Shot in the Dark

To spend our last full day in the beautiful Orlando, Florida, Leah decided to wake me up by jumping on my bed at eleven.

I groaned, tightening my arms around T-Rex. She giggled, jumping up and down about ten times before I huffed and opened my eyes. “Okay, okay. I’m up.” She stopped finally and plopped down on her butt.

“Are you excited for our last day?”

“Not really because you woke me up and I’d much rather be sleeping until one,” I looked at her seriously before rubbing my eyes.

She patted my thigh over the blanket. “Don’t be grouchy. You’re going to love today anyways.”

“What are we doing?”

She shook her head with a happy smile. “Not telling you until you get out of bed and get dressed!” She stood again only to jump on my bed and I groaned before getting up because she was driving me crazy.

I bent down and dug through my suitcase while she jumped over onto her bed and switched the TV on. My fingers snatched a fresh pair of underwear since I needed to shower anyways. A yawn left my lips as I undressed and got under the warm water, turning around to get my hair wet.

I got out ten minutes later and pulled on my underwear and bra. Leah and I’s necessities were scattered around the sink and I picked up the blow-drier attached to the wall and dried my hair the best I could. Flicking on a few strokes of mascara, I closed it and pulled on my maroon shorts. My shirt was folded neatly on the top of the toilet and I grabbed it, pulling it over my head.

With a smile, I picked up my phone and tapped the camera icon beside the message field. I kept on the same smile even though my face was cropped out of the picture. Hey, look. I have the perfect shirt for you. I said to John and tapped the word send. It was a plain dark grey shirt with white lettering that spelled the word “weird.” I knew he’d like it.

The damp towel that I used was hung up over the shower curtain and I switched the light off when I was finished in there, carrying my dirty clothes out.

“Now can you tell me what we’re doing?” I asked, hands on my hips as I looked expectantly at Leah. She sat up and turned the TV off, grabbing her bag and handing me mine. She took my wrist and had me follow behind her out of our room.

“We,” she started as the elevator took us down, “are having a spa day.”

I breathed, touching my chest. “Thank god.”

She gaped at me, but the smile was tugging at her lips. “What’s that supposed to mean, you bitch?”

“I thought we were walking around again. My legs were jelly when I went to bed last night.”

“So were mine,” she laughed.

We walked outside in the heat and I slipped my sunglasses on as we got into the cab. The driver took us to the spa Leah picked out early this morning and she walked inside excitedly, ready for massages and hot rocks. Hot rocks kind of terrified me– don’t ask.

My stomach grumbled along with Leah’s since neither of us ate, but she promised we’d get lunch after. We were only spending about an hour or so here. We undressed in the changing rooms and went into the massage rooms to lie down on the tables. I definitely had my muscles loosened while Leah and I chatted and I couldn’t tell you how relaxed I was. Massages were my new favorite things.

We sat in a mud bath after, which was a little nerve-wracking for me since it felt weird on my body. Leah laughed over at me when she saw my covered face.

“It looks like you have shit all over your face,” she giggled, pressing her lips together.

I shushed her. “I’m trying to relax here, asshole.”

Her giggle sounded throughout the small room and I started laughing too, breaking the awkward silence. I told her it looked like she had shit on her face too and we just sat there laughing about it until we had to get out. I showered again after that, not feeling the same. We got dressed in our original clothes and left around one to go out for lunch.

My phone vibrated in my bag as we sat in the back of the taxi and I rummaged through the contents to find it. John finally texted me back, probably not having woken up until now since it was about eleven back home.

I might just have to borrow that sometime. I laughed a little and typed back.

Only if I can wear your leather jacket, then you can borrow it. I put my phone back inside and watched the buildings pass us by out the window. We arrived at the small café a few minutes later and Leah and I sat outside under the red umbrella with our sunglasses over our eyes.

“Excited to see John tomorrow night?”

I looked up from the menu and saw Leah peek over hers. “Are you excited to see Connor?”

