Chapter 5
Zara
After spending theday at the beach, Brad asks me to join him for dinner. “Your company is better than my own.” He smirks and I agree with a nod of my head.
“Can’t say you’re wrong.” I tease.
We part ways for a couple of hours to refresh before dinner and as soon as I step inside my hotel room, I throw my things down and collapse on the bed. I stare up at the ceiling as my mind drifts to a rerun of the past twenty-four hours.
How can your life shift so much in so little time?
You meet one person and it’s like time stops and speeds up all at the same time. I’m inside this bubble here, the rest of my life forgotten, reality left behind. This illusion of time stopping is just that. An illusion. Because at the end of this trip, my real reality is waiting for me back home. It doesn’t care who I meet or what I do here. And therein lies the conflict.
I want to spend more time with Brad. Hell, I want to spend my entire trip with him. But it won’t help my dilemma. It’ll only keep me from doing what I came here to do.
I hear my phone buzz, but I ignore it. I haven’t gotten back to my friends or my mom who keeps blowing my phone up. Can’t a girl have some peace?
With a large sigh, I pull myself off the bed and shuffle to the bathroom where I run a warm bath. I add some soothing after sun bubble bath I brought with me since the sun and ocean dry me out like a prune.
A loud ringing sound echoes around the room and into the bathroom. I jump at the unexpected sound and hurry to see where it’s coming from. I spot the hotel phone on the nightstand flashing, the screen lighting up with the words Front Desk.
Shit, I didn’t think rooms still had phones. I didn’t notice it before. “Hello?” I say in the receiver.
“Hello, Miss Leavitt?”
“Yes?” What could the front desk possibly want?
“We received a phone call from your mother, miss. She’s worried and says she hasn’t heard from you since you arrived. She instructed us to check in.”
Wow, really, Mom?
My cheeks flame red. “Uh okay, thanks. I’ll give her a call.” I’m mortified. Fucking mortified.
“Have a good evening, Miss Leavitt. Goodbye.”
I slam the phone down and march over to where my bag lays on the floor. I pick it up and fish my phone out, my anger growing by the second. She really couldn’t just let me do this on my own could she?
She just has to dig her claws in whenever she can.
Doesn’t she realize she’s the main reason I’m here?
Obviously not, she’s too stuck in her own ways.
My phone lights up. Forty-five missed calls. All from my mother.
Not to mention hundreds of texts from both her and my friends. I text Cilla and Lily quickly before I strip off my sundress and bikini and sink into the warm bath. I close my eyes and let myself relax before I reach for my phone.
“Zara, darling! Oh, thank God! You had me so worried.”
“Why? I texted you when I arrived. I told you I wouldn’t be available much. Yet you still call the front desk looking for me?”
“Well, yes. Neil came over and—”
I stop her there. “Mom. Stop.”
“Stop what, Zara? He’s concerned. He misses you. Can’t we stop all this nonsense already? Just come home and we can start planning the wedding of your dreams. Like you’ve pictured since you were a little girl.”
“No, Mom. That was you. You were the one picturing my wedding. Not me.”
“Don’t be silly, Zara. Has all that ocean and salty air gone to your head?”
“I gotta go. I’ll check in in a couple of days.”
“No, wait, Neil said—”
I hang up before she can finish. Neil’s the last person I want to think about right now.
Isn’t that kind of ironic considering he’s what I came here to think about?
Fuck.
I slide beneath the water and pray for a miracle.
* * *
Cilla: You should havefun. If that means fucking Brad, then so be it.
Oh my God. Maybe it was a bad idea to tell my friends about Brad. But after the disaster phone call with my mom, I told them everything. A girl needs a little help from her friends sometimes. Okay, most of the time.
Lily: Sometimes you need to experience what else is out there. I think you should experiment all you want. ;)
Okay so now strait-laced Lily agrees with Cilla? What the hell is happening?
Zara: I must say I’m surprised by you, Lils. But maybe you guys are right.
Cilla: Besides, he sounds hot af. A surfer beach boy with tanned skin and six pack abs? Jesus, I’m ready to orgasm.
Lily: Cil! Jeez.
I laugh. No matter how dirty Cilla gets, Lily always gasps like a nun, but we know, deep down inside, she’s a freak in bed.
Zara: Your imagination doesn’t do him justice. Believe me.
Cilla: What are you waiting for then, girl? Stop talking to us and go have some fun! I just know his dick is bigger than Neil’s.
Zara: Bahahahaha. I think most are...
Lily: Oh my God you two.
Cilla: Get it, girl, get it get it get it!
Zara: Peace ladies.
I set my phone down and stand up. I slip on my sandals and spritz on some perfume. I’ve made a decision for myself.
I’m going to have fun. Brad’s leaving before I am, so I’ll spend the last few days here alone figuring my shit out before it’s time to head home.
Until then, it’s time to enjoy myself in a way I never have before.
With another man.