Long Blonde Hair, Sky Blue Eyes Pt. 02

Karla sighed. "It's probably nothing, just more of the publicity stunts she warned you about and you warned us about."

"Yeah, we've seen a lot of those on TV and social media since she arrived in paradise, but you guys have never reacted like this before. So show me."

Karla reluctantly picked up her phone, let it identify her face, and explained, "I follow one of the videographers on the team. We went to college together and have remained friends. He got excited last night and published a bunch of cool photos of a party the cast and crew were having. The first were taken while the sun was setting in the west, the next were recording the amazing rise of the full moon over the South Pacific, and the rest were just silly pictures of people partying and having fun."

She was scrolling through the pictures as she talked, giving Erik a chance to see how innocuous the pictures are. Those of Annika showed her interacting with others, or sitting in a lounge chair covered by a blanket.

"Then I saw a comment from one of the extras, who apparently has a big crush on Afton, the male model. It invited the viewer to view HER photos, which she claimed were a lot more interesting. So I did." She sighed again, clicked on the woman's picture, and went to her public social media site.

Some of the pictures were akin to those taken by the videographer, but some were close-ups of Annika leaning back against Afton, whose right hand appeared to be high under her dress, with his left clearly hanging over her boob. Another picture showed him whispering in her ear and her smiling, and then there were three pictures that turned his blood to ice - Annika and Afton entering the dark house with their arms around each other, them entering the lighted bedroom, and Annika leaving the bedroom in a serious state of disarray in early morning light.

There were several catty captions about Annika being dishonest, slipping back into her old ways, being a maneater, and fucking her old boyfriend after she had spent days telling everyone that she was in a committed relationship with the man she intended to marry.

Erik's temper had risen as his blood warmed to boiling, and red spread across his visible skin. "Send me the link, please," he asked Karla, who looked reluctant to do so.

"I'm sure there is an explanation," she said, "this are just photo arrays; we don't know what went on otherwise. It could all be innocent."

"It could be, but combined with the fact that she hasn't replied to me or otherwise communicated with me in about forty hours, I'm going to need to verify that before I believe it."

Hanna picked that moment to prance in, throw kisses to everyone, and scream, "Congratulations! I brought two bottles of French bubbly for you geniuses! Who makes something this complex work on the first try? YOU DO!

"Bring cups and let's celebrate!"

All but Erik and the four in the know rushed to the front with cups extended. Karla sent him the link, Joyce petted him on the shoulder and assured him that there must be a mistake because Annika loved him, and the two men remained fixated on their computer screens.

"Erik! Come join us!" Johnny yelled across the room. "This is great champagne!"

When he turned his back on the invitation and began messing with his phone, Hanna feared something had gone wrong. When he turned and began aggressively striding to his office, though, she saw his face; then she KNEW something was bad wrong, and odds were that it involved her uncommunicative best friend.

"Oh, Fuck! Johnny said under his breath, "I know that look, and there's fixin' to be trouble!" They set the bottles down and hurried toward the office door he had just slammed. Johnny tried the handle, expecting it to be locked, but it turned and the door swung open; they stepped inside.

Erik was feverishly doing something with his computer; Hanna asked, "Is everything all right, Erik?"

Pictures sprung up on the 43" screen, and he replied, "You tell me."

Johnny walked around one side of the desk to get closer, and Hanna walked around the other. Just as they stopped, Erik clicked on a photo and made it full screen. "Oh, shit!" Hanna stated.

Annika was sitting on a lounge chair leaning back against the pretty boy behind her. His hands were both under the blanket - one near her boob, one on her thigh. His mouth was beside her ear, and she was smiling happily at whatever was being said.

"Erik, that looks bad, but..."

He reduced that photo and expanded another; this was even more damning, as it showed Annika in profile with a goofy grin, her arm around her old boyfriend, as they entered a bedroom. The last picture he blew up showed her slinking out of the same bedroom looking completely disheveled, stringy hair and all.

"Erik," Hanna tried again, "let's give her a chance to explain. These look bad, but there isn't any actual..."

"Sure, Hanna, give her a call and let's listen to her explanation. Maybe if you call or text she'll answer, because she sure as hell hasn't responded to me, or communicated with me in any way, in a day and a half! Looks like we now know why, but go ahead - be my guest!"

