Page 111 of Best Vacation Ever
At night, ourlastnight here, no one’s in the clubbing mood.
I can’t, and Kellan and Adam don’t want to go without me.
Dylan’s nose is swollen, and his eyes are bruised, so he doesn’t want to get all dressed up for a party. Alessio’s depressed, and Lori and Dean are exhausted from all day in the sun, which included another snorkeling expedition this afternoon. Lori told me she jumped in before Dean this time, and wasn’t scared when Mattias threw bread at her, whatever that means.
Instead, we hang out in the chill area of the lobby on the couches, ordering snack food and drinks from the bar, talking and playing cards, and just being together. It’s so fun I barely register the pounding in the back of my skull, although I’m sure the Ibuprofen and Kellan’s nearness helps. Even Adam’s less grouchy and quicker to smile than usual.
Waking up on the last day is bittersweet. We go to the pool instead of the beach today, since it’s closer to the hotel for when we need to shower and check out after lunch. We don’t go to the big party pool or the small, chill one. Instead, we go to the medium-sized one. It’s still a large pool, but there aren’t any events going on, just people hanging out and music playing at a tolerable level in the background. Like yesterday, I plant my butt under an umbrella and shade my eyes from the blaring sun, but I keep my legs out, loving the warm feeling and hoping for a last-minute tan. Lori’s beside me in her own lounge chair, reading the book she brought but never had the chance to finish.
“Did you have fun?” I ask her as some teenagers jump into the pool.
She lowers her book and lifts an eyebrow. “Calling my parents and telling them I one hundred percent am not going to med school, no exceptions, is not my definition of fun.”
I laugh. Lori told me how she didn’t want to disappoint her parents by not attending med school like they’d hoped. I supported her decision to take time off to travel, though it’ll break my heart when she’s so far away for a year. But she called her parents this morning and told them what she wanted, instead of waiting until she got home, saying she wanted to give them time to digest it. There was lots ofWe’ll talk about this in person, Lori, but she was resolute, and I seriously doubt anything they say will sway her. She told me she was going tochannel my best FayannaMurrayandkeep my stubborn eyes on the prize. I laughed.
“Other than that. Did you have fun this week?”
She tilts her head, considering it. “Yeah. I did. Did you?”
Kellan cannonballs into the pool, splashing Adam and Dylan, who grumble about him getting their shirts wet. It brings a smile to my lips.
“Yeah. I did too. I’m just sorry we fought, and that I was a jerk.”
Lori giggles and sets her book down. “I’m sorry we fought too. But we’ll always be best friends. Faye and Lori.”
“Forever,” I agree as she stands. She’s developed a tan, and though it’s not as deep as mine since she’s been more liberal with applying sunscreen, it’s still noticeable against the white of her string bikini.
“I’m going to grab water. Want one?”
I shake my head, and she walks across the pool to the bar.
She turns heads as she does, but that’s nothing new. Some things never change, like our friendship and love for each other.
On her way back, a guy who looks a few years older approaches her. He says something that makes her eyes bulge out of her head. She shakes her head and keeps walking, her face slowly turning red, but the guy follows. As she gets closer, I’m able to pick up some of what he’s saying to her.
“All I’m saying,” he says, “is that there are worse places to sit than on my face, especially with that ass.”
I lean forward as his forthcoming action becomes clear, but Lori grabs his arm as if by reflex right before his hand lands on her butt. Her jaw tightens, and now I’m swinging my feet to the side of the lounge chair, ready to go kick this guy’s ass, concussion or not.
But I pause when she asks him, “Can you swim?”
His eyebrows draw together. “Yes? But what does—” He never gets to finish, because Lori, the badass that she is, pushes him right into the pool.
His arms cartwheel almost comically before he lands in the deep end with a heavy splash. Lori continues walking with her head held high. When he finally reaches the surface and sputters out the water he swallowed, she spares him a glance. “You’d have better luck with girls if you weren’t a disgusting pig who feels entitled to my body.”
She flicks her hair over her shoulder, a whole-ass shampoo commercial–worthy hair flip, and struts away like she owns the place. I resist the urge to cheer, instead settling back into my chair with an amused laugh as she rejoins me.
“What?” she asks, setting the water bottle down. “He deserved that, right? You should’ve heard what he said to me.”
I can’t help but laugh again. “I heard the tail end and saw where his hands were wandering. I would’ve thrown in some swear words, but yeah, he deserved that.”
She nods and leans back in her chair, picking up her discarded book and flipping to the proper page. “Good,” she says, not even bothering to watch the guy stomp away from the pool, splashing water everywhere, back to his friends with his head down.
I slide my sunglasses into place as contentment fills me.
This really was the best vacation ever. I’m leaving not only with Kellan, but with a healing relationship with my brother, with a recognition of how I can be selfish sometimes, and with my best friend.
Lori’s different, and so am I. We’re best friends, and while that will never change, some things will and already have. We’re leaving Cuba happy, as girls who are free to make our own decisions, and now carrying a bit of each other’s personalities in us forever.