Stain My Rose With Scarlet Tears

“Bill, wake her up… We’re here…” I whispered as they announced that we had landed in Male, the capital city of the Maldives. Surprisingly, during the nineteen hour flight, none of us were really bored and the kids slept most of the time. I think the biggest problems we had on the flight was when we all fought about who gets the window seat, in the end, Lucy go the one, and Tom got the other. I didn't really mind, I couldn’t remember anything about the flight. I basically just spent the entire flight sleeping or listening to music. Bill and I held hands most of the time, because one he took mine, I didn’t want to let go. Sometimes, being as strange as we were, Bill and I would switch iPod’s. I would take his if I wanted softer music, and he would take mine if he wanted metal.

“That was quick.” Bill mumbled tiredly, turning his back on me, now facing our daughter. I, on the other hand, turned around in my seat, placing my knees o my chair, glancing at Tom, Bianca and Charlie who sat behind us. Bianca had fallen asleep a few hours before, her head resting on Tom’s shoulder, making me laugh loudly. All Tom could do in the beginning was sit still looking a bit awkward, but later on he started to feel a bit more comfortable, putting his hands around her caringly. Minutes later, after he had gotten comfortable himself, he fell asleep too, his head cleverly resting on Bianca’s. They looked so cute, I almost took a picture of them, but Bill stopped me. Now looking at them, I didn’t really want to wake them up. I could hear Bill whispering to Lucy, waking her up gently. I didn’t want to startle them. “Guys!” I whispered, hoping that it would reach one of them, they didn’t move.

“Tom, Bianca?” I said, a bit louder than before. I watched them for a moment, and then Tom started to move. The first thing he did was move away from Bianca slightly, removing his arm from her shoulders. His eyes fluttered open and found me immediately.
“Are we there yet?”
Tom’s question made me giggle. He looked up at me expectantly and I nodded. He smiled widely, sitting up straight, then turning to Bianca, shaking her gently. Charlie’s head was on Bianca’s lap, so Tom had shaken her too. Charlie’s head shot up quickly, the excitement on her face instantly. It only took two minutes for Charlie to wake up completely and started to shake her mother roughly. Bianca woke up startled at first, but smiled when she saw who had woken her up. Bianca was loosening her and her daughter’s seatbelt, pulling Charlie onto her lap and into a hug.

Tom had started to stand up, following Bill’s example. Bill held Lucy on his right hip, as she continued to sleep. Bianca gave me a confused look, trying to wake up. “What time is it?” She asked me, scratching the back of her neck. I glanced down at the watch on my arm, realizing that my watch was still on New York time. “Well… In New York it’s 2AM.” I replied, snickering slightly as she rolled her eyes. “I mean here!” I looked at Bill, who was staring down at me. I started to count the hours in my head, thinking it should be about right.
“It’s about 12:30 I guess…” Bianca stretched her arms out, touching my seat, which was directly in front of her, standing up. “Day or night?” I rolled my eyes, pointing at the window where Tom still stood. I raised my right eyebrow as Bill did so many times.
“What do you think?”

She looked out the window to see the sun shining through brightly, the weather made me want to smile all over again. She turned to me, blushing slightly. “Oh.” She said softly, standing up with Charlie in her arms, setting her down on her hips as Bill did with Lucy. I nodded, rolling my eyes as I reached to get my and Bill’s carry-on’s, throwing the one over my shoulder, and I kept the other one in my hand. Bill paused, allowing me to walk out first. I smiled gratefully, but waited for Bianca and Tom to pass us. Most of the people had already gotten off, but there were still a few people standing behind us. I took one look out the window, and then turned back to him, my blonde hair hitting him in the face. “You got us a rental car, didn’t you?” I questioned. Without pausing, he nodded, relief washing over me.

I nodded too, starting to walk towards the exit. Tom, Bianca and Charlie was already waiting for us inside the airport, trying to figure out where we should get our bags. When we stopped to join them, they had decided that Tom and Bill were going to find the suitcases while Bianca, the kids and I were going to get the car. Following some of the people who sat in the seats behind us, Bill and Tom found the way, while we walked to opposite direction. We gave the woman our name, while she handed us a key, explaining to us which car was ours. As we looked for it, I stopped in front of a black Cadillac, the car Bill had rented for us. It looked exactly like the one Tom had long since traded in for a new car. I unlocked the car, helping the kids get in, who fell asleep in the back seat instantly.

