Angel
Things had gone from bad to worse in a matter of hours. The hotel had offered a couple of their courtesy shuttles to drive some of the team members around and check out downtown Waikiki and some of the close-by tourist attractions. A few of the guys started talking about a party at one of the hotels nearby. The driver of the shuttle was cool about giving them a ride there but warned he couldn’t wait too long. Angel had already told Alex he was out. He had no intention of partying tonight, especially knowing how early they had to be up and that if anyone missed that bus tomorrow there’d be hell to pay with their coaches once they got on the field. Angel wasn’t about to be one of them. He knew if one fucked up they’d all be paying for it, but he’d be damned if he’d be the one to blame. Already they’d been duly warned on the bus ride from the airport to their hotel by their head coach.
“No messing around! Go grab something to eat. Get all your shit ready for the morning and get your asses in bed early. Once you win tomorrow you have tomorrow and Sunday night to celebrate. But tonight it’s lights out before ten.”
Angel was still tired from the long flight and having gotten up so early that morning. Going back to the room taking a shower and talking to Sarah on the phone before calling it an early night would’ve been ideal. Instead, here he was at a hotel party, annoyed with himself for not just having walked back to his hotel. Just when he thought he couldn’t possibly get any more annoyed than he already was, he heard the same high-pitched squealing he’d heard earlier, only this time it was followed by his name.
“Angel!”
He was barely able to catch who it was that practically tackled him, throwing her arms around him. Dana pulled away, squealing as her friends stood there wearing smiles just as big and taking pictures. She squeezed him again, but he’d learned his lesson long ago. Subtlety didn’t work on Dana. Neither did being polite.
“Easy,” he said, bringing his arms between them awkwardly to get her off him.
If she was embarrassed by his rejection at all, she played it off, moving her squealing over to Alex. Alex was, as usual, a bit more appeasing when it came to this kind of shit. Angel could practically feel the heat rise up his stiff shoulders and neck now as she explained that she and her friends were hosting this party. Not only was he going to have to explain that his dumb ass had ended up at a hotel party to Sarah but that it was Dana’s party. With all the cameras flashing as she’d bombarded him, he knew the photos would be out there too.
Fuck!
When she was done rubbing herself shamelessly all over Alex, Dana glanced at Angel, biting her lower lip playfully. Then she turned to her friends and introduced them to Angel and the other guys. All Angel could think of was making a mad dash out of there and getting Sarah on the phone so he could explain before she heard about this from anyone else.
He had to wait until after Alex had posed with two girls on his lap to get his attention. As soon as he had it, he motioned to him that he was out. Alex frowned but nodded, indicating he’d see him later. Halfway to the door he felt a tug on his hand and turned just as Dana tried to slip her hand in his.
Feeling beyond annoyed, Angel stopped, snagging his hand back and away from hers. He didn’t give a shit if it was rude or not. This was Dana. Nothing short of being painfully blunt seemed to get across to her back in high school when she was such a pain in the ass, and apparently things hadn’t changed. Dana’s eyes opened wide as if his not wanting to hold her hand actually came as a shock to her.
“I was just gonna ask where you were going,” she said, shaking her head, bewildered by his reaction. “Are you mad?”
“No, I’m just—”
“Is this because I hugged your brother?”
“What?” If he weren’t so fucking irritated, he might’ve laughed at that.
“I hope you don’t think I was flirting with him or anything because—”
“Dana, I don’t give a shit . . .” He stopped himself and took a breath before he got too worked up. “I don’t care what you do with my brother or anyone else, okay? I’m in a hurry to get out of here because I’m anxious to talk to Sarah.” Just saying it out loud made him even more anxious to do so. “You remember her, right? My girlfriend?”
The change in her expression was immediate, and Angel almost wanted her to say even one thing negative about Sarah so he could let her have it. He was done playing nice.
A loud commotion got their attention, and he turned in time to see a scuffle and lots of bodies being pushed around over by where Alex had been standing, but he didn’t see Alex. Maybe he was one of the guys in the middle of it all.
“Shit!” he muttered, pushing himself back through the crowd.
He wasn’t worried about Alex getting hurt, but the last thing his brother needed was to end up in jail the night before the game. By the time he managed to make his way back, there were things breaking and so much screaming that security had already come through the door.
