Thursday, October 26
Goodbye, Miami.
I wake up alone in Sander’s bed. There is light being cast into the room from the window, so I sit up and look at the clock. It’s just after seven-thirty in the morning. My alarm didn’t go off, which means that Sander probably shut it off.
Why are we not training?
I get out of bed and walk into the main room where I see suitcases by the door.
“Phoenix, get dressed and ready to go,” Sander says.
“Where are we going?” I ask, my heart sinking.
I guess vacation really is over.
“North,” he says. “I left clothes out for you. And a hoodie to put on later. It’s on your bed.”
He left clothes out for me?
To be fair, I pretty much wear the same thing every day.
Well, not so much here. Here I wear bikinis and sun dresses. But at East Raven, I mostly wore leggings, t-shirts, and hoodies. I obviously don’t deal with the cold very well.
I walk back into my room and see clothes lying out for me. I decide to take a quick shower before getting dressed. I don’t bother washing my hair, since I washed it last night. I also don’t bother fixing it. I just brush it out, putting it into a high ponytail.
I never really wear ponytails. I don’t know why. They’re cute. But usually if I want my hair up, I want it in a messy bun so it doesn’t bother me.
On my way back into the living room, I grab my hoodie off the bed. I’m kind of in a bad mood. I am not ready to leave Miami.
Unless...
What if we’re going back to East Raven?
That might not be so bad.
Except, there is no way. School is still shut down. Sander said it would be for a few weeks.
When I walk into the living room, all the suitcases are gone and just Sander is in there.
“I got an email from the school,” he says, before I can ask any questions. “Since East Raven is shut down, and they’re not extending the semester, they sent everybody homework to do so nobody falls behind.”
I groan. “No. I have to still do school work?”
“Sorry,” he says. “It doesn’t seem like a whole lot of work, though. They’re expecting school to open up around early to mid-November. So, this is good news.”
Yeah, it is.
If I can go back to school.
“Do you think all of this will be over by then?” I ask.
“I hope so,” he answers.
Me, too.
Even though I am loving every second of being in Miami, I still miss East Raven and all of my friends. I especially miss Charlie. I wish I were allowed to talk to him, but I know I can’t, for his safety as well as mine.
“You ready to go?” Sander asks. “Hunter and Jax are waiting in the car.”
“No,” I answer. “But yeah.”
“Same,” he says.
And I can see that Sander doesn’t want to leave, either. He’s trying to put on a happy face, but I can see through the facade. He wants to stay here just as badly as I do. Whatever our reason for leaving, I know it’s important.
“Are you sure I’m safe?” I ask. “The terrorists don’t know where I am, right?”
“Nothing like that,” he says. “You’re safe with me. I promise.”
He doesn’t lie. And I trust him.
“I can’t believe we have to leave,” I say, turning to look at the hotel room one last time. “I’m going to miss Miami.”
“Me, too,” Sander says. “But maybe we will get to come back here.”
“Really?” I ask.
“It’s a possibility. We’re not leaving because our location was compromised,” he says.
His words make me feel better. I mean, he already told me that the terrorists don’t know where we are, but I guess that a part of me didn’t believe him. Why else would we be leaving? But... if we can come back, it really is something else. My mood lifts immediately.
I follow Sander from our room. Jaxon and Hunter are in the SUV, waiting for us at the front of the hotel. Sander opens the back door and I get in, sliding over to make room for him.
“Energy drink?” Hunter asks, holding up a can.
“Yes, please,” I say, grabbing it from him.
“You’re going to get her addicted to those things,” Sander says.
Addicted? I have maybe one a week. That’s a bit dramatic, though I do like them.
I put on my seatbelt. Jaxon doesn’t take off until I’m buckled in.
“At least, we get to see the ocean for a little while, on our drive,” I say, sighing as we pull out onto the road.
“Actually, we aren’t taking the scenic route, because it’s way out of the way,” Jaxon says.
Well, that sucks.
Hunter passes a fast food bag to Sander, who pulls out a breakfast sandwich and hands it to me. I take it. I’m not really hungry, but these guys do not like to stop for anything when they’re driving, including food. This might be my last chance at food until we either stop at night to sleep or arrive at where we’re going.
I can’t help but be a little glum as we drive, moving farther and farther from the ocean front.
I am going to miss this place.
Goodbye, Miami. I hope to see you again soon.
