“You know what, I’m not sure yet. Have any ideas for me?” I usually love Halloween. Growing up, we had so much fun going trick or treating; Summer and I would stay up late even if it was a school night, sorting through all of our candy. I’d trade her all my Snickers for all her Skittles and we both always made out like bandits. It’s hard to recall the last time I actually had fun on Halloween to be honest, though. Charlie and another little boy, Karson, are standing next to me on the playground as the rest of the children are running around and playing freeze tag.
“I know what you should be!” Karson chimes in.
“What’s that?”
“Just go as a teacher, you’re already good at that so you should just be that. I’m really good at running, so I’m going to be Flash, it just makes sense.” Hm.It just makes sense.I smile as the boys run off with the rest of the class and take a seat in the shade, glancing at my watch. Fifteen more minutes of this God forsaken heat then we can go back in.
* * *
“Mia, I didn’t think we’d need to leave this early. Jacksonville is literally only like a three hour drive.” I yawn as Mia gets out of her car. She greets me like she’s been awake for hours and is ready to conquer the day and it’s only six a.m.
“We’re making the most out of these twenty-four hours, Abby,” she calls as she lugs my overnight bag and tosses it into her trunk, while I collapse into her passenger seat.
“Who else is coming?” I ask when I notice three coffees in the drink carrier.
“Just us. I figured you’d need a now coffee and a later coffee.” I snicker, bless this girl.
Once we get to Jacksonville, I’ve already had both of my coffees, a breakfast sandwich fromMcDonaldsand half of a giant cookie from a gas station. I feel equally energized as I do full, but it turns out that Mia was right, and getting here early was actually a great idea. Between the stops and some traffic, it ends up taking us closer to four hours by the time we pull up to the hotel we’re staying at.
“Is this the same one the players stay at?”
“Yeah, the same hotel. Full disclosure, I’m sure their rooms are a lot nicer, though.” Mia pulls her phone out and does some electronic check in. “Okay, we’re all set! Room 417. Let’s go put our stuff down and then we can drive to the beach. It’s not far.”
Heading into the elevators, I see several tall athletic-looking men standing by the entry to the restaurant. They must be a few of the players, just based on their stature and the way people are staring at them. I probably should have texted my brother to let him know we got here safe and sound, he was actually really happy I was coming with Mia, which was a nice surprise. Ford knows I’m coming, but we haven’t spoken all week. As we are getting in the elevator, Mia presses four and all of a sudden, a familiar scent catches me by surprise as the doors close. Looking to my left, I see long legs in dark denim, raising my eyes up to a crisp white t-shirt and a clean-shaven face. He looks like sex on a stick and he knows it.
“Hey ladies, did you just get here?” Nate addresses Mia and I before hitting the number nine. Ford just stands there in silence as the elevator begins to rise.
Elevators and Ford Anderson are a bad combination for me. Luckily this time there are other people to create a buffer.
“We’re just putting our stuff down and then going to the beach for a little.” Once we get to our floor, Mia and I walk out and I offer a small wave to Nate and Ford as the doors close. Ford’s lips lift into a smirk just before the elevator closes behind me and I can’t help but bite back a smile. I’m finally able to release the deep breath I feel like I was holding that whole ride up.
Our room has two queen beds, it’s your standard run of the mill hotel room. A decent size bathroom with horrible lighting, one window in the room that looks out to a parking lot and tacky hotel art on the walls with a television and a mirror. It’ll be fine for a night. I change into a black two piece swimsuit, a pair of white denim shorts and a pink oversized Nirvana t-shirt and quickly braid my hair so it doesn’t look like a rat’s nest on my head all day.
Grabbing my sunscreen in one hand and my phone in the other, I feel the vibration and look down to see a text from Chase.
Chase
You guys make it in okay?
Yep! Just got to the hotel room. Changing, then beach. Catch up later?
Chase
Nice. Sounds good.
When I look over at Mia, she’s smiling at her phone.
“And who has us smiling like that?” I tease as she shoves her phone in her back pocket of her denim shorts.
I’ve not a clue about Mia’s dating life or if she even has one. She spends so much time with Nate and I’ve never seen her with any other guys, so I’ve just been assuming she didn’t have a dating life at the moment.
“No one, it’s just Nate being annoying,” she replies and grabs the sunscreen from my hand and throws it in her bag.
* * *
Wow, this beach is actually nicer than I figured it’d be. I’ll never get over the view of the ocean. As we step onto the white sand and set up our chairs and umbrellas, there’s nothing but a long stretch of beach on either side and open water in front of me. I grab my book from the beach bag and open my container full of fruit and prepare myself to bake in the sun for the next couple of hours. I’m so glad I agreed to come, this is exactly what I’ve been needing.
After a few hours of us both reading and making some small talk, Mia takes off her sunglasses and looks my way.
