Josephine

What better way to wake up than to the sound of waves crashing on the shore and with sunlight rays coming through the floor-to-ceiling windows, warming my back?

I can't think of any other way.

Although I live in Miami, and so close to the beach. Actually having to take two steps before your feet touch the sand is on another level.

The beach is my first love. I literally have a tattoo of waves, my first one ever. My closet back at my apartment is more than half full with bathing suits. Mostly black, ah well.

Today we are surfing. Then we're taking a little boat tour hopefully see some dolphins. Then we're going to Blue.

After using the bathroom, I descend the stairs and see Candy already sitting at the kitchen island with her laptop in front of her. She wears a fancy robe and a mug of no doubt filled to the rim with espresso. I tell her good morning and turn on the coffee machine to pour myself one. After a minute, Ananya comes out of her bedroom. Hers is the one on the first floor. She prepares Indian Chai for herself. She brought all the ingredients necessary to make this tea–including ginger and cardamom. I abandon my cup of coffee for the yummy Chai.

It's a chill and calm morning. Candy shows us all the pictures we took yesterday on her laptop screen. We laugh about a picture of me fighting a seagull over my fries.

"You were literally having a WWE fight with that beast." I'm on the ground, laughing my ass off. When I was having—according to Anya—a WWE fight with the seagull, I didn't realize that Candice was taking pictures of me.

There are several ones. The first one, I was still unaware of the bird coming up behind me. Then I noticed it. There's one with my eyes wide open. The last couple ones are of me trying to salvage my fries from the mouth of the beast.

Eventually I had to give up, otherwise it would've bitten me or something.

Can they even bite? I don't know.

"You traitors didn't even help me." I fake a pout.

"Bitch, I was running for my life."

"This is golden. I'm gonna post it." Candice says.

I stop laughing all together and tackle her to the floor. If these pictures end up online, I'll be mortified. The ones my mama posts for my birthday every year on her Facebook are enough as it is.

Candy and I wrestle. I'm trying to prevent her from reaching her laptop, and she's trying to reach her laptop.

"Done. It's done. They're already on Instagram." She laughs, one that could rival the laughs of villains. "And tagged you."

What?

"Nooo, those pics are ugly." Defeated, I walk up to her and, yup, there it is. She even captioned it: seagull vs. Josie, the fight for fries.

"They're not ugly." She's right. There is one of me with my mouth open in shock. It was just as the bird grabbed my fries.

"Yeah, I guess it's not that bad."

•••

Surfing was a blast. The waves were big enough that I could attempt what's called in surf terms a barrel. It's where a wave curves in a way that it forms a tube and you try to ride it all the way to the end. It's pretty hard, but I did a short barrel.

Best part is that I captured it on my GoPro. My girlfriends convinced me to post it on Instagram, and I did.

Surfing lasted longer than we expected, so the boat tour didn't go through. But that's okay. It gives us more time to rest before we hit the Blue club.

"I think we should rest a bit before we partayyy." Anya shakes her hips.

"Yeah, my legs are literally burning." I haven't surfed this much in a long time.

"Oke, but we have to eat first." Candice says. Food is always on her mind.

"Of course."

We find a cute little place and eat some Mexican food. Then we go back to our temporary beach house and chill for a couple of hours. It's eight p.m. when Anya shouts that we have to get ready to go to Blue. The club that is all blue. And has a blue dress code.

"Are you sure they won't let me in if I'm wearing black? Or dark navy?" I ask for the millionth time.

They both sigh and Candice puts her hand on my shoulder, "Josephine." It feels weird hearing her say my full name. Not even my family calls me Josephine.

"It's not the end of the world if you wear blue. Do it for me." At her last sentence, I soften.

"Just for you." I would've never let them go without me. If this is something Anya wants to do, then I'll do it.

Ananya jumps up and down and gives me a hug. "Thank you. Your dress is in my room. Come on."

The blue dress is the lightest shade of blue. I give them a soft glare. This is a conspiracy of trying to get me to wear white.

