The plane is much different than a commercial airliner. Rather than rows of seats, there are a few seats placed around what looks like a living area. There’s a television with several game consoles, a bar, bedrooms at the back, all manner of amenities. We take our seats, the plane takes off, and we’re on our way to the resort. I quickly realized that we had a fourth person with us that I hadn’t seen. A small Asian woman, wearing similar clothes to Alex, is beside Taylor.

“So Taylor, Who’s this?” I ask.

“Oh, this is Kirumi,” He says while pulling her closer. “She’s my trip advisor. Speaking of… who’s yours.”

“Oh, this is Alexandra.”

“Alex is fine, however,” she interjects.

We sit down, Taylor with Kirumi, and me with Alex. The difference in our relationships is quickly made apparent. Taylor and Kirumi are all over each other, while Alex and I sit at an icy distance.

“So Alex… you’re my trip advisor then?”

“Yes.”

“What exactly does that mean?”

“It means I’m responsible for your trip. Anything you don’t like, tell me. Anything you do like, tell me. I’ll do my best to make your trip as pleasant as possible.“

“You’re gonna be with me the entire time?”

“Yes. I also fully intend to leave the island with you. Is that a problem?”

“Wait, what? You mean you actually want to like… be with me?”

She lets out a sigh “Gina really failed to explain things to you. Allow me to explain more clearly. I love you.”

Hearing those words makes my body tense up. What the fuck? “What do you mean you love me, I’ve known you for like...” I take a pause to glance at my watch, “an hour!”

“Doesn’t matter. I love you. I was made to love you. Every time I look at you my heart throbs, my mind goes blank, and I want you to hold me.” She speaks in a deadpan voice, completely belying the words that she’s speaking.

Taylor momentarily pries himself away from Kirumi, and adds “Yeah, your trip advisor was made specifically for you, she’ll love you literally no matter what you do.” As if to emphasize, he pulls Kirumi into his lap, facing him, and plants both of his hands firmly on her ass with a loud slap. Her only response is to give him a coquettish smile and dive back into his lips.

Once again, I have more questions. “So you… actually, love me?”

“More than life itself.”

“And you’re fine with that?”

She pauses before speaking as if to choose her words carefully. “It’s… quite aggravating actually. There’s a part of me that knows I’m being made to feel this way, but there’s a bigger part of me that doesn't seem to care.”

“Do all the girls feel that way?”

“No, as you can plainly see,” she gestures towards Kirumi, who is currently happily munching face with Taylor. “I haven’t met anyone who feels the same way I do.”

“So you love me… but you wish you didn’t?”

“I never said that. Loving you is my raison d’etre. I just… I wish we had the chance to fall in love.”

That’s… surprisingly romantic. Also, I agree. It’s great that I have a woman who loves me, even if the circumstances are suspect. However, it feels like we missed out on something crucial by skipping the whole “falling in love” thing. 

After that, the conversation dies. The only sound is Taylor and Kirumi’s frantic make-out session. Taylor quickly realizes that we’re just sitting next to each other awkwardly, and swoops in to save the day. 

“Hey, what games do you have for those consoles?” He says to Kirumi.

She looks quite confused that he’s interrupted their ‘session’ for something like video games. She quickly catches on, however, when she sees Alex and I awkwardly sitting next to each other. “Oh, we’ve got all the new releases. I’m not one much for video games, but if it’s new we’ve got it.”

And so begins our gaming session on the way to Calypso. I haven’t played video games in years, and Taylor just naturally sucks, so it’s a surprisingly level playing field. After the first few rounds, Alex and Kirumi decide they want to join in.

“I don’t even know what you did there Kevin, but you can eat shit and die.”

“A little upset, are we?”

“Shut the fuck up.”

Taylor and I are trading shit-talk while Kirumi and Alex try to figure out how to attack each other. I start to give Alex pointers while I play, and she quickly begins to beat up on Kirumi. Taylor, upon seeing this, starts giving Kirumi pointers. Eventually, Taylor and I forget about our characters entirely and focus completely on coaching our new proteges.

“Alex, if you get hit by that bat, you’re done. You’re gonna need to bait a hit.”

“Fuck ‘em up Kirumi!”

It’s down to the wire. Kirumi’s got a bat, but they’re both a hit away from death on their last stocks. Alex always looks aloof and disinterested, but right now she looks dead focused. Both of their characters are standing a few feet apart, staring at the other, waiting for them to make the first move. It’s an old-fashioned showdown.

We wait for what feels like an eternity before Kirumi makes the first move. She throws the bat. Alex jumps. The bat misses. Alex hits Kirumi with an aerial attack, sending her flying. 

“Game!”

There’s a moment of silence, before Alex jumps like a coiled spring, wrapping her arms gleefully around my neck.

“I won! I couldn’t have done it without you!”

“What’re you talking about, that was all you at the end there!”

I’m pleasantly surprised by how happy she is. She’s way more into this than I ever could have expected.

For as much joy as winning gave Alex, Kirumi looks just as dejected. Taylor does his best to comfort her.

“That was a good game Kirumi, You were this close!” he illustrates with his fingers how small the margin of defeat was. “We’ll get ‘em next game!”

Taylor’s words spark a fire in Kirumi, and the gaming continues. We all end up winning some games, and, surprisingly, Alex gets increasingly more and more talkative as we play. By the end, she’s shit-talking more than Taylor and I combined.

Eventually, most of us get bored and switch off the console. Alex looks a little dejected but lights up when I tell her we can play more some other time. Taylor cracks open the booze cabinet, pulling out some whiskey and shot glasses.

The next few hours are a blur. Taylor and Kirumi disappear into one of the bedrooms at some point and don’t come out. Alex starts to come onto me, and we end up making out and groping each other on the couch. Before things can get more serious, we land. It’s sudden. When I feel the plane make contact with the tarmac I jerk up from fondling Alex and look through a window. We’re on a wide runway surrounded by open ocean on either side. We’re here.