“What?!” Both Loren and Vanessa cry out.
“Oops. I wasn’t supposed to mention that, was I?” Roxie whispers to me, but it’s too late. It’s out there.
“Wait,” Loren snaps. “You met Ash before the funeral?”
Crap on a cracker.
There’s no way I can deny it, so I nod and then tell everyone about where and how I met Sebastian.
“Oh my God! He was the hot guy on the plane you talked about!” Vanessa cries, whipping off her sunglasses. “That is freaking wild! No wonder the two of you hit it off so fast! Wow!”
“It was definitely freaky,” I mutter. “But I wasn’t going to act on it—especially after finding out he was a friend of Matt’s. There was a…an…”
“There was an ick,” Roxie finishes for me, and I want to beg her to just stop talking.
“I guess I can see that,” Loren reasons. “But if you already thought he was hot, and you kind of already knew him, it must have made it easier for you to go up to his room that night. Otherwise, I’m guessing you would have crashed on the couch or just bought earplugs and toughed it out with Roxie and the dogs.”
“I will gladly buy you earplugs if you need to come back to our room,” Roxie promises, and I’m getting dizzy from the turning back and forth to answer everyone.
“Okay, it was definitely awkward that first night, but nothing happened between us. We had a plan if anyone found out I’d stayed with him and another plan if no one caught us.”
They all freeze and stare at me like I’ve lost my mind.
“So…that next morning…?” Vanessa asks.
“I thought no one knew. Roxie and I talked, and it sounded like everything was cool. Then I came downstairs, and Ash kissed me and told me that Mike saw us going upstairs together the night before, so he told him we’d hooked up.”
More stares.
“I’m confused,” Loren says after a minute. “So…are you or aren’t you and Ash together? Because I’ve got to tell you, you both look pretty damn cozy.”
Ugh. I don’t want to go into the details, but I have to say something.
“All I’m going to say is that things are good and we’re…exploring some possibilities. He’s a pretty private guy and I’m overly cautious, so I would really appreciate it if we just didn’t keep drawing attention to us. Please.”
“Again, I can order earplugs if you need them,” Roxie offers, and I simply turn and smile at her.
“Why didn’t you say anything about the guys?” Vanessa asks her.
And I have to hand it to Roxie, she does not mince words. “Would it really have made a difference? You had an entire plan for doing this big reveal about you and Zayne and wanted to use this trip to test the waters.” Then she points to Loren. “And you and Mike can’t stand to be apart for more than a handful of hours. If I said I didn’t want him to come, I knew you would have found a way to make it happen anyway. Even when he’s not with us, he’s on the phone! There was no point in my speaking up, because the two of you would have plowed right over every objection I had.”
“Okay, wow,” Vanessa says quietly.
But my girl Roxie isn’t done yet.
“And I think you knew this was a bad idea. That’s why you told us not to tell Liv about it,” she goes on. “Real friends don’t do that. They don’t ambush each other or manipulate them just so they can get what they want.”
“Hey, I am not going to be the villain here,” Van snaps. “We all know that Olivia hasn’t come home for the last four or five big events! Why was I supposed to work and plan a vacation around her when there was a huge chance of her not even showing?”
I’m about to put in my two cents now because I’m getting tired of this narrative being out there about me, but again, Roxie’s on a roll.
“Because it still would have been a great time for just the three of us! Jeez! I get that I’ve been a little difficult these last six months, but maybe I could have used some time to hang out with just my girls! You and Zayne could have announced your big romance at any time, Van! We hang out together a lot as it is. It didn’t have to be here.” She shakes her head, and I swear she reaches under her sunglasses to wipe away a few tears as well. “If you wanted a vacation or getaway with Zayne, then you should have just done that instead of turning this trip into what it is. Which really kind of sucks.”
Damn…
“For what it’s worth, Mike and I can go for more than a few hours without seeing or talking to each other,” Loren blurts out. “And there’s nothing wrong with wanting to talk to your significant other, okay? Don’t make me sound like a weirdo.”
“And don’t make me sound selfish!” Van counters, although I’m not really sure who everyone’s specifically yelling at right now. “I thought I was doing a good thing by organizing this trip for us! And yes, maybe inviting the guys wasn’t exactly the great addition I thought it could be, but they’re only going to be here for another week! After that, it is going to be just us. It’s going to be the trip you all so desperately want.”
