The XOXO New Adult Collection: 16 Full Length New Adult Stories (107 page)

I quickly showered—even though I took showers at night and had the night before. Every night I slept in Easton’s Halo t-shirt and solid black boxers that he let me borrow the first night. The second night, I did it without thinking. Now, I did it to see him smile as I exited the bathroom each night. I pretended I didn’t see the way he looked at me in them. Deep down, it was my way of telling him that if he just gave me time to end things with Jared, I would act on the feelings we were trying to suppress.

The ship was due to arrive in Cabo at seven a.m. and Bailee and I agreed to meet at the restaurant at the end of the dock at nine-thirty. We learned that it took some time for the ship to dock and to unload everyone on board. Cabo was different though. The ship couldn’t dock in Cabo and therefore we had to take boats to shore and there were only two boats chauffeuring people from the boat to land and back. I didn’t know how long it would take us to get off the ship and to the restaurant where Bailee was meeting us, so we just decided on nine-thirty.

After I showered, Easton slipped in to take one. I dressed in a purple cotton dress and black flip-flops, my hair in a ponytail and light make-up. Mexico was hot and I couldn’t imagine how hot it got during the summer. It was close to May and during the day, I was drenched with sweat unless we were in the pool or indoors.

The four of us waited in a line to board the small boat that would take us to shore. I was excited to see my sister. It had been almost five months since I had and I missed her every day. I couldn’t wait for her to graduate and move back home.

After waiting at least thirty minutes for our turn, we sat on the twelve-passenger boat, the warm morning air blowing across my face and excitement running through my veins. Nicole and Avery were sitting to my left in the seat next to me, holding hands. Easton on my right and all I wanted to do was slip my hand in his. I hadn’t had someone pay so much attention to me in a long time. Jared was all about Call of Duty and now hanging with his friend Justin a few nights a week.

I wanted a normal relationship.

Was my relationship with Jared normal? Could Easton be different? Jared paid attention to me in the beginning. Maybe this was just how all long relationships were? Plus, was I ready to be a step-mom? Hell, Easton probably didn’t even want a relationship with me. He doesn’t date, he told me as much. Maybe I just needed to have a good fuck.

Jared and I had the same routine when we had sex. Lights out, he goes down on me and doesn’t do it that well, then enters me until he’s satisfied. I’ve never been satisfied, never had an orgasm during sex and only finished myself off when he jumps in the shower to clean up after.

I knew deep down that Easton would rock my world. He would show me what it was like to lose myself in sex: to experience the fireworks I needed to clear the smoky haze from my eyes. To fuck me until I couldn’t talk, couldn’t move, couldn’t walk for days.

“Excited?” Easton asked, nudging my shoulder with his and bringing me out of my daydream once again.

“Yep,” I said, smiling at him.

He smiled back causing my stomach to clench like it did every time he smiled at me. He rested his arm around my shoulders, but not in a romantic sense, but in a buddy hug. I didn’t care, I wanted him touching me.

Things were going to suck when I got home. I needed to break up with Jared, but knew that it would be awkward for a few days since he would have nowhere to go. He had his mom’s house, but he wasn’t the type to bring drama to her. I was going to rip his heart out, but I needed to be happy again. I needed to find myself and take care of me for once.

We arrived at the dock a little before nine-thirty. I saw Bailee standing with a friend of hers from a mile away. Even though Bailee and I had different fathers, we looked a lot alike. You could tell by all of our features that we were sisters. The only difference was, she was younger and her eyes were rounder and a different shade of green. Our noses were slightly different too. I had our mother’s nose and I assumed she had her father’s.

As we got closer, Bailee saw us and we ran to each other, hugging for dear life.

“I’ve missed you so much!” I said, squeezing her tight against me.

“Me too, but please, don’t talk so loud.”

I pulled back, looking into my baby sister’s eyes. “You’re hung over?”

“Of course I am. I’m twenty-two, a senior in college and on Spring Break—in Mexico.”

It still boggled my mind that my baby sister wasn’t a baby anymore. We had gone to Vegas for her twenty-first birthday, but I still wasn’t used to her drinking...at least with me knowing.

“Of course you are,” I laughed.