“How long do you think it’ll take them?” I questioned impatiently. I always loved the first day of vacation, and then everything seemed so new, I loved walking through the hotels and down to the beach for the first time. I always did it while Bill insisted on sleeping as soon as we got to the hotel, I never understood why he wanted to do that, maybe this time I could change his mind. I smiled when I saw Bill and Tom walking towards us, smiling along with me. Bianca and I jogged to them, taking some of the luggage from them. Together we walked back to the car, throwing the bags in the car, trying not to be too loud. Bill and Tom sat in front, like earlier. Tom was driving because he was the only one who knew how to drive this car, and Bianca and I were sitting in the back seat with the kids.

It was a two kilometer drive from the airport to the Mookai Hotel, where we were staying. We had only been there twice, this being the third time, because mostly we preferred smaller towns and beaches, but I loved that hotel. It was one of my favorites. It had a beautiful view of the ocean and I could sit on the balcony and stare at it for hours. They say the hotel is in the heart of the Maldives, and sometimes if you look, not only can you see the city, but you can see islands surrounding Male too. It wasn’t very close to the beach, but I didn’t mind sneaking out at night to drive to it, because it was worth it. We only got lost the first time we went to that hotel, but it’s hard to forget the same road twice.

It didn’t take long for us to arrive at the hotel, and by that time, we were all worn out and hot. I was the first one to hop out of the car, stretching out my arms and legs. While everyone else climbed out, I leaned against the back and just listened to the sounds of the ocean and breathing in fresh air for the first time in hours, I loved it. The sea was blocked by tall, green trees, but I had Bill make sure that we had a perfect view; it was the best part of staying in the hotel. After I felt like it was starting to sink in, I leaned inside the car, kissing Lucy until she had awoken. She giggled tiredly, her eyes not even opening. I was feeling playful. I took her hand and helped her out of the car, then picking her up so she sat on my hip again. Bill told us to leave the bags in the car for now while they checked in, we nodded in agreement.

It took a few minutes because there was a small line of people ahead of us. Bill had booked three rooms, one for Bill and me, one for Tom and one for Bianca. We made sure that the rooms were close to each others, because we had a habit of visiting them late at night. We got the room keys after another five minutes, while Lucy started to get fussy, demanding me to put her down. According to the brochure, there were only fifty-one rooms in the hotel, but at first I found that hard to believe because the hotel looked so big. We were in rooms 45, 46 and 47. After randomly taking keys out of Bill’s hand, we noticed that Tom was going to have the room next to us, and Bianca directly across. We couldn’t wait to get up to the rooms, because every time we came to the Mookai, it was worth it, their rooms were so beautiful.

We were the only ones in the elevator, which I liked, I didn’t really like being in small spaces with people I didn’t know. I started feeling claustrophobic when it happened; I tried to avoid it mostly. When the doors opened, Lucy and Charlie started running down the hall, with me chasing after them. I had to yell for them to stop when we passed the room’s we booked, not really caring about the other people in the rooms around us, if there were any. Bianca was running after me now, trying to catch her daughter before she wanders off. We caught up with them at the end of the hallway, even though we were out of breath and tired, they clearly weren’t. I wished I had slept through the whole flight too. I wasn’t exactly tired, but I knew once I lay my head down on my pillow tonight, I would fall asleep immediately, and I couldn’t wait. I had always loved falling asleep when we were in the Maldives; it was like the ocean was like my lullaby.

We got to the rooms, seeing that Bill had already gotten comfortable on the couch, and Tom was still standing, my guess was that he wanted to get comfortable in his own room. Just as Bianca and I walked in, he was greeting Bill, telling him that he was exhausted. After we watched Tom walk out, Bianca turned to us, smiling tiredly. “You know what; I think we’re going to go too. I’m pretty worn out…” I nodded in understanding. I hugged her and Charlie before they left, closing the door behind them, then I turned to Bill. He stood up when he saw the excitement on my face. “Isn’t this place beautiful?” I squealed, running to the balcony. Bill followed me out; I heard his footsteps behind me. He placed his arms around my waits, resting his chin on my head; we hadn’t been like that for a while. “Yeah…” He breathed.
“Imagine what it’ll look like at night.”

