Extra ticket
A few weeks after the San Francisco trip, Martin came to my room and asked me, “will you come to Hawaii with me for Thanksgiving?” He explained that there was a hotel he stayed with his family as a child, which had a monorail running inside the hotel through an indoor jungle. He really wanted to stay at the hotel again, so he booked it when he was still “dating” the French girl. He didn’t want to waste the extra ticket, so he was giving it to me. He said the whole trip was on him (his family), and I didn’t have any kind of obligation or whatsoever.
If he had said he booked the trip for us, I would have freaked out, but it was initially for the French girl and already paid for. It would have been a waste if no one took it. He also emphasized that I had “no obligation,” which I understood 1) I didn’t have to feel bad about spending his family’s money, and 2) I didn’t owe him anything. So I said yes.
Martin was only 18 years old, but it was apparent that he liked to play an “elegant socialite,” and so did I. We provided each other the role in the play. When I told Clare about the plan, she gave me a frozen smile that said, “I would never do that, but I try not to judge you, and I am also kind of curious how it will turn out.”