"Ugh… Where am I?"

An unfamiliar hard bed, an unwelcomingly stiff blanket, boring white walls, and boring arbitrary pictures, it was all… great.

"Oh, right, I'm in Hawaii, what time is it?" She said drowsily, but with a smile.

She checked her phone.

"6 am? Oh right, I wanted to take pictures of the hotel. I should document everything."

Wendy had signed up a three-day tour in Hawaii where she will be led by an informed guide with a group of other people. The whole itinerary was already printed out and she was excited. This is who Wendy is. She was structured, organized, and prepared for everything she does. 

Throughout her life, it paid to be like Wendy. She graduated high school with the highest honors and a full-ride scholarship of her choice, but it didn't stop there. During university, she took on extra credits per semester so that she could graduate a year early. And even with extra classes, whenever she had time, she took on part-time jobs and internships. By the time she got out of university, she was already offered a solid paying job in a growing business. 

Two years into her job, she was promoted twice and was the youngest in her position by at least seven years. She accomplished every task put in front of her with high quality. She saw things through. Her life was the guide to being successful if you ignore her personal life.

Not surprisingly, constantly putting her head down and charging headfirst into project after job after class didn't leave a lot of time for any hobbies or even friends. She had acquaintances here and there, particularly people from her study groups and internship programs, but she rarely kept in touch once they ended. Hobbies had a similar fate, she might start some lessons or watch a few videos, but they never lasted longer than a week until she had other priorities.

But now was the time. She had a very stable job with good pay, a house already being paid for with a plan to finish paying within the next ten years, and if all went well, a retirement plan that would have her retiring before sixty. Now that the machine was set up, she was ready to let it run while she finally started enjoying herself, and the fun started with a three-day tour in Hawaii. 

The appointed time to meet was at 8 am, so Wendy got up at 6 to get ready and take some pictures of the place they were staying. She wanted to make sure she remembered every part of her trip. Admittedly, their first hotel stay wasn't very… exotic. It was a small Hilton hotel without any real reminder that she was in tropical Hawaii. Nevertheless, all visits must be documented.

She passed the lobby that could be mistaken for a lobby in her hometown and headed out the door. There was a valet service, so it wasn't a rundown cheap motel, but it wasn't until she reached the humid warmth did she feel like she was in Hawaii. 

Wendy took a few pictures of the entrance but was interrupted by a stranger walking out the door. Wendy was about to put her camera down to let the woman walk on by, but instead, she started to pose.

Wendy tilted her head in confusion. "Take my picture!" The woman in a lovely green sundress yelled while still posing.

Wendy scrunched her eyebrows trying to understand what was going on, but it quickly turned into a laugh and she took a few shots. Once the woman was satisfied, Wendy noticed the woman was walking towards her. She assumed she wanted to see the pictures. Wendy brought up the small viewfinder to let the woman see her work. Wendy concentrated more on the woman beside her as she smiled, laughed, and even frowned at the different pictures Wendy took. Without even realizing it, the slideshow ended.

"Excuse me, I have a question. Have you seen a group of people wearing this pin?" The woman pointed to the pin attached to her clothes.

"Hmm… I'm not sure..." Wendy let her camera hanging from her neck to adjust her shirt, aggressively.

The woman looked curiously at Wendy who looked like she had a bug crawl up her shirt. It took a few seconds, but she got there. "Oh! You're in the tour too! Do you know where the breakfast is?"

Wendy chuckled, she realized she probably hid it while holding the camera. "I believe it's just in the hotel dining room."

"Wait, it's just the hotel breakfast? We paid for nine meals and one of them is a hotel breakfast?"

"I'm afraid so."

"Stupid tour…"

Wendy found herself giggling at most of the words that came out of the women's mouth. Beyond the tour itself, Wendy found a new reason to be excited about her first vacation.

"I'm Wendy, by the way." Wendy left out her hand to shake.

"Joy." She shook hands with Wendy. "Well Wendy, I'm happy to meet you. Maybe this tour won't be so boring after all."

Wendy tilted her head again. "Why did you sign up for the tour if you found it boring?" Wendy thought the schedule looked great, but she did know that almost anything would excite Wendy at this point.

"My parents. They helped me pay for a vacation if I agreed to do a tour instead of going off on my own. I agreed because I was supposed to come with a friend, but she bailed last minute." Joy grumbled the last part, once again eliciting a friendly laugh from Wendy. "You have a very nice laugh."

The compliment shut up Wendy quick as she became very self-conscious. In all honesty, she didn't laugh very much. She didn't hate laughing or found things unfunny, it was that her path in life didn't present many opportunities to do so. Needless to say, no one had ever commented on her laugh.

