I reached on the tips of my toes, leaning toward him. He planted a rough kiss on my lips. “To spring break.”
I awoke the next morning on the living room floor cushioned by a makeshift bed Beau had created. The fire was still dancing among the constructed logs. The space next to me was empty. Sunlight streamed through the cathedral ceiling windows. I pulled the quilt against my bare skin and hugged my knees. If anyone had told me two months ago I would be spending my spring break in a secret location with Beau Anderson, I would have said he or she were insane.
We had managed to go from reluctant group partners to something I didn’t even have words to describe. All doubts I had about him and the chance I was taking with this charade evaporated the minute he kissed me. Last night was the most amazing night of my life.
“Hey. You’re awake.” Beau walked in through the sliding door. His earbuds were dangling around his shoulders. His T-shirt was soaked, and he had on shorts and running shoes.
“Hey.” I smiled, realizing I was the only one in the room completely naked. I could see my shirt hanging on the edge of the couch. “You went for a run?”
“Yeah. I didn’t want to wake you up. I’m going to go jump in the shower.” He darted through the living room and disappeared into the hall.
“Ok.”
What in the hell just happened? I crept to the couch to retrieve my shirt. Was that the same guy I stayed up with until dawn? I walked to the room Beau had designated as mine. The house felt warm, so the power must have returned sometime when we were sleeping. I turned the shower nozzle to hot and stood in front of the mirror while I waited for the water to warm up. Something didn’t seem right. Did he actually walk past me and just say ‘hey’ as if nothing happened? I was pissed. Stepping one leg in and then the other, I showered and prepared a speech for Beau.
One of the disadvantages to having long hair is the amount of time it takes to dry. Beau’s mom had a high-powered salon-style hairdryer stashed in the cabinet. But even with the professional settings, I still spent fifteen minutes drying my hair before I could resurface in the kitchen. It did give me ample time to rehearse my speech. It was going to go something like this: “If you think I’m just one more thing to check off your bucket list, then you’re wrong, Beau. You mean something to me. Last night meant something to me.” It was direct and short. I was going to stand up for myself, but still let him know I meant every breath of last night.
I charged down the hall expecting to find him in the kitchen. Instead, the room was empty and his laptop was open on the kitchen bar.
“Beau?” I called down the hall. No answer.
Ok, I was seriously getting mad. He had ditched me with no explanation. Because of him, I had fabricated two spring break stories. I lied to my friends and told them I needed to visit my grandparents before my big California move. I also lied to my parents and told them I was going with Nina and Candace to Charleston. Lying to the important people in my life wasn’t my first choice, but it seemed like the only wa
y I could be with Beau. Now I wasn’t so sure I had made the right decision.
Then I saw the open screen on his computer. I didn’t mean to snoop, but it was staring right at me. I perched on the closest barstool. Beau’s Facebook page was open and nothing I read made any sense. Unbelievable.
“Hey.” Beau stepped through the sliding doors and raised a paper bag in his hand. “I got us some donuts.”
I turned toward him, not knowing what to say.
“You don’t like donuts?” he asked. I could tell he was confused.
I attempted a smile, but I was failing miserably. Donuts didn’t seem like the solution to the sour feeling I had.
“I promise I wasn’t trying to be nosey, but you left your Facebook page open and I saw the posts.” I was embarrassed he had caught me with his laptop, but more upset about what I had read.
“I didn’t want you to see that.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
He placed the donuts on the counter and sat next to me. “It’s not a big deal.”
“You were supposed to be in Belize this week, and you don’t think that isn’t a big deal?”
I could tell he was nervous, something I rarely saw in Beau. “Don’t make a thing out of it, London.”
“It kind of is a thing already. You canceled your spring break trip with your roommates, and they are posting all kinds of pictures and tagging you in them just to get to you. You weren’t going to tell me about Belize?”
“No. I was kind of hoping to keep it to myself.” He looked worried.
“I don’t know what to say.” I wasn’t sure which kind of guilt was worse—the lying kind or this. It seemed to be pelting me from all angles.
“Can we not talk about it?” Beau hopped up and rummaged through the donut bag, extricating a gooey pastry smothered in chocolate. He took a bite.
I didn’t want to make things any worse. His mood this morning had shifted since last night and I understood why. His asshole friends were giving him a hard time about the trip. Right now, he had to regret not going. He could be snorkeling and partying with his best friends in a vacation paradise instead of cooped up with me while we hid out from the world’s prying eyes.
“Can you still make it? Can you meet them down there?”