Tripp's Infinity:

Clouds fill my mind, taking over my thoughts.

Cloud nine, could it be?

Soft, delicate, and shaped to perfection.

No, not cloud nine but cloud eight.

With curves of wonder, no other cloud could compare.

Even, balanced, and well-kept.

What some see as drops of rain are symbols.

Symbols of love and intimacy; a memory of passion and vulnerability.

Comfort and connection is all I feel.

Infinity, consistency of flow and power; my only wish for us, what stays between us.

Within the softness, the curves, is two circles.

Two circles, two hearts, to infinity and beyond.

One love.

****

"So, he got you pregnant? Is that what you saying? Giiiiirrrrllll, he done went inside your guts and knocked you up for good. Damn, J. Why?" Cassidy assumes as she sips on a glass of wine.

Ain't no way Tripp knocked me up. He's too smart for any of that because he has respect for me. At least, I believe he does. If Tripp's showing me different, he better prepare for a nosebleed.

"No, Cass. Where would you get that idea from? I just had a decent evening with a guy and came back happy. Why do you care so much?"

I give her a simple rundown because there was no way I could tell her about our sexcapades. I had to decorate that part with words she wouldn't care to understand.

Though it's way too soon, the thought of that evening replays in my mind and I'm over the moon again. It's as if I'm rewinding a VHS tape over and over again just to see my favorite part. The memory makes my body melt, my lips crack a silly smile, and makes my heart travel over the speed limit.

"Just saying, J. He must've put it down on you and that's me judging by your facial expressions. Did he bite your ear too? Cam does that, when we mess around, with his freaky ass."

And that's when my face drops.

"Cass, nobody wants to hear about all of that. Keep that to yourself."

She's so open with me and that's fine. However, some things should be kept in the mind. Her fantasies should be left to her own imagination. Cass does this when she had some good loving but that hasn't been recent. As soon as we get down here, she wants to talk about everything.

She's laughing at me but I'm not kidding. This is why I can't tell her about Tripp and me having sex last night. Take my privacy seriously, you know?

After giving Cass the rundown about last night, I get invited to check out a different side of Tampa with Tripp. It's random and I don't know how I'd get down there but I agree to it.

Now, how the hell am I supposed to get down there if my car isn't down here? Maybe he could pick me up? No, because he's already down there. Angie and Darian aren't here and Cass is about to leave soon.

My eyes catch sight of Angie's keys and I come up with an idea. She didn't have any plans today so why not take the car for a little bit? Tripp ain't keeping me there for long anyway.

I head out to meet up with Tripp but confusion hits me like a ton of bricks. We're on a whole bridge and he wants me to meet him here? It's just water, on either side, with barely any sand or foundation. Plus, there's nobody here beside a few people trying to fish. Why did I come here?

Oh, right. For the adventure and such...but this adventure is giving very much daytime murder like Santerio's murder from Daylight Murder Mysteries. All I can do is watch my back, I guess.

"Tripp, where the hell have you invited me to?" I struggle to get down the huge rocks that sits on a slanted foundation. Luckily, Tripp grabs my hand and helps me down them with a delighted look on his face. There go those diamond teeth of his, displaying themselves through a slight smirk.

"The water is deeper here than it is in Clearwater. People come here to do water sports and such, mainly ride jet skis. It's cool to just watch them and an even better place to chill. I come here to sit and think so much. Just like walls, if only this water could talk."

Think, huh? I wonder what he thinks about here. Picture the water as an actual human being, giving you answers to all of your problems. When it doesn't know, it sits still. I'd love to stay here just to think as the waves advise me.

I would also love to know what's on his mind right now. Could it be about last night or the past few days he's known me? What does the water know about me? What does it know about his family, his friends, and his love life? His dreams and aspirations?

His eyes follow the motion of the ocean and catch a young couple riding on one of those jet skis. His face tells me nothing with the plain, straightened look. He's deep in thought. If it's about last night, he'd be smirking, wouldn't he?

"You ever been on a jet ski?"

A random question rolls off his tongue as he grins at me, looking deep into my eyes. Those chocolate irises curve my lips into a bright smile but he's got me messed up if he thinks I'm getting on those things.

"Nope. Never touched one of those things in my life. Why?"

Tripp looks back out into the water, saying "Want to take a ride around the water?"

If his car can turn into a submarine or something, sure. Why not? Tripp knows what I'm going to say though because he's holding back a snicker.

"Not at all. That looks dangerous as hell."

I'm not the best swimmer, especially in this deep water. I'd fall right into the water, drowning and hollering for Tripp to take me back home.

