Landon was somewhat of a local celebrity after his stint as a night club hero, and Tori got to revel in the status by association. She shared a room with him, they went everywhere together, so it was automatically assumed she was his girlfriend or wife.

She didn't say anything to discourage the assumptions.

He didn't appreciate it too much. Except for the women – Landon was an incurable flirt, much like his twin brother. A new fun game they started playing was who could piss the other one off the most by flirting with other people. The loser was whoever caved and dragged the other off to have sex in some grossly inappropriate place.

In short, the vacation she had thought would end terribly, was actually ending on a pretty high note.

“Did you bring me a present?”

Tori didn't bother looking over her shoulder when she heard the door to their suite open and shut. She was laying on her stomach on their bed, flipping through a magazine.

“Fuck off,” Landon chuckled. “You all ready?”

“Yup,” she said, glancing at the floor next to her. Her bag was all packed for the flight home tomorrow. She was wearing her yellow bikini and figured it would be good enough for the rest of the day.

“Good girl,” he said, his voice husky, and she stopped moving when she felt the mattress dip under his weight. He was moving over her, straddling her thighs.

“You were gone for a long time,” she commented, finally glancing over her shoulder. He was looking down at her body, his hands kneading her butt.

“Just because you're such a good girl doesn't mean the rest of us behave ourselves all the time.”

“Seriously?”

He snorted and slapped her on the ass, then moved to sit next to her. She sat up, as well.

“No. I was setting some stuff up, I should probably tell you about it.”

That statement actually made her more nervous than anything else he'd said. She took a deep breath and swept all her hair up into a bun on top of her head.

“Okay, I'm ready,” she said, shaking out her hands. He rolled his eyes.

“Don't be stupid. C'mon, come outside with me.”

She followed him onto the balcony and they both sat on the lounge chairs out there. He took his time taking out his cigarettes and lighting one up. She'd noticed he'd been smoking even more than usual over the past couple days, and she was pretty sure it was because he'd cut back on his drug use. She smiled and sat quietly, waiting for him to feel comfortable. Getting Landon to talk was never easy, sometimes he needed prodding, and other times he just needed to be left alone.

“So the flight leaves at one tomorrow,” he finally started speaking. She nodded.

“Yeah, I already called the front desk and they're gonna have a taxi waiting out front at ten. We just have to be down there fifteen minutes before,” she explained.

“Yeah, yeah,” he mumbled through a cloud of smoke. “I'm not going.”

“I'm sorry, what?”

“I'm not going with you,” he repeated, staring out over the balcony railing. Tori held very still and stared at him.

“You're ... staying here?” she guessed when he didn't say anything else.

“I'm going to Thailand.”

Thailand. She wasn't sure what to do with that information. What had she expected – Landon would fly home with her, and they'd live happily ever after? Sharing a couple secrets and having mind-blowing sex didn't change anything, he was still the same person. She was still the same person. What had she expected?

Nothing ... but I'd hoped maybe he was beginning to feel for me what I've started feeling for him.

“Oh ...” she struggled to think of what to say. “That sounds ... fun. Be careful out there.”

He nodded his head and took another drag. She stared at the cigarette, suddenly wishing she could yank it out of his hand and grind it into the top of his thigh. Make him feel something, anything.

“I honestly thought this whole thing would be a fuck show,” he said, gesturing between the two of them. “You'd spend most of your days on the beach, I'd spend my time in the bars, we'd hook up at night. I didn't expect ... this.”

“Whatever 'this' is,” she chuckled.

“Yeah. This was ... it wasn't so bad, Tor.”

“No. No, it was pretty alright.”

There was another moment of awkward silence. She hated it. Before they'd started sleeping together, they hadn't been in each others presence a whole lot. He'd come to the club, act like an asshole, she'd shoo him away from the bar area. They'd banter and bitch at each other whenever she was at Liam's place. That was about it.

After they'd started sleeping together and had gone to Bali, it had seemed like the only times they were speaking was either when they were snapping at each other, or when they were fucking. More recently, they had just talked, or enjoyed companionable silences. Again, no space for awkward silences. So now any awkward silences felt doubly so. It was annoying and frustrating and not at all how she'd wanted to end their trip together.

“Fuck this,” Landon grunted, clearly thinking along the same lines as her. She watched while he flicked his cigarette butt over the railing, then was surprised when he grabbed her hand and yanked her over onto his chair. They fumbled around for a moment while she got situated between his legs, her back pressed to his front.

“I'm shocked to say I'm actually going to miss you,” she chuckled, draping her arms over his legs when he bent his knees up.

“No, you won't,” he snorted. “You'll have your friends and Liam to distract you from the absence of my awesome self.”

