I woke up with a pounding headache the next day. With a heavy groan, I sat up slightly in bed only to find Ally and Serena barely asleep, groaning and holding their heads.

"I can't believe you all fainted," Faizah tsked and tossed a pillow onto each of us, ordering us to get out of bed. That only got more groans from us.

Eventually, I managed to get out of bed. Faizah tossed me a bottle of water, which I failed to catch, and ordered me to drink it, which I did because I felt so dehydrated. She went to take a shower and I decided to search for something more efficient that would cure this hangover. I pulled on a cap, slipped on a pair of slippers and left the hotel room, but before I could even press the elevator button, the doors opened and before me stood Elliot.

He only looked at me, and there was something about his expression that made me anxious. I racked my mind but couldn't find many memories of last night. Had I done something I shouldn't have done yesterday?

"Your floor is below us, what are you doing here?" I decided to ask instead.

The elevator doors began to close but Elliot stuck his hand through and the doors automatically opened again.

"Where are you going in your condition?" He asked instead of answering my question.

"What condition? I'm perfectly fine," I told him and he cocked a brow, unconvinced. "I'm just going to look for something to cure my hangover."

"Lucky for you, I've got just what you need," he said, suddenly handing me the plastic bag he was holding. "These will help cure your hangover."

"You got them for me?" I asked, somewhat baffled at his generosity. "You really didn't have to."

"I did," Elliot said, almost sheepish. "But it's not just for you," he added quickly, "it's, um, for Serena and Ally too, they were farther gone than you were," he chuckled awkwardly. "And technically it was Reed who got these for you, I sorta used his credit card."

My lips curved into a smile at that.

"Now go back to your room and get some rest," he advised.

Before leaving, I inspected the contents in the plastic bag. Crackers, water, but the item that stuck out was... "chocolate?"

"You said chocolates cure all your sicknesses," he told me.

"When did I say that?"

"The first day we met, in the shops," he reminded me. "I know you meant it as a joke, but I thought the chocolate would still help." He pressed the button for his floor and just before the doors closed he offered me a soft smile before saying, "Get some rest."

I looked back into the plastic. Snickers and Kit Kats were the only chocolates inside.

So he's a good listener too? I thought to myself then sighed. Why is he so attractive?

I made my way to the door only to remember I forgot my key card inside.

Perfect.

Serena and Ally were likely too hungover to answer the door, and Faizah wouldn't be able to hear the door over the shower. It took her at least half an hour to finish in the bathroom so I would have to wait. I was perfectly fine with waiting though, I had chocolates to pass the time.

****

I could only fully function after 10 am, and it was probably only because of the cures Elliot—and Reed—had brought for me—well, us—as well as the pills Faizah had forced down our mouths.

Faizah choreographed our entire day. First, in order to relax we went to the spa. I wasn't surprised when my jaw dropped upon entering the lavished and luxurious room. Then, we hit the beach and spent the rest of the morning and half of the afternoon doing activity after activity. Wakeboarding, scuba diving and even white water rafting. The latter was the most fun, what with the complete change in environment. Our guide drove us through the hills to a river where an inflatable raft awaited us. He navigated us around rocks, trees and waterfalls. My adrenaline was constantly on the high every time we crashed into waves and sped down small waterfalls. The activity immersed us in nature and we experienced scenery and views that, otherwise, wouldn't usually be accessible.

We did land sports as well like beach volleyball and beach soccer. In the latter, Serena and I were the only females playing. Ally was stolen away by Jonah and Faizah was hopeless at soccer so she planted herself under a palm tree and dug her nose in a book. The teams were shirts vs shirtless. I was on team shirts because Serena insisted on being shirtless, playing in her shorts and bikini top.

The game was challenging, not only because I was playing with guys, but because half of them were shirtless, Elliot included. Serena and I were both playing defence in our respective teams. I did relatively well when I marked every other guy but Elliot. It wasn't easy getting all up in his business, what with his distractingly striking body, but that didn't stop me. Sure, my eyes constantly betrayed me and focused on his torso more than the ball but I still wasn't easy to get past. It was quite pleasing seeing Elliot's surprised expression the first time I stole the ball from him.