Never mind my high school days when I was on the swim team for all four years. My dad thought I'd be an Olympic swimmer. Now, look at me. Scared to even touch deep waters. I love the water, don't get me wrong, but all my swimming skills left the room as soon as I graduated.

"Have you even tried to ride one? Come on, Journee. I'll tell you all about it and you can hold on to me. I got you."

That doesn't sound right to me. I can trust Tripp, however, with this deep water and the constant reminders of guys, off dating apps, telling me that 'they got me' when they want to take me on dates, I felt uncomfortable.

The thoughts of the messages from creepy guys on those apps cease as soon as Tripp's soft hand holds mine and he reassures me. Now, if I fall in this water, he better catch me so fast.

Oh shit! I have to take Angie's car back! She's about to be mad as hell.

And I call it while my phone buzzes in my pocket. It's Angie calling me and I'm preparing myself for a full-on scolding session.

I pick up the phone and put it to my ear. Here we go.

"Girl, I oughta beat your ass for taking my damn car and not asking me first. You better be lucky I ain't tripping, since we aren't doing much today and we got extra time off. Also, I can trust you. Had it been Cassidy or Darian, I would've lost my mind."

Extra time off? From my job? How'd she figure that out? We don't have enough PTO for all of that. There are people who need those hours in case of emergencies. Stop playing with our time and money.

"What about our PTO hours? We can't keep using-"

"Girl, chill out. I got it under control. Everybody's keeping what little PTO hours they got. Anne's gotta give out extra hours to everyone and she's mad as hell at Mandy for it." Angela confirms.

Oh hell. Of course, Mandy's behind this shit. Anne has every right to be pissed off.

"Mandy's out sick and, y'all know how she is when she ain't there. When she ain't there, neither are y'all. I just have to make sure everybody gets the same amount of hours through the company."

Angela's calling it and I'm thinking the same thing. Once again, Mandy's abandoning the magazine just to do something else. Calling out sick when she's probably vacationing somewhere with her wealthy husband. She stays doing this and we have to use our PTO hours when she's out of the office.

Anne, the owner of Voyage, is working out a work-from-home option. This is what Cass and I heard around the office one day.

"Thanks for the update and I'm bringing your car back...somehow. One more thing. How long is this extra time off supposed to last?" I ask as Tripp's fingers intertwine with mine.

"Girl, a whole week. Can you believe that? I could see a few days but this bitch is out for a week and the whole HR department is having a fit. At this point, we should start looking for a new editor or shut everything down."

Shut everything down? What about the magazine and its contributors? Hell, what are we supposed to do? The other two magazine companies are fully-staffed. We have no other place to go.

"Journee, there's no consistent editor over the magazine and the execs don't care to hear from Voyager anymore. It's not worth keeping up with it if nobody wants to work."

Unfortunately, she's right. Why keep giving inconsistent employees money if they won't work for it?

Angela's lucky because she's in the HR department and they oversee three magazines, ours included. They keep all three companies employed, so she has a job to go back to. I'm worried about the rest of us.

We exchange a few more thoughts before hanging up and I turn to Tripp. He's watching as I give off an annoyed look. It's the constant rejections, at first, for me. Now, it's the continuous calling out of work for me, for the rest of us that work under her. Of course, I'm annoyed.

"It's none of my business but I got a good feeling that's a sign, Journee." Tripp notes while we walk towards the cars. I should've known from the hand-holding that he heard every word.

"A sign for what, Tripp? This is no time for philosophical thoughts. I might get laid off."

"Well, just a suggestion, but maybe you should take that editor's position. Talk to Angie about it. It's your chance to change the style up and whatnot. Didn't you say that you wanted to be that voice for change? You have the drive for it."

If Tripp wasn't a poet, he could be a motivational speaker or something because he's moving me. How do I come up with a proposal for me to be the editor? This ain't the time to be thinking about it but I couldn't help myself.

***

Heeeeeeeyyyyyyy everybody!

We back! I know it's getting cool outside so we're warming back up with some WWC!

What did you miss the most about this story? I'd love to know your thoughts about the book so far.

Honestly, I've been feeling sick for the past several weeks and it's mainly my head hurting so, if I'm late on an update, that's probably why. My plan is to keep the Wednesdays and Fridays schedule going though.

Anyway, how do you think that Journee should propose her interest in the editing position to Angie?

Are you excited about the extra week they got? More fun to come!

Also, who's your favorite character?

Hope to see you guys on Friday! Thanks for reading!