“I don't think I'll be spending a lot of time with your brother,” she said in a low voice.

“Don't go too hard on him, okay? He's a fucking idiot, but he's a good guy. Go home, kick him in the balls, then get over it and go back to work,” he instructed.

“I just don't think I can,” she stressed. “It would be ... weird.”

“What? Knowing you slept with me in place of him?” he laughed.

“Don't say that!” she snapped, slapping him on the calf. “That's not what this is, that's not what we are. I never once did that, I wasn't ever thinking of him. I knew who I was with.”

“I know,” he breathed, and she felt his hands on her shoulders. “I believe you.”

“Just ... stop talking,” she grumbled.

“Okay.”

“And tell me you'll miss me, too, jackass.”

“How can I stop talking and tell -”

She slapped his leg again.

“Landon, please don't ruin our goodbyes like you ruin everything else,” she begged.

“I'll miss you, Tor. Especially at night. And in the mornings. And in the showers,” he kept going and she finally laughed again. “Shockingly enough, I really will miss you. I wish you could come with me.”

She took a breath and spoke without even thinking about what she was about to say, “why can't I?”

She felt his whole body tense up behind her, and she winced. After all that, she was going to be the one to ruin their goodbyes. It was a stupid thing to blurt out, of course Landon didn't want her tagging along on whatever nefarious adventure he had planned for himself. He'd barely wanted her to come on this one.

“I'm not going for shits and giggles,” he started to explain. “I managed to talk my way into an organization over there, working in some village south of Bangkok.”

“You're gonna go do your doctor thing there!?” she exclaimed, finally twisting around so she could look at him.

“Yeah. The other night ... the shit you said, it all stuck with me. I was like why not go back to it. Worst case scenario, I end up back on Liam's couch.”

“That's awesome, Landon. Really. I'm excited for you.”

“Thanks. It's also definitely not some vacation. Shitty living spaces, no amenities. Not exactly an all inclusive resort,” he chuckled, gesturing to their view.

Tori took a deep breath. She was a middle-class girl from a nice town in California. She'd had some sort of job since she'd been fifteen, but she couldn't honestly say she'd ever done truly hard work. She'd never done anything even remotely close to the stuff he did, so going with him was a ridiculous thought. The heat, and the bugs, and the work. It definitely wouldn't be a vacation.

“So why can't I come with you?” she found herself asking again.

“You don't want to go, trust me.”

“Why don't I?”

“Because it's awful. I won't be around most of the time.”

“You weren't around most of the time here,” she pointed out.

“And then when I am at home, I'll be in a bad fucking mood,” he kept trying to dissuade her.

“I think I've almost grown to like your moodiness. Let me come with you,” she insisted.

“Why? Why on earth would you want to go?” he asked. She thought for a long time, then shrugged.

“Because I don't have anything better to do,” she finally answered in a faint voice. He paused, then she felt the tension go out of his body.

“I swear to christ, woman, if you start bitching after we get there, I'll dump your body in the jungle,” he warned her.

“Fair enough. If you start bitching after we get there, I'll flush your coke stash.”

“You wouldn't dare.”

“Try me.”

“I'm regretting this decision already.”

“A week,” she said, absent mindedly dragging her fingers up and down his shins. “I can hang through anything for at least a week. Then I'll come home.”

“One week,” he echoed. “We'll see if you even make it three days.”

“Challenge accepted, Dr. Edenhoff.”

*

BANGKOK WAS INSANITY. She'd known it was a large, crowded city, but it still overwhelmed her. Thankfully Landon was used to traveling in crazy, foreign countries, so she just followed in his wake.

They were spending the night in the city, then the next morning a volunteer would be picking them up. They were short staffed on doctors, it seemed, in a village that was desperate for them. Landon was something of a godsend, so they were taking very good care of him.

After they'd checked into their small hotel room, Landon had wandered into the hallway to make a few phones call. Tori decided it was a good idea to make some of her phone, and she quickly called Katya.

“Hey, I hadn't heard from you! Are you home yet?” her voice chirped over the line. It was evening in Bangkok, but early in San Francisco. Katya Tocci was the only true morning person Tori had ever met.

“Actually, about that, I kinda decided to extend my trip,” she said, walking over to the windows and pulling the blinds up. A vast cityscape sprawled before her.

“What?”

“Yeah, I'm gonna stay down here for another week,” she said, wincing. She felt awful lying to her friend, but she wasn't even sure how to explain her relationship with Landon to herself – she couldn't do it over the phone to someone else.

“Another week? That's forever, Tori,” Katya whined.

“I know. But it's good for me. I've been doing a lot of soul searching and all that crap,” she replied.

“Crap, huh. Any cute guys?”