Hanna made the call, waited until the voice message played, and then said, "Dammit Annika, you need to call me or Erik right fucking now! I don't give a damn about the time difference or your schedule; there are some pictures on social media you need to explain!"

****

Even the short walk from Afton's house to hers required a stop to feed the fishies, and another round of heaves while she was in the shower trying to get last night's smelly puke out of her hair and her pores. When she got out of the shower, she picked the pretty sundress up, threw it in the tub, and filled the tub enough to, hopefully, soak the worst out so she could wear it again, someday. She was sure Erik would love it, if she could save it.

Exhausted by the effort, head throbbing, she flopped on her bed naked and slept.

Annika struggled out of bed around one in the afternoon, local time, took more aspirin, and drank as much water as her tortured tummy could handle. She knew she needed to eat, but what could she keep down? After rummaging around in the pantry, she settled on canned chicken soup and crackers.

An hour later diarrhea struck, which necessitated another shower, but after that she felt good enough to wring, rinse, and re-wring the dress, then hang it to dry above the tub. Nauseated and dizzy, she tried to work out what time it was back home. She felt so bad she needed to talk to Erik or Hanna, but she couldn't find her phone... or her purse!

It must be at Afton's, she decided, and hurried to door to go find it, which caused another wave of dizziness. The purse was hanging on her front door, with a note from Annie, who said she found it on the walkway, and it looked like most of the contents had fallen into the water.

She grabbed it and frantically poured what was left on the coffee table: her makeup compact was gone, her lipstick was gone, her brush was gone, and her phone was gone! She collapsed onto the sofa and wept.

She was still sobbing when someone knocked on the door. Knowing she couldn't pull herself together in time to answer, she yelled, "Please go away; I don't feel well."

"It's Annie - I'm worried about you. What's wrong?"

"Just a minute," Annika answered, having decided she should talk to the one who brought her purse; to thank her if nothing else. She washed her face and dried it, pulled her wild hair into a pony tail, and answered the door.

Annie was taken aback by her condition, but tried to hide her surprise. This was one of the most beautiful people on earth, by pretty much any measure, but right now she looked like shit! Without invitation, Annie stepped inside and walked over to the couch. The coffee table was covered with wet tissues, but she ignored that.

"Honey, I don't know what happened, but I'll help anyway I can. Do you need to talk to someone? Do you need medicine? Food? How can I help?"

"I feel so bad still!" Annika answered, "And I don't even know what I did last night. I remember watching the moonrise, laughing, and talking, but then it gets blurry. Did I do something really stupid? I'm not much of a drinker, so anything is possible!"

"Umm, I don't know how to answer that. You seemed to be having a great time... I didn't hear you say or do anything I'd call stupid. Why do you ask?"

"Well, when you wake up in a strange bed, still dressed, covered in puke, and missing your purse and phone, there's a good chance you did something stupid, right?"

"You were sitting in the lounger, leaning up against Afton, but that was because you were cold and he was keeping you warm. He brought you a jacket and blanket, and when you were still cold he offered to help keep you warm, but I don't remember anything else going on. I went inside, found a chair, and passed out soon after that, but while I was awake I didn't see or hear anything terrible."

"That makes me feel a little better, although I hope Erik never hears about Afton keeping me warm. So, you found my purse, but no phone?"

"No, but I'm pretty sure the glittery stuff on the bottom of the lagoon below the walkway is from your purse. Is much missing?"

"Only everything except my wallet, which I'm thankful it isn't in the lagoon! I don't suppose you've seen any place that might sell phones on Moorea?"

"Ha! There might be, but it's not near us! And there certainly isn't one on the atoll we'll be one tomorrow. Maybe when we go back to Pago Pago to start the flight back..."

"I can't imagine ATT has a store down here, so I might as well wait until I'm home, I guess."

Annika's stomach growled, Annie laughed, and said, "Oh, yeah - we're all going to walk to the restaurant to eat in a few. Come with us - everyone has been worried about you!"

She wanted to say no, she started to say no, but her hunger overcame her embarrassment; besides, maybe she could tell by the reactions whether she did something terminally stupid last night. Also, maybe she could send Hanna a text on someone's phone explaining that hers was lost, and she could tell Erik.

