"Stalker," I coughed into my hand.
"I'm not. And besides, I'm in love with Tim now. You know that. But none of you can seriously deny the fact that you think Professor Hunter is hot. He's like, the perfect male specimen. Plus he's so smart. I could listen to one of his lectures all day."
Alina shrugged. "I didn't realize that you were still in love with him."
"I'm not. But when we're all talking about him, it makes my mouth water."
"So, tell me this, Layla," Alina said. "Is finding out where Professor Hunter lived and hanging out outside his building hoping to run into him stalking?"
"Um..."
"And going to his office hours all the time, making up stupid questions to ask him, and always working in the phrase, 'I'm very mature for my age,' into every assignment?"
Layla looked at Kristen. "You didn't tell me all that, crazy."
Kristen laughed. "Fine. I stalked Professor Hunter. Whatever. Gosh, if I knew I was a stalker, I would have broken into his apartment or done something even crazier. I feel like I wasted an opportunity."
"So what if you saw him again? What would you do?" Layla asked.
"Kiss his beautiful face. I just want to taste his skin."
I started laughing. "Kristen, he's engaged."
"So?"
"That would be like some maniac trying to make out with Alina."
"And if someone other than Bryce tried to kiss me, I'd totally punch them in the face," Alina said.
Kristen laughed. "Well, I definitely wouldn't want to be punched by Professor Hunter. He has such sexy, defined muscles." She bit her lip.
"Yup, she's a stalker. That poor professor should totally get a restraining order." Layla picked up the pamphlet that showed the movie selections. "Anyone want to watch a movie?"
"Bride's choice," Alina said and grabbed the pamphlet out of Layla's hand. "What?" she said when we all stared at her. "I've been so well behaved during all the wedding planning. But there's only three weeks until I get married. It's about time I went all Bridezilla on all of you."
Chapter 4
Daphne
"Look!" Kristen said and elbowed me in the ribs. "There's a monkey over there!" I slowly opened my eyes and looked to where she was pointing. We were in the middle of a rainforest. I must have fallen asleep. I wiped the drool off the side of my face.
"Awesome. How much longer until we get to the hotel?" A layover and seven hours in the air was plenty of travel. But now we had been in this stupid car for hours too. All I wanted to do was curl up in bed.
"Seriously," Alina said. "Where the heck is this place?"
"We're almost there, ladies," the driver said from the front of the town car.
"See, we're almost there." Kristen pointed out the window again. "Another monkey!"
Layla groaned in her sleep.
"We should draw a mustache on her face," Kristen said. "I think I have a pen somewhere." She grabbed her purse.
"No." Alina grabbed Kristen's purse. "Don't be mean. You know how much Layla helped me after what happened at the ITAs. I don't think I could have survived all the backlash without her."
"You mean all the publicity? We were there for you too. And besides, I'm not being mean. I'm just pulling a classic bachelorette party prank."
"That's not a thing and you know it. Back me up, Momma Bear."
I stared out the window. I actually thought it would be kind of funny to draw a mustache on Layla's perfect face. But I knew if I didn't put my foot down, I'd eventually wake up with a mustache drawn on my face at some point during the week. And I wouldn't be able to pull it off nearly as well as Layla could. "Stop your bickering, you two. No mustaches."
Kristen sighed. "Fine. Ah look!"
The rainforest had suddenly parted and a high rise building appeared in its place. We pulled up under the porte-cochère. In the lobby, I could see a group of women in heels and tiny bikinis. Who wears heels with a bathing suit? I rolled my eyes. Alina, Kristen, and Layla were all going to fit in fine here. But it was pretty clear I was going to stick out like a sore thumb. Especially in the one-piece bathing suit I brought. It wasn't even one of those monokinis with sexy cutouts. It was just a straight up one-piece that an old lady would wear.
I nudged Layla. "We're here."
She immediately opened her eyes. "Thanks for preventing the mustache drawing," she whispered. "I owe you one."
"Wait, you were awake?"
"Yeah. I just wanted to see if Kristen would actually try it. I was going to titty punch her in the other boob if she did."
I laughed. I didn't know Layla that well, but she definitely fit in with us just fine. "As long as you don't draw one on me, we're even."
"You got it. Wow, this place looks amazing."
The driver opened the door and Layla stepped out. I quickly followed her as Alina and Kristen got out the other side of the car.
"I'm so sad that Em couldn't come," Alina said as she came up beside me. "She's always wanted to leave the country." Em was Bryce's little sister. We had all grown really close to her too.
"She could either get the time off for the wedding or this," I said. "I think she made the right call."
Alina laughed. "Still. She would have loved it here."
"Yeah." My stomach seemed to churn as I looked up at the hotel. I folded my arms across my chest. It was hot and humid, but I suddenly felt cold.
"Hey," Alina said. "I'm sorry, I could have worded that better. I wasn't thinking."
"What?" I laughed awkwardly. "I'm fine. It's fine." I shook my head. A good night's sleep would make me feel better. I just needed to clear my head and focus on having Kristen's kind of fun.
"We'll all have to take a shot for Em tonight then," Kristen said and grabbed Alina's arm.
"Wait, aren't we just going to call it a night?" I was exhausted.
"It's only 8 o'clock! This place is known for their awesome clubs. Let's get checked in and get this party started!"
Everyone else looked excited as they followed Kristen into the hotel. I slowly followed them with my arms crossed. We were going to be here for a week. If I didn't get enough sleep I'd just be a grumpy Gus the whole time.
"Welcome to the Blue Parrot Resort," said the man at the front desk. "My name is Javier. How may I help you?" He was several years older than us and wearing a black tuxedo. I had never seen a concierge dressed so fancy.
"Hi, we have a reservation for four under Kristen Dwyer," Kristen said.
"One moment please, Ms. Dwyer." Javier typed a few things into his computer and scanned the screen. "Ah, there you are. It says here that you'll be staying with us for seven nights in two queen beds. Is that correct?"
"Yes."
"Excellent. Have any of you ladies ever been here before?"
"No."
"Then let me give you a quick overview of what we have to offer." Javier grabbed a pamphlet and slid it across the counter towards us. "We have three onsite restaurants that are open every day from 6 a.m. to 2 in the morning. Or if you'd just like a quick snack, there's a mini bar in your room and we also have a snack bar here at the front desk to my left." He gestured with his hand to the left.