It's baby-blue. Almost white in the light. It has spaghetti straps, and it's pretty flowy around my body. I forgo wearing a bra since my boobs aren't all that big and we're going to be in the dark, anyway.

"Oh. My. God."

My eyes roll. I come out to the kitchen, and their jaws are on the floor.

"Yeah. Oh, my god is right." Candice says. "Hot damn, girl."

"It's just a dress." I say, fingering the hem. Last time I wore a color other than black was the last time my mother dressed me. So a very long time ago.

"Do a twirl." Candice wiggles her finger.

I do a little circle and they whistle.

They're both wearing blue dresses. Duh. But they're a darker shade and a little tighter on their bodies. They look stunning, as always.

"Okay, let's roll bitches."

"Wait, first a couple of rules." Anya talks while we're walking to the club. She said it's only a ten-minute walk.

"If you want to go home with someone. Let us know. And keep your location on." We both nod. "Don't leave your drink unattended and lastly, have fun."

Anya apparently read the distance wrong and what was supposed to be a ten-minute walk is actually thirty minutes. We end up ordering an Uber. All three of us are wearing heels, not stilettos, nevertheless, thirty minutes is long. And with my legs feeling sore, I'm glad we didn't walk all the way there.

"Seriously?" I groan. The line is humongous. It'd be midnight before we get a chance to enter.

"We don't have to wait in line." Candy says, takes our hands and walks us to the entrance.

"Why?"

"Carter owes the owner a favor."

I'm surprised but I shouldn't. Carter is a god in the tattoo business. He has been on several TV shows and has done work on multiple celebrities.

"I love your brother." Ananya says.

The closer we get to the entrance door, the louder the music gets. Candy shows the bouncer our IDs and talks to him. After checking our age, he lets us in.

Blue.

Everything is blue.

I mean, this is the blue club, but it's weird seeing it in real life. I didn't expect everything to be blue. Even the walls are blue.

People even have blue lipstick and makeup on. The lighting is also blue, and it's not that dark inside. I can see people pretty clearly.

"This is so cool." I shout in Anya's ear. I feel like I've walked into someone's theme party as everyone is wearing some shade of blue.

"I know, right?"

After ordering some weirdly named blue drinks, we stand around a high table and drink through—you guessed it—blue straws.

"Hot boy alert!" We follow Candy's gaze and see a blond guy and two other friends standing at another top table next to us.

"We're three, they're three. It works." Anya shrugs as her eyes trail them up and down.

"Not my type." I turn my face back around to face the dance floor. This club is pretty huge. It has three bars, each one against a wall and the dj booth is against the fourth wall.

I see Candy is still ogling him, so I say, "Go talk to him."

She shakes her head. "No, I want to have fun with you first."

She takes the last sip of her drink and starts dancing on her way to the dance floor. We follow her and we shake and grind and twerk and do all kinds of dance moves on each other.

After a couple hours of switching between dancing and drinking, Sacha finally goes to talk to the blond guy she saw in the beginning.

Anya and I are dancing together when a guy comes up behind her. I give her a thumbs up and dance a little further from her, giving them some 'privacy'.

My body is buzzing, and I don't care if I look lonely dancing by myself. No one knows me here, so whatever. I'm having fun.

After a while, I go back to stand next to one bar. I check my phone and see they both sent me a message telling me they probably won't come back tonight. I make sure their locations are on and when I'm sure; I go to the bathroom before I head back home.

The toilet stalls were not too dirty. Thank God. While walking outside, my phone vibrates. I fumble with my purse to get it out, thinking it's one of my girlfriends, when cold liquid splashes me from the neck down.

"Merda."

My whole body freezes. For three reasons. One, the drink is freezing cold–though it feels kinda refreshing on my hot body. Two, the person who dropped their drinks on me cursed in Italian. And three, the person whose drink is now dripping down my chest and soaking my dress is Leo.

I look up and his face is as shocked as mine probably looks.

My mind is going a hundred miles a minute.

Like, did he stalk me here?

Did he do this on purpose?

What are the freaking odds?