Sitting in the backseat with Sander isn’t so bad. Since he’s not driving, he always makes sure to hold my hand, which is kind of sweet. And he didn’t seem to mind when I took a nap on his shoulder earlier. And he’s very... attentive. Not that he usually isn’t. Sander is a great boyfriend. He’s just busy a lot—with training me, with Spy School and with the whole trying to protect me from terrorists thing. But now, he doesn’t really have anything to do but pay attention to me and it’s kind of nice.
That sounds bad. I realize my boyfriend has better things to do than obsess over me. He has a life, a job and friends. I’m just saying, even one day that he doesn’t have to constantly be doing five things at once is kind of nice. And even though it sucks that we had to leave Miami, this isn’t so bad.
We are still in Florida. I’m not sure what part, but we’re headed north from Miami. I’ve been seeing signs that say how far it is to parts of Georgia, so I think we might be close to the state line. I’m thinking in a couple of hours, we will cross over.
I’ve never been to Georgia before, at least I don’t think so. The only thing I know about the state is from movies and books. I think they have thick southern accents and they like sweet tea. But that’s pretty much all I know, if it’s even true.
I think about all the stereotypes people have about girls from California—blonde hair, super fit and always wearing bikinis. That’s obviously not the case for me. I have brown hair, I’m not super fit—well, maybe I am since I met Sander, but that has nothing to do with where I’m from. And in California, you’d never catch me in a bikini unless it was at my own pool with nobody but family there. I was too nervous for such a thing.
While in Miami, I actually wore a lot of bikinis. I have no idea where my bravery came from, but I felt good and confident. Not that I have the perfect body, I don’t. Far from it. I just don’t want to be ashamed of my curves and I don’t want my shyness to hold me back from doing something I’ve always wanted to do. I’ve always wanted to be that confident girl on the beach wearing her bikini. Now I can say I’ve done it.
“You’ve been quiet,” Hunter says, turning around to look at me.
I shrug. “I’m kind of mourning the loss of my beach.”
“Hopefully, we’ll go back. I rather liked it there myself,” he says. “You got so tan.”
That makes me smile. Sander said something about that, too.
“I noticed that,” Jax says. “You seem like you tan really quickly.”
“My grandma on my dad’s side is Cuban,” I say. “She actually met my grandpa while on vacation in California, and moved there to marry him. Quite the scandal. So, I guess I’m one fourth Cuban and three fourths white.”
“I didn’t know that,” Sander says.
“I thought your file told you everything about me.”
“I didn’t read it all,” he says. “Just enough to know some of your back story and about your case. I would rather find out from you.”
I smile.
He’s such a sweet boyfriend.
“I think I liked you two better when you were oblivious to your feelings towards one another,” Hunter says.
“Not me,” Jax says. “I’m glad you two are finally happy together. If anybody deserves it, it’s you two.”
“Ah, thanks,” I say.
Jaxon is sweet.
Hunter, not so much.
Honestly, any girl who dates Hunter or Jaxon will be very lucky. They’re both quite the catch. But in my eyes, nobody could be better than Sander.
I feel like we’ve gone through a lot to get where we are. It took forever for Sander to even admit how he felt about me. We’re in a good place now. I just really hope we can continue with the good.
Even though the guys have assured me we could go back to Miami, I still worry. Why did we leave in the first place? And why did they all seem like they were in a terrible mood last night? What was that email about?
I don’t ask, though. Right now, I just want to continue enjoying this road trip.
I lean closer to Sander. I want to be close to him. He has become a comfort to me over the months. More importantly, I feel safe with him. Safe and cherished. Maybe even... loved.
I think I love Sander. And I know that I had already come to that conclusion before we started dating, but now that we’re together... it’s different. More intense. And definitely more real. Maybe because I think he loves me back. When we first started dating, Sander admitted that he was falling in love with me. But neither of us have spoken a word about that since then. I guess because... it’s not time. Not really. We haven’t been dating long enough.
Still... I can’t help how I feel.
Sander runs his fingers through my hair. I’m sure it’s a little messed up from sleeping on it and being in the car, but he doesn’t seem to mind.
“Wait... so, was your dad’s mom the first generation in America?” Hunter asks.
“Her family moved here when she was eleven,” I tell him.
“That’s cool that your dad is a congressman,” he says. “I mean... think about it. Your great grandmother and great grandfather came here for the opportunities; so that their children and grandchildren could make something better for themselves. And it’s actually happened.”
I grin. “Yeah, I guess it did. That’s pretty cool.”
I hadn’t thought about it that way before.
