7. FALLON

At this point, I was crushing hard on the manager, and I felt like he knew it as well. I didn't know when he'd come to the table between me sitting down and closing my eyes, but according to Henry, it seemed like it happened immediately.

"He's probably just nice to everyone," I said. "It's his job."

"Trust me, his job is to look after the resort, he doesn't have to be around schmoozing with guests," Henry said, like he was trying to convince me of my delusion. "Next time we see him, you ask for his number, say you want someone who knows the city and someone who speaks English."

Immediately, shaking my head. There was no way that was going to happen. I wasn't going to let myself be convinced that a man I'd just met was interested in me like that. I'd done it far too many times before, and each time, that was a case for a broken heart. I didn't want to be another casualty of vacation romance. "The goal tonight is to get laid by a tall, hunky man, not to fall in love with I could cross paths with back in the States."

"Yeah, but you'd never cross paths with him," Henry said. "He lives here."

That was true, but he also wasn't a stranger. He had tall going for him, but he wasn't hunky, and that was a new arbitrary addition to what I wanted just so I could rule Sterling out in front of Henry. But who was I kidding? Myself, clearly. Every time I saw Sterling, my heart skipped and my breathing hitched. At this point, I should've thrown myself at his feet and become the needy bottom I knew he'd hate.

"Anyway," Henry continued. "You could still get laid by him, and I bet he has all that pent up stress from dealing with people that he'd be a pretty good fuck." He smacked his lips. We were both clearly desperate for some physical contact at this point.

"Back off. Go bear hunting or something."

"Trust me, tonight is bear hunting season," he said. "I even packed that t-shirt. The one with the grizzly bear that says wanted. " He gestured with a hand to his chest.

"What should I wear?"

"How about just a jock and a crop top?" he said. "Because that'll clearly say who you are and what you're looking for."

"I know you're joking, but that's not actually a bad idea. In fact, I might consider it."

"No other clothes," he added. "Just those two things."

"And where will I keep my wallet?"

"In your ass."

We were both teetering in the extra sassy territory, and we'd been waiting on those coffees to arrive. But just as I was reminded about it, a woman arrived with them on a silver plate. She had menus balancing beneath them.

"Hola, buenos dias," she said, immediately going into Spanish.

We both stared at her. Hearing another language was fascinating to me, because they spoke so quickly, I wondered how anyone was able to keep up with anything they were saying. But she gathered neither of us spoke the language and chuckle before repeating herself in English.

"Thank you," I said profusely. "I want to learn, but my tongue just gets all—" I stuck my tongue out, it was small, which seemed to be a devastation all around. "Try licking the bottom of a yogurt pot with a tongue this small." And licking other things.

The server laughed, handing us over the menus and explaining how they didn't have some pastries available but that was fine because our goal was to intake as much protein as possible. And orange juice, it was necessary for us to get rid of this hangover. Not a fun experience, but at least we were in the warmth of the direct sunlight, like we were trying to expel the hangover from our bodies.

Most of our morning was spent by the pool, eating and people watching. I had scrambled eggs, bacon, and toast, while Henry opted for something for a mixed breakfast bowl dish, it looked like it had eggs, avocado, and other veggies all bundled together.

"Listen," Henry said. "I don't want you thinking that we can't do anything because of money, so I'll pay and you can pay me back."

"No. I don't want to owe you anymore than I already do. I'm serious Henry, you've done so much for me as it is. All I want is to be able to take care of myself," I said, looking at him over my sunglasses so he knew I meant business.

"Fine, but if there's something that costs money and you can't afford it, we'll just do it," he said. "Like the massage. We're booked in for tomorrow, by the way. I figured it would be nice to have a massage after tonight's party."

"The afternoon, right?"

"Of course, but if neither of us get laid tonight, then I'm expecting both of us to be awake early again," he said. "I don't want to waste a moment of this weather or sun."

"You've already got a bit of a tan," I said, pressing my arm to the table to compare to his. "Maybe we should sunbathe, that's free."

"Or, we can finish and then go speak to the concierge," he suggested. "I think they might know of some things. Remember, you saw some of the things online."

I couldn't remember trying to continue selling Henry on the resort after discovering the Gersch teddies being resold here. "I don't know what they were."

"Snorkeling," he said. "You said they did that, and we both had a full conversation about how much we loved those little fishes from the picture."