Wendy could feel her face heating up from the direct attention put onto her. She hadn't been devoid of social interactions, but it was rare things were pointed out about her. Joy suddenly put an arm around her shoulders which helped nothing.

"Ms. Wendy, I have a good feeling about this trip."

Wendy could hear Joy audible gasps once they saw their tour group.

"These are the people we are going to be traveling with? I'm keeping you around." Joy squeezed her shoulders which only caused a delay in Wendy's mind.

Their group consisted of eight people: them, two old ladies, a middle-aged couple with their bratty son who was already crying about getting waffles instead of pancakes, and a young man who seemed to be ogling the beautiful tour guide.

The two girls were the last to arrive and their tour guide reminded them they had around thirty minutes before their first schedule. This gave time for Wendy and Joy to learn more about each other. They started with a few more basic details like the fact that they were from the same city, Wendy was older by a few years, and that Joy was in her final year of university. One other thing Wendy did learn was apparently she stared rather intently when Joy was speaking. 

"...and she had the-" Joy coughed in the middle of her sentence looking away from Wendy. Wendy tried patting her back, but Joy motioned her away. "I'm fine, it's just-" Joy cleared to speak clearly again. "You are quite the listener."

"Huh?" Wendy has heard of someone being a good listener, but Joy seemed dazed by the way Wendy listens?

"I've never felt that much attention in my life and I've given speeches in front of big crowds."

Wendy didn't get what Joy was trying to say, she ran through her words multiple times and it didn't sound like she was doing something wrong. Joy's laugh helped confirm that.

Another topic they did cover was why Joy was so against the schedule written out for them.

"I mean, they aren't bad activities, just… we are in Hawaii!" She lowered her voice next. "Why are we going to a factory, a brewery, and a museum. We can see those at home!"

Wendy looked at the itinerary again and Joy was right, other than maybe the luau at the end, none of it really screamed "Exotic Hawaii". "I guess you are right…"

"Tell me about it…"

"Well, maybe I can make the trip fun for you still." Wendy's innocent words must have been corrupted by the hotel air before it reached Joy's ears.

"Oh really?" Joy raised an eyebrow and then followed it with a smirk.

"Yea, I can crack jokes and… wait why are you looking at me like that."

"Oh… nothing."

Fortunately for Wendy, it seemed like Joy's words didn't have an ulterior motive to them. Their first trip was to a Macadamia Nut farm and factory. It had a nice little driven tour with facts printed on signs explaining things like how many trees were on the farm and how many nuts were produced in a year. Wendy loved reading all of the facts, but she was worried about her newly minted travel partner. Joy seemed to be enjoying herself as she was smiling the few times Wendy peeked over. 

Taking her previous statement seriously, Wendy decided to crack a few jokes to help make the trip better. Luckily, Wendy did hit on a few jokes and got what seemed to be Joy's unapologetic laughter. Wendy was satisfied.

At the end of the tour, they got to see the factory where they made quite a few different treats ranging from seasoned nuts, chocolate covered macadamias, and even macadamia flavored ice cream. Once they got off the cart that was driving them around, Joy asked Wendy to take a few pictures of her, but then wandered off. Wendy was a little disappointed, but Joy only went to talk with one of the locals for a few minutes before returning back to Wendy's side. 

"Where'd you go?"

"Did someone miss me?"

"I- kinda I guess." Wendy surprised herself at how honest she was there. They had a good thing going, she wasn't going to be embarrassed by it.

"Oh." Joy's obvious attempt at teasing suddenly turned real. "I just wanted to ask a few questions."

"Okay…" 

It was a pattern Wendy was going to need to get used to. For the rest of the day, Joy repeated the process: spend most of the schedule with Wendy, disappear to talk with someone random, and then return to Wendy as if nothing happened. Wendy wanted to ask further, but she figured Joy was trying to get a more authentic Hawaiian experience by talking to the locals. In the back of her mind, she couldn't help but wonder if Joy was still bored despite her best efforts.

The dinner did brighten up Joy quite a bit as they enjoyed some local cuisine, some fish apparently caught earlier that day, by the beach. The way Joy smiled and eye sparkled was vastly different from their earlier events. Joy ate every bite so excitedly. Although her face occasionally soured after she tried a few of the dishes.

"Wendy! You should try this!" Joy held up a spoonful of food.

"You don't like it huh?"

"What... are you talkingggg about." The lie hidden terribly.

"I saw you scrunch up your face!"

"Say 'Ahh!'" Joy really had no defense so she tried to move past it.

Wendy opened , she wanted to taste it anyways.

"Mmm!" Wendy's eyes widen at the delicious taste.

"Wow, you have big expressions." A fact Wendy has known, but she wondered if Joy knew how big her smile was at that moment. Wendy began feeling guilty that she couldn't help her enjoy the day more fully.

