Page 13 of Not Your Basic Love Story

“A fling? A fling!” Angelina scoffed. “That’s not a fling, girl. It’sfate! What I had, that was a fling. A glorious, incredible, amazing fling, which you can NOT tell my sister about. What you had, it’s like, the ideal meeting the love of your life story!”

“I don’t think throwing up on yourself constitutes as an ‘ideal’ story for anyone,” I said with a laugh. It wasn’t exactly Nicholas Sparks.

“True. But you have to admit, it is weird you kept bumping into each other. Until, you know, you werebumping intoeach other.” She winked.

I laughed. She made a valid point.

So distracted by our conversation, we didn’t realize Miranda was standing out on the beach… with the entire wedding party.

Angelina and I stopped dead in our tracks, both wearing our crumpled dresses from the night before, makeup smooshed, hair dishevelled, and heels in our hands. The crowd gawked at us. I wasn’t sure what was worse: Nicole’s judgmental look or Hank’s defeated one. Miranda looked surprised at first, but then her face broke into a grin, and she gave us a clap, which turned into applause from the rest.

I blushed, embarrassed beyond belief, but then Angelina took my hand, lifted it, and then dropped us both into a bow.

“Thank you! Thank you!” she said. Her nonchalant attitude brought a grin to my face.

More than anything, I wanted to shower and change my clothes, but they had waited as long as they could. A catamaran sat out on the ocean and began loading everyone in.

Miranda ran up and gave me a giant hug. If I’d known sleeping with a guy would catch her attention, I would have done it on the first night.

“Oh. My.God!” she exclaimed in a loud whisper, taking my hand and pulling me away from the group.

I smiled and bit my lip.

“That good, hey?” she nudged my arm.

Giggling, I bumped her back. “It’s a funny story! I met him on the plane, and he’s the guy who I swapped luggage with by mistake. He’s really nice, actually. I meant to tell you about him, but you’ve been so busy.”

She frowned. “I’m sorry, babe, there’s been so much going on and so many people I haven’t seen in years. I’ve barely had a chance to talk to you.”

“No! Don’t be! Love, this trip is about you! I am so incredibly happy for you. I’m fine! Angel has been keeping me company.”

“Oh god. She’s a bad influence, Becky, you be careful with her!”

Having apparently heard the comment, Angelina winked at me over her shoulder.

I laughed, having come to really enjoy spending time with her younger sister. After all this, her and I would have to hang out sometime.

The catamaran was incredible. They took us on a sightseeing tour around the coral reefs. The weather was perfect, dolphins jumped and splashed, and other people on boats waved to us. I love that about boats. Everyone is excited for other people on boats. It’s like, “You’re on a boat? I’m on a boat! Holy shit, we’re both on boats.”

We had lunch on a private beach. Angelina stayed by my side as if she could smell Nicole waiting for the opportunity to tease me for my walk of shame earlier. Charlotte and Hannah were good sports, both enjoying the wine and sunshine. We chatted happily, but in the back of my mind, I was still in bed with Dev, imagining what would have happened if we’d been prepared with condoms. I wasn’t sure if it could have been any better, though, other than leaving the poor guy with a serious case of blue balls.

I looked at my phone, and a smile lit up my face to see he’d texted me.

‘I tried not to message you. Can’t stop thinking about you. Hope you’re having a great time! See you later, if you’re free?’

He used full sentences. And the proper ‘you’re.’ Sexy.

I replied. ‘Glad you messaged me! Can’t stop thinking about you, either. Definitely see you later.’ My thumb hovered over the send icon, debating whether adding a kiss face emoji was too much. He hadn’t used emojis. Maybe he wasn’t an emoji-type guy? I omitted it, pending further analysis of his texting style.

“Who you talking to?” Miranda asked, bumping into me, two glasses of sparkling wine in hand.

I took mine and clinked our glasses together. “Who do you think?”

“No! He’s texting you? Let me see!”

I showed her my phone.

“He used the correct ‘you’re’! Hot.”

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