“Of course,” she snorted lightly.

“Then yes, I am.”

She smiled sweetly at me. “I’m glad you’re happy, Andrea.”

I gave her an empty smile, looking up at the waitress as she came back with our drinks. She left with the menus and I looked over at Leah. “Have you heard from him?” We both knew exactly which guy I was talking about.

She shook her head calmly and gave me an apologetic smile. “He hasn’t really called Brian.”

Craig had been in New York for almost a month and I was kind of getting worried about him. What if he got into his bad drinking habits again? I didn’t want him to be that way.

Craig was entertaining to be around when he was sober. Drunk he was just a mess. Brian worked hard to get him back on track after me and I really hope his hard work doesn’t go to waste. If we find out that Craig’s been up in New York getting his ass wasted every night, Brian was going to be the most furious out of all of us. I’d probably come in second, but I think I’d be more disappointed than furious.

During the time that Craig was living with Brian, his older brother told me that he was actually participating in getting sober. Brian said that he was doing it for me because he didn’t want to turn out like my parents– that’s literally what Brian quoted. I almost dropped down to my knees and cried when I heard that.

I took my phone out fast and went to Craig’s name, deciding to send him a text to show that I still cared about his well being. Hey. I haven’t heard from you in a while. Was wondering how you were doing up in New York. I left it at that and sent the message without a second thought. Leah thought it was nice that I did that when I showed her and our food came then, salads placed in front of us.

We explored the streets after we ate lunch and we even went into a few stores while we did. Leah went into the bookstore with me too. We checked out what they had on the shelves and I picked out two that seemed like pretty good reads. Leah even picked out a cookbook to read during the plane ride.

We paid for our finds and swung the bags in our hands as we walked back down the street and got a cab to take us back to the motel. We didn’t know what else to do with ourselves rather than go back and pack our things, clean up the room we slept in this weekend.

Still nothing from Craig as eight rolled around and I sat up on my bed, reading the book that I still didn’t finish. Leah was in the bathroom, talking to Connor on the other side of her phone and I glanced down at mine a couple times.

Leah announced that she’d be right back and the door shut behind her, leaving me to a quiet room. I sighed and put my book down on the table beside me. I yawned shortly and sunk further down in my bed. T-Rex was there as a pillow for me while I scrolled through my phone, wondering what I could do next.

Leah came back with two toasted bagels and I thanked her, eating it on my bed. We didn’t have dinner since neither of us was up for going out and buying. She turned on the TV and we settled in for the night, clapping when we found that SVU was on.

I fell asleep on top of the comforter since it was blazing hot that night. The air conditioner was on full blast too, but I was still sweating through the night. Not enough to keep me up, but plenty. Leah woke up around ten and we only went out of the room to go downstairs and eat breakfast.

We went back upstairs and flopped down on our beds to watch more TV. I laughed when she jumped over onto my bed, completely missing the edge and falling on the ground.

“Oh my God,” I breathed, holding my chest as I laughed. I was on the verge of tears and I almost peed my pants.

“I can’t believe you’re fucking laughing at my pain.” She whined, sitting up on the floor while I kicked my feet in the air. She stood up with wobbly knees and my laughter died down soon enough. I wiped my eyes under my glasses and smiled apologetically as I sat up. She sat on the edge of her bed, staring at me with a frown.

“You have to admit that that was pretty funny.”

Her small smile grew and she laughed a little at herself. “I could’ve died,” she exaggerated.

I giggled, standing and hugging her against my chest.

We eventually just decided to stay in our pajamas for the rest of the day, not bothered by the wondering eyes of the people at the airport. We went through the same process as before, handing over our suitcases, going through security check, stopping at the bathrooms and finally waiting to board our plane.

Leah was tapping away on her phone, telling Connor that we’d be back around ten tonight. There was going to be another layover in Atlanta, but I didn’t mind it that much. I hugged T-Rex to my chest and waited patiently for the speaker to come on and say that we could board.