Chapter Thirteen
Alex
Our Honeymoon
In typical Alex-Charlie fashion, we overslept and damn near missed our plane. Running to the gate, I handed Charlie his boarding pass, having printed it out at the kiosk just in case.
“Los Angeles? Really? We’re going to LA? Are you at least taking me to Disneyland?” He asked, handing the impatient ticket agent his pass to scan.
“No Charlie, we’re not going to LA. We are only changing planes there,” I said, and left it at that. I was tired, we were late, and I needed a freaking drink. I didn’t care what time of day it was. Shortly after takeoff, I was happily sipping an orange juice and vodka.
“Fine, if you don’t want to tell me where we’re going then I’m going back to sleep,” he pouted before turning to face the window.
“Sounds great to me.” Wow, this honeymoon was not starting off as I’d envisioned. Hopefully little mister pissy pants will sleep the entire the two-and-a-half-hour flight. And thank fuck he did, waking with a much better attitude.
“I’m sorry, Alex. I guess I needed a nap,” he apologized, and squeezed my hand.
“Come on, let’s head to the gate. At least this time we have an hour before we board,” Thankfully, we’d checked our luggage for this trip so we wouldn’t have to drag it around LAX.
“Ooohhh, Starbucks,” he sang and bolted right for their kiosk.
I rolled my eyes and followed. The urge to buy one of those child leash/harness sets for him was strong.
We grabbed a seat where the gate was in view after getting our venti boosts of caffeine.
“Where to next?” he asked.
I pulled the boarding passes for leg two of our trip from my backpack and handed him his.
“Indonesia?” He crinkled his nose.
“Really, Charlie? Are you going to be a total shit for our entire honeymoon?”
The next flight was sixteen hours. If he didn’t chill the fuck out, I was going to find a Sky Marshal and ask him to shoot a tranq of Xanax up Charlie’s ass.
“And for your information, that’s stop two of three and it’s a long fucking flight, so you may want to consider keeping your nasty comments to yourself.” I turned away, choosing to people watch in lieu of arguing with him.
“I’m sorry,” he murmured, while pulling his iPad from his backpack and diving into his latest literary obsession. Thank the literary gods for that.
I dozed off as soon as we were in the air for a couple of hours. When I turned to face Charlie, he had his feet curled up beneath him, sucking on his bottom lip, completely enthralled in his book. Seeing him like that erased the anger I’d harbored throughout the morning.
“Hey,” I said, rubbing his knee.
“Hey, yourself.” He leaned over and kissed me. “I’m really sorry for being such an ass this morning. I hope I didn’t ruin our honeymoon.” Those sad little puppy dog eyes got me every time.
“We were both tired, and over stressed. Let’s chalk it up to that and start over. Okay?” He raised the armrest between us and lay against me, my wrapped around him. “It’s okay, baby,” I said, kissing the top of his head.
He resumed reading while I stared out the window, waiting for our meals to be served. As soon as the dinner service was over we dozed off, waking with stiff necks and knotted backs. Next time I’ll consider upgrading to first class.
“Ugh, what time is it?” Charlie asked, stretching out the kinks.
“Two a.m. in Seattle. I think where we’re going is about sixteen hours ahead of us. We should be landing in Indonesia shortly, but we’ll have a short road trip to the hotel when we land.” I tried my best to stretch, which wasn’t an easy feat for a man my size.
“Oh my God, Oh my God, Oh my God!” he screamed, rousing the passengers around us.
“What’s wrong?” My eyes darted around, scanning for blood or whatever had freaked him out.
“We’re going to Bali!” He jumped up and down in his seat like a kid on a candy high.
“Jesus, Charlie, you scared the shit out of me and woke everyone up.” But his excitement at figuring it out had me smiling. “And yes, we’re going to Bali.”
“Sorry,” he whispered. “I’m so freaking excited.”
“Yes, and now everyone around us knows it too.” When I sat back down, he tried to hop in my lap. As much as I would have loved that, I knew others around us would not have felt the same, so I gently guided him down beside me. “Save it for later, baby.”
“Oh, it’s on!” He winked, and I knew all bets were off once the door to our hotel room shut.
Charlie bounced from heel to toe throughout the airport, down to the luggage carousel, and into the awaiting car.
I was thankful for the short ride to the hotel and for the fact that the driver didn’t drop us off alongside the road and into the confines of the surrounding jungle.
When Charlie was happy, I was happy, but that was one of the first times I’d wished I had duct tape with me to help contain him.