I don't think he lives here in Sanibel Island. But I also don't think he's the stalking type.

This whole thing is so absurd that I just start laughing. I have to steady myself on the wall next to me. His eyebrows slightly furrow, but he eventually joins me and laughs.

"I'm so sorry. I didn't see you getting out of there."

In his defense, the hallway leading to the bathrooms is pretty dim.

I take a moment to catch my breath, then look down at my dress. The only time I went braless, I get doused in a dark blue liquid. They put so much food coloring in the drink, it already looks like I tie-dyed my dress.

Awesome...

My dress is plastered on my breasts and you can see my nipples, which have hardened from the cold liquid.

"What are you doing here?" I ask him, trying to deflect his attention from my breasts. Not that he was looking, but still.

"I could ask you the same thing."

"Not to get wet with a dark blue liquid. That's for sure."

"I'm really sorry." He winces.

I wave my hand around. "It's okay. I needed to cool down."

When a group of guys stumbles and walks beside us, he puts his hand on my upper arm and pulls me closer to the side. Goose bumps suddenly erupt on my skin.

I'm sure it's from the cold liquid.

Yeah, right.

"Are you alone?" He looks behind his shoulder as if he can spot my friends. Even if they were still here, this club is huge. It would be like finding a needle in a haystack.

"Not at first. My two girlfriends both went home with someone."

He nods slowly, studying me. "Were you going back to your Airbnb or hotel?"

I chuckle and pull the dress away from me. "Yeah, before all this." I motion to my body.

"Again, I'm sorry, I didn't—"

"It's not a big deal."

"Okay."

"It's starting to feel really uncomfortable, though. So I should get going."

"How far away are you staying?"

"Like a fifteen minute car ride, I think."

"I'm only two minutes walking distance away. Let me take to my place, give you some clean clothes and then I can drive you back."

I shake my head. "That's unnecessary."

"Do you have a car?"

"Yeah, but it's back at the Airbnb where I'm staying."

"That means you have to wait for an Uber to come pick you up. That's gonna be awhile. And I'm already here."

I shake my head again. "You don't have to do that."

"It's the least I could do. Let me make it up to you."

His points are solid. I would have to wait maybe fifteen minutes or more before the Uber arrives. And I don't want to stay in this sticky dress.

"Okay, fine." I relent.

After two minutes of walking, we reach a big beach house. It's like a villa. It looks old-fashioned with all the wood beams and has a beautiful view of the beach.

We walk from the front door next to a living room, eating area, and then we reach the big kitchen.

"I'll be right back."

He disappears into a hallway. I glance around; the interieur is cozy and I can see a couple of used mugs are still on the kitchen island.

He returns and tells me, "Do you want to have a quick rinse? I can only imagine how sticky that is."

"It's fine." I don't want to invade his personal space. And I don't have a change of clothes with me.

"It's not a problem. I'll get you some clean clothes from my cousin."

I clear my throat. "Okay."

He walks me to his bedroom, and it's spotless. He hands me clean towels from a dresser. "I'll put some clean clothes for you on the bed and you can wash in the bathroom."

I nod. I can easily push through the stickiness and wait till I'm home to take a shower. But I don't want to ruin his car and I'm curious to see how the shower looks. If the expansive interior of this place is any indicator, I'm sure there'll be a bathtub, with the showerhead one of those that makes it look like it's raining.

"I'll wait on you in the kitchen." His eyes dip down to my breast and back up so fast I almost miss it. Heat rises on my neck and face. He coughs into his fist, then gestures behind his shoulder. "Take your time."

After getting out of the shower–yes, it did have those raining showerheads–I see some clothes on the bed. There's a man's shirt and bike shorts. The shorts are orange and my size, so I know they're from his cousin. But the t-shirt is not.

The shirt is dark gray. Close enough to being black.

I put them on and the shirt hides the shorts I'm wearing. It reaches my knees. I'm really short compared to him–five two, to be exact–so it's no surprise.

I roll my dirty dress and underwear together, then go to the kitchen.

"Can I have a plastic bag or something?"

