Bali, Indonesia

At five, we met Gede and the others at the surf shop. They handed us helmets and we each jumped on the back of a bike. I rode with Gede and we chatted a bit along the way. He was a student in Bali and just a year older than I was. His English was also quite fluent.

We arrived at a shop that his sister owned to get our barbequed food prepared for us. It wasn't how we did it back home, but each country had its differences. The wait drew on, longer and longer. The sun set before we could get to the beach. Chloe and Taylor weren't too impressed and made a few sarcastic remarks, as they always would. We laughed at their quips while pacifying our hunger with suckers.

On the beach, the food went around. Taylor and I, both vegetarians, stuck to the vegetable and tempeh dishes, which were fewer in quantity than the fish and meat. We passed around the beers and our new Indonesian friends made sure we always had one in our hand, since we had been the ones paying for supper.

When the others began to thank us, we realized we had probably bought everyone supper and drinks too. They had told us the price in advance that we would pay for the meal, higher than usual, but still fair enough. The way I saw it, they were showing us the island. We'd get to experience more of the authentic culture and have a good time. I would have likely bought them a few drinks for such a gesture regardless of whether they had asked.

The sand fire pit began to take off and really emit some heat. Gede looked down and saw I didn't have much on my plate. He offered me the tempeh pieces off his, so I wouldn't go hungry. Tempeh really took off out here and I was so grateful as a vegetarian to have a soy substitute for protein.

Soon, a man brought out a guitar and the covers began: Rihanna's 'Diamond', David Guetta's 'Titanium', the Cranberries' 'Zombie' and even a few Bob Marley medleys. It felt like Thailand with their choices with a hint of Hawaii since during my week there I had heard 'Three Little Birds' countless times. We sat on logs and in the sand, swaying to the music. Gede put his arm around me until I attempted to find 'the bathroom that never was' with Taylor. In my buzzed state, I thought it was real clever and sneaky to dub our quest 'the hunt for water buffalo'. Not so much, Sabrina had told us as she laughed away.

After an hour at the beach, Kadek offered to have us all over for a few more drinks at his place, and by his place he meant the porch at his parent's house. On the ride there, I scouted a bit closer to Gede on the motorcycle. It was cold, I was feeling the beers, and he was just so warm and easy to snuggle into. He took notice and began to run his hand over my thigh.

All I could think was 'oh shoot; I bet they feel hairy. I should definitely start shaving my whole leg and not just being a weirdo and just doing the knee down'. It also reconfirmed my notion that would make the worst romance novel character.

Hairy legs aside, Gede didn't seem to notice or mind. We kept driving, sharing our warmth and some conversation. He shared that he was helping pay for his studies by working as an instructor at the shop. I hadn't quite understood what he was studying, but I thought it involved business and tourism. He didn't get to surf as much as he used to or liked, but he really enjoyed working there.

As we grew closer to our destination, he leaned back and kissed me on the cheek. I just about melted. Flying through Bali's streets, hair back in the wind, snuggled into this adorable man's back, I felt like I had checked something off a list I hadn't even realized I had. Kisses on the back of a motorcycle didn't happen to me every day, but I got a few more that night.

Kadek's parents' place, despite still being outside and a touch chilly, was still nice as there was bathroom for all of us who had broken the seal and kept downing more beer. Kadek spoke more about the photography he used to do for larger surf companies and took a liking to our birthday girl as well.

We learned more about Balinese names. Many of Balinese people had the same name as birth order determined it. Wayan and Gede were some of the names given to the first born, Made and Kedek second, Nyoman third and Ketut as the forth. We asked what would happen if there were more than four and apparently they just started back at the first group again and cycled back through. Gede turned out to be the fifth born in his family when I inquired.

Half of the group went their separate ways and there were eight of us left, four Canadian ladies and four Balinese men. They asked if we wanted to go back to the surf shop to drink a bit more, maybe go dancing. I was game to dance, since I had been limited to playing music at full volume on my tablet and dancing around empty dorms at random hours of the night to get out that energy. Okay, just for a few days volunteering in Chiang Rai with hopefully no patrons from the swanky nearby hotel looking in.

We never made it to the club, but the surf shop wasn't a bad place to be. First, Gede brought me over to some random area of the beach with a roof and bean bag chairs pushed back. I guessed it was some sort of beachfront restaurant during daylight hours. The privacy was welcome as we were both quite fond of each other at the time, exchanging kisses in the dark. As soon as his hands began to creep under my top, I brushed them down and they stayed respectfully at my waist until he suggested we go back and meet up with our friend on the second floor of the shop.

After more time had passed, Chloe wanted to go back, so we ladies joined her for the walk. It wasn't far, but safety existed in numbers. Taylor expressed that she was less thrilled about our intimate quadruple date than Sabrina and I. She was feeling a bit pressured and that she was leading the guy on, just given her presence. It didn't help that he hardly spoke English, so they couldn't communicate.

A wave of guilt washed over me. I had let her down during our first month in Thailand. A group of us had gone to a beach tourist town for the weekend. Taylor and I had shared drinks all night since in Thailand we could order them in buckets. Who didn't love bringing their childhood brought back to life in alcoholic form? I had began to chat with the bartender, who we later convinced to come dancing when he closed up shop.

Taylor and I both blacked out the rest of the night. I had made it back to our room in a stroke of incredible luck where another co-worker, who I will forever be indebted to, noticed me being carried off by said bartender. She had spoken up, took me back to my room and ensured my roommate received me safely.

Taylor had woken up in a stranger's bed and had been freaked out for the rest of the trip. It was so uncharacteristic of her, not even having a boyfriend before and she feared for what had happened during her memory gap.

I still felt like a real asshole. I had proposed the buckets. I had encouraged the bartender and suggested dancing at the club. I was the flake who deserved to be freaked out waking up in a strange bed. Black outs were no stranger to me and I could have dealt with it. But somehow, I got lucky.

Chloe and I had tried to reassure her the best we could that she was okay and likely nothing had happened, but she couldn't be convinced to leave the room for more than supper that day.

She had been sure that we were drugged and I brushed it off. It hadn't felt that way at the time, but once removed from the whole tourist environment, I could only assume we were since our blackouts coincided, regardless of our different tolerance levels. It had been easier to ignore the fact that someone had such shady intentions that they would use those tactics than to face the reality.

Bali would be different.

"You don't owe him anything. You should never feel pressured into anything and whenever you start feeling uncomfortable or want to leave, just say so and we'll go. I might grumble, but ignore me 'cuz I'm just a bit drunk -- okay pretty drunk -- and I'll come back whenever you want. We don't even have to go back if you don't want to." I still wanted to, but at the end of the day friendship mattered more than a beach hangout.

Taylor decided to come back with Sabrina and I after all. We relaxed, chatted. I got moody drunk and took to random silences with Gede until I would forget what triviality had bothered me in the first place. The guys walked us back, earning a few more kisses, at least from Sabrina and I. Gede offered to drive me to the airport tomorrow but I had to decline. That would be taking advantage of his feelings and I had finally settled on just asking for the hotel's taxi service or flagging one off the street.

He told me he'd miss me. I always found statements like that strange, especially if they were genuine. How could he truly miss me if he hadn't even known me twenty-four hours? I was a strange human being who couldn't take light feelings seriously. I shared my sentiments with him and he told me his feelings still stood. That night, I was just one of those tourist jerks who hooked up and left. But we had bought them all supper and drinks. Plus, I didn't doubt he'd pull the same act on the next pretty tourist who came waltzing through the shop. That was just how the it worked out there.