"I'm excited about tomorrow," she said. "Not in the way where I'm expecting something to happen. Just... excited to go back and see where it takes us. Is that weird?"
"Not weird at all. It was genuinely one of the best days we've had."
Becca smiled. "The Georgia Tech guys and their sand fort."
"The unicorn."
"The synchronised dancing."
"The nursing students' cooler." Ellie grinned. “One particular nursing student…”
Becca shared her grin. “I blame the cooler. That's what got us." Becca turned away from the pool and walked over to Ellie, putting her arms around her. "Whatever tomorrow is, it's going to be fun."
"That's all it needs to be."
Chapter 25
The taxi dropped them at the edge of the main strip around four in the afternoon, and the energy hit them before they’d even closed the car door: music from three directions, the smell of sunscreen and fried food, and people everywhere.
“It’s less insane than Saturday,” Becca said, looking around, and she was right. It was still packed but didn’t quite have the same sense that everyone was on the verge of properly cutting loose.
“Maybe that was just our stretch of beach? But it’s Thursday. Give it a few hours.”
They headed for the beach first, kicking off their sandals and walking down close to the waterline. It was busy but not the wall-to-wall madness of Saturday. Ellie figured that by this stage of the week you’d have some people who went far too hard at the start and were struggling by now. If her hypothesis was right it probably meant a different vibe, those still going a mix of the more sensible and the true party animals.
They found a spot, laid out their towels, and within ten minutes had been adopted by a mixed group of guys and girls from Florida State who seemed to have colonised that part of the beach since early. They offered them beers from one of several coolers, refusing any offer of payment, claiming they’d bought far too much and couldn’t possibly drink them all before they went home.
“Where are y’all from?” asked the guy who seemed to be in charge of the cooler, a sunburned kid in board shorts who could only have been barely nineteen.
“Austin,” Becca said.
“Nice. You in school there?”
“We graduated a couple of years ago.”
“Oh, cool.” He nodded sagely, as if a couple of years was a vast and incomprehensible distance. “So you’re like… out here just for fun?”
“Just for fun,” Ellie confirmed, sipping the free beer and trying not to laugh.
In all fairness they were good company, curious about adult life which presumably felt a long way off still and genuinely interested to meet two women who were a little different to the crowd they’d been hanging with all week.
They stayed on the beach for an hour, soaking up the sun and the atmosphere, watching the parade of spring break go past them while they chatted. A few of the Florida State guys were throwing a football between them in a game that seemed to have seriousconsequences for anyone who committed the heinous crime of dropping it.
“I love this,” Becca said, lying on her stomach, chin on her hands. “It’s so stupid and I love it. We should have done this when we were younger.
“It is extremely stupid.” Ellie laughed. “But yeah. Though I’m not sure college us would have appreciated it like now us do. If that makes sense?”
“You’re right. We weren’t exactly party central, were we? Still… better late than never. We should make the most of this.” She turned her head to look at Ellie. “Bar?”
“Bar.”
***
They found a place that was busy without being unhinged like the place from Saturday had been. It still had the obligatory bar open to the outside, a DJ despite it not even being dark yet, and a crowd all in the uniform of board shorts and vests for the boys, bikinis and shorts for the girls, but with the atmosphere of a group who’d paced themselves. Yes, they’d probably had a few beers already but the evening was still young. The music was loud but not so loud you had to shout unless you were on the dance floor, which was busy but not insane.
They got drinks and found a high table on the terrace, settling in to watch the crowd. It was a good slot, they could see the bar and the dance floor while still in the middle of things, and they chatted while the watched all of the little micro-dramas play out:a group of girls arriving in matching outfits, guys trying to make a move on the dance floor and mostly crashing and burning, a couple making out in the corner where Ellie was pretty sure they reckoned nobody could see them.
“I’d love to know their back story,” Ellie said, indicating them with her head.