Nicole nudged me out of the way. “My turn!” They hugged, similar to the way we had and then Nicole pulled away, grabbing Avery’s hand. “Bai, this is my boyfriend Avery.”

I hadn’t realized that they had a title and it was that serious. I thought that they were just fucking and enjoying themselves. We lived at least four and a half hours away from each other and I’ve never heard of a long distance relationship working out.

Avery and Bailee shook hands and Bailee introduced her friend, Chauna to us. I’d heard a lot about Chauna since they first met her freshman year, I just had never met her in person before. I motioned for Easton to step closer and I introduced him. He and Bailee shook hands as well and she looked at me with skepticism in her eyes.

We turned, walking towards the restaurant and Bailee linked her arm with mine, whispering in my ear, “If you don’t claim him, I will.”

“He’s too old for you.” I said.

Easton turned around, knowing we were talking about him. We smiled at each other and I
did
want to claim him. I wanted to announce to everyone that this hot piece of ass was mine—all mine. But that wasn’t the situation.

“Age is just a number, Big Sis.”

“Fine, he’s mine,” I said, whispering in her ear.

“Lucy, you've got some splainin’ to do,” she said, talking like a fifty’s Hispanic male television icon.

I laughed, remembering how we used to fall asleep every night watching
I Love Lucy
reruns on Nick at Nite.

I didn’t have anything to explain, other than I wanted to jump his bones and he made me feel alive, made me feel special.

The hostess sat us on the patio overlooking the water of Cabo. It was breathtaking. The blue water glistened, reflecting the sun and little waves were made as speedboats passed by.

“So tell me, what have you been doing for almost a week in Cabo?” I asked my sister.

“You know, the usual stuff,” she said shrugging.

“Like what?” I questioned her.

I knew what she meant, but it was weird being in the position we were both in. She looked at me as her mother and sister and I looked at her as my daughter and sister.

“Drink, tan, shop—the usual.”

“Meet any boys?” Nicole asked, nudging Avery’s shoulder.

“Of course,” Bailee and Chauna both said in unison.

It was only natural for Bailee to meet boys and well—hook up with them. We’ve talked about boys a lot growing up, but I still didn’t want to imagine her getting drunk with them, doing body shots and doing the deed. She was still my baby sister.

“I’ve met a boy, too,” Nicole said, kissing Avery.

We all knew, she did announce him as her boyfriend after all.

“What about you?” Bailee asked, raising an eyebrow towards Easton as she spoke to me.

The waitress came, breaking the awkward conversation, to take our order. Bailee knew about Jared, but I also knew that she didn’t care for him. She told me that a man needs to take care of me and not me take care of him for once. I tried explaining that’s what a
wife
does, but she reminded me every time that I wasn’t his wife.

The waitress left after everyone ordered and Bailee once again asked me about Easton. “Well, have
you
met anyone? It’s a singles cruise, right?”

“Yeah, it is.” I paused. “You can say that I’ve met someone,” I continued, smiling at Easton.

Fuck me!

“I see,” Bailee said then quickly changed the subject back to Nicole and Avery.

I couldn’t look at Easton. I was too embarrassed to see what he was thinking. We’ve spent practically the last eighty hours together and both have stolen plenty of touches, glances and smiles towards each other. We were just fighting the inevitable now, trying to keep me an honest woman.

After we ate breakfast, we took a small cruise boat to Land’s End, snapping pictures of the famous arch made out of rock where the Pacific Ocean meets the Sea of Cortez. After the boat brought us back to shore, the boys excused themselves to venture off to buy Cheyenne a souvenir. We offered to go with them, but I knew it was their way of letting me have girl time with Bailee.

We found four seats in the corner of a packed bar and ordered a pitcher of margaritas to wash down our breakfast—we were in Mexico after all—before Bailee began giving me the third degree about Easton.

“Spill!”

“Can’t we wait until I’ve had a few sips first?” I questioned, not wanting to confess that I
did
like Easton.

“Nope, we don’t have much time and I want to hear everything!”

“I want to hear, too,” Nicole chimed in.

“You would know if you haven’t been ditching me to have sex for the past four nights.”

“Yeah, yeah, we’ll fight about it later,” she said, wiggling her hand to brush me off.