Tori would be very glad when that question would go away.

“Loads. Too many to handle, almost,” she joked.

“Good, I hope so.”

They chattered on for a while, she steered the conversation back to Katya's business and the wedding plans and Wulfric. After about twenty minutes, she managed to end the call with a promise to check in more often. Then she took a couple deep breaths and made the call she'd been dreading.

“Oh my god, she's alive and she still has my number!”

She forced out a laugh, but her mouth was frowning. Of course Landon and Liam had similar voices – they were twins, after all. But it felt bizarre to hear Landon's voice sound so teasing, so lighthearted, so happy. It bothered her that she was glad to hear Liam again, and bothered her even more that she was sad Landon couldn't have some of the same happiness in his own voice.

And in a small, tiny corner of her heart, she felt a little disloyal to both men.

“Miracle, isn't it,” she finally said.

“Tori,” Liam sighed her name. “I'm so glad you called. I haven't because ... well, honestly, I thought you hated me, and I really don't want you to, so I was giving you time.”

“I know, thank you. And I don't hate you, I promise.”

“Good, because I wouldn't care anyway – I'd still make you be my friend.”

“You can't make someone be your friend, Liam.”

“Oh, yes, I can. Have you met me?”

She chuckled again and moved back to sit on the edge of the bed.

“Unfortunately.”

“So tell me everything.”

“Honestly, I wouldn't even know where to start.”

At that same moment, Landon walked back into the room. He glanced at her phone, then at her face. When he saw the stern look there, his eyebrows shot up.

“Start with the part where you've been getting drunk and making out with chicks,” Liam suggested. A shudder ran down her spine. She'd never thought it would be so weird, but it was beyond – staring at Landon, his mouth shut, and hearing his voice over the phone. Like a creepy ventriloquist act.

“Nope, haven't made out with a single girl,” she replied. Landon rolled his eyes and mouthed his brother's name, then headed into the bathroom.

“You could take pity on me and lie, you know,” Liam laughed.

“Sorry. How's the club?”

“Shitty. I'm running it into the ground. If only I had an amazing assistant manager to help keep this place afloat.”

“If only,” she sighed.

“Seriously, though,” he said, the playful edge falling off his voice. “You are coming back, right?”

“Don't worry, I won't let your precious club go under.”

“I don't give a fuck about the club, Tor. I care about you.”

“I know,” she whispered, then she cleared her throat. “And I am coming back, and things will be different. This trip has been .. enlightening for me.”

“Good, I'm glad.”

“Me, too. How's Ayumi?”

There was a long pause.

“We don't have to talk about her right now,” he said in a slow voice. “You were my friend before her.”

“And I'll be your friend during her, and if there's an after, I'll be your friend then, too. I promise, I'm fine. Now give me all the gossip – Katya said Ayumi's still babysitting Brie.”

So for the next half hour, Liam regaled her with stories of Ayumi trying to tame the wild Brighton Stone. Now that her drama with Liam was over, Ayumi had thrown herself into the job with a gusto. She'd made an intricate chore wheel and was using a combination of bribery and blackmail to get Brie to do said chores. She'd also threatened to sign Brie up for college courses of her own choosing if the youngest Stone sibling didn't pick them out for herself soon.

Tori laughed a lot. In the short amount of time that had passed since she'd tried to quit, she'd kind of forgotten how fun Liam could be. He was a blast. She'd harbored a crush on him for a long time, but now it was over. It was nice not having the pressure of feelings weighing down the friendship.

“You know what,” she said, gasping for air after some other ridiculous story. “I think I've missed you, Eden.”

“Flattery will get you everywhere, Bellows,” he teased. “Come home soon, okay? I miss your margaritas.”

“Yeah, yeah, I'll teach your girlfriend how to make them, then you won't always have to wait for me to get done with my shift.”

“As long as you come over to drink them with us, you've got a deal.”

Tori was pretty sure she wasn't far enough over her sore feelings to agree to that, so she laughed it off, then made excuses to get off the phone. Made promises to call him again before she came home, then said her goodbyes.

When she hung up the phone, she turned around and was surprised to find Landon leaning against the wall behind her.

“Sorry you ended up with the wrong brother?” he asked bluntly. She snorted.

“Honestly? I don't think either of you are 'right', in any way,” she got up and moved to stand in front of him.

“Do you wish he was here instead of me?” he demanded.

Tori blinked rapidly in surprise. He was really insecure about this, wasn't he? She kept staring at him while she slowly shook her head.

“No. I don't want to be here with him. I don't want to be here with anyone else.”

“You sure about that?”

“Landon, of all the things I've said and done since we've met each other, it's the one thing I'm positive about.”