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It’s late when we get back to the hotel but I’m not tired enough to sleep. Instead, I go online to look at the concerts on the itinerary Helen gave me in case I decide to keep traveling with them. A couple are sold out but there are resale ticketsavailable that aren’t ridiculously priced. The last concert is eighteen days away.
Eighteen days of laughing and hanging out with friends, of trying different restaurants along the way, of camping in their RV some nights and staying in hotels on others. Eighteen days to try to get over this feeling that my heart is being slowly peeled like an onion.
Decision made. Once I order my tickets and snuggle down in bed, I’m finally able to sleep.
We wake up to torrential rain and a sharp drop in temperature on the final day of the festival.
“They’re delaying for two hours as of now,” Leo says. The four of us sit around a table in a coffee shop. It’s right across the street from the venue and filled with other concertgoers trying to decide whether to wait it out or not.
Freya holds up her phone with her weather app open. “The forecast isn’t looking good. I don’t think the rain is going anywhere. We could go ahead to Florida and have a couple of days on the beach before the Rock on the Water Festival.” The rest of the festivals and outdoor concerts on our list are in the far south where it’s still warm.
“What do you all think?” Helen asks.
“Sounds like a plan to me,” Leo says, and the others agree.
I nod and sip my coffee. “Let’s do it. I need to stop along the way to shop for some clothes and a swimsuit. I didn’t think I’d be gone this long.”
“I’m so excited you decided to come!” Freya exclaims. “I’m riding with you today.”
“Me too,” Helen adds.
Freya beams at me. “Girl’s day!”
After finding a hotel online and making a reservation, we agree to meet there tonight, then split up for the drive that takesnearly seven hours. The guys beat us there since we stop at a few stores along the way, but I’m all set to travel with them now.
It feels so amazing to wake up to the sight of sunlight twinkling on the ocean from my hotel balcony.
After breakfast, we all hit the beach, and I send Silver a picture of my view with a text.
Me: Change of plan. I won’t be back for a couple of weeks.
My phone rings seconds later and she exclaims, “What the hell? Where are you?”
“Florida today, but I’m going to travel with my friends for a bit and go to a few more concerts before I come back.”
“You lucky bitch! It looks amazing. It’s freezing here.” She pauses for a few seconds. “Are you staying away because of that guy in the woods?”
No, because of a completely different guy in the woods.
“No, I need some space from Arlow.”
“Did something happen?”
So much has happened, and it sucks I can’t tell her everything. “I may have fucked the hell out of him the night before I left.”
Her laughter makes me smile. “And now you want to avoid him, yeah, I get that.”
“I take it you haven’t had a second round with Lee?”
“No way. The last thing I need is another man right now. What happened with Arlow? Was it…not good?”
“It was so damn good,” I sigh.
“And…”
“And then he told me he regretted it and now my head is all messed up.”
“Ugh! Why are they all like this?”