“Alex, this is so gorgeous.” He stared out the car window like a dog on a road trip.
“I’m glad you like it. I was nervous you’d be upset that it wasn’t Tuscany.
We’re here, babe, come on,” I said, pulling him out of the car with me.
The driver unloaded our bags and was still laughing at Charlie who’d asked him a million and one questions.
Thankfully, he was a nice guy. I hadn’t considered the rules regarding homosexuality here.
Probably should’ve done a bit of research on that first.
“Thank you,” I said, slipping a much deserved twenty-dollar tip into his hand.
He just smiled. “Thank you. Congratulations and enjoy your stay in Bali.”
Charlie grabbed the laptop bag and my hand while I wheeled in our giant suitcase. “Think you brought enough clothes?” I asked him as we merged into the guest check in line.
“I wasn’t sure at first, but now I’m thinking most of this trip will be clothing optional. Plus, you didn’t tell me where we were going so I had to pack for all weather,” he huffed.
“Well, while in our room, it’s clothing optional. But for some of the excursions I have planned you will need clothes, or you’ll regret the sunburn and potential chafing later.”
He winced. “You’re probably right.”
“Next,” the desk clerk called. “Good morning and welcome to Bali. How may I help you?”
“Good morning. We have a reservation for DuBois-Travers,” I told her, retrieving my license and credit card from my wallet.
“Yes, Mr. and Mr. DuBois-Travers. Congratulations and thank you for choosing our hotel for your honeymoon. I see you’re booked for ten nights, all-inclusive, and have several excursions planned while you’re here,” she glanced between me and Charlie. Who, by the way, was still bouncing beside me.
“Yes, sorry, he’s a little bit excited.” I signed the forms and handed them back to her.
“I love it, his excitement will be contagious and great for the other guests. Here are your room keys, sir. The restaurant menus are in your room. On the days of your excursions, the buses will pick you up where the taxi driver just dropped you off. There are various other activities we offer as well, all of which are noted in the binder on the desk in your cabana,” she continued.
“Cabana?” Charlie finally piped up. This man was gonna be a handful during this trip.
“Yes, sir,” she told him. “You have a cabana booked for the length of your stay. You’re at the end of the pier overlooking the ocean. I hope you enjoy your time here.”
“Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God,” Charlie chanted all the way to the golf cart waiting to deliver us to our temporary home.
The brisk, morning salty ocean air greeted us as we stepped onto the golf cart.
We shared the back seat that faced out, taking in the gorgeous views.
Charlie’s hand never left mine while our eyes drank in the various blues in the ocean water.
Between this view and Charlie’s excitement, I knew Bali had been the right choice for us.
“What does all-inclusive include exactly?” he asked me.
“As long as we eat and drink in the restaurants and bars associated with the hotel, we need only pay out-of-pocket for gratuity. But once we’re offsite, we’re on our own financially,” I informed him as we got off the cart and tipped the driver.
We stood on the pier for a few moments, basking in the morning sun before entering our cabana. “Alex, this must have cost a fortune,” Charlie said as he walked inside.
“I know people, who know people,” I teased. “Come on, babe, let’s unpack and order room service. Airplane food just doesn’t do it for me.”
He walked ahead of me, scanning the kitchenette and living areas then the bedroom and bathroom. Charlie screamed. I dropped the luggage and went running after him, “What’s wrong?”
“There’s a huge-ass bathtub overlooking the ocean in our bedroom,” he squealed again.
“Charlie, you have got to quit screaming. You scare the absolute shit out of me every time you do it.” I tried not to sound mad, but damn, it set my heart racing every time.
“I’m sorry, but this is just,” he turned, appreciation shining in his eyes, “you really outdid yourself. I can’t believe you did all this for me. For us.”
I drew him into my arms. “You’re worth every penny of it.” I tilted his head upward to kiss him which our protesting stomachs put an end to anything more. “Come on, lets get some food before we hop in the tub and relax after that long flight.”
I ordered room service while Charlie unpacked, continually gasping at the views as he passed each window. About twenty minutes later, our burgers and fries arrived, which we inhaled in record time. He went to run the bathwater, and I turned the sign on the door to Do Not Disturb before joining him.
He leaned back against me. “Can anybody see us?”
“Does is it really matter?” I bit into his shoulder.
“Fuck no,” he moaned.
We barely made it to the bed after drying off before we passed out, leaving a trail of towels in our wake.