Fool Me Once

“I’m sure.”

Mitch turns the vehicle around, and we drive back to our hotel. I should’ve told him to go to hers, but that’s okay, I can walk over. “I’ll only be a few minutes,” I tell them, jumping out and running across the parking lot to Blakely’s hotel. I have no clue which room she’s in, but if I have to, I’ll knock on every door. It’s an older, smaller hotel with only maybe two dozen rooms.

When I step up to the door, though, I realize I won’t have to knock on any doors. Because she’s walking out of the hotel with her luggage rolling behind her. She wasn’t supposed to leave until tomorrow…

When I learn she’s leaving early, I know it’s fate that I returned when I did. Another two minutes and she wouldn’t have been here. It takes some begging and convincing, but Blakely finally gives in and types her number into my phone.

I watch her until she’s in that guy’s SUV and they’re driving away. Then I start my walk back to where Mitch and Holly are waiting for me. I pull up the notepad where she typed her number, and copy and paste it into a text, so she can have mine. I’m not watching where I’m going, so when something hard hits my arm, I’m thrown off. I lose my hold on my phone, and it crashes against the side of the fountain. I dive for it, but I’m too late, and the phone lands in the water with a loud plop.

“I’m so sorry,” a woman apologizes. “I told my boys not to throw the football! Is your phone okay?”

Without acknowledging her, I pluck my phone from the water and hit the home button. Nothing happens. I’ve had this phone for who the hell knows how long. It’s been dropped dozens of times, has been thrown across the car, across the room in anger just as many times, but it’s never fallen into water. I hold down the top button, hoping something will happen, but it stays black. It’s not waterproof. Fuck!

“Sir,” the woman says, “is it okay?”

I glance her way, but don’t bother to answer. What is she going to do for me? Will it to turn on?

“We need to find an Apple store,” I tell Mitch when I open the back door.

“Huh?”

“My phone! It fell in the damn fountain!”

“And you need to get a new one right now?”

“It has her number in it.” I sigh.

This time it’s Holly who speaks. “You have an iPhone. Everything backs up into the cloud.”

“Let’s just find an Apple store,” I insist.

Holly locates one between Cocoa Beach and Carterville, and we head straight there. After an hour of waiting to be helped, three hours of waiting for them to run diagnostics on my phone, and another hour of them setting up my new phone, I learn that my last backup was done a week prior. Everything saved after that backup is lost—including Blakely’s number. If my account would’ve been linked to another device, it would’ve synced, but because I have no other Apple products, I’m fucked.

Isn’t fate a bitch?

Present

“Is everything okay out here?” Another guy’s voice, which isn’t my twin’s, brings me back to the present. I recognize him from earlier today when I saw Blakely and attempted to approach her. She took off, and he stayed behind to threaten me to stay away from her. I vaguely remember him from when I met Blakely on the beach. She said they were only friends back then, but based on the predatory look he was giving me earlier, and the glare he’s shooting my way now, I’m going to assume that friendship is now more.

“Umm… yeah,” Blakely says nervously. “It turns out Keegan and Kolton are twins.”

Her boyfriend glances from Kolton to me. Not wanting him to think I mean any harm, and not wanting any trouble on campus, I extend my hand. “I’m Keegan. I’m sorry about approaching Blakely earlier. I didn’t know she had a boyfriend. I didn’t mean any disrespect.”

As he places his hand in mine, making it a point to squeeze hard, because apparently he needs to show me he’s a tough guy, Blakely says, “Oh, no, Brenton and I aren’t dating. We’re just friends.” Blakely laughs awkwardly.

Brenton’s grip on my hand tightens before he drops it, and I notice his jaw clenches. Interesting… Doesn’t look like Brenton is too thrilled about Blakely referring to them as just friends, which means they’ve either dated and broken up, and he wants her back, or she’s stuck his ass in the friend zone.

Then I remember seeing a little kid with them. “Was… is that kid yours?” I look between Brenton and Blakely. Yeah, I’m being nosy as fuck, but I need to know what I’m working with here. Four years ago, I thought fate was on my side when I returned in time to get Blakely’s number, only to have that fickle bitch laugh in my face when my phone was destroyed and I lost it. Now, here we are, at the same place, at the same time, and I’m not about to let her get away again.