"Dayum," Harper drawled when we walked into her room at the condo. "Do you see the size of this room?"

I looked around the overly large space. There was a queen size bed in the middle of the room with a large window behind it. A black dresser/mirror combo was against the far left wall and matching desk on the opposite one. There was a small nightstand by the bed with a lamp and a pad of paper with a pen.

Lanie mentioned there was a surprise about the hotel, but I didn't expect this. Honestly, as long as the beach was close by and the hotel had a pool, I was a happy girl.

"You aren't kiddin'." I frowned and turned to Lanie who was standing behind me. "Do we really have separate rooms this time?"

The three of us used to share one room, usually with two beds and a pull out couch. Nothing like this. We never really complained about it. We were just grateful for these summer getaways. But the close quarters usually had us bickering quite often.

Lanie nodded as she stretched out on the white comforter that covered Harper's bed. "Yep. Parents got some kind of deal with the owners and we got this baby. We all have our own rooms but we share a bathroom."

Harper came out of her walk-in closet with a frown. "We have to share a bathroom? Okay, that may cause a few cat fights."

I chuckled. "Yeah, probably. Lanie likes to take forever when she showers."

Lanie was the queen of long showers. I remembered days where Harper and I would be at her house waiting for her to get ready to go to a movie or something, and Nate would be pounding on the bathroom door, yelling at her to hurry up because he had a Happy Meal to meet.

Okay, he didn't call them that. Just us.

"No, I don't!" she whined and pointed to Harper. "You're the one who stands in front of the mirror for hours doing your makeup."

Harper shamelessly shrugged a shoulder. "Guilty."

As Harper mooned over her new room, I walked over to the window and pushed it open. We were right on the water this time. I could hear the sound of waves crashing against the shore from here. Even the annoying call of the seagulls. I closed my eyes and breathed in the smell of the salt on the wind.

It sounded so relaxing out there. With everything I was dealing with back in New York, I was more grateful than usual to be here. I needed this. I needed my girls and I needed to spend some time not dreading the choices I was going to have to make.

"Karma? Did you hear me?"

I turned to Lanie. "I'm sorry, no. What did you say?"

She waved me over with her hand. "Come with me and I'll show you where you're sleeping."

I shut Harper's window before stalking across the room to follow Lanie. She led me down a long hallway before pausing in front of a closed door.

"This is you," she said, turning the handle and pushing it open. "Unfortunately, yours is right next to Nate's. Don't yell at me. I didn't assign the rooms."

I chuckled and shifted my duffle bag on my shoulder. "Don't worry about it, Lanie. It's fine."

"Whatever. Just don't come crying to me when you hear him on the phone all hours of the night talking to girls."

"I won't." I glanced around the hallway. "Where's your room?"

She pointed in the direction we came from. "It's next to Harper's. Anyway, I'm gonna go get unpacked. My mom wants us to be in the kitchen in an hour for dinner."

"Pizza?"

"Yup. You know how my mom is with traditions. We always have pizza on the first and last night of our beach trip." Lanie shrugged. "And sometimes in between."

"Some tradition," I teased before taking a step into my room. "I'm going to get settled and wash up before dinner. Thanks, Lanie."

Once she left me alone I took a look around the room. My room, I guess. Temporarily. It was surprisingly a little larger than my room at home. I had a queen size bed in the middle just like Harper, except mine had a large window above the headboard and two smaller ones on either side. To the right was a chest of drawers. No TV in the room, but I could live with that. I brought my books to read anyway.

I walked over to the bed and set my duffle on top.

"So this is home for the next two weeks," I said into the quiet space.

I wished it could be home longer than fourteen days. I still didn't know how I was going to sneak away to do this damn tour of USF. On the plane ride here I tried to think of ways I could fake it. Maybe researching the school or something. But I doubted that would work.

My mom was a damn lie detector. I didn't have a choice.

When I suddenly felt even more frustrated and depressed, I started unpacking my duffle bag. And as luck would have it, the first thing I see when I unzip the bag is brochures for USF.

Mom. She tried to sneak these in here. Seriously?

I snatched the pamphlets and went to the small bedside table. I yanked the drawer open, stuffed the brochures inside, and slammed it shut.

"Damn, girl. Take it easy."

Startled, I spun around. "What are you doing here, Nathan?"

He grimaced before stepping into my room. "Why do you always call me that?"

"Because I know you don't like it."

"Very funny." Typical Nathan, he fell onto my bed and sprawled out like it was his own. "So it looks like we're neighbors on this trip."

I crossed my arms over my chest. I really didn't need this right now. "Yeah. Seems so."

He turned on his side and rested his head in his hand. "What's wrong, Karma? You're being...you know."

"What's 'you know'?"

He winked at me and smiled. "You know...that special time of the month when you girls go batshit crazy."

I grabbed a pillow and hit him with it. "Nathan! I can't believe you asked me that!"

He grabbed the pillow from me when I tried to hit him again. "You know, Karma, if you wanted to have a pillow fight, all you had to do was ask."

I took the pillow back and threw it on the bed. "In your dreams, Nathan. Now please leave before I sick your sister on you."

"Psh. I'm not scared of-"

"Lanie!"

"Okay, okay. Jeez. Can't even have a little fun."

Nathan got up from my bed and headed for the door. I watched as he left, not trusting him to try something else if my back was turned. He was a meddler for sure. When he finally disappeared into the hallway, I went back to unpacking.

"By the way, Karma..."

I faced him with a droll look. "What."

"Just in case you need them, there's some tampons under the bathroom sink."

I grabbed the pillow and threw it at him again. Unfortunately, he was fast and it missed him, landing on the floor in the hallway. A part of me wanted to request a room change immediately. But then again, I didn't want to cause problems because Lanie's parents did so much to bring us on this trip.

I was just going to have to put up with Nathan and his immature behavior.

Once I was all unpacked it was nearly time for dinner. When I started down the hallway, I paused outside of Nathan's door. He was on the phone with someone.

"Yeah, bro. I mean it. It's Florida. There are so many fine girls here. Huh? Yeah, seriously. No, of course not! I will never date my sister's friends. Why? That's weird. Besides, if they're Lanie's friends, how cool would they be, right? I don't care if they're hot or not. And no you can't date my sister. Because I'll punch you in the face. Absolutely not. She may be annoying but she's still my sister, and I will beat your ass."

I quickly left and continued towards the kitchen. His conversation didn't surprise me. Nathan was famous for sleeping his way through high school. Coming to a new city was like a buffet for him.

"Disgusting," I muttered.

I continued in the direction of the kitchen. Lanie and Harper always thought it was weird that I never dated or wanted a boyfriend. Could they really blame me, though? Most boys our age were like this. Immature. Driven by hormones. Unable to be monogamous.

Personally, I rather wait until college. Maybe even after. Don't think about college, Karma. I did not want to start going down that rabbit hole again. The whole point of this trip was to get away. To get away from everything. So that's what I was going to do.

I was going to enjoy this trip. Hell, maybe Nathan had the right idea. This was a beach full of boys our age. Maybe I could find one who would distract me for the next two weeks.

Fingers crossed.

***
Just a reminder...I will be posting a new chapter of Heartstrings every Sunday until Falling Into Place is done! 🖤