Seattle, WA, at the Summit Convention Center, on Friday, June 14, 2030 at 9:00 am

Rachel

Our taxi pulled up to a tall glass building. There was a glass skybridge connecting it to another structure on the opposite side of the road. People were pouring in and out of the building. There was a large billboard outside.

Welcome Teachers and Administrators! Innovative Summit Conference 2030!

This conference happened every year and we usually attended it in San Antonio, Texas, but our school decided to attend the one in Seattle, Washington this time.

"We better get in there before all of the good pens are taken." Artemis practically fell out of the taxi. Her neon pink glasses slid off of her face, but were saved by the Hello Kitty lanyard she had them fastened to.

"I told you not to drink all those mimosas on the plane," I teased as I supported her arm.

"Hey, you had some too!" Artemis accused. She poked my shoulder with her pink painted fingers. Her eyes were a bright blue with streaks of white in them, they looked almost illuminated.

"Yes, I had one. You had three," I added as we grabbed our luggage from the taxi driver. "You also had an Irish coffee," I tried to say in an Irish accent.

Artemis belly laughed and we walked across the street towards the Convention Center. There was a staircase on the outside of the building that scaled the glass windows. It was quite a beautiful piece of architecture. There were skyscrapers all around us, tall enough to make you feel quite small standing there.

We walked into the building arm in arm, mainly to avoid getting pushed over by all of the people. Everyone was dressed casually right now, as the first event didn't start until this afternoon. This gave people traveling from across the country time to get settled before it began. The floor was a light gray linoleum, reflective and metallic looking from all the overhead lights. The stairs along the side were made of a light colored pine. You could see all the way to the top of the building if you looked up in the right places.

"Let's check in and get the hell out of this mosh pit," Artemis scowled from behind me. She was looking around for the front desk. There were so many people there that were taller than us, making it difficult to see the signs. I found the check in desk and pulled Artemis with me. The line wasn't actually very long, most of the people in the lobby were either figuring out where to go or waiting for the rest of their team.

After we got our room cards and ID badges, Artemis and I headed up the stairs with our luggage in tow. We were only staying here for two nights, but we had multiple events and dinners we were attending so extra outfits were needed. I bought myself some new clothes for this conference, something that I hadn't done in years.

She has been an incredible support system for me since Lucas left. At least she can understand half of the loneliness that I feel.

#

The hotel for the convention center was stunning. The carpet was a bright red with small flecks of gold and brown. The walls were a deep brown color, and beautiful amber lights ran down the halls outside each room. Inside was even more regal looking. Two queen beds with the fluffiest, softest looking white comforters were against the wall on the left.

Artemis ran over to the window and threw the curtains open. The sunlight filled the room, illuminating the dark wood of the furniture.

The skyscrapers we saw from the sidewalk are much less intimidating from here.

I could see pieces of Puget Sound in between the architecture.

Seattle has one of the most beautiful skylines.

We had a book at home with images from cities all over the world. Lucas and I marked the ones we wanted to visit, and Seattle was one of them. My heart began to feel heavy again. We planned so many adventures together, but I didn't know if we would ever have another one.

We were supposed to wear business professional attire whenever attending events or dinners. We hung out in our room for a couple of hours talking about Lucas and what I should do. I couldn't imagine myself being with anyone else, but that didn't mean that Lucas still felt that way. Artemis and I were flipping through movie choices for later when a patterned knock at the door interrupted us.

Bum bum, bum bum, bum bum bum bum.

"Room service!" The voice was very familiar.

"We've got some delicious snacks and your choice of flavored vodkas," another voice chimed in. I opened the door and saw Erika and Tyler with a serving cart full of snacks and alcohol.

"Where on Earth did you get that?" I asked as I hugged them both.

"Oh, my kind of lunch!" Artemis cheered as she ran over to the door and picked up a bottle of strawberry vodka. "Did I ever tell you two how much I love you?"

We all laughed and went through the goodies they brought. There were mixed fruit bowls, a charcuterie platter full of meat and cheese, and chocolate croissants.

"No, seriously though, where did you find this? Did you take this from outside someone's room?" I asked sternly, looking directly at Tyler. He made a fake surprised expression and put his hand over his heart.

"Who, me? I would never do something like that!" Tyler was originally from South Carolina, but went to college in Houston and fell in love with it. He taught a digital marketing class and ran the technology department. He had blonde hair that goes just past his shoulders. He usually tied it back in a ponytail, but today he was wearing it down. His choice of business professional attire was brown corduroy pants with a white dress shirt and a matching jacket. His tie has little computers and mousepads on it.

"Oh, please, Tyler," Erika interrupted. "At the Christmas party you literally told us about the time you got so drunk at a park that you 'borrowed' a kid's bicycle to see if you could still pop a wheelie." She used air quotes when she said the word 'borrowed'.

