Prologue
"You think we have time for one more, girls?" Ashley asked, but her hand was already signaling the waiter who was heading over. "Besides, this waiter is fucking hot."
"I mean, it's not like we have a plane to catch or anything," Lisa said, a smile on her lips. "We just got off the plane. All we're doing is sitting here drinking with no real place to go."
“Please," Rory said nodding her head as the waiter put another Cosmopolitan in front of her. He was awfully quick bringing those Cosmo's out as soon as Ashley had ordered another round. Rory began to wonder whether they were in a pitcher in the back, already pre-made for the girls after the first round, just waiting till they were ordered.
Awfully sneaky.
"Please what, babe?" Alicia asked turning to her.
Rory rolled her eyes. "Please, not everyone has nowhere to be," Rory said. "I mean, I still have a flight to catch in an hour."
"Oh right," Alicia said, as if realizing for the first time that Rory had to go. "Why, again?" she asked.
"Oh my God, because I live in Southern California?" Rory asked, with a faint touch of exasperation. "You know, like you did while we were growing up. And when we went to school at USC. You know, before you moved out here."
Rory didn't realize if maybe she had come across a little bit too intensely and immediately felt bad for how she had sounded.
"I mean, I just miss you so much sometimes," she quickly added before Alicia began to think she was being berated. "Why don't you ever think of coming back to California?"
"Um, because New York City is totally the center of the freakin' world," Alicia said, as if explaining a matter-of-fact statement to child. "You need to come to the capital of the world, babe."
"Ugh, I hate big cities," Rory said before taking a sip of her drink. "Give me an island next to the ocean any day of the week and I'm happy with whatever else."
"Really?" Natalie asked her. "What about Manhattan? That's an island."
“An island without three million people living on it," Rory replied with a smile.
"What about if two million of them were hot guys?" Kim asked.
Rory chuckled. She might not always get along with her friend Alicia, who she had grown up with and known all her life, but she couldn't deny that Alicia had some friends that definitely made life a blast.
The girls had just returned from a Spring Break visit to Myrtle Beach. And while they had fun, Rory was beginning to miss the quiet environs of Montcove—the island community that she had spent summers for as long as she could remember, and where she now lived.
Rory had grown up with her best friend Alicia Sullivan in LA, and Alicia had even visited Montcove a few times. The two had been practically inseparable as they had matured from little girls to young women. They’d shared everything with each other—their first crushes, the first time they kissed a boy. When Alicia had lost her virginity the two had stayed up all night talking about it. And when Rory had finally lost hers a week later, Alicia persuaded her to go to Tijuana together to celebrate.
Now, Alicia was getting married to Derek Lowell, a client of hers from Carter Jeffries. She was living the fast paced New York City lifestyle and had wanted as part of her engagement celebrations to spend a week during Spring Break with her girlfriends. Rory didn't mind it. For a while at least it was even a pleasure to get distracted by all that Myrtle Beach had to offer.
The hot guys walking along the beach were more than enough to eye candy to enjoy each morning as the girls nursed their hangovers on the beach, working on their tans.
But now that week was over. Those days were gone and all she had left to prove they even went, was new bikini shaped tan lines.
But that’s okay. Rory was looking forward to taking over the world with her T-shirt business. And she knew she’d see her friend at Alicia's wedding in 6 months.
That's right. The wedding!
"I'll be in New York City for your wedding," Rory said to Alicia, dreading the thought of actually leaving her island paradise and heading into Manhattan.
"Yeah, but that's in the Hamptons so you won't actually be in New York City," Alicia replied back. "It's not the same thing."
Well, thank God for small favors.
"Attention passengers of United Airlines Flight 43 to Los Angeles," the overhead speaker called out. "Boarding will begin in twenty minutes."
Right. They were going to call out the Elite Super Diamond Prestige Award Members first and then all the other variations of passenger, so Rory was pretty sure she'd be the last person to board the plane.
"I gotta go, ladies," she said, however. "Gotta get that seat. If I board late, they may just throw me off the plane if they're overbooked."
Natalie, Kim, Lisa, Carla, Brittney, Becca, Ashley, Christine, and Alicia all gave a variation of the eye roll. To go through all the reactions took at least a minute.
The hugs took another ten minutes.
Detaching herself from Alicia took another five.
"Promise to come visit, okay?" Alicia said with glossy eyes as she hugged her best friend for the eighth time. "And I promise to come by soon too!"
Promises made, Rory headed towards her gate. Her head spinning from the booze, she had no doubt she'd sit down and fall asleep once she boarded.
And then...Southern California.
Different from what Alicia lived in.
But...there was something about how it felt.
Something was going to happen.
Her life felt as if it was about to change.
She didn't know how.
But Rory definitely felt excited.
One moment it was sunny like an Indian summer on the island of Montcove, and the next moment it would turn into a monsoon. Thankfully bad weather didn’t linger for long and things were mostly peaceful. At least they were, till a few years ago when the peace was disturbed when Montcove suddenly became a celebrity vacation destination.
It took just one celebrity marriage to kick Montcove’s status as an obscure vacation island into oblivion. Where the residents were used to a few