"I'm sorry."

Those words caught Joy's attention. "Huh? What did you do? Did you do something to my food?!" Joy began investigating her plate.

"What? No! I just couldn't make the day more enjoyable for you."

Joy started cracking up, everyone in the group turned to the two. "You aren't in control of that." Joy only slowed her laughing after she got her response out.

Wendy knew it too, but once she saw that bright smile, it was regrettable she couldn't bring it out more.

"Besides, day two will be better."

"Why?" Wendy knew the day two schedule was just as bad as the first day.

"You are my travel buddy, right?" Joy's words were asking for a promise.

"Yeah."

The next morning, Wendy sat up in her bed and looked at her surroundings. She was surprised at how dark Hawaii was in the morning.

"I guess Hawaii isn't always sunny, even at-" Wendy checked her phone. "Four am?!" The first schedule started at nine.

*BANG BANG BANG*

Wendy was scared half to death hearing a loud pounding at her door. Thinking it might be an emergency, she threw off her sheets and made a rush for the door. She opened the door dramatically only to find a familiar tall girl already dressed up. She wanted to bang her head on the door.

"Good mor- oh nice PJs."

Wendy was still letting her mind catch up because she was sure she left it in dreamland. 

"Huh?" Wendy looked down. She was only in an oversized shirt and her . "Goddammit." Wendy let the door partially close to go get some shorts.

"Why are you up already?" Wendy yelled to Joy. Wendy found some shorts, but when she looked in the mirror, she noticed she looked no different, her shirt still covering her shorts. "Whatever." She walked back to the door. "We aren't scheduled to meet at nine."

"That's day two of the boring tour. Day one of the Joy tour starts now!"

Wendy motions Joy to come inside to not wanting to bother anyone at this hour.

"What are talking about?"

"I made a better schedule!"

"We can't just leave the tour…"

"Of course we can! I already told our tour guide that we were going to go our own way for the day."

"And she said it was okay?"

"We aren't getting our money back, but yeah!"

"Joy…"

"Come on! Travel buddy?" Joy elongated many syllables in her short sentences.

Wendy was sure Joy was making some kind of pouty face to go with the whiny voice, but it was too early. Luckily for Joy, Wendy was going to accept either way.

"Fine, let me get ready."

"Sure." Joy flopped onto Wendy's bed.

"Why-- nevermind…"

As Wendy searched for clothes, she could hear Joy rustling around.

"What should I wear?"

"Nothing fancy, we will be walking a lot, but you might need a jacket."

"Fine."

As Wendy walked to her bathroom, Joy got one more line in. "Your bed smells pretty good."

Joy probably didn't mean for that to be heard, but unsurprisingly, Hawaii at 4 AM is a pretty quiet place. Wendy wondered what the hell she was doing: going off schedule and following a stranger after only a day? Wendy never imagined doing something like this. She figured a vacation may not just be a break from life, but a break from her normal self too, her usually proper scheduled self.

First on the agenda was watching the sunrise from a certain cliffside. The taxi ride would take about an hour, so it gave Wendy plenty of time to question Joy about her insane ideas.

"Alright crazy lady, when did you come up with this idea to break off from the tour?"

"It was always a thought that ran through my head. I wasn't going to do it since my friend canceled, but I felt motivated again after meeting you."

"How did you plan this out?" Joy had already shown Wendy the whole schedule. It was surprising. The whole thing was supposed to be a spontaneous plan, yet Joy still had an itinerary planned out.

"I went to different locals and asked for their opinion, then I put it all together last night."

Wendy was impressed, she thought Joy would be more on the free-spirited side, but it seemed like she was quite organized despite her spontaneous idea.

The rest of the trip was fairly quiet as the two enjoyed the view, still trying to fully wake up. As the taxi climbed the cliff, the sky was starting to lighten up. It was likely they were late, but they didn't mind, doing something that wasn't a tour of some business was already fun. Once they finally reached the top, the sun was already rising, so Joy asked the driver if he could wait five minutes and he agreed.

"You guys do have a jacket right?" The driver asked before they stepped out.

The two showed some light jackets and the driver just laughed.

"What?" Joy asked, annoyed.

"You'll see, I'll wait the five minutes."

The second Wendy opened the door, she slammed the door shut. "What the !"

The driver laughed again, "We are thousands of feet up, it's cold."

"I don't know if we will last five minutes." Wendy looked at Joy. 

"Stay close, it's only a few dozen feet out."

Wendy took a deep breath, opened the door and pulled Joy out. Both wrapped each other in each other's jackets and ran awkwardly to the viewing spot.

It was agonizingly cold, but once they reached the viewing spot… it was… not worth it. Joy was shaking too much to get a clear vision of anything and the wind was makin