I start laughing out loud, remembering when I heard this story for the first time. Erika was the head of the language arts department. She had on a bright pink blouse and black dress pants. Her earrings were dangling with a string of bright blue triangles. Her classroom was full of these two colors as they were her favorite. She grew up in Dallas, so she has a bit of a southern accent. Her hair is a short brown bob and she has her bangs pinned up in a small lump on the top of her head.

"Yeah, and I still can, brother!" Tyler shouted as he pumped his fist in the air. Laughing with them pushed all of my thoughts of Lucas to the back of my mind.

"Okay, can we talk about how good Rachel looks right now? Is that a new dress?" Erika exclaimed as she walked over to me.

"Oh, yeah, I did some shopping before I left," I went to the mall with my sister, Sophie. She's five years younger than I am and just graduated from NYU.

I had on a navy blue bodycon dress that just reached my knees. It had short sleeves with a draped collar that showed just enough cleavage. The black belt wrapped around my waist and accentuated my hips. I even bought myself new shoes. They were close-toed black pumps with a two-inch heel. Their memory foam soles made it feel like I was walking on a cloud.

"Sugar, you look drop dead gorgeous. You're about to draw the eyes of all the sexy high school administrators," Artemis poked me with her pink nails and smirks.

"You look electric!" Tyler pretended he was being electrocuted as he said this.

I laughed at my friends' enthusiasm for my new wardrobe, until I started to think about how much Lucas would love this dress.

Perhaps that's why I picked this one.

My friends must have noticed that my mood has shifted because Tyler handed me a shot glass.

"Here, you look like you need this." I had never been much of a drinker. We never had it in the house because of Lucas' history with it.

"I'm only drinking that if it's strawberry vodka." I crossed my arms and looked pointedly at Tyler.

"What else would it be?" His smile turned into an open-mouthed grin as he pushed the glass towards me. "It's like she thinks I don't know her at all!" he continued as I grabbed the glass and brought it up to my nose.

This was a mistake.

The smell of hand sanitizer and candied strawberries hit my nose and immediately made me queasy.

"I think we all need to take one if we are going to make it through this first presentation," Artemis said as the bottle got to her. She filled up three more shot glasses and passed them around.

"Here's to spending three beautiful spring days in Seattle with some of the best people I know," I toasted.

We all clinked our glasses together and dug into the snacks. The bright colors of the tray were so inviting. Reds and blues from the diced fruit, rich brown from the chocolate covered croissants.

I should definitely eat if I'm going to be casually day drinking.

"Wait, you guys never actually told us where you got this stuff from," I said hesitantly before putting a strawberry in my mouth.

"It was a gift," Tyler answered. He put a cracker stacked with meat and cheese into his mouth. I looked at him suspiciously, still holding the strawberry up in the air.

"No, seriously, it was," Erika added. "It was sitting outside of Tyler's room with this on it," she grabbed a white note card from the center of the tray.

Thank you for traveling all the way from Texas, team! Enjoy the conference!

It was very vague and there wasn't a signature on it.

"Are you sure it was for your room? How close was it?" Artemis questioned them. "This tray is pretty fancy."

"Yeah, this food is way too fancy for us," I stated. The strawberry I was holding was drizzled with white and dark chocolate. I was about to put it into my mouth when I heard a slow voice from my right.

"Actually, I'd say that you're too good looking for the food," surprised, I turned to see an incredibly handsome, tall man with light brown hair walking towards us. He had on a dark gray suit that looks like it has been tailored to every inch of him perfectly, and it made his tan skin stand out. His dress shirt was a classic white with a black tie. His face was freshly shaven, and his eyebrows looked professionally groomed. There wasn't a hair out of place on his head.

"Oh my," Artemis said in a breathy voice next to me. "How do you do?" she held out her hand in a dainty manner, as if she was the queen. The gorgeous man smiled at her and shook her hand. There were two other handsome looking men with him. One was slightly older looking with some graying stubble and a larger build. The other man had a blonde buzz cut and was slightly shorter, but still taller than I was.

"Hi, my name is Sam," his southern accent was very charming. He let go of her hand and glanced over at me. His eyes were a deep green with some specks of blue and brown in them. I could feel my cheeks starting to burn. "And I think you guys are eating off of our lunch cart," his face was very serious when he said this and he crossed his arms. I gasped out loud and dropped the strawberry I had been admiring. Sam smiled at me slightly.

"Tyler Madden, you are in so much trouble!" I yelled this at him in a hushed tone, as if he was one of my students. His face looked like he'd just seen a ghost. The faces of Sam and the other two men began to crack and their lips curved into wide smiles. Tyler's face started to relax and he broke out into a boisterous laughter.