As it turned out, Alex hadn’t been in the scuffle, but he was one of the guys trying to hold back their teammate. There was too much being said all at once, but from what Angel could gather, one of stupid Dana’s friends had done some of the same shameless rubbing against Alex and his friends, and her ex-boyfriend, one of the players for Hawaii didn’t take too kindly to it. There were words, and then the shoving started and inevitably fists flew.
The more Angel thought about it, even as the cops arrived, the more ridiculous it was that they were even there to begin with. They’d all agreed to go to a party where members of the opposing team were sure to be. Add alcohol to the mix, and none of them thought something like this might happen? How stupid were they?
Seeing he had a missed call from Sarah just added to his already mounting frustration. Somehow Dana made her way through the crowd and was still trying to talk to Angel even while the cops were rounding people up.
“Will you take a picture with me?”
“No,” he said immediately, stepping away from her.
“Just a quick one,” she said, still on his tail. “I just wanna—”
“I know what you want,” Angel said as he spun around to face her, startling her in the process. His frustration had peaked to the point where he knew he’d be using every ounce of restraint in him not to blow up at her. Glad that it was still so loud in there he leaned into her ear. “I’m not gonna tell you to fuck off only because we’re not in high school anymore and I’d like to think I’ve matured a bit. But let me warn you, Dana. I know what you’re doing. It’s the same shit you did back in high school. Difference is I don’t have the patience for it anymore. If I’d had known you were gonna be here, I would’ve never come.” He saw the tears well up in her eyes, and he was done. “Oh for fuck’s sake!”
He stalked away and prayed her drama-queen ass wouldn’t come after him. Thankfully, it was about the only good thing that happened that night. But the night wasn’t over.
It was past midnight, and he and all the other idiots who’d decided to go that stupid party were waiting for their coach to pick them up in the lobby of the hotel. It was either they all got hauled off to jail like so many of the other non-football players who’d gotten hauled off or be released to their coaches. Alex said the cops knew exactly what they were doing. The drive back to the hotel with their pissed off coach would be worse than spending a few hours in jail. And getting up at seven? Forget about it. They’d likely be expected to be on the bus by five now. Tomorrow was going to be one long fucking day.
The coach arrived wearing the scowl of all scowls. He thanked the cops for not taking them in and apologized profusely to the hotel staff. Surprisingly, but even scarier, the coach had hardly said a word the whole way back to their hotel room. Another surprise was that their seven a.m. bus time still stood. Alex and Angel could only think he didn’t want them even more tired than they’d already be for the game tomorrow, but then he hit them with what hurt most.
“I hope tonight was worth it.” He looked around, eyeing each of them as he stood up when they reached their hotel. Angel could hardly stand to look the man in the eyes, but he didn’t look away. “I hope you guys at least got laid tonight because after the game tomorrow, win or lose, you’re mine. You don’t shower. You don’t head to the bus. You grab something to eat from the vending machine or wherever you can in that stadium, and then you meet me back on that field when the crowds are gone. We’re gonna run drills until you’re all puking your fucking lungs out. Then Sunday morning we do it again. Sunday afternoon—again.”
He slammed his hand against the bus ceiling then walked off the bus. All the players sat there, waiting to be dismissed, but they watched as the coach walked into the hotel and didn’t walk back out. The driver stood up and faced them with a disapproving but sympathetic expression. “I think you boys better get in bed now.”
They all stood slowly and exited the bus with their tails between their legs. Angel was so mad he could almost roar, but there was no point. This whole weekend was fucked now. Even then he’d gladly take the drills and the two-a-days on Sunday. None of that was worse than having to explain this night to Sarah. Angel had to get to her before anyone else did. She’d get that he had no choice when all the guys in the shuttle started chanting, “Party! Party! Party!” They’d been supposed to be voting on going to the party or heading back to their hotel. Then when they got there he couldn’t just sit there in the shuttle and refuse to go up to the party. He’d actually considered staying in the shuttle and taking a nap. He figured if the guys took too long and the driver couldn’t wait he’d get a ride back to the hotel. That is until all the guys started busting his balls. Even Alex had told him not to be a pussy.
Now here he was at almost one in the morning, trying to log onto his Facebook using his phone with the dying battery and failing miserably. He couldn’t even remember when the last time was he’d logged in, so trying to remember his password was futile.
