As we walk downstairs, my hand is combing through my hair and Ross is still adjusting his jeans. We received an aggravating group text telling us to hurry up so we had to rush out.
"We were only two minutes late," Ross says as we approach everyone sitting in the lobby. "Relax with your resting bitch faces."
Kayla walks over to me as we all start filing out. "How are you feeling?" She asks, her hand going to my back.
I see Ross glance over at me, also making sure that I'm okay.
"I'm okay. I'm a little foggy, but nothing I can't handle. Trying to stay hydrated to wash everything out of my system," I say, picking up my water bottle to show her.
She nods. "I'm glad you're feeling a bit better," she smiles.
"Where'd you sleep last night?" I ask, totally unaware of where anybody was.
"I slept with Rydel. Liv and Rocky were in the bed next to us," she replied.
I nod in response. I bring the water up to my mouth, continuing to drink the liquid. I took Tylenol already, but nothing is helping the cloudiness in my head. I think I need one night of good sleep and I'll feel a lot better by the morning.
As I'm trailing the group, I'm absorbed in my thoughts. I'm still trying to piece everything together.
Someone from behind grabbing my arm. I spin around. "Oh my god," I say louder than intended and stumble away from them.
"I'm sorry! I didn't mean to scare you. I'm sorry," the woman says, dropping to the ground on her knees where I fell.
I'm panting heavily already. "What happened?" Ross asks, running over to us.
"She dropped her license and I grabbed her arm. I didn't mean to grab you too hard, I'm sorry. Are you okay?" She asks, handing me the thin card.
I nod. "Yes, I'm sorry. I wasn't paying attention. Thank you," I say.
The woman stares at me in the eyes with concern then glances up at Ross. "Sorry again. Have a good one," she says then smiles at me before walking back to her friend.
I grab onto Ross' hand and pull myself up. I brush myself off and slide my license back into my pocket. "Are you okay?" He asks.
I nod. "Yeah. She just grabbed me hard and freaked me out," I explained. "I'm fine. I don't want to keep your family waiting."
I start walking over to the group. "Baby," he says, walking quicker to catch up with me.
"Sorry, I dropped my license and she grabbed me hard. I got a little freaked out, but I'm fine," I explain to them.
Mark nods. "No reason to apologize," he smiles nicely at me then continues walking.
I feel Ross' arm go around my waist, tugging me into him as we walk. "You jumped again," he murmurs.
"Sorry." I say, my eyes focused on the road in front of us. "I just feel really on edge."
I don't have a good reason either. From the events yesterday that I truly can't remember, I am afraid something will happen again. I don't know why I expected the person to grab my arm so aggressively would be the man from yesterday. But it wasn't.
I'm safe and need to convince myself that.
Ross leans down, pushing his lips to the top of my head. "I'm right here," he says, kissing the area again.
As we all file into a restaurant, I stay close to Ross. He's directly behind me, his arms wrapped around me.
I feel so tired.
I hate this feeling of fogginess and confusion.
I lean my head back to bring his attention to me. Once he leans his head down, his eyes meeting mine, I ask, "Do you know what we are doing after this?"
He shakes his head. "No, I'm not sure. Why? You okay?"
I turn around in his arms, my head going onto his chest. "I feel all foggy, but I can handle it. Just wondering if you knew what we were doing. I might break off from the group for a nap if we aren't doing something too cool," I whisper.
He nods. "Okay, babe. We'll figure it out," he tilts my chin up, placing a single kiss on my lips then continues to look around the restaurant.
Once all nine of us are seated, we begin browsing the menu. Once I pick some egg entree, I look around at the table.
Liv is cuddled all into Rocky. I'm glad they were able to solve their issues.
Riker and Ryland are discussing the menu with their dad.
Rydel is talking to Kayla who is on my other side. They seem to be getting along perfectly.
Ross is deeply reading the menu, turning pages as he goes.
Once we all order, the discussion of plans arise.
"Want to go to the beach?" Mark asks, spinning his spoon around the coffee cup.
"There's also an aquarium if we didn't want to lay out," Riker says.
"There's the Queen Mary ship! It's supposedly haunted," Rydel adds.
Rocky speaks up. "Ooh, we should stay there tonight."
"I'm scared of ghosts," Liv whines.
Ross talks from behind me, making me turn to look up at him. "Why don't we go to the beach for a bit? Then we can walk around and check out the Queen Mary. Please tell me you girls brought bathing suits."
I nod at him. He slides his hand out to intertwine with mine, squeezing it softly.
"Del, did you bring one?" Their dad asks.
Rydel nods. "Yeah, one of the boys said we should bring bathing suits in case we wanted to go into the hotel pool or hot tub."