"Oh man, you guys had me so good right there," he was holding onto the edge of the cart while Erika was laughing through a mouthful of cheese.

"We knew this wasn't for us!" Artemis shouted. "Do the two of you knuckleheads even know where your rooms are?" Erika spit a little and turned around. Sam and his friends were laughing heartily along with us. I covered my mouth with my hand.

I haven't laughed this hard in a long time.

"I'm really sorry, brother," Tyler said as he put a hand on Sam's shoulder. "We are from Houston, so we thought it was for us!" Tyler is a very friendly and animated person, and sometimes his gestures are too much for people. Lucas was a little put off by Tyler when he first met him.

Sam paused for a moment, his green eyes focused on Tyler's hand. Just as I thought that he was going to take a step back, he put his hand on Tyler's shoulder too.

"Well, if you guys are from Houston then we clearly are brothers!" his smile was wide and genuine. Tyler clapped a hand on Sam's back and gave him one of those fraternity hugs. His quick connection with my friends was quite attractive, and I found myself grinning at him.

The men behind Sam were still laughing while Sam turned to me, his lips curved slightly.

"I guess we should get to know each other since we are all from Texas," I could feel my cheeks burning again. There was something about the way he was looking at me that felt...intense.

"We are all department heads at Vanguard Preparatory," Erika began. "I'm Erika Whitlock, I am the head of the Language Arts department." she waved sweetly at them, her southern twang coming through.

"I clearly don't specialize in reading considering I went to the wrong hotel room," Tyler continued as he scratched the back of his neck. The men chuckled along with us. "Technology department," Tyler shook each of their hands.

"Vance Summers, Superintendent for the Dallas School District," the older gentleman's voice was very warm and slightly higher than I expected. He also sounded like he grew up in Texas.

"Tony Martin, Principal at Westlake Academy," the balding man's voice was quite deep despite his shorter stature.

I'm sure that the kids can hear him very well in the halls.

I wasn't sure where he was from, but he didn't have an accent.

"Artemis Finnegan, Performing Arts," she loved to sing her title and spin around when she met new people. If they wanted to be friends with her, they needed to know how extra she was right off the bat. She shook each of their hands.

"Sam Marconi, Vice Principal at Westlake Academy," his eyes locked onto mine as he reached out a hand. "And you are?" there was that look again; one where it makes you forget where you are for a moment. I stared at his handsome face, unable to say anything. I saw Artemis wink at me out of the corner of my eye.

"Uhh, I'm Rachel Clarke, Math Department," I shook his hand tentatively. A small bolt of electricity coursed through my hand. His palms were very soft, and felt much different than Lucas'. Lucas was always sketching a blueprint or building a prototype, so his hands were calloused.

Sam smiled at me and let go of my hand.

"Well, Miss Clarke," he continued. "Are you heading to the first presentation?" I was so drawn to his eyes that I didn't even notice that he called me 'Miss'.

"We were just getting ready to go!" Artemis said as she held up the partially empty bottle of strawberry vodka. Sam smiled and then grimaced.

"Your employer obviously wants you guys to have a good time," Erika said cheerfully, gesturing to the other bottles of alcohol. Vance laughed loudly and nodded.

"Yeah, these shindigs can be hard to get through without a little liquid socialization," he picked up the bottle and poured three more shots without hesitation.

I'm starting to like these guys.

"To our brothers!" Vance shouted. The men held up their glasses and threw them back. We all laughed together as their faces soured, and Tyler looked especially pleased at the new friends he just made. He was also probably thrilled that they weren't pissed at him about the lunch tray.

"We have to go a little earlier to set up. We will see you guys there!" the men started to head off towards the convention center, but Sam lingered.

Set up?

"I'll see you there?" his gaze was even more intense when he looked at me this time. I only managed to smile and nod at him, unable to hide how frazzled he made me feel. He smiled back before turning and joining his team. Once they disappeared around the corner I felt an arm around my shoulder.

"Oh. My. God." Artemis started shaking me back and forth excitedly. "Oh my god! Did you see how that gorgeous creation of a man looked at you?" I started laughing uncomfortably and buried my face in my hands.

"He was way too pretty to be real. I think he was AI generated," Tyler said, tapping his index finger on his chin.

"Why are we still standing here?" Erika asked. "We need to get Rachel to the first event!" Tyler and Erika got on either side of me and grabbed my elbows. Artemis walked around the cart and stood in front of us.

"I shall be our guide! I will follow the trail of sexual tension left behind!" Artemis called out to us as she marched with her arm in the air across the sky bridge. Tyler choked a little on the last of his snack as he laughed at her performance. I let my friends drag me to the convention center, unsure of how I felt.