“What are you doing?” Alex asked as he walked out of the bathroom, shirtless and ready for bed. “Don’t tell me you’re calling Sarah. It’s a two-hour difference, you know? So it’s close to three a.m. over there.”
Angel had thought about that. It’s why he hadn’t called or texted her. His only hope now was that, even if Dana and her damn friends had posted shit already, it’d be at least a few hours before Sarah was up to see any of it. As far as he knew, Dana wasn’t Facebook friends with Sarah. His only worry now was Valerie. She was the one who had told Sarah about all the shit Dana had posted before, and if she saw the photos of Alex, she was going to be on fire. Unlike Angel, Alex had no qualms about pulling the overzealous girls to him and posing body to body like the ham that he was.
“I wasn’t trying to call her,” Angel said, pulling his charger out of his bag. “I was just trying to check my Facebook to see if any photos from the party are up yet.”
“Oh, yeah.” Alex chuckled. “Sarah’s gonna love those especially the ones with Dana slathered all over you.”
“I pushed her away,” Angel muttered, clenching his jaw, annoyed that obviously Alex wasn’t worried about Valerie seeing the photos of him and all those chicks he hung out with and the ones where he’d even let them sit on his lap.
“Aren’t your worried about Valerie seeing them?”
He looked up just in time to see his brother’s face go hard. “I don’t ask her what she does when I’m not around.”
“Why is that?” Angel asked, even more exasperated now at how unfair it was that Alex didn’t seem as worried as Angel felt. “Because it sure as shit pisses you off to see her with other guys.”
Alex didn’t say anything; he just got in bed, pulling the blankets over him and shrugged. Angel would never get it. He’d never be able to deal with the possibility of Sarah hanging out with other guys when he wasn’t around in that type of atmosphere, especially if she was a flirt like Valerie. As much of a hothead as his brother was, Angel couldn’t for the life of him figure out how he did it.
“Doesn’t it bother you to think she might be with someone else when you’re not—?”
“I don’t ask because I don’t wanna know, all right?” Alex snapped suddenly, officially sounding as agitated as Angel felt. “Now shut off the lights and get your ass in bed. Tomorrow’s gonna be a long enough day as it is.”
The screen on Angel’s phone went black, and he sat down on the bed. Sarah had texted him once hours ago to say goodnight. He hadn’t even called her like he said he would. The whole time at the damn party he kept saying he’d wait until he got back to the quiet of his hotel room—no way was he calling her from the party—but he never got the chance.
Tossing and turning for a while, Angel thought about everything he’d be dealing with the next day: trying to get a hold of Sarah in the morning before anyone else did, the big game, and the drills until they puked. He wondered if he’d ever get to sleep.
~~~
“Get up!”
The whole bed shook violently as Angel’s eyes flew open. Alex had kicked the bed with his knee as he rushed past it and off toward the restroom.
“We slept in late,” he said. “Bus leaves in fifteen.”
Angel jumped out of bed and threw on his warm ups. Alex rushed back out of the restroom, and Angel went in after him. They brushed their teeth, grabbed their stuff, and rushed out of the room. They didn’t even wait for the elevator. Since they were only on the third floor, they ran down the stairs. It wasn’t until they were down in the lobby with the rest of the groggy team that Angel realized he’d left his phone plugged into the charger on the nightstand. Clenching his teeth, he turned to Alex, holding in the myriad of curse words that came to him. “Did you bring your phone?”
Alex patted the pocket on his sweatshirt then checked his bag, frowning. “I left it in the room.”
Gadamnit!
“You think I have time to run up and get mine?”
The coach walked out into the lobby, holding a coffee cup in one hand and a clipboard in the other. He pointed to the door with the clipboard. “Your asses should’ve been on the bus already. Let’s go.”
They all followed him out, and Angel could only imagine the amount of ass he’d be kissing tonight when he finally got back to the room after not calling Sarah last night then keeping her in the dark all day. He’d finally be able to explain last night. She wasn’t the type who would make him kiss her ass, but he had every intention of doing so anyway.
~*~
Sarah
The French toast Sarah’s mom made her in a hurry that morning before rushing off to meet Aunt Norma was good. It was just as she remembered it when she was growing up. She should have cherished one of her mom’s favorite meals, but there was something off. All Sarah kept thinking was this wasn’t the French toast Angel made her with so much thought and love.