I felt a pair of arms wrap around my legs and looked down. “Mommy, can we go to the beach?” Lucy asked hopefully, smiling cutely. I mimicked the smile, looking at Bill hopefully. “I think it’ll be fun.” I said. He frowned at me for a moment, thinking, but then nodded. He let go of me and started walking towards the door.
“I should have known I’ll never have peace with two women in the house, not even on vacation.” Bill mumbled as he opened the door. “I’m going to ask Tom if he wants to come.” I nodded, even though I knew he couldn’t see me, walking to the door too. Lucy let go of my leg, running off towards Bianca and Charlie’s room. Walking slowly, I could hear Tom’s door opening. I knocked on Bianca’s door, hoping that she would agree to come. She opened quickly, balancing Charlie on her hip.

“We’re going to the beach… Do you want to come?” I asked, pouting slightly, knowing that she couldn’t say no then. She smiled and nodded quickly, jogging back into the room to her bag. “Charlie refuses to go to sleep, so the beach will do us good.” She said. Bianca and I waited for Bill, who walked out of the hotel room with Tom following behind him. Lucy and Charlie were wearing their swimsuits since we took off because they insisted. They said they were going to swim in the ocean no matter what the weather was, or what time it was, and we couldn’t say no, they were very excited about it.

In the car, Lucy urged her uncle Tomi to drive faster. He wasn’t a reckless driver, but he did drive a bit faster at their request. We decided not to go to the main beach, there would be too many people around, so Tom took a shortcut to another ‘hiding’ place we had. There were a few cars around when we stopped, but there weren’t a lot. The girls jumped out of the car, followed by Bianca and I. Tom and Bill had decided that they were going to swim with their daughters, since, according to them; they had their swimsuits on too. Bianca and I walked to the beach, carrying the twins, Lucy and Charlie’s clothes in our arms, laughing quietly. Lucy was now on Bill’s neck, it was the first time in my life that I saw the actual fatherly side of Bill, and he seemed so different from the one I fell inlove with, he was better.

We found a big rock, close to where our families were swimming and sat down. “They look so different.” Bianca commented, as if reading my thoughts. I didn’t answer, and I don’t think Bianca expected one. I stared at Bill and laughed as Tom basically pulled him into the water. “This is going to be so different from the times the four of us were here before…” She continued. I looked over at her. Her head was turned in the opposite direction. She was talking to me, but mostly she was just saying everything that she was thinking. She started laughing quietly, but turned to me with tears in her eyes, I couldn’t understand why. “Last time we were here, Tom and I were still together, and things weren’t so… complicated.”
“What do you mean?”

She started to play with the sand to avoid my gaze. “Sam, I love my daughter, you know that… But I miss the times when we could come here, get drunk off our asses and not care what would happen the next morning… We can’t do that anymore.” My father had told me a while back that he thought Bill and I started our family too soon, and that we didn’t have enough time to enjoy being young. I never admitted it, but sometimes I would agree with him, but I never liked to go out to clubs or get high or drunk. I loved my life and I loved my family, sometimes it just got too much, that was probably what drove me into Monré’s arms in the first place. I just wanted to forget about my responsibilities for a while, and he helped me do that. My father knew what he was talking about, because he did the exact same thing with us. “I know… And sometimes it’s hard to accept it.”

Our voices were quiet. I tried not to think about my past too much, but sometimes it was hard not to miss it because it felt like time passed by way too quickly. I looked at the sky, seeing the dark clouds coming closer. I guessed that it was either going to rain tonight or tomorrow, but I didn’t think we could go to the beach tomorrow. I wished I could spend all my time here, alone. I loved sitting somewhere on a rock, staring at the ocean, it was the only way to clear my mind. “Sometimes when things got too much for me,” Bianca confessed softly, interrupting my thoughts, “I wanted to run away… And when I met Georg, it seemed okay again.”