It clicked. I had said that, but it was a throwaway comment, I didn't realize he was going to remember. "But you know, those pictures might not have even been from this place."

"But they might. And I want to go snorkeling," he said. "You've seen the water. You're not scared of a little water, are you?"

I wasn't scared of the water, but right now, the only thing that was moderately exciting to me was the idea of going sunbathing and falling asleep with basking in the sun and getting a tan or even just a minor burn to show people that I'd done something fun this summer. "Ok, but not today," I said.

"Yay! I'll hold you to that. Unless one of our two new friends wants to come with me."

"They just might."

I'd had so much fun with Charlotte and Nina last night, although I didn't know how the two of them were going to be this morning. And fingers crossed they were ready for tonight because it was the only thing keeping me going through the day.

We went back inside the resort from the pool entrance and right by the receptionist, there was a man who I'd thought was security yesterday, but right beneath him on a little plaque, he was labeled as the concierge.

It didn't take us long to find a bunch of affordable options for activities that we could do, and one of them was snorkeling. It meant we were now committed to it. The concierge booked it for us in two days time, alongside an excursion to Chichen Itza, which I'd looked at briefly online, but figured it would've been way out of our price range. It turned out that the resort offered the trip at a deep discount, so we got that booked the day after snorkeling.

"It's one of the wonders of the world," I said on the walk back to our villa. All giggles and smiles, I didn't want to get my hopes up beforehand, but now, my hopes were up.

"It's gonna be a long journey," Henry said, searching up the information on his phone beside me. "That means the night before, we're not gonna be able to get too drunk."

"That's fine, just keep the tequila away from me," I said, my tongue nearly retreating into the back of my throat.

He snapped his finger. "We had tequila shots last night."

"I know, I feel it in my throat again."

"No tequila tonight," Henry said.

Of course, we were all talk about no tequila and not getting too drunk tonight right now, but from experience, I knew neither of us could be trusted on that.

Once we were back at the villa, out of the heat in the air conditioning, I slumped myself down into the hard sofa and hugged my new teddy with Sibby in my arms. I was almost forcing them to be friends by proximity.

"The girls have mapped out the trip," Henry called out to me from his room.

"Huh?"

"I just got a message through. Apparently, they've booked a cab for tonight and also a table at the club," he said from his room.

Heaving myself from the sofa, I thudded my way to his room. He was laid on his bed in a full starfish position. "What do you mean a table? We're not going anywhere fancy, right?"

"I don't know, but they said it's on them, so don't worry about it," he said.

Of course, I was going to worry. The only thing I knew about booking tables in clubs was from the nightlife in New York City, and that could set you back a couple hundred to a couple thousand dollars. Now, I knew the economy wasn't the same, but it was still bound to be expensive.

"Relax," he said, probably witnessing the cogs whirring behind my eyes in real time. "We're gonna have a good time tonight."

"Yeah, well, I want to have a good time. I'm just—worried." I figured Mexico wouldn't be too expensive, but obviously, I was wrong since I forgot to account for tourist pricing. At this point, I was annoying myself with how worried I was about money. I held my teddies a little tighter in my arms.

"I know what will make you feel better," he said. "Water from the freezer and a trip to the beach. I know you want to work more on that tan."

"How is my tan? I can't really tell from the mirror."

Henry turned to me and pulled his sunglasses down his nose. "You're definitely looking more tan. But obviously, we can do better."

"Yes!" This was the perfect distraction. "Also, I think it's time for us to get our beach toys out. You know, since this is basically a private beach."

He squealed alongside me.

With our beach towels, bottles of icy water, and our small collection of beach toys; two buckets, spades, plastic sea animal toys, and a silicone molds we'd never used for baking, and were now exclusively used for the kinetic sand we had at home—and now beach sand.

The afternoon went by quick as we sat on the beach in the shortest shorts possible and no tops. We were looking for that best all-over tan, and that also meant moving around to get the sun for all angles. We made sandcastles for our animals, pretending they were underwater, and with the molds, we added detail to the castle.

Being in little space was a relief, because little Fallon didn't have to ever think or deal with money. In fact, little Fallon didn't even know what money was. He got whatever adult Fallon decided to give him, and he was treated very well.

The only thing more fun than being in little space in the sun building sandcastles, was going for a nap afterwards. It was the perfect ending to the afternoon, and well needed if I was going to have any energy for adult activities tonight, and I hoped to be doing plenty of those.