She still had that ugly feeling at the pit of her stomach too, and that likely had a lot to do with it. She’d texted Angel goodnight last night when she hadn’t heard from him and was ready to knock out. She waited a good hour, reading in bed in hopes of hearing her phone ding with a text from him but nothing.
After the unsatisfying breakfast, she walked back into her room, determined to not obsess about checking her phone all day. He had a big game today, and there were probably a lot of events going on that would keep him busy for the better part of the day.
Her heart did a little flutter when she saw the light blinking on her phone anyway. She clicked on it only to see it was a FaceTime request from Leonardo. She checked the time and saw it was sent less than five minutes ago. Since her laptop was already open, she clicked on it and saw he was on. She responded to the connect request, and the screen popped up to show him looking through his phone.
“Hey!” she said then laughed when his head jerked up in surprise.
“Hey, baby girl!” he said, laughing and holding his hand to his chest. “For a second there, I forgot I’d dialed anyone.”
It was the first time he’d called her that, and though it felt weird, she didn’t know how to respond to it, so she didn’t. Instead, she asked. “What’s up?”
“You look cute,” he said, smiling big, and it wasn’t until then she realized she was still in her pajama top and her hair was all crazy from having just gotten out of bed not long ago.
She smoothed her hair down a little and tried to come up with a witty response when her phone beeped and she grabbed it. She frowned when she saw it was a text from Valerie.
I’m curious. What’s his explanation? Because I won’t hold my breath to hear from Alex until he gets back. IF I’m lucky. Even then I seriously doubt he’ll be offering any explanations and I won’t be asking.
Confused, but a little nervous because she still had that bad feeling in her stomach, Sarah started to text back. She didn’t want to get caught up in Alex and Valerie’s drama, so she responded with nothing more than a question mark.
“Is that Angel?” Leonardo asked.
“No,” she shook her head, smiling and looking back up at the screen. “It’s my cousin, Valerie.”
“The one going to Havasu this weekend? Is she there already?
Sarah thought about it. Good question. Valerie hadn’t said when she was leaving. “I dunno. She didn’t say, but I’m pretty sure she’s still going if she’s not already there.”
Just then her phone dinged again, making Sarah’s stomach tighten a little.
You haven’t talked to Angel? So you don’t know about last night?
Oh God! Sarah frowned. Whatever it was she wasn’t letting Valerie get her all worked up. Sarah knew in her heart of hearts Angel would never do anything he knew would upset her. Still, she couldn’t help wondering why she hadn’t heard from him at all last night and still hadn’t this morning. She responded with three words.
No and No.
Instead of texting back, Valerie was calling now. Sarah asked Leonardo if he wanted to wait or if he’d rather call back, but she had to take the call. He opted to wait, so she picked up the phone and walked away from her desk.
“What’s up?” she asked cautiously, trying not to sound worried.
“Okay, from what I’m hearing, the whole team is in deep shit right now,” Valerie started without so much of a hello. “They were supposed to be in bed early last night, but instead they all decided to go to a hotel party thrown by someone on the Hawaii team. First of all, how stupid is that? Like there wouldn’t be an inevitable fight?”
“Was there a fight?” Sarah asked, already feeling alarmed.
“Of course!” Valerie huffed. “I don’t know who fought or what. All I know is the cops were called and the guys on the team were released to the coach so no one was arrested, but are you ready for this?”
Sarah braced herself. “What?”
“The party was thrown by none other than Dana and her stupid friends, and before you ask, yes, there are photos of her and Alex and Angel and a bunch of the other guys on the team all over her and her idiot friend’s Facebook pages, but, of course, the ones of her and Angel were the first ones she posted.” Sarah could hear the venom in Valerie’s words, but she couldn’t blame her. Sarah was beginning to feel a little pissed especially given the fact that Angel hadn’t bothered to call or even text her last night. “There’s also a few disgusting ones of Alex with two whores on his lap, and he looks to be having a good ole time. I swear, Sarah . . .” Her voice finally broke, and Sarah’s heart went out to her.