He glances up from his phone, his hair messy and strands standing in all different directions. "Yeah."

Washing my hands in the sink, I glance at him. "Grazie." I tell him thanks in Italian.

His lips part. "Are you Italian?"

"Mhmm."

He grins. "That's fucking cool."

"Right?"

He chuckles, his eyes glinting. "We have the best curses, don't we?"

"Certamente." Certainly.

The burn in my legs, from surfing and dancing the entire night, prickles again. So I take a seat on one of the barstools.

Better.

He sits on the stool next to me. "You didn't answer my earlier question." Off my confusion he continues, "what brings you here?"

"Just a little vacation." His cast is now filled with words and sentences. It makes me smile.

I always love seeing a cast filled with drawings, texts and signatures.

"You wanna sign it?"

"I don't think there's enough room."

He rotates his arm and there are some small little drawings all over it. "Izzy, my brother's girlfriend, is an artist. She didn't want to leave one blank space."

"They're really good." I inspect them a little closer.

"Not cooler than your tattoos."

I bite into my lower lip and look up at him. His eyes lower to my arms.

When we make eye contact again, he tells me. "Every time I see you, I find a new tattoo."

"I have a couple." I shrug. Though 'couple' is an understatement.

He rakes a hand through his dark wavy hair. It's longer than that first time I've seen him at the hospital. Must be the Italian genes in him, making his hair grow super fast and thick.

The movement makes his biceps flex, and my eyes are drawn there.

"Is that a stethoscope?"

I look back at his light gray eyes.

Did he say stethoscope?

"Che cosa?" What?

He points to my thigh. I follow his gaze and see the tattoo he's talking about. It's indeed a stethoscope, and it's on my upper thigh.

"Yeah, I got it while still in college."

"It's pretty."

"Do you have any?"

He shakes his head. "Sadly, no."

"I can hook you up with the artist I go to. He's amazing at what he does."

He tilts his head from side to side. "I don't think I'll get one in the near future."

"If you keep putting it off, it'll never happen."

"Is that what you do? Just get one when you feel like it?"

"Basically." His smile widens. There's something dark in his eyes, but when he smiles, it's like it all disappears.

"Is it painful? My other cousin has a full sleeve, but he says it's painless."

"Depends on where you get it. Like the elbows are the most painful. But arms and thighs are pretty painless. Oh, and it also depends if you're a female or male."

His eyes dance around my body and they linger on each tattoo visible. My cheeks flush and I want to hide from his piercing gaze. My hands toy with the hem of his shirt I'm wearing.

"Do you have one on your toes?" He suddenly asks. This is the weirdest question I've been asked and a burst of laugh leaves my lips.

"What?"

"I don't know. You seem to have one everywhere." He counters, shrugging.

"No. None on my toes. Or my foot, for that matter."

"What's your favorite place to have tattoos?"

"Why are you interrogating me on my tattoos?" I giggle.

He shrugs. "They're cool and I like them."

Feeling hot, I put my hair in a messy bun. He watches me and his gaze flies across my face. Mine do the same.

His eyes are a light gray shade. He has a couple days' worth of facial hair. But I can still see his strong, chiseled jaw. His lips are almost too pink and too big for a man.

"Why don't you want to get a tattoo?" I ask.

He looks behind my shoulder with a faraway look. He shakes his head slightly, as if to get rid of a thought.

"I don't want to get one that can get ruined by a wound or scar."

He's in the army and I remember seeing his chest with different bullet scars and other types of scars I couldn't even identify.

I can feel the mood getting gloomy and I want to change that.

"You know, Carter, my tattoo artist, always tells me horror stories about his job." His smile returns and I can tell he's grateful I changed the topic.

I tell him every story I can remember. He tells me about funny moments with his family. Just like any Italian family, his is also big and loud. Which makes for exceptional stories to retell.

Somehow, the conversation comes back about my tattoos.

"Do you have a favorite one?"

"I like to say that I love them equally, but I do have a favorite."

"Which one?" He does a quick sweep over my body.