"Okay, but I need a few minutes and my makeup is mostly on the floor of the Pacific, so don't expect much."

"None of us care - go get ready! Your stomach is growling to go, even if you don't want to."

****

Everyone was welcoming, excepting Kyla, who gave her a dirty look and then a smirk. Afton wasn't there, nor were the photo and video men, so it was only the girls. Their remembrances of the party were similar; everyone was having a good time, but the rum was being imbibed a little too fast, and then they woke up in the sunlight, lying in strange places, with sick stomachs.

No one admitted remembering any hanky-panky, much less sex, and they were remembering how they felt when they woke up after sleeping on floors. Annika was listening, until Kyla said, "Yeah, we all slept on floors, but Annika slept in Afton's bed! Was he as good as he looks, Annika?"

She was shocked and embarrassed, but she had been accosted by better bitches than Kyla. Keeping a straight face, she laughed and replied. "Must not have been too good, because I don't remember even being with him. I woke up in a bed, smelling like vomit, and discovered that was because I had it on my dress and in my hair! I managed to sit up, in spite of the pain in my head, and stumbled out to go to my house and clean up."

She laughed at herself, saw the smiles and shaking heads, and continued. "I only made it half way before feeding the fish again, and then stumbled on to the house. After another quick barf, I showered for fifteen minutes trying to get rid of the smell. Then I had to do something with my dress, so I soaked it in the tub, rinsed it a few times, and hung it up. I should have thrown it away, but I just know my boyfriend will love it on me, so..."

"So, if you have a boyfriend at home, why were you all snuggled up to Afton on the lounge chair, and why did you spend the night with him?" Kyla asked in a catty voice that drew frowns from the others.

"Admittedly, I got drunk quickly - I'm a lightweight when it comes to alcoholic drinks. I was also cold, but didn't want to leave the party. He brought me a jacket and a blanket, but I was still cold so he graciously agreed to sit behind me to share body heat. Although he offered additional services, he kept his hands under control and acted like a gentleman, if a flirty gentlemen.

"The last thing I kind of remember is standing up to go home, staggering, grabbing the rail, and projectile puking into the lagoon. Annie found my almost empty purse today and brought it to me, so apparently I dropped it and the contents are in the Pacific, but I don't really remember anything after that until the sunlight hit my face and I opened my eyes to a pounding headache. I'll NEVER drink rum again!"

Her story and pledge drew laughter, similar stories were told, and similar pledges were made. It was fun, and would have been more fun without Kyla's eye rolls and smirks. Finally, Annika had enough. "And what about you Kyla? You haven't told us your story."

"Because I didn't get shitfaced and throw myself at a man like someone here did!"

"That sounds more like jealousy than a story. If there was a man there you wanted, why didn't you go after him?"

She stood up, threw her napkin down, glared at Annika, and then pointed a finger at her. "Because you went after him first, Bitch!"

That drew a gasp and then protective cries from around the table. Brooke cried, "No she didn't! He went after her, but she kept him under control!"

"I wonder if your 'boyfriend' feels that way?" Kyla asked vindictively.

Brooke caught on immediately, and stood up. She stuck her finger an inch from Kyla's mouth, and asked, "What did you do, you stupid bitch! This has been the cleanest, nicest shoot I've ever been on, and yet you manage to fuck it up? You know you'll never work again if Annika says you won't, don't you?"

The jealousy was quickly getting buried in a steaming pile of 'Oh, shit! What have I done to my career?'

Staring straight at her, Annika asked, "Anyone have a phone I can use? I think Miss Priss needs a ride back home in the morning so she can start her new career as a waitress."

Kyla looked panicked, broke into tears, and ran out of the open air restaurant.

"Think she'll learn anything?" Annie asked.

"Hard to say," Annika replied. "She's new and clearly has a crush on Afton, but I can't tell whether that's the reason, or she's just another selfish, entitled beauty pageant bitch... like I was at her age. We'll let her stew tonight, and maybe leave her here tomorrow, and after that we'll probably know the answer."

