Discipline

“There are the boys!” Linh pointed, climbing excitedly out of the front seat in her asymmetrical hem maxi dress. I undid my seatbelt slowly as I watched her fly into Mike’s arms the moment he emerged from the driver’s seat.

“Damn, girl,” Adriana exhaled as we watched Aaron step out from the passenger side in the simple but outrageously sexy combination of a white V-neck, khaki shorts and aviator sunglasses. Somehow, the baseball cap topped it off to make him look more effortlessly sexy than even Adriana could handle. “Nina, get the worry off your face and go say hi to your gorgeous man. I’ll kill you both if you spend this entire vacation thinking about drama from home.”

“Alright, alright,” I managed a laugh as she began to actually kick my ass out of the car with her sandaled foot. I hopped out, eyes on Aaron as I felt the crisp Northeastern breeze blow through my hair. Immediately, his gaze found me and to my relief, he smiled wide.

“Hi,” I murmured, closing my eyes for a second as he kissed my lips. “You okay?”

His hand cupped the back of my neck. “Why wouldn’t I be?”

“Woodhill… hearing us. Me. Cara. And…” I cut off, deciding to keep mum about Ben’s text for now. I didn’t have the heart to tell Aaron just yet. There was too much of an adorable twinkle in his eye.

“I forgot about that the second I saw you,” he said with a little laugh, blinking as if just realizing it himself that very second. “You look…” He stepped back to take a full look at me in the gauzy dress I’d planned on wearing for him a few days ago. It was thin, delicate and the color of a ripe watermelon, with similarly mouthwatering effects, apparently. I giggled as Aaron ran his hand along the side of my body, his eyes taking me in. “Christ,” he laughed to himself quietly. “I can’t wait to have the next three nights with you. This break couldn’t have come at a better time.”

“That’s what I said! But get a room, you two,” Adriana sang as she flounced past us with her neon overnight bag. She giggled and threw a wink our way before disappearing into the house with Em, just as Mike approached with Linh wrapped around his midsection.

“My hero, Nina. It’s been too long since I got to go somewhere with this guy and just hang out. It was never a real vacation with Robo-Girlfriend.”

Linh squinted. “Who?”

“My ex,” Aaron laughed.

Mike groaned. “Literally none of us could drink more than two beers if we were with her because God forbid anyone looked too ruddy to take nice pictures. And there was no relaxing on the beach or trying out some surf shack you just passed by — we had to do exactly what she had on her nineteen-page itinerary or she’d have a meltdown.” He pretended to shoot himself in the temple as we headed into the house. “Best part: itinerary always started at six in the morning, so you could count on her hunting you down if you weren’t in your hotel room by 10PM.”

Linh’s feather lashes fluttered with surprise. “We don’t go to sleep till about 6AM when we’re here.”

“That’s what I’m talking about.” Mike reached over Linh’s petite frame to hold a fist out to Aaron, who laughed and pounded it. “Alright, I’m gonna stop talking about her now. You shouldn’t have to think about her while you’re here. In fact.” Mike stopped in his tracks and held out his palm to both Aaron and me. “You two. Phones. Put ‘em there.”

It was either a great idea or a terrible one.

Aaron and I raised our eyebrows at him and then each other, smiling before taking our cell phones and slapping them into Mike’s palm. We watched as he quickly ran back to the Jeep, tossing them both into the glove compartment before coming back and draping one heavy arm around Aaron and the other around me.

“No phones till the ride home. Break the rule and you face a punishment that Linh and I have yet to decide on. But trust me, she can think of something. She’s got a talent for that.”

I laughed. “I don’t want to know what that means, but okay.”

“Alright. Now here’s to finally having a real fucking vacation.”

~

Throwing the curtains open, I looked out the window at the massive backyard, crystal blue pool and brick terrace complete with a fire pit. Grilling alongside Harry and Marco were Aaron and Mike, all of them holding drinks and looking like some unrealistically attractive billboard advertisement for beer.

“I like the view,” I remarked with a smile. “Thank you, love.”

Though Adriana had drawn the straw to be the one guest with her own bedroom, she’d forfeited the privilege and given it to Aaron and me.

“I just didn’t want to have to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night and find you guys doing it over the sink,” she explained while helping me unpack my bag. “Because I would still sit down and pee and it’d just be an awkward situation for all of us,” she said before smirking and dangling something in the corner of my eye. “By the way, I see what you’re doing here, and I like it.”

I turned to see her holding my white crochet dress in the air.

“Torture device?” she asked. “Honestly, I wanted to make out with you that night. I can only imagine how much pain Aaron was in.”

I groaned and laughed as I recalled that night. It already felt like so long ago. “God, I hated you that night.”

“That’s because you had the evil of Benjamin Kingdon still lingering in your body,” Adriana said, raising her eyebrows as she pulled a lacy white bra out of my tote bag with her pinky. “Speaking of that shitbrain…”

Please, let’s not, I pleaded silently.

“Has anyone seen him since I threw Dr. Pepper on his crotch?”