Just as the conversation about our plans comes to an end, the waitress begins bringing out our food. I pick at mine, trying to eat as much as possible but the fuzziness in my head is absorbing my attention.
I push a diced potato to the other side of the plate. "Do you not like yours? Want to try mine?" Ross asks, leaning down to talk to me.
"I ate a little less than half, I'm full," I answer.
He looks at me with his eyebrows raised. "Can you at least try to eat more of your bacon so you get some protein into you?" He asks nicely.
I sigh. "Fine," I mumble, leaning down to pick up the strip of bacon.
Ross leans over, pushes his lips against my forehead then continues eating his pancake. I force myself to eat three pieces of bacon before completely tapping out.
We were outside of the restaurant fifteen minutes later, walking back to the hotel. I have my arm wrapped around Ross' waist as we walk.
Once we approach the hotel, Mark says, "Let's all meet down here in ten minutes with bathing suits on. Deal?"
Ross sighs. "I feel super nauseous. Is it okay if Hayley and I just meet you at the beach in like an hour? I need to lay down and I don't think being out in the sun will help."
"You were shoveling your pancake down your throat, of course you feel nauseous," Rydel says, laughing.
Ross rolls his eyes at her.
"Is this your way of getting your alone time in with her?" Rocky teases.
"Give me your room key so if I throw up, I make sure it's all over your bed. I'm going to lay down, let's go Hayl," he says, grabbing my hand and pulling me with him to the elevator. "Someone drop your location to me and we'll meet you."
He clicks the button to the elevator and it opens up automatically. We walk inside and I look up at him. "Do you actually feel nauseous?" I question.
Ross shakes his head. "Not at all," he smiles, pushing the button to the floor we're on.
I smile. "Thank you," I wrap my arms around his waist, looking up at him.
He leans down, pushing his lips onto mine several times. "I love you so much."
"I love you," I murmur. Just as I lean up to kiss him again, the door opens.
Ross smiles at me, pulling my hand with him. I don't even remember which room was ours so I follow behind him.
He opens the door for us. "Think you only need an hour nap or longer?" He asks as I kick off jean shorts.
"Just an hour. Come lay with me," I say and crawl into bed.
Ross scrolls through his phone then puts it down on the bedside table. "I set an alarm." He informs then lays beside me, pulling my leg toward him.
I lay my head on his chest, my leg across his. "I missed you a lot," I say randomly.
"I missed you more. I'm excited for you to move down here with me if you still wanted to," he whispers, his hand moving softly along my back.
I nod. "Of course, I hate being away from you."
I lean up so I can look down at him. He smiles softly at me making me lean down and kiss him several times. A few minutes later, I'm passed out in his arms.
It felt like a minute later that the alarm was blasting. I groan into his bare chest, turning my face more into him.
"We don't have to go," he mumbles, his face turned to the side of the pillow.
I nod. "Yes, we do."
"Do you feel better?"
I nod again and lean up to look at him. "Yeah," I reply softly into the quiet air.
He yawns. "Good," he closes his eyes again.
After forcibly dragging Ross out of bed, we were on our way to the beach. It was extremely hot out, ranging around 98° Fahrenheit. My legs stuck to his leather seats, the wind blowing through my hair.
We had the music blasting loud and we both sang along, my shitty voice not even coming relatively close to his angelic one. I didn't care, I sang along anyway.
"Hi," Rydel screams through the Bluetooth once we got closer to the beach's parking lot.
Ross already looks completely over it as he rolls his eyes. I shove at his thigh before he speaks. "We're finding parking now. Are you still at the same spot?"
"Yeah, we're all in the water so if we don't answer - that's why. My phone is just sitting in my bag so my locations should work!" Rydel informs us.
"Why don't you just wait - never mind. See you soon," he says then clicks the small red button on his steering wheel.
I reach my hand along his thigh to his hand. "Someone's nap didn't help," I tease.
"Someone's nap didn't help," he mocks me in a high pitched voice.
In response, I look up at him with my eyebrows raise and pinch his thigh. "Parking spot open," I say and point to an empty space.
"Thank you," he mumbles and pulls into it in one smooth action.
We both get out of the car and meet at his trunk. He pulls out the bag we brought and slings it over his shoulder.
"I've never been to the beach," I say as we begin walking toward the entrance. "I don't know if you knew that."
Ross turns his head quickly to look at me. "Really?"
"Yeah, I've never left Colorado. First time I ever even went out of town was when we went skiing," I smile.
He smiles down at me, his arm going around my shoulders. He pulls me into him, his mouth leaning down to kiss my head. "I'm excited to explore the world with you," he murmurs.