Karina laughs. “Yeah, but it’s not as bad as it sounds. They’re not insisting we spend every waking moment with them.”
“And you just happened to tag along?” Daniel asks Peyton.
“Kind of. My older sister is a senior in college, and she’s here with her boyfriend,” Peyton explains.
“So it’s a family affair.” Oliver nods. “I like it.”
“What are you doing after?” I sound desperate, even to my own ears, and maybe I am.
Peyton glances over at Karina, and she shrugs. “Nothing that I’m aware of.”
“Meet us out here.” I point at where we’re standing.
“Put the guy out of his misery,” Sam chimes in.
Peyton smiles. “Yeah, we’ll meet you back here.”
“Maybe you should give him your number,” Daniel tells her. “You know, in case you’re running late or whatever.” He smirks.
“Communication is important. In fact, Karina, you should probably give me yours, you know, just in case my boy Griff’s is dead or lost or something,” Oliver adds. He’s not even trying to hide his grin.
“Wow, you four stick together, huh?” Peyton asks.
“Wingman,” Daniel, Sam, Oliver, and I all say at the same time, making the girls laugh.
“How about you give us your numbers, and when we’re done, we’ll text you?” Karina counters.
“Playing hard to get, I see.” Sam winks at her.
“You already know where we’re staying, which is too much. We’re two women, and you’re four men. We’re easily outnumbered here. I think the safest bet is for us to have your numbers. Or not.” Karina shrugs.
“Hey, now, let’s not talk like that.” Daniel holds his hands up. “We’ll gladly give you beautiful ladies our digits.”
Karina pulls out her phone and begins to take the guys’ numbers down. When she turns to look at me, I nod toward Peyton. “You ready?” I ask her.
“For what?”
“My number.”
A slow smile crosses her face as she reaches into her bag and pulls out her phone. I rattle off my number and watch as she enters it into her phone before dropping her phone back into her bag.
“Well, boys, it’s been real,” Karina says, linking her arm with Peyton’s.
“Boys?” Sam scoffs with no heat.
Karina grins. “Well, you’ve yet to prove otherwise.” She waves, and together they turn and head toward their hotel.
I stand there and watch them leave. I don’t take my eyes off them until they disappear into the hotel. The silence from my friends tells me they’re doing the same thing.
“Damn,” Daniel says. “Anyone calling dibs?” he asks.
“Peyton,” I say automatically.
“Yeah, we thought so.” Oliver chuckles. “The friend?”
Daniel raises his hand, and I toss my head back in laughter. “I mean, I’m just looking for some fun, and she seems all kinds of fun.”
Oliver grumbles something under his breath, but I’m too caught up in Peyton’s gaze to try to decipher what it was.
“Food. I need food before my stomach starts to eat itself,” Sam declares.
“You’re always hungry. Where do you put it?” I ask him.
“Hey, it takes calories for all of this,” he says, rubbing his hands over his six-pack.
“Well, I don’t know about you all, but I’m thinking we eat in the restaurant.” Daniel points at the hotel the girls just disappeared into.
I slap him on the shoulder. “You, my man, are a genius.” I know he’s into Karina, and I’ve already made it clear I’m into Peyton. Sam doesn’t care. He just wants to eat, and Oliver, well, I’m not exactly sure what’s up with him, but he’s in. Without another word, the four of us make our way to the lobby of Casa Playa and to their in-house restaurant.
Our food has long since been demolished, yet we’re still sitting here at this table right next to the restaurant entrance, shooting the shit, hoping to either hear from or see the girls. Daniel flirted with the hostess to score us this seat. I made sure to give him a high five as soon as she walked away. However, there hasn’t been a single sighting or message from either of them.
“Is your phone not dead yet? You’ve only checked it a million times since we sat down,” Oliver goads me.
“Fuck off.” I laugh. I know my best friend wants to say more, but he doesn’t. I’m surprised because he’s usually calling me out on my shit.
“Guys, we’ve been here for two hours. I think it’s safe to say we’re not going to run into them here. We should probably go and let the server have this table,” Sam comments. “My sister is a server, and she hates it when people just hang around. Most of the time, they leave a shit tip.”
“Well, this place adds the tip to the bill, but we can leave some extra cash,” I assure him. The four of us reach for our wallets. Our bills were already paid. Each of us drops some additional cash on the table before we leave the restaurant.