Addison turned her head to reveal a serious look on her face.
“Yes?”
“I want you to promise me that you will have fun and forget everything else that worries you or brings you down for these next ten days. Okay?”
Peyton smiled and told her that she would do her absolute best.
“Only if you promise me that we can come back with amazing tans.”
Her friend laughed and held up a hand to signal “scouts honor”.

“Now boarding flight 1085 to LAX.”
They once more gathered their belongings and made their way towards the large crowd forming around the gate. It was no surprise to Peyton that most of the people flying there with them were already dressed in tropical t-shirts and shorts. Everyone looked just as excited as them.
“I just want to explode!” Addison shouted, breaking out into a happy dance around Peyton.
-Well, almost as excited-
They both boarded the plane and took their seats next to one another near the center of the craft. Peyton breathed a sigh of relief as she realized her seat was right beside the window, although it didn’t please Addison too much.
-Goodbye Arizona-
She put a pair of headphones into her ears and began to play something mellow to ease her into a nice long nap. The sounds of the talking and shuffling around her began to soften into the background as she drifted onwards toward the image of an endless beach that she would soon be laying on.

“Peytoooooon,” a voice cut into the pleasant dream.
She grumbled out a response, knowing full well who was waking her up.
“Peyton, wake up! Our connection flight is going to be tight, so we need to get a move on!” Her friend pleaded.
It took her a second to realize where she was. The deepness of the nap had made her lose track of where she was and where she needed to go for a brief minute.
They quickly assembled their things and managed to slide by those still getting their bags, rushing off the plane and into the terminal in a manner of minutes.
“Which gate is it?!” Addison asked, fumbling to get her ticket from the pocket of her purse.
“Uhh, D8!”Peyton replied, glancing down at the boarding pass in her hands.
The girls made it just in time for the last call, panting as they handed over their tickets for scanning.
“Oh thank God….” Her friend breathed out, still trying to calm down her racing heart.
Peyton let Addison take the window seat for the second plane ride, since all she was planning on doing was sleep. They slid their way in just as the flight attendant announced that the cabin was officially closed and began to demonstrate proper emergency procedures.
Neither girl made it through the entire briefing, but rather passed out once more from all the excitement.

The jolt of the plane landing woke both girls up. They had been sleeping off and on during the nearly 9-hour flight.
Peyton reached over her friend to pull the shade on the window up. The early onset of evening had just arrived on the Islands, although it would’ve been nearly ten o’ clock at night back in their hometown. Looking at her phone, she realized that it was about to be four o’ clock in the afternoon, locally.
They each heaved their carry-ons from the luggage compartment above the seats once more as they prepared to deplane. Addison couldn’t help but bounce herself back and forth in anticipation for the days to come. She had been the most excited for the trip, although Peyton was more than happy to be anywhere other than her desk job back home.

“Where should we eat tonight?”
Addison handed her friend the brochure from the bedside table.
Peyton flipped through each page before putting her vote up for a restaurant called Les Nouveaux Mondes. According to the description it offered dishes such as rib-eye and shrimp dowsed in a curry sauce, which sounded right up their alley.
“Sounds perfect, I’m so hungry….” Addison said, rubbing her growling stomach.
They quickly tossed on some clothing, a white cotton t-shirt and navy blue shorts for Peyton and a light blue thin-strapped dress for Addison. They donned their individual styles for their first night in the city.

Peyton’s POV

Once we were out the door, I realized how endless the possibilities were for this trip. I could be anyone. To everyone else here I could be Tiffany, a model from New York, or Lilith, an intense world-traveling journalist….no one had to know how boring my life truly was. That I was, in fact, just a receptionist at a law firm in Phoenix, Arizona.
No, I could be Peyton, the most interesting woman in the world! All I needed was a Dos Equis commercial.
We were able to walk to the restaurant, since it wasn’t more than a mile from the hotel. Even if it weren’t all that close, we would’ve walked anyways. There was no way we would miss out on exploring this Island in every way possible.
“I’m so glad we’re here.” Addy smiled, hooking her arm in mine. Everything about my best friend is perfect, even when it isn’t. She had been there with me through absolutely everything, even the passing of my mother a few years ago. More than anything else, she was my sister, which was especially important since I had no other siblings.
Addy tossed her medium length blonde hair behind her shoulder as she winked and waved at a group of guys passing us in the opposite direction. They couldn’t help but swoon at her the moment she did that, barely saying anything that even minutely resembled a response.
We continued walking without looking back at the stunned boys, although I guessed that they were still watching us from behind. At the very least watching Addison. She was always good at getting a guy’s attention, even when she didn’t honestly try.

The island was more breath-taking than I had anticipated. Each pathway that lead down to the beach was more awe-inspiring than the last, with the sun illuminating each grain of sand and each palm of the trees lining the edge of it. It made me want to skip dinner altogether and run for the strikingly clear water just down the way, but the pull of my friend kept me in the direction of the restaurant.
In no time at all we had reached our destination. Les Nouveaux Mondes. It was quite a site in and of itself, a relatively small tiki-bar style restaurant with wood paneling lining the entirety of it. A very classic tropical theme overall, which was exactly the type of touristy thing we would get trapped by, though we didn’t care too much.
“deux bières, s’il vous plaît.“ (Two beers, please) I asked the waiter once we had gotten settled into our seats.
“Quel type?” (What kind?) he asked.
“Ton favorite.” (Your favorite) I replied, attempting to be spontaneous like Addison for once. He nodded politely and walked back towards the kitchen area.
“I’m so glad you have that covered, because I took Spanish in high school and I barely remember how to say hello.”
We both giggled at the thought of her in high school, taking Spanish solely for the purpose of flirting with the teacher at the time.
I took a second to look around the room at all the different types of people that had come to dine here tonight. There was only one family, the rest were all mixed groups of friends or couples enjoying a night of drinking and local seafood.
The clearing of someone’s throat pulled me out of my thoughts. I looked towards the table next to us to see a face that looked unusually familiar.
“um,” I briefly looked at my friend who looked equally as confused, “yes?”
“He speaks English, you know.” A british accent cut through the dim lighting. The man who spoke was quite taller than me with dirty blonde hair that seemed a fair bit messy, although it still looked quite attractive. He had a trimmed beard that lined the defined edges of his face, which I was undoubtedly drawn towards.
He was probably the single most handsome man in the room.
“Oh. Well, I wasn’t going to expect everyone here to speak English—“
“You’re American, yeah?” He cut me off mid-sentence.
“Yes, but—“
“You should work on your French accent a little bit more.”
He then decidedly turned back to his two guy friends and resumed speaking to them as if no outside interaction had occurred.
“Peyton…..” Addy cautiously whisped.
I glanced up at her to see wide eyes still gawking at the rude fellow at the next table.
“Peyton…”She whispered again, more frantically this time.
“What?” I asked, although my tone came off as slightly harsh.
“Do you….do you know who that is?”
I took a second to peek at the man once more. This time I caught a glimpse of his black V-neck t-shirt and gray board shorts to compliment it. His clothing seemed to accent every muscle on his body just right….I just wish he had the personality to match. What a dick.
“Addy, who is it?”
“That guy….is Alex Pettyfer.”