Sarah hadn’t even seen any of the photos, and already she felt hurt that Angel would pose for them, knowing full well how she felt about Dana. Valerie had seen photos of Alex with girls on his lap. “Valerie hon,” she began.
She heard Valerie inhale loudly, and she cleared her throat. “No. I’m done, Sarah. He’s probably over there screwing every one of those whores who’d gladly spread their legs for him. Do you know what he said to me yesterday when I went to see him off?” She paused but didn’t wait for Sarah to ask and Sarah didn’t. She could already tell Valerie was going off on one of her tangents, the ones only Alex ever brought out of her. “He told me he missed me already and that he wished I were going with him. Ever since Max’s party, he’s been such a sweetheart. I actually believed him. I’m so stupid.” Her voice started to break again, but she held it together. “Anyway, I’m still going to Havasu with Monica. She’s just watching her older brother while her mom gets a few more hours of sleep. She worked last night and her brother’s autistic. He can’t be left alone, but as soon as her mother is up, we’re out. Are you still staying home with your paper?”
A million questions assaulted Sarah all at once. Why hadn’t Angel called or even texted her last night? Why hadn’t he called this morning? Were there any sickening photos of him and Dana or any of those other whores? Would he be hanging out with them again today—tomorrow? It all came down to one thing—the only thing that calmed her—Angel wouldn’t do this to her. She knew him too well.
Knowing Valerie was in near tears and there was no denying the photos of Alex with not one but two girls on his lap, she wouldn’t tell Valerie what she was thinking. She was certain Angel had a good explanation for being at Dana’s party and not bothering to call her. As much as it did stir the bubbles beginning to suds in her belly, Angel deserved the benefit of the doubt.
“Havasu does sound like fun,” she said, trying to sound as if she were actually considering it, “but, yeah, I still have to work on that paper.”
Valerie was quiet for too long, and Sarah wondered if she was crying or maybe mad at her for not wanting to go. “Val?”
“Hmm?”
“You okay?”
“Yeah,” she said, but she sounded distracted.
“Did you hear what I said?”
“About your paper? Yes, I heard you. I’m just. . . Ugh!!” she said suddenly. “I should just stop looking already. The more photos I see of him, the more I wanna fling this fucking iPad across the room.”
“Well, then stop,” Sarah said firmly. “Don’t let those sluts make you wreck your own iPad.”
“I am,” Valerie said. “I’m stopping right now, and not to get you all riled, but there are more of Angel and Dana this time. It’s like that bitch realized last year she should’ve gotten more than that one she posted all over all year, so she made up for it this time. But if it’s any consolation, he doesn’t look all smug and comfortable like he’s enjoying every moment of it the way Alex does.” She exhaled dramatically again. “That’s it. I’m done looking at these, especially because, from what I’m reading, that was just the pre-party. The real partying starts tonight. I’m not looking at my Facebook page until the weekend is over.” She laughed suddenly then added. “Who am I kidding, right? But at least I’ll be doing some partying of my own. I’m gonna jump in the shower now and get ready. In case you change your mind, we’re not leaving for another couple of hours, so let me know.”
“Okay, thanks,” Sarah said, knowing perfectly well she wouldn’t.
When she got back to her laptop, Leonardo was still sitting there, looking through his phone again. “Sorry about that,” she said and he looked up.
“It’s okay.” He smiled. “So your cousin is still going to Havasu?” Sarah nodded, pulling her hair back and sticking a clip through it to hold the mess together. “If Angel’s gone all weekend, why don’t you go with her?”
“Because,” she said, making the screen he was on smaller and opening up a second one for Facebook. “I have a paper I really need to get done.”
She wouldn’t mention that since Angel hadn’t called her last night she’d pretty much finished it. She just needed to tweak it now to make sure it was as perfect as it was going to get. Still, she was not about to start playing the games Alex and Valerie played. That was the last place she wanted to take her and Angel’s relationship. There was no way she’d be able to deal with what Valerie did.
“Is your cousin just coming for the day or all weekend?”
“All weekend, I think,” Sarah said without even looking at the screen he was on.
Her eyes were already focused on some of the posts people from her school were commenting on. There was a headline from a local Waikiki paper talking about the disturbance at the hotel caused by the rowdy college kids. Sarah scanned the story, but there were no names mentioned. It did, however, point out that it was almost one in the morning when things were finally settled and the football players were sent on their way with the coach.
