Page 21 of Not that Sea-Rious

Marissa

M arissa held her breath as the room went silent.

She inched closer to Beau as though their proximity would present as a united front.

This was a bad idea. It sounded all well and good last night in her post-orgasmic sex haze, but now, facing her friends, begging their permission to ditch them to go swim with dolphins with Beau, had her stomach in knots.

This was against the mantra besties before testes—chicks before dicks. The whole point of this trip was for the four of them to hang out together and celebrate Carolyn. Marissa was essentially asking to abandon them so she could spend time with a random dude.

It was one thing for them to give their blessing on her sleeping with Beau. Their festivities were over for the day. She was basically free from her bridesmaid duties then. This was completely different. Now she wanted to forsake them for a guy .

To make matters worse, she put them on the spot. If they said no in front of him, he’d be embarrassed as all get out. Holy hell, this was terrible, no matter how she looked at it. Her friends were good people. They wouldn’t want Beau to feel bad.

She was a shit friend and an abysmal bridesmaid.

Dammit.

“I did that with Ted on our honeymoon in Jamaica.” Joyce broke the tension. “It was my favorite memory from our trip.”

Marissa blew out a breath. Joyce was such a sweetheart. Her gaze shifted to the bride-to-be.

“Erich and I did it on spring break once,” Carolyn said.

Okay, this was going better than Marissa had expected.

It seemed the vote was two in her favor.

And since Carolyn was the bride, in actuality, only her metaphorical ballot mattered—in theory, anyway.

Though, considering Tina was the one who gave her the condoms, obviously, she would be on board as well.

That was in their favor and maybe it would sway Carolyn.

Would her friends hand down a unanimous decision? Would they alleviate her guilt?

Tina pursed her lips and placed her hands on her hips. Her focus shifted from Beau to Marissa, and she frowned. “I’m not about to be a stick in the mud. What kind of bitch would I be to say I didn’t want you to have fun?” She sighed.

That wasn’t exactly a glowing endorsement.

Beau squeezed Marissa’s hand as she had done to him and slipped from her hold as he took a step deeper into their suite. “Why don’t we have breakfast together?” he suggested. “And we can talk about your plans for the day. The dolphin experience won’t take up all the time we are in Cozumel.”

That was true. Marissa joined him. Once again, she stood beside him. “We can meet up with you at the bar,” she suggested. “The one with the giant yard glasses and the frogs.”

“Yeah,” Beau chimed in. “If I recall correctly, the whole excursion only lasts like an hour or less.”

“It’s not that long,” Joyce agreed. “We’ll probably still be on the beach when you’re done.”

Having given her approval, Joyce continued to putter about the room, stuffing items into her large beach bag. Carolyn nodded as she rolled her towel. “Yeah. That sounds like a plan.”

Tina narrowed her eyes on Beau and folded her arms over her chest. That couldn’t be good. Marissa braced herself for her friend’s sharp tongue.

“Are you going to buy the first round?” she asked Beau.

He chuckled. “Absolutely.”

With a nod, Tina grinned. “You have my blessing for your first date.”

Date ? Marissa’s eyes bulged, and she sputtered a nonsensical response. Date ? Did she say date ? Why would she think that? Swimming with water mammals wasn’t a—

Oh holy hell. It was. How in the hell had she missed that?

Everyone peered at her, Beau included.

“Are you alright?” he asked.

“It’s not a date,” Marissa blurted through an anxious laugh. “It’s simply an activity—something to do while we are in Mexico. That is all. It’s not a date.”

“Okaaaayyy…” Carolyn drew out her response, but her tone clearly echoed the group’s skeptical sentiment.

Marissa was being weird, but she couldn’t stop it.

So, the next best thing was to pretend her anxiety and odd reaction wasn’t happening.

Stepping away from him, she headed for her clothing.

Grabbing the first bathing suit and cover-up she could find, she whirled around, still chuckling.

Her cackle bordered on maniacal at this point.

“We don’t have to go,” Beau offered. “I could either do it myself or—”

“No. No. No.” Marissa waved her hand as she passed him and headed for the bathroom. “I said I’d join you, and everyone agreed it’s a great idea. It’s not a date. I just need to get ready. Besides, we’re burning daylight.”

Before anyone else could say anything and she could earn more odd looks, she disappeared into the bathroom. Dropping her items on the floor, she gripped the sink and peered at her reflection in the mirror while she hyperventilated in private.

A date ?

Had she really agreed to a date without even realizing it?

No. She said she would swim with dolphins with him.

That wasn’t a date . It wasn’t a romantic dinner or anything.

This was an excursion—an activity specific to the island that she couldn’t do in New Jersey.

She said she would join him during an experience.

This wasn’t anything more than that. Her friends were only busting her balls.

Everything was fine. A bunch of people would be there too.

This wasn’t something . She needed to stop overthinking this. Obviously, Beau wasn’t making it a big deal and her friends were just teasing her.

After she flicked the faucet on, she bent forward and splashed water on her face.

“Relax,” she whispered to herself. “Get out of your head and just enjoy what is going on around you.”