The conversation turned to tomorrow's assignment, and it was nine local time and two central time before she thought about borrowing a phone. Brooke had hers and it worked down here, so Annika sent Hanna a message. "Lost my phone so I borrowed one. We'll be on the atoll tomorrow, come back here late, and head for the airport early the next morning. I should be back later that day. Tell Erik I love and miss him, and I'll see all of you then."

****

Erik was trapped in a strange world between elation and anger. The rollout had been as flawless as possible, and he wanted to share that with someone in the same way Johnny was sharing that with Hanna. OTOH, that someone had gone completely incommunicado, and incriminating photos were circulating.

First it was social media, but then dark, indistinct images began making their way around the world of television entertainment shows, and speculation bloomed. 'Were the young lovers back together? Was this trip really about their reconciliation, and when would they announce it? What about the cowboy she had been telling everyone about? Was he old news? Was she cheating on him? Or was that whole thing just a publicity stunt?'

Erik wasn't the only one seeing the photos: her father, his family, and her grandparents had all called either Erik or Hanna, but neither had anything to share... because Annika wasn't communicating.

Erik was hyped about the success of the rollout, but his mood was so bad he kept waiting for the other shoe to drop. Word got out, and he got a call from Oliver inviting him to dinner. He wanted to decline, but he wanted to see them worse, so he accepted. Carl and family were there too, and it was if Erik was a son and brother more than the boyfriend of a (wayward) daughter / granddaughter.

Axel and Elle were particularly talkative, and as the evening wore on, Erik realized the Olsson family provided the kind of distraction and redirection he needed. He left feeling great, but entering the lonely apartment killed that, and he slept for shit that night... which meant the workday was long and torturous, even without looking for articles, photos, and video featuring the supermodel he knew he shouldn't have gotten involved with.

He wasn't much help, but he toughed it out until closing time, only to be ambushed.

"You can't keep this up, Boss!" Karla fussed. "You come in here looking like crap with a bad attitude, and you trash our high-achieving company culture!"

"The pills in this packet are from my stash," Andrea told him. "Take one at bedtime, get some sleep, and show up tomorrow ready to train us to train them to implement the final phase! We don't want to lose our edge by waiting too long! As it is, we're driving a Ferrari in second gear."

They took off, he locked up, and realized he had nothing to do tonight, and no one to do it with. He wandered over to Allen's Kitchen; maybe Kerri would offer companionship.

Naturally, it was Kerri's night off, so he ordered a roast beef sandwich au jus and read a few technical articles on his phone. Nothing having to do with Annika's shenanigans, for sure, although he couldn't help but consider whether he had lost her before he really had her.

Sure there were plenty of other choices up here, and more back home, but the girl he fell in love with on Mackinac Island was a unicorn. She was the first he'd met, and he suspected she would be the last.

Looking at it from the other side, however; if she was cheating on him two weeks after she promised her undying love, and 9 days after she tried to fuck him to death, she wasn't really a unicorn. Just another beautiful skank, like several he'd already encountered.

He took a bite of his roast beef, scrolled, and found an article describing the potential of the Lone Star Logistics and Transport merger with Midwest Logistics and Transport Services. It sounded like JoJo wrote it; they were going to take over the world - export, import, transport, storage - and do it cleaner and greener than anyone else because their clever logistics package leverages the predictive power of artificial intelligence.

He smiled and took another bite. From Mr. Olsson's and their fathers' points of view, the key was the reduced cost of successfully predicting needs and prepositioning resources to expedite service. The 'clean and green' angle was important to him and to Johnny, but 'the bottom line' mattered more to ownership. Still, the whole 'locally sourced' thing was big and getting bigger, and the ability to provide goods with a smaller carbon footprint might ultimately matter more than immediate profits.

His apartment was dark, quiet, and lonely; he wished they were still on vacation so he could hold his bed bunny tonight, rather than worry about who was. He showered, lay down, and stared at the ceiling until he gave up and took one of the pills Andrea had given him. His zombie days needed to end.

****

While everyone in Minnesota was trying to figure out what happened to Annika, on an isolated atoll in the South Pacific the merry crew, sans Kyla, was having a grand old time. The sunshine was perfect for the early filming /photos, and then they utilized a fortunate but short-lived rainstorm that blew through to get some great shots of wet Annika and Afton in bad weather gear. That was an unexpected but timely bonus for Mr. Tom's line.