She then clicked on another link someone posted from the party. They were saying it was totally worth the trouble they’d gotten in.
Then boom. There it was: the ruthless blow to her gut.
Hearing about Angel’s photos with Dana was one thing, but seeing it for herself made her ill. The smile on Dana’s face alone was sickening, but seeing her arms wrapped around Angel so tightly made her skin crawl. She clicked on the rest and saw photo after photo of the party. The ones of Dana and Angel seemed to be of the same instance with just slight differences as if someone had just snapped away as she wrapped herself around him. Even though Valerie was right, he didn’t look nearly as pleased as some of the other guys in the photos, hearing about the photos and seeing them were two different animals. She knew exactly what Valerie meant about wanting to throw the damn thing across the room.
“Something wrong?”
There was no way she was going to be able to concentrate on anything now until she heard from Angel. She glanced back at the phone to check if by chance she’d missed a call or text. She even picked it up and scrolled through the texts from him, hoping maybe somehow she’d missed one.
Nothing.
“Baby girl.”
Sarah finally looked up. The term of endearment still felt weird, but at that moment she was too worked up to give it much thought.
“What’s wrong?” Leonardo asked, the look on his face genuinely concerned. “You seem upset—”
“I’m not.”
“Okay?” he said, making her feel a little stupid because obviously she was.
Her eyes were back on the photos, and she thought about the real partying starting tonight. The way the two girls were sitting on Alex’s lap reminded her of something Valerie had said once—something about Angel having to be a saint to pass up the skanks offering themselves up so easily and sucking them like porn stars. She wondered if by chance Alex had invited these two girls back to his room—a room he was sharing with Angel.
Standing up abruptly, Sarah shook her head. She would not do this. Angel would never betray her that way. Of that she was certain.
“Hey.”
Sarah shook her head again, trying in vain to shake off the ugliness she felt just thinking about the possibility of what may’ve kept Angel too busy to even text her last night. Practically lunging at her laptop, she X’d out of Facebook.
“Not another glance,” she muttered through her teeth.
“What?”
Suddenly she snapped out of it enough to realize Leonardo was still on the screen, staring at her. “I’m sorry,” she said, bringing her hand to her mouth.
“What happened? What’s going on?”
“Nothing,” she assured him. “I just . . . I have to make another call. I don’t wanna keep you waiting. I’ll call you back, okay?”
She barely gave him a chance to nod before shutting down the window and picking up her phone. There was a two-hour time difference between La Jolla and Waikiki, which meant it was still only a little after seven in the morning there. There was still a good chance she could catch him on the bus or at the very least still in the locker room getting suited up for warm ups. She hit speed dial, but it went to voice mail.
Inhaling before texting him, she knew once she sent it she couldn’t take it back. She didn’t want to text anything she’d regret, but she certainly wasn’t in a mood to be sweet. She texted the four words she wanted to say and sent them.
We need to talk.
With her heart beating erratically now, she hit speed dial again. As soon as Sydney answered, she started talking a mile a minute. She needed him to calm her—to assure her she was just jumping to ugly conclusions—to remind her that Angel would never do any of the things she was envisioning.
“All right, Lynni,” Sydney said. “First of all, slow down. I caught most of what you said, but some of it blew right by me. So Angel went to a party last night with Dana. He never called you or texted you. He took lots of pictures with her, and now you wanna go party in Havasu with Valerie?”
Just like that Sarah was yanked out of her near frantic mood, and she laughed, feeling like a drama queen. “No!” She laughed even more thinking about what she must’ve sounded like to Sydney. Taking a deep breath, she tried again only this time a lot calmer. “He went to a party last night. One Dana threw at a hotel. Not with her. But there are all kinds of pictures of him with her online now. Since he never called or texted me last night like he said he would, it’s just making me crazy. And, no, I don’t want to go party in Havasu because of this. You know that’s not like me. It’s just that this is already making me insane, and I know I won’t be hearing from him at least until this afternoon when his game is over. I’ll be losing my mind by then, so I was thinking since I’m pretty much done with my paper maybe I should get out. Get my mind off all this. It’s what Valerie’s doing.”
“You should,” he said simply, “even if he hadn’t gone to a party or taken pictures with Dana. Why not? It’s a three-day weekend. Go enjoy yourself.”