"It's in a place you'll never get to see." Why did I say that? Now he'll think I'm flirting with him. Am I flirting? No, I don't think so.

His eyebrows raise. "Is that so?"

"Mhmm."

"Now I'm intrigued."

"I guess you'll never know." Am I flirting? I think we're flirting, right? I mean, I just told him he'll never get to see a tattoo, so that means we're flirting.

He looks at parts of my body that are covered with clothes. Like he has x-ray vision and can see all the tattoos underneath.

He lowers his voice. "Is it on your... private parts?"

I snort. "No. That'd be awfully awkward. And painful."

"Yeah. I can imagine." He suddenly shudders.

"I mean, what if I get aroused and he can tell?"

"Do you always get aroused while getting a tattoo?" He asks, serious.

"No. But if it's on my..." I gesture downwards, "here, then he has to touch and stretch the skin and..." I stop talking when I remember what I'm talking about.

"You know, I'm no tattoo artist, but I'm willing to test that theory."

Oh, we're definitely flirting.

He's enjoying this. I'm sure I'm as red as a tomato.

"Forget I said anything." I mumble.

"No, please continue." He waves his hand, then crosses them across his chest. Although it looks kinda funny with his cast.

My eyes widen, and I bury my head in my hands. "Kill me, please."

He lets out a laugh, and the sound makes me glance up at him.

I look down at his lips as his laugh fades. He swallows hard.

He clears his throat before speaking. "How long are you staying here?"

The conversation flows again. Sometimes back to my tattoos but also about other things like my job, what I've done so far on Sanibel Island. I want to so badly ask him more about the army, but I can tell it's a sensitive topic, so I refrain.

He made fun of my earlier comment about the tattoo on my private parts when he got the chance. I asked him some questions about him. How many siblings and cousins he has and if he travels back to Italy often. He just answers that last question with a curt 'no'. I understood and asked another question.

Suddenly, we hear a giggle coming from the hallway. The door to the kitchen opens and the same girl I saw with him at the Club Lusso and the patient I had last week.

I think her name was Isabella.

She has workout clothes on, and she's looking behind her shoulder while walking in our direction. When she turns her face to us, she smiles wider.

"Oh hey, didn't see you much last night." When she reaches Leo, she messes his hair and gives him a loud peck on the cheek.

"I got here when everyone was out already." She rests her arm on his shoulder and turns to face me.

"Are you a friend of Leo?" Before Leo or I even get the chance to answer, she moves forward and gives me a quick hug.

Okay...

I hear Leo chuckling behind her. When I look at him, he's shaking his head slightly with a soft smile.

"Do you want me to make you coffee?" She asks, even though she's already setting the machine up. I look back at Leo. He has his brows raised in question. I just shrug.

Coffee doesn't sound bad.

I flip my phone and see it's seven in the morning. I spent the entire night with Leo, and I didn't even notice the time passing.

"You're working out alone?" He asks Isabella.

"No, Luca will be right out... And speak of the devil." From the open kitchen door, another guy appears, Luca.

He's topless, and his muscles are defined, but he doesn't look bulky. His hair is long and curly and as he gets closer, I can see that his eyes are dark. Almost black.

"Are you calling me a devil, love?" He says in a deep, teasing voice. His eyes trained on his girlfriend.

She mock gasps. "Me? Never." He wraps his arms around her when he reaches her and starts kissing her. I look away, feeling like I'm interrupting a private moment.

"Hey," I hear Luca mumble.

"Hey," she whispers back.

Isabella puts two coffee mugs in front of us with little cups filled with sugar and creamer.

"This is Leo's friend." She tells Luca and gestures to me. He extends his arm for me to shake.

"Nice to meet you. I'm Luca."

"Josie."

"I'm Leo's older brother." He slaps his back softly. Leo pushes him away with a chuckle.

"We'll leave you two alone." At that, they both walk out to the patio.

"She hugs everyone." Leo says.

"Yeah, I didn't expect that."