Over the years, Nicole and I have had our fair share of fights. Most of them were just misunderstandings when one of us was on the rag...actually all of them probably were that. Even though she had ditched me on my
birthday
cruise, I wasn’t mad at her. Probably because of the man candy I had been fantasizing about since the very first night we talked into the wee hours.

“He’s hot,” I started to say as though it was no big deal.

“Yeah, we know that. I want to know why you’re all—googly eyes over him?”

“What are you talking about? I am not all “googly eyes” over him,” I said, putting googly eyes in air quotes.

“You are to.”

“No, I’m not.”

“Chauna, can’t you tell that my sister has the hots for Easton?”

“I’m sorry Brooke, but she’s right.”

The waitress placed our pitcher on the table, then asked if we needed anything else. When we declined, she left us so that I could continue being interrogated by the
Googly Police.

“You know they’re right. Avery and I see it, too,” Nicole said, pouring a glass of the margarita and then placing it front of me.

I took a sip, “Well of course I have the hots for him. He’s fucking hot and the sweetest guy I’ve ever met.”

“I knew it!” Bailee shouted a little too loud.

“Tell them about the private island and zip-lining.”

“Private island?” Bailee asked, raising her eyebrows.

“Private island with like fifty other people, including you and Avery!”

“I want to hear more!” Bailee said, not letting it go.

“The four of us—including other people from the cruise—took a small boat to a private island when we ported in Puerto Vallarta. No big deal. We ate lunch, snorkeled and swam with a sea lion named Cassandra.”

“That’s not what I mean, Brooke,” Nicole said.

“You don’t even know what you’re talking about. You were too busy dry humping Avery the whole time.”

“There was more than dry humping if you know what I mean,” she said winking. “But tell them how he never left your side to go talk to any other girl. Tell them how he hasn’t done that the whole time we’ve been on the cruise.”

“He likes you, too!” Bailee said, a little too loud again.

“No he doesn’t,” I said, draining the rest of my glass and fighting off brain freeze.

I reached for the pitcher to give myself a refill. I needed it to calm my nerves. No way could a player like Easton like someone with a boyfriend. It was in their nature to go find a piece of ass to fuck—but he hadn’t yet.

“He totally does. Tell me about zip-lining,” Bailee said.

I looked at Chauna for help, but she too was engrossed in my
imaginary
love story.

“We went zip-lining in Mazatlán. Does anyone else want some chips?” I asked, trying to get out of my seat. Nicole grabbed my arm, not letting me move.

“Tell me Brooke!” my sister said.

“Fine. We went zip-lining and on the way there, I was practically shitting myself. You know I’m scared of heights. I kept thinking to myself “a string is all that is going to hold you up while you zip through the jungle”. I was panicking.”

“She was,” Nicole agreed.

“Fuck you!” Everyone laughed. “Anyway, we get there and I start to chicken out. I’m standing on the platform, looking at the ground a million feet down and this bitch here,” I said, lightly punching Nicole’s arm, “is shouting from the bottom for me to “hurry the fuck up”. I start to turn around to climb down the ladder and Easton grabs my shoulders with both hands, looks me dead in the eye and tells me, “from what you’ve told me these last few days and what I’ve seen, you’re the strongest woman I know. If you can raise a six-year-old when you’re only thirteen—which is scary as hell—you can’t let a little trip on
strong
cables hold you back. Now get out there Superwoman and fly”.”

I looked at my sister’s face and she was speechless. It looked like she was on the verge of tears. Growing up was hard on both of us, but we survived. I didn’t feel like Superwoman, just a girl that had to grow up too fast and couldn’t just be a kid.

“Anyway,” I said and continued. “He grabbed the straps of my helmet, snapped them together and then slapped the top with his hand and then my ass as I turned to walk to let the guys hook my harness on the cable. Then—I flew.” I shrugged and took a sip of my drink.

“Holy shit! I didn’t know he said that. I just saw the ass smacking. What the fuck?”

“If you weren’t ditching me, we could be telling each other about our cruise that we’re supposed to be on
together
.”

Easton was right. I needed to take that leap. I was changing into a different woman and it was all because of him.