So I poured it on, head down, legs churning, sand flying, sweat flying.
But no matter how fast I ran, the haunted expression on Melissa’s face chased me. Baffled green eyes, still desperate for the one answer I couldn’t give her.
Why?
Two
Melissa
"Kill me."
I was slumped over my arms at the bar, muttering the same group of phrases over and over to myself, Ashlynn, and, occasionally, the nice lady bartender who might or might not have understood English.
"Seriously. Just kill me now and get it over with."
Ashlynn patted my back and made low, soothing sounds, but I could tell she was getting to the end of her rope and if I didn't get my act together, she was liable to go hunt down Robbie and give him a swift kick in the groin. Despite the fact that seeing him had thrown me into a cycle of misery, he didn’t deserve the wrath since all he’d done was show up on the same island as me.
"We probably won't even run into him again," Ashlynn said, her tone matter of fact as she grabbed a handful of my hair and tugged my head up until I met her gaze. "You let him steal the whole summer after senior year, Melis. Don't let him steal our last Spring Break from college too, okay?"
I nodded and sat up straighter, reaching for my half-empty glass. "You're so right. He doesn't deserve the energy."
My mouth said the words, but I would've given my left arm to be able to mean them one hundred percent. Because the fact was, aside from the very end of our relationship, Robbie had been worth it. He'd been worth everything. He'd loved me through my parents’ divorce, supported my dream to become a doctor, wiped my tears when I cried and picked me up when I fell.
Until he was the one who knocked me down.
Then, there was no one but Ashlynn. So fuck him. I wasn't about to let seeing him again spoil my mission. I was here to return the favor Ashlynn had done for me all those years ago. I was going to support her through the hardest, most devastating break up of her life and make this the best damned Spring Break anyone had ever seen.
All I had to do was wipe the memory of Robbie out of my mind.
I squeezed my eyes closed and downed the rest of my Long Island iced tea.
How could he be hotter than I remembered? He was already the most beautiful guy I'd ever laid eyes on. His soulful brown eyes spoke volumes. His physique had been the talk of every girl in school. The body of a man from the day he turned sixteen. I'd been by his side for all of it.
And the sad fact was? He'd only gotten better with age. He was thicker, his muscles bigger and more defined. Like his training was making him a lean mean fighting machine. The image of him sprinting down the beach, his tanned, muscled back gleaming with sweat in the Monaco sunshine would forever be burned into my memory, adding to the tapestry that was our lives together.
"Let's play Beer Pong," I chirped to Ashlynn. Her eyebrows wrinkled in confusion at my apparent change of mood, but she didn’t ask questions. I motioned to the bartender for two more Long Islands before sliding off my stool and onto the floor.
There were a handful of guys already playing in the corner and, once we'd gotten our fresh drinks, we headed over.
We were welcomed into the fold with warmth and a couple of low whistles, but the guys all seemed well-meaning and friendly enough, so we let that slide. Turned out, it was a good move. The next two hours blessedly flew by in a whir of constant activity and drinks. Exactly what I needed to give my brain a break from replaying the conversation with Robbie over and over in my head like a broken record.
“Ready, partner?”
I had gotten paired up with a cute guy named Dan and we were currently crushing it at the Beer Pong table.
“Absolutely,” I said, blowing on my hands like they were weapons of mass destruction. “Next stop, four and oh.”
Unfortunately, the pong skills I’d magically and inexplicably acquired at some point in the night abandoned me just as abruptly. I beefed three in a row, not even touching the rim of a single cup, before I made one single ball in. Even though Dan did his best, it was no surprise when, twenty minutes later, we found ourselves standing by in disgust as Ashlynn and her female partner did some elaborate victory dance that they’d clearly worked out steps to in advance.
I tried to act like I was mad that we’d lost, but I was so glad to see her smiling, I couldn’t help but laugh.
“Okay, so you got lucky. We want a rematch later.”
“You’re on,” she said with a grin as she rubbed her hands together in preparation for her next opponents.
“Looks like we have to give up the table, partner,” Dan said, chuckling. “Want to go sit and talk where it’s a little quieter?”
I nodded, and let him lead me to a table a few yards away. I slid into the booth and he slid in next to me.
As the adrenaline from the lively competition drained away and the sounds of merriment faded, I suddenly realized that I was drunk.