The laughter flows freely from the bottom of my gut. I don’t know what it is, but his humor is like a breeze of fresh air in the staleness of my life. Lost in the moment of warm cheeks, flutters in my chest, and laughter, I forgot about the whole bathing suit uniform I need for work. Maybe Lea is home. Doubt it, but maybe.
I dial Lea’s number while removing the hot cover from the pancakes. The steam hits me in the face, and from the aroma, I know it’s delicious without even taking a bite.
Lea’s phone rings three times before I hear an overly chipper, “Hi!”
“Good morning.” I grab the fork and cut a line down the center of the fluffy stack.
“Are you at the hotel?” she asks, sounding only mildly worried.
“Yeah, how did you know?” I shove more food in my mouth than necessary and turn around to find a chair. It tastes so good that I need to quickly enjoy this breakfast to its fullest. I usually just grab a granola bar while running out of the house, so this is totally a treat.
“Denver texted Noa to let him know you were okay and in a room at the hotel last night. Did you two—”
“No, Lea.”
“Just wondering,” she squeaks. “He’s like, seriously, like the most perfect human being for you, though. You can’t deny that.”
“He’s a Man Bun,” I remind her.
“Okay, first, that’s not a noun or a title. Two, Noa pushed him into it. Third, he can freaking sing, Kai. I was even getting all excited listening to him, and hello … it wasmyengagement party,” she says, giggling.
Memories of last night filter into my foggy head. He did sing to me. He sang the wrong words to I’ll Make Love to You and made it sound just as good as Boyz II Men did. Impressive … even if I wanted to melt into the ground due to humiliation and gawking stares.
“I know what you’re thinking,” Lea interrupts my recollection. “No one was paying attention to you, trust me. No need to be embarrassed.”
“Yeah, thanks anyway for setting that up,” I tell her, doing little to hide my sarcasm.
“You need to live a little, and you might tell me you’re mad, but I know you enjoyed the hell out of that last night. You wouldn’t have let him drive you home if you didn’t.”
“He didn’t drive me home, and I wasn’t going to sleep on the curb of Man Buns.”
“We would have driven you home,” she says, simply. I’m not sure why I didn’t consider that little fact last night. Unless, maybe I did, and willingly chose to take the ride from Denver instead. Though I do remember not wanting to leave my car at Man Buns. Plus, I wasn’t exactly thinking clearly. “I wasn’t leaving my car there all night.”
“Mmhmm,” Lea replies.
“Are you home or at Noa’s?”
“I stopped home to get stuff for work. I figured you might need your things too.”
“You thought of me?” I gasp.
“Yes, Kai. I thought of you.”
“When are you heading over here?” I ask.
“In five. What room are you in?”
“I don’t know. Hold on.” I jog over to the door and stick my head out to find the room number. “Twelve twenty.”
“The Kai I know would never not know the number of her hotel room. How drunk were you last night?”
“I don’t know.”
“Mm-k. I’ll see you in a few.”
The guests are waiting at the gates for the pool to open, with hopes of snagging the perfect lounge chair to throw their towel and sunscreen on, staking their claim for the day. Some of the guests are like human compasses, predicting what location the sun will be hitting for most hours of the day. The funny part is, it’s usually in the spots that are in the shade this early.
“I hope you put sunblock on,” I hear.