“Do you speak Spanish?” Jaxon asks.
“No,” I answer. “Not even. Neither does my dad. That would be cool, though. I’ve always wanted to learn another language.”
“We have classes for that,” Sander says. “At Spy School. Once all this is over, I can sign you up.”
“You want me to take a class in Switzerland?” I ask.
“No,” he says. “You can take the class via the computer.”
“Oh,” I say. “That would be cool.”
“I could help you, because I speak Spanish,” Sander says.
“He doesn’t speak it well,” Hunter says.
Hunter and Jaxon both laugh.
“Why do I feel like there is a story here?” I ask.
“Oh, there is. But Sander would kill us if we told you,” Jaxon says.
“Remind me and I will tell you when Sander isn’t around,” Hunter says, winking at me.
I laugh while Sander glares at Hunter.
Life with these boys will never get boring, that is for sure.
I can’t wait to meet the rest of their team. If the three of them are this great, I know the rest of them must be, too.
“You guys have the best job ever,” I say. “You’re literally getting paid to hang out with me.”
“I’d do it for free,” Hunter says.
“That might be the nicest thing you’ve ever said to me.”
When we left Florida, it was almost eighty degrees. It was nice and warm. Every time I’ve gotten out of the car to go to the bathroom or grab some food, it’s gotten just a little bit colder. Now that we are stopping, only for the night I find out, it’s cold enough that I need my hoodie, and I’m sad about it.
We are currently somewhere in Tennessee—I’m not sure exactly where. But we’re only here for the night and it’s back on the road again in the morning.
I am comforted by the fact that we are staying the night here. If we were running for our safety, I feel like the guys would’ve kept going and not stopped at all.
I put my hoodie on as we walk to the room we will be staying in.
“It’s not that cold,” Sander says.
“It’s sixty-something,” I say, remembering what the temperature on the car said. “It’s cold. Just because you’re used to sub-zero temperatures doesn’t mean I am.”
“What are you going to do when it snows for the first time this year?” he asks.
“I’ve never actually seen it snow, so I’m kind of excited,” I say.
I’m hoping that by the time it’s cold enough for snow, I’ll be back at East Raven Academy. Things will be back to normal.
Then I realize...
When I go back to East Raven, Sander isn’t going to be there with me. Because once we figure this out, he won’t have a reason to stay anymore. I won’t need protection and he will need to move on to another case.
All this time, I have wanted things to go back to ‘normal’, but now I realize, I don’t want that at all. Not if it means Sander won’t be around.
He opens the door, motioning me to go in first. Hunter and Jaxon are not far behind us with our bags. Most of the clothes I got are more for summer in Miami, but I do have a couple of pairs of leggings and the hoodie I’m wearing. I’m also glad I am wearing my running shoes, because the only other shoes I have are flip flops, and I’m pretty sure my toes would freeze off if I wore them.
“If we’re going to be where it’s cold for very long, I’m going to need to do laundry. Or get more clothes,” I say.
“We’ll figure it out,” Sander says.
The room that we’re in tonight isn’t a super fancy one like our old one. It’s just a small room with two queen sized beds and only one bathroom. The room is nice and clean, but small. Especially since I have to share with three guys.
Sander, Jaxon, and Hunter don’t seem at all worried about our sleeping arrangements, though why would they? The three of them all have this go with the flow attitude. This is their normal life. It’s just all very new to me and kind of... strange.
“So... Phoenix is with me,” Hunter says.
I turn my head to look at him.
Like, heck no.
I see right away that he’s not serious.
“You wish, Romeo,” Sander says.
“I’m just saying... she’s already complaining about the cold, I would gladly warm her up,” Hunter says, then winks at me. “Right, Phoenix?”
“I think I’ll take my chances with Sander,” I say.
Besides, I actually liked snuggling with Sander last night. It was nice, and I can’t remember ever sleeping that soundly.
“My dreams are crushed,” Hunter says.
“You and Jax can keep each other warm,” I say.
Jaxon laughs. “Hunter, if you try to snuggle me, you will be sleeping on the floor.”
“Wow,” Hunter says. “Does nobody love me?”
“We should sleep,” Sander says. “We’ve got to be up early in the morning. Phoenix, you can take the bathroom first.”
“Thanks,” I say.
I grab my pajamas from my bag and go to the bathroom to brush my teeth and get dressed for the night.
Wherever we’re going, I hope that it’s not too much farther.
And I definitely hope it’s not colder.