A foreign and deep voice comes from the hallway. "Buongiorno." Another topless guy emerges. The first thing I notice are his tattoos. His left arm is a full sleeve. There are roses, words, dates and other designs.

"I didn't know you had a guest over." The guy with the cool tattoos says. He has a low man-bun, and it looks quite good on him.

"This is Josie." He shakes my hand. He eyes my tattoos quickly and then he narrows his eyes while looking at mine.

His muscles are bigger than Luca's and he's a little longer than both Leo and Luca. My already petite frame feels even smaller next to him.

"You Italian, right?"

My lips part, but then I smile. "Sì."

"I like you already." He faces Leo, "I like her already."

"Cool?" He answers.

"I'm Antonio, by the way."

Somehow his name fits him. It's badass and cool, like his tattoos.

When Antonio fills a mug of coffee, I look at Leo. He already has his eyes on me and he gives me an apologetic smile. Like he's sorry I have to go through all these introductions.

I've heard a lot about his cousins last night—or I should say morning—and to have a face connected to the person is nice.

We hear someone let out a soft burp. A blond girl, wearing similar clothes to Isabella, blushes when she sees me.

"Oops, excuse me."

"It's fine." I tell her.

I shake her hand when she gets closer. "I'm Sara."

"Josie."

She turns and gives Leo a tight hug. "I missed you."

"Missed you more." He kisses her hair.

When they break apart, she messes up his already messy hair and walks to the arms of Antonio.

I guess they're dating.

"Did you like the blue club?" She asks Leo.

"Don't answer that." Antonio says with a serious voice. He reminds me of my high school gym teacher. Everyone feared him because he would make us do a hundred rounds of different exercises if we talked through him or did other bad things, according to him.

"Do answer." She tells him.

"If he still wants to get in my club, he better not."

I make the connection but ask to be sure. "Are you the owner of Lusso?"

His shoulders lift proudly. "Sì."

"I love your club. Although I don't go that often, every time I do, I have the time of my life."

"Thank you." He gives me a genuine smile.

"The music selection is really great." I continue.

"It's meh." Sara says with a lift of her shoulder.

"It's meh?" Antonio asks her. She nods. He turns her around, so he's facing her. "You're saying my club is meh?"

"That's exactly what I said."

He looks at her for a moment, bends down and lifts her on his shoulder in one quick movement. She lets out a shriek while he's carrying her outside.

"My family's crazy." Leo says.

"No, they're not. My family is crazy."

"I'll be the judge of that."

A loud gasp comes from the entrance to the kitchen. A female with black, messy hair suddenly starts running. Leo stands up and they clash in a hug.

He tightens his hand sans the cast around her waist and her feet lift from the ground. Is that his girlfriend or something? From what I've heard from my coworkers, he's been single his entire life. They like to call him 'the eligible bachelor of MM.' But maybe he got a girlfriend since he's been here for a while.

But he just spent the entire night with me, talking, but still.

"I missed you so, so much." Her voice is quivering.

I've heard at the hospital that he's been home since the first time I've treated him. Which was about three weeks ago. From their greeting, I'm guessing this woman didn't get the chance to see him since he got back home.

"I'm sorry I couldn't come sooner." She sniffs.

"It's not your fault." He tells her.

He puts her feet back on the ground. She touches under her eyes and sniffs again.

She then turns around to face me. "Hey, I'm Nicole."

He talked a lot about her last night. She's his oldest cousin and his favorite. Though he told me not to disclose that information with anyone besides Nicole herself.

"I'm Josie." Her eyes are the prettiest mix of blue and green, and the dress she's wearing is flowing around her figure.

"I'll talk to you later." She kisses him on the cheeks and goes outside.

When he sits back down next to me, his eyes are glassy.

"She was out of the country and couldn't see me until now."

"It's great that you have a loving family."

"Yeah, they're the best."

Suddenly, I get the urge to wrap my hands around his neck and give him a tight hug. To comfort him.

But I don't.

I can't.

I can't give him comfort.

I'm just a regular girl he just so happened to meet several times in different places.

• ••• •

A/N:

What do we think of this chapter? 👀