“But you don’t think because this did happen he’ll think I’m being petty, trying to get back at him?”
“He might,” Sydney said then chuckled. “Actually, it’s probably exactly what he’ll be thinking, but unless he has a damn good reason for not only going to Dana’s party but hanging out with her when he knows how you feel about her and then not even bothering to call you, I’d say he doesn’t have much of a leg to stand on and argue. Besides we know he has nothing to worry about. It’s not like you’re going out there to get crazy.”
Smiling weakly, Sarah still debated whether she should go or not. She really didn’t want Angel to think she was playing games because it wasn’t about that. It just scared her how quickly she’d gone from staying calm and giving Angel the benefit of the doubt to nearly losing it. She knew now the longer she sat around all day waiting and possibly more photos resurfacing—photos she’d be too weak to keep herself from looking at—the worse she would feel about it. She’d go nuts all day unless she had a major distraction.
As soon as she got off the phone with Sydney, she called Valerie and told her she was in. Valerie was beyond ecstatic. Fortunately, she didn’t mention any more about the happenings in Hawaii. Sarah really didn’t want to hear anymore, not from Valerie or anyone else but Angel. Anything she heard from anyone else would be hearsay and only serve to piss her off for possibly no good reason.
She pulled out her overnight bag and started throwing a few things in it. She concentrated on what she’d need out there. As chilly as it was beginning to get out here near the beach, Valerie said it was still in the low hundreds in Havasu. She even told Sarah to pack a bathing suit—more than one.
A couple of hours later, she had showered, packed and was waiting for Valerie. She still hadn’t heard a thing from Angel, but she figured he was likely in the middle of warm-up drills for the game. It’d be at least a few hours before she heard anything from him. She’d be halfway to Havasu by then.
Suddenly she remembered how rudely and abruptly she’d cut Leonardo off. Not wanting to fire up her laptop, she decided to text him instead.
So sorry about this morning. I just had a few things going on all at once. But that was really rude of me. Anyway, I decided to go to Havasu after all. I’m waiting for my cousin to pick me up now. =)
Unlike the rest of the times when she emailed or texted him, he didn’t respond immediately, and she wondered if maybe he was mad about her rudeness.
Valerie and Monica arrived to pick her up. Her mom was back from shopping with her aunt and walked them out, asking all the usual mom questions. Where were they staying? Did they have enough money? Had they packed enough clothes? And she then gave them all the usual warnings about not drinking too much or drinking and driving and watching out for crazies, etc. Finally, a few minutes later, they were on the road.
“Hey,” Valerie said, and Sarah looked up from her phone in the back seat, meeting Valerie’s eyes in the rearview mirror.
“Huh?”
“Road trip rules.” Her eyebrow went up before bringing her attention back to the road. “No checking Facebook for annoying photos. No talk of those two infuriating brothers unless either of them call or text us directly. And no sulking all weekend no matter what. We’re going out there to have fun. I know you’re not single, and I don’t expect you to act as if you were, but I do expect you to have fun, okay? No fuddy-duddies. That’s not why I invited you.”
Sarah frowned, glad Valerie was looking straight ahead and not into the rearview mirror anymore. She didn’t care for her cousin lumping Angel into the same category of infuriating as Alex because he was far from it. But the last photo she’d just seen of him and Dana on her phone’s Facebook app was pretty damn infuriating. She threw her phone in her bag and looked out the window.
“Agreed,” she said. “No Facebook, no talk of the Morenos and no fuddy-duddies. I will have fun. I promise.”
“Good,” Valerie said, turning up the music, and did a fist pump.
Taking a deep breath, Sarah had a sudden thought. She and Angel had been inseparable for so long. In all the times she’d been with him, she’d never even gone out to a local party without him. Not only was she doing so now she was doing it out of state in a major college crowd party resort and for the whole weekend. Before she could start feeling bad and let the unease in her stomach manifest, she reminded herself that Angel was in Hawaii without her. For as much as he said he wished she was there before and even though she didn’t have all the facts yet, one fact was clear. He’d be out there all weekend, and he hadn’t even been able to wait to get started. His first night there he’d gone out to party and to none other than Dana’s party. The reminder was enough to snuff out any guilt she’d started to feel about doing this.