Weekend Trip
The ringing phone filled him with dread. Scott Langer recognized the number as being his best friend from high school. He didn’t have time to answer it. He had so much work to do before his dinner date with Mackenzie. He looked at the phone and sighed. “Hello, this is Scott,” he answered. “Hey man, this is Danny Anderson from high school,” a loud voice said over the phone. Scott pulled back, wincing as the loud voice continued pounding in his ear. “So how have you been, man?” “Doing good, Danny. Busy as normal, I have a lot of work right now,” Scott said, hoping Danny would get the hint, but he didn’t. “So I got a call the other day from Mandy Collin, well her maiden name, Simmons, Mandy Simmons. Do you remember her?” Danny asked. Scott starting typing on his computer, trying to get some work done while carrying on this conversation. “Yeah, I think I remember her; she was a cheerleader, right?” Scott asked. “Yeah, that’s right. She’s the one who flirted with Mack McGuire, the quarterback on the football team. Anyways, she called me last week and said that they were trying to get a 10-year reunion for our graduating class,” Danny said. Scott felt his heart sink. He could tell this was coming. He hated class reunions. He had never gone to one before, so why should he go now? Danny continued, “Mandy heard that you were in the hotel business and she wanted to see if you could hook us up with a conference room somewhere.” “What city does she want to have it in?” Scott asked. “She wanted somewhere like Cancun,” Danny said. Scott stopped, “Cancun? As in Mexico?” “Yeah, she thinks that it would be fun to have it somewhere exotic. Do you have any hotels down there?” Danny asked. “I think so, but won’t it be expensive for some folks to try and get down there?” Scott asked as he typed in the name of his hotel in Cancun. “Yeah, probably, but Mandy wants to try it. She thought that it would be fun to have it somewhere different instead of the normal “high school gym” setting,” Danny said, “Do you think you can get your hotel to let us reserve the conference room?” Scott inwardly moaned. “I’m sure I can,” he said. “Great! Well, Mandy wants to have the reunion in two months; the date is June 21. Let me know if we can’t have room on that date, ok man!” “Yeah sure, Danny,” Scott said. Scott knew that the room would be available on that day, but he didn’t want to tell Danny now. “Great, man, say it was great talking to you, but I need to get back to work. Let me know what you find out, so I can tell Mandy,” Danny said. “Will do, Danny. Have a great day. Bye,” Scott said as he hung up. He leaned back in his chair, regretting the reunion. He knew that if he had it at his hotel, he was obligated to go. Maybe Mackenzie would go with him. That would make it a little more fun. Mackenzie was his girlfriend and loads of fun. She wasn’t loud and rambunctious like his last girlfriend, but she wasn’t shy either. She was just fun to be around, and Scott liked girls that were like that. He had been with Mackenzie for a year and half now and was considering asking her to marry him. Scott still didn’t know why he had hooked up with his last girlfriend, He hated every moment with her. Well anyways, that was the past and he was looking to a beautiful future filled with him and Mackenzie. He looked at his watch and realized he only had an hour to get work done so he could actually make it on time to his date.
Two and half hours later, he was sitting in Mackenzie’s favorite restaurant sipping a cup of hot decaf coffee with the love of his life. He was having a hard time concentrating because he kept thinking about the class reunion and dreading it. “Scott,” Mackenzie said, breaking his thought. “I know that you haven’t been listening to a word I’ve been saying. Something’s troubling you, what is it?” Scott set his cup down and leaned forward. “I got a call from a friend in high school, and they are trying to plan a 10-year class reunion at one of my hotels,” he said. “Oh, and what’s so wrong about that?” Mackenzie asked. “They want to have it in Cancun, Mexico,” Scott said. Mackenzie raised her eyebrow. “Cancun?” she said, “why on earth Cancun?” “The girl in charge of it wants an exotic location instead of a high school gym setting. I hate class reunions, and I will especially hate it if it’s in Cancun,” Scott said as he looked her in the eyes. “Would you want to go with me, Mackenzie?” Scott continued, “It would make things a little more interesting.” Mackenzie pulled out her iPhone and asked, “When is it again?” “June 21. It’s a Friday night,” Scott said. Mackenzie looked up and smiled. “You’re lucky! That’s the only weekend I have free that month,” she told him. Scott grinned and leaned back in his chair, satisfied.
It was Thursday morning and Scott was in his condo, packing. He looked at his clock by his bed. He had 30 minutes before he needed to pick up Mackenzie and head to the airport. Going with them was Scott’s brother, Ben, and his girlfriend, Kasey. They had decided to get there a day early to enjoy the day on Friday before the reunion that night. Scott knew that despite the class reunion, this would be a good weekend. He threw his passport and plane ticket into his backpack, put the bag on his back and rolled his other luggage out into the hall. He took one last look at his condo and headed out the door.
After Scott picked up Mackenzie, his brother and girlfriend, they arrived at the airport and proceeded to check in their luggage. The airport clerk checked in Ben, Kasey and Mackenzie. Scott then walked up to the counter, set down his luggage on the scale and handed the clerk his ticket. The clerk typed in something and asked for Scott’s passport. He pulled it out of his messenger bag and handed it to her. She looked at it and looked back at him. “I’m sorry sir, but your passport has expired.” Scott did a double take and his jaw fell open. “You have got to be kidding me. When did it expire?” “Last month, sir,” she said. Scott groaned and put his head in his hands. He stood there for a moment, trying to decide what to do. Finally he looked up and half-smiled at the clerk. “Thank you for your time,” he said as he grabbed his luggage and walked off. Mackenzie, Ben and Kasey followed. “So what are we going to do, bro?” Ben asked. Scott sat down in one of the chairs lined up against the window and Mackenzie sat beside him. “Well I didn’t really want to go so I guess you guys can go ahead and fly down there and have a good time,” Scott said. “Scott,” Mackenzie said. “We are not going to go to Cancun without you.” Ben and Kasey agreed. “I guess we are staying home this weekend,” Scott said as he stood up. “Wait a minute,” Ben said, pulling out his phone. “I have a college friend of mine who is a pilot and he flies down to Mexico all the time. Maybe he could fly us down there and we can pay him.” Scott gave him a questioned look. “But don’t you need a private landing strip so they don’t have to look at your passport?” “I honestly think he uses one of his friend’s landing strip. I’m not a hundred percent sure, but it doesn’t hurt to ask.” Ben called his friend, who did have a private landing strip and he agreed to fly them down there. An hour and a half later, they were on their way to Cancun.
That night walking along the beach in front of their resort, Scott and Mackenzie walked slowly in silence, taking in the night air and the sound of the waves crashing upon the moonlit shore. Finally Scott turned to Mackenzie. “I’ve been thinking, which is not always a good thing.” Mackenzie grinned. “I’ve been thinking about how strange it would be for me to tell everyone at the reunion that you are my girlfriend, so I was thinking,” Scott said as he got on his knee and pulled out a ring box. “What if I just told them you were my finance’?” Mackenzie gasped. “Oh Scott,” she stammered. “I would be honored.” Scott smiled and stood to his feet. He took the beautiful diamond ring out of the box and slid it onto her finger. He kissed her and they stood there for a moment embracing each other. “This may be a better weekend than I thought it would be,” Scott said as he smiled at his soon-to-be bride.
