Back To You | complete

Chapter 01| Crabby and Jet Lagged

"It was the turbulence," Griffin answered on my behalf.

Maybe not.

"Ah, that makes sense," Sam mused. "Was it too bad?"

I glared at her.

"Okay, find your room now, and talk later." She nodded. Fin-fucking-ally. "Got it. We can do that."

"Thank you."

I sighed, taking my suitcase and my shoulder bag. Griffin stopped me and took my shoulder bag himself. I sighed, swallowed my bubbling fury for a hot second, and kissed his cheek with a thank you.

Half an hour later I was in my room, alone. Sam and Griffin wanted to take me to the beach but I was in no mood to put on a bikini and step out to socialize. They grumbled for like five seconds before they got over it and went away without me.

I turned around in the bed, towards the beach-facing window. Lena sure had spent a lot of resources to accommodate us. There were thirty of us in total who could make it and all of us had a room for ourselves to share with our partners. The resort had been closed off for other visitors, which suggested that they had clearly been planning this for months in advance, possibly even longer than a year. I tried and failed to grasp the need to arrange all that so soon. Could've done this later. It wasn't like Aarti was dying or never coming back, right?

When we were coming in, we had to show our identity proof and were crossed off a list. That was another thing that bugged me for a while before I wrote it off as the precaution being taken to make sure that no strangers could sneak in.

I dozed off like that, wondering pointless things. I was awoken by a series of loud knocks on my door.

Did I say knocks? I meant bangs.

I groaned, sitting up and wiping the slight drool that had made its way down my chin while I slept.

"I'm coming!" I snapped and they ceased. I waddled over to the door and glared at my offenders. "What?!"

"Told you," Griffin said to Sam.

"Whatever," she grumbled back, shuffling her feet.

"What?!" I interrupted with another glare.

"Oh, right," Sam clamored. "Dinner is being served, let's go."

I gritted my teeth, unnecessarily mad. "I'm not hungry."

"Liv."

"Good night."

I shut the door before I could spew out an insult I knew I would regret later. I just needed to sleep it off. I walked over to the light switch and turned it off. I plopped down on the bed and did just that.

Jet lag is a fucking bitch.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

I woke up with the sun. I had forgotten to pull the curtains close and the sunlight tickled my eyes, forcing me to abandon my endless sleep and sit up. I had briefly attempted breathing with a pillow over my face to block the sunlight, but after I had almost passed out from the lack of oxygen I decided that that might not be a good idea after all.

I felt a little groggy from sleeping too much so I didn't close the curtains just to sleep again. I pulled them open wider, tied them back, and unlocked the windows, stepping out on the balcony.

The view was iconic. The balcony was small, but it overlooked the ocean. The resort had only one level and almost all rooms opened both inside the resort and toward the beach. There was a small table and a pair of chairs in the corner. It was cozy.