The second half came, and by then, none of the guys underestimated my, nor Serena's, soccer abilities. Despite the competition, our team was leading by one point, which was great up until our self-appointed captain decided that I should score the last goal. There were less than five minutes left and he insisted so much that I had no choice but to agree.

Our goalkeeper started with the ball and passed it to me, I passed it to another defender and rather than staying back like I usually did, I ran forward, switching places with the midfielder and as the ball moved forward further, I traded places with the striker. By then, the other team realised what was going on and started marking me. Eventually, there was an opening and the ball was passed to me. Serena was marking me now, and I was smart enough to know not to even attempt to dribble past her so I passed the ball, ran past her and when the ball was passed back to me I angled myself to shoot and the ball had just connected with my foot when I was suddenly tackled.

"Hey!" That was from Serena who went all up in the face of the guy who tackled me, spewing insults and expletives even though he was on her team. It got to a point where some of the guys were shouting at the other guy for his illegal tackle while others were urging Serena to calm down.

I sat up and couldn't help my smile as I watched the spectacle, Serena looked about ready to choke the guy on the sand. Someone stood before me and I looked up to see Elliot. He bent down to catch my gaze with his.

"You good?" He asked as he took both my arms and helped me up.

"Better than Serena seems to be," I answered.

Elliot chuckled at that and began wiping the sand from my arms. A very generous and distracting gesture, especially since he was still shirtless. I mumbled a thank you, stepped back then wiped the rest of the sand off of me.

The goalkeeper had saved my ball, but because of that tackle, I was given another shot. A penalty. I hated penalties, but our captain insisted I take it, so I did. I shot and it deflected off of the goalkeeper and right back to me, so I shot again, and it went in. Cheers erupted from my team and the next thing I knew I was being hoarded in embraces and congratulations by hot and sweaty guys.

Once the hype died down people parted ways. Serena walked off with Reed, still shooting daggers at the guy who had tackled me, and Elliot approached me.

"Good game," he congratulated me. "I really wasn't expecting you to be that good."

"Well, I guess I'm just full of surprises."

He grinned, "you really are."

I couldn't help but feel that there was a secondary meaning to those words, and I couldn't help but think back to last night. I had been drinking with Elliot yesterday before I blacked out and woke up in the hotel, but I honestly couldn't remember anything.

"What's that supposed to mean?" I asked sceptically. "Did I... did I do or say anything weird to you last night?"

Elliot's grin widened, "trust me, it's best if you don't know."

My hand flew to my mouth, but I dropped my hand only to say, "just tell me."

"Can't," Elliot said then began walking away and I had no choice but to follow.

"Oh come on, just tell me."

"You said a lot to me that you wouldn't have said if you were sober," he told me. "And I said a lot to you that I probably wouldn't have said if you weren't drunk."

"Elliot," I complained, but before I could formulate a way to convince him to tell me, an arm suddenly draped around my shoulders.

That startled me and I looked to my side only to see our self-appointed captain looking down at me with a surprisingly adorable grin. He had dark green eyes which were pinned on me and some of his medium-length hair stuck to his temples.

"Hey there, partner," he greeted me in a deep yet friendly voice, and I wondered how I hadn't noticed how nice his voice was during the entire hour we were playing.

"Hey there, self-appointed captain," I greeted and his grin widened.

"The name's Kyle, and unless you want me to keep calling you partner, you should probably tell me your name."

I snorted a laugh, "it's Zara."

"Zara," Kyle slowly echoed. "Pretty name for a pretty girl."

An awkward laugh escaped my lips, "thanks."

I glanced at his arm still draped around my shoulder, feeling slightly uncomfortable because of the interest he was showing. It was either he was a flirt, or he was just a really confident guy.

"What do you say you and I hang out tonight?" He proposed.

"Uh..." I racked my brain for an appropriate response. A kind denial. I couldn't just plainly say 'no.' Well, I could, but it seemed too harsh. I couldn't come up with a reasonable excuse on the spot so I—

"Yes!" Serena declared from out of nowhere as she ran with unbelievable speed towards us, but as a result of that when she reached us she had to take a few breaths before speaking. "Did you ask her out?"

"Uh, I guess?" Kyle answered.

"Great, then yes. She says yes."

Before I could deny her statement she grabbed me by my arm and yanked me away.