That night, I was bored. Social sites are only interesting if there are actually people posting on them. So if you watch them for hours, nothing happens. Then, I remembered that I was supposed to be on vacation. Oops. It sucks how much people affect me. I’ve tried working on it but I still haven’t figured it out yet. A girlfriend. The words circled around my mind not letting me forget about the gorgeous boy from earlier. I did my best to push him out of my mind.
What is it about a guy being taken that makes me suddenly determine that he’s perfect for me?
My phone vibrated loudly, pulling me from my thoughts. I was thankful for the interruption. I smiled at the text from my friend and was so grateful that I hadn’t wanted to go on vacation by myself. I laughed in my empty hotel room. Loudly, not caring that I might seem crazy. I had just lied. And it wasn’t even to someone else. I had fully intended on vacationing alone. I thought it would be the only way to get away. From everything. My best friend, the bright bundle of smiles that she is, informed me that if I went on vacation on my own everyone would assume I left town to find fresh meat. No matter how many times I told her she was being ridiculous, she insisted. After hours of pointless arguing I gave in but told her she was buying her own ticket.
Let me explain something: I am on a three day, weekend trip to the Bahamas. I’m not necessarily well off, I make enough to afford this but the trip is still a huge splurge. So, as much as I wanted to check out the room service, I couldn’t. I swept my key into my hand and the menu onto the floor where I couldn’t see it. Ridiculous?
Maybe.
Effective?
More than staring at the laminated paper.
I rushed down to the lobby. I was alone on the stairs which was a little surprising for me. I mean, the elevator was broken just an hour ago. My footsteps were muffled by the carpet and when I reached the lobby I recognized three people. Millie, my best friend. The guy who’s name I’m trying not to remember and the girl with he-who-should-not-be-named. I smiled to myself; Millie would appreciate the Harry Potter humor. She hadn’t seen me yet. Unable to pass up the opportunity I snuck up behind her and covered her eyes. She jumped and relaxed.
“Nice to see you, Jill.” She teased. I let myself smile, completely forgetting about the other occupants of the area.
“Is it?” By now, she was tired of the little game. She removed my hands and turned to face me. A small pout came across her features. “What?” I asked, taking my hands out of hers.
“We have a weekend and you don’t look any tanner than when I last saw you. Someone hasn’t been spending time wisely.” I rolled my eyes. She had no idea what my day had been like so far. I couldn’t wait to fill her in and get her opinion.
“Come on.” I said picking up one of her lighter bags. She paused at the entrance to the elevator with a quizzical look on her face. I shook my head. “I’ll explain later.” She sighed deeply and followed me. I smiled a thank you before pushing the door open. On our way to our floor she told me about her flight, including the weird, paranoid woman who sat next to her. I shook my head at her: I usually just sleep once I’m on a plane. I opened the door to the hallway just as the elevator clicked. Both Millie and I looked up to see the happy couple stepping out of the doors. She whistled quietly, not knowing who he was. I elbowed her as subtly as possible and hoped that we could get past them without a conversation.
“Jill!” I heard my name, recognized the voice, blushed and cursed under my breath. Millie raised her eyebrow at me as I turned around.
“Ian.” I replied casually. He smiled at me like I had just made his day. His girlfriend cleared her throat and I swear the look disappeared from his face for half a second. “Oh, this is my friend Millie.” I gestured to her as I introduced her.
“And this is my girlfriend, Chelsea. I was going to introduce you after we got out of the elevator earlier but you vanished.” I hated the way my heart fluttered as he stepped closer. I waved at the tiny, beautiful dark haired girl standing beside him. She smiled back and I felt guilty.
“I’m so sorry you had to spend five hours with him.” She apologized. He smiled down at her and I wanted to sprint to my hotel room. “I don’t know if I could have made it without killing him.” I laughed with her at the joke. Millie took all of this in without saying a word. I was definitely going to have to explain all of this later.
“How’s your shirt by the way?” Ian asked, breaking the silence before it could be awkward. Chelsea looked up at him confused and I realized that he hadn’t told her yet. It almost made me feel like we had done something wrong.
“It’s ruined.” I answered.
“I’m so sorry.” The apology sounded genuine and I murmured a quiet ‘It’s okay.’ We stood for half a second, Millie looking between me and him and Chelsea focused on me.
“I must not be completely up to speed, I just got here.” Millie started; a small smile on her face. “What exactly happened to your shirt?”
“Ian spilled coffee on it.” I explained. Millie looked worried. “And yes, it’s the shirt your thinking of.” She put a hand over her mouth in mock horror and I couldn’t help but smile. Chelsea looked just as upset.
“Is it truly ruined?” I nodded in answer to her question. I didn’t know why I couldn’t trust myself to speak to her. I just had a feeling if I opened my mouth something awful would come out. “Well, you have to let him make it up to you.” She insisted tugging on his hand.
“That’s not necessary.” I whispered. She waved me off.
“Of course it is; Ian just forgets his manors sometimes. How about the two of you come out on the boat with us tomorrow?” Every part of me wanted to scream that there was no way I was going. But I knew that if I let that happen, a few choice words would come out with it. Millie answered before I could shout at her.
“That sounds fantastic! But if you don’t mind, I need to unpack so we have to go.” I had never been more thankful for her presence than the moment she grabbed my arm and turned me around. I waved over my shoulder and let go of the breath I didn’t know I was holding. Millie laughed silently and I did my best not to hit her. For the second time that evening, luck was on my side. Their room was on the opposite side of the hall. I was wondering how I managed to be so lucky when I opened the door. I turned my head to remark to Millie about how things couldn’t be more awkward when I made direct eye contact with Ian. The comment died on my lips and I blushed furiously before hurrying into the room. I towed Millie along behind me and I could practically hear her roll her eyes.
“Spill. Now.” She instructed. I sighed and flopped back down onto one of the beds. This was not something I was ready to do just yet. She threw a pillow and me and glared. I sighed loudly and she grinned.
“His name is Ian.” I started.
“No really?” She retorted.
“I was trying to get coffee this morning and he ran into me so he bought mine.” I mumbled. “He ruined my shirt, flirted with me for around an hour and then told me he had a girlfriend. Then we ran into each other in the elevator which happened to break down for another five hours. During which we talked some more, and halfway cuddled.” I finished casually. Millie was putting away her clothes as I explained the awkward encounter in the hall.
“That’s almost as adorable as he was.” Millie interjected.
“Not really. You’re forgetting about Chelsea. The girlfriend who was waiting for him when we got out of the elevator.” Millie looked at me with a frown. “I know; it sucks.” She had finished putting away her things.
“So, what do you want to do to get Mr. Chelsea out of your head for the night?” She asked; a playful smile on her lips. I reminded her that we couldn’t afford to party and she pouted. “I thought the whole point of this was to have fun.”
“Then you shouldn’t have accepted the invitation to spend the entire day with them tomorrow.”
“Touché.” After a couple random conversations and three chick flicks we decided to call it a night. As Millie turned out the lights, I couldn’t help but laugh at how my first day in ‘paradise’ had gone. I told myself that I still had two days. And from here on out, I was going to take the stairs. Things were going to go my way. I just had to keep telling myself that. Ian didn’t matter; the fact that he had a girlfriend didn’t matter. I was here to have fun and forget about worrying. That’s exactly what I was going to do tomorrow.