Page 7 of Status Undefined
“Wait, what? That wasn’t a date.” I shot back.
“Why else would you pay?”
Unbelievable. I’d fallen for another one of his moves.
“So that was a test? To see if I’d pay?”
“You passed with flying colors .”
“Wiseguy.”
“LOL. So where should we go for the next date?”
“Who says I want to go on another date?”
“Aha! So it was a first date! Great .”
He got me again, but for some reason, I didn’t mind. It made me smile. Another text.
“I told you – you’re as transparent as one of those jellyfish.”
Game over.
December 6
(visa expires in 39 days)
In the morning I woke up and groped around for my phone. I squinted at it with half-open eyes and there was a text from Daniel.
“Can we make it 14:00? I can’t sleep.”
He had sent the text at 4 a.m. and I wondered if he really couldn’t sleep or was at a wild party all night. But I had to give him the benefit of the doubt. I needed to stop suspecting the worst from new people in my life. And if he really couldn’t sleep… I wondered why. Maybe he’d tell me.”
“Sorry to hear. C U later.”
This time Daniel let me pick the place. I’d never been on a date in Phuket, and I wondered what places on the island he might like. Obviously, it had to be somewhere Insta-worthy. That way he could work at the same time. After lunch I called a taxi to take me to Ya Nui beach – a beautiful place where I’d seen some of the most gorgeous sunsets. I hoped Daniel would like it. It was a long drive and, when I got there, my heart sank. The beautiful beach I remembered was covered in plastic and garbage washed up by the waves. The water was also full of trash. I stared at the ruined beach and wondered what to do.
“Wow, that’s a lot of plastic,” a voice from behind startled me and I jumped. “I thought you said this was Phuket’s most beautiful beach.”
“Don’t do that! You scared me to death.”
Of course this made Daniel laugh.
“I’ve never seen the beach like this. Sorry I dragged you out here today. Such bad luck.”
“Bad luck? I don’t think so at all. It’s excellent luck.”
“Are you crazy? How is this good luck?” I gestured at the litter-festooned beach.
“Look! They’re cleaning up. Let’s go help them! I’ll post a story to raise awareness of plastic pollution on beaches.”
“I thought the point of Instagram was to show cool places you’ve been and make people jealous.”
Daniel shot me a despairing look.
“We need to get you on Instagram, so you’ll stop thinking I’m shallow.”
“You’re American. You have to be shallow.” (Actually I was the shallow one because everything I knew about Americans came from Adam Sandler movies on Netflix.)
