Third Chances

by Smoak, Ivy

  "What. The. Hell. Is. That?" asked Kristen.

  I turned to look at her. "What the hell is what?"

  "That thing on your body."

  "It's a bathing suit. Obviously. Stop being weird." I lifted up my towel and draped it over my arm to hide all the bracelets.

  "No."

  "No what?"

  "I'm not going to the pool with you dressed like a granny. You'll scare away all the hot guys."

  "Help me out here, Alina."

  "I'm sorry, you know how much I love you," she said. "But Kristen is right. It looks awful. Whatever possessed you to buy that?"

  "I wear it to the gym all the time to swim laps."

  "We're not swimming laps. We're lounging around, tanning, and flirting with strangers," Kristen said with a smile.

  "Maybe you are. I brought SPF 50 sunscreen so I don't end up with skin cancer. And I'm certainly not flirting with anyone. They might see my bracelets."

  "I bet there's a gift shop here that sells swimsuits," Layla said. She grabbed the pamphlet off the dresser and skimmed through it. "There's one near the Jaguar's Den. Let's go check it out and see."

  "Perfect. Shopping then to the pool." Kristen linked her arm in mine and pulled me out of the room.

  "Can we at least stop by the front desk first? I need to ask Javier a question." The four of us stepped onto the elevator.

  "Sure. Maybe he can point us in the direction of their sexiest bathing suits."

  I rolled my eyes. Getting a bikini wasn't going to help hide my bracelets at all. My best shot was blending in. But I was almost certain it wouldn't come to that. Wearing four bracelets had to violate the game's policy. Javier would let me take them off.

  The elevator doors opened and I walked over to the front desk. Javier was standing just where he had been the night before.

  "Good morning, ladies," he said. "Did you have a good first night?"

  "Excellent," Alina said. She gave me a sympathetic smile.

  "Javier, I was wondering if there was a way to remove these bracelets." I held out my wrist.

  He smiled. "You seem to be enjoying the game very much."

  "No. Not really. My friends pulled a prank on me. And I know that it's just a silly game, but I'm sure wearing four bracelets breaks the rules."

  "The rules actually don't specify if an individual is willing to wear her friends' bracelets."

  "But these were put on me by accident last night..."

  "Once the bracelets are put on, they can only be removed by completing the actions on a gentleman's card."

  "I know that's what you say." My friends had wandered over to the activity board. I leaned forward slightly and lowered my voice. "But between you and me, there's another way, right? Like a master key kind of thing? Maybe you could help me out?"

  "I'm sorry, ma'am, the only way to remove the bracelet is to swipe a card against it."

  "Could you maybe just swipe some of the cards back there against these ones then?"

  Javier got a serious look on his face. "I'm an employee of this establishment. I'm not allowed to partake in the game."

  "I don't mean play the game. I just mean swipe the cards against my bracelets. I'm not going to do anything on the cards. Or maybe I can just get the extra three removed? Maybe there's someone I can talk to about the rules of the game?"

  "Stop harassing Javier," Kristen said. "We were wondering where to find the sexiest bikinis for sale."

  "Of course." Javier seemed excited to talk to someone else.

  I tuned him out and peered over the counter. I could see the stack of cards sitting right there. If I could just grab one...

  "Great," Kristen said. "This way, Daphne." She grabbed my arm. "We just signed up for a ton of awesome activities."

  I had forgotten all about the activities. Now I was stuck with four bracelets and I didn't have a say in anything we did all week. I wanted to be able to let all this go and have fun, but right now all I wanted to do was go home. Especially when we stopped outside a store that had the sluttiest bikinis possible displayed in the window. Apparently bachelorette parties were not my thing.

  "Oh my God," Alina said.

  "What?" I turned to look at her. I assumed she was going to talk about the slutty bikinis, but she was staring down the empty hall.

  "I swear I just saw..." her voice trailed off. "Never mind."

  "No, who do you think you saw?" I asked. This distraction was just what I needed to get out of purchasing two pieces of fabric that had no business being called a bathing suit.

  Alina laughed. "That guy that just turned the corner down there looked just like Professor Hunter."

  "Stop making fun of me," Kristen said and lightly shoved her shoulder.

  "No, I swear, I just saw a guy that could have been his twin."

  "Ha. Ha. You're just trying to get me to run down the hallway and act like a crazy person."

  Alina shrugged. "I'm not saying it was him. It just looked like him. I probably just imagined it."

  "Let's follow him," I said, hoping to take advantage of the distraction. "I can't believe he's here too! What a strange coincidence. It must be fate, Kristen!"

  Kristen laughed. "Nice try. You're not getting out of buying an age appropriate bathing suit. That way missy," she said and pushed me into the store.

  Chapter 7

  Daphne

  I stared in horror at my reflection in the mirror. Despite what my friends said, it seemed like the bikini was too small. It screamed "look at me" with its neon colors, skimpy material, and push-up cups. And I couldn't look at my backside in the mirror. It was dangerously close to a thong and the idea of wearing it in public made me cringe. But I didn't seem to have a choice in the matter. So now I could focus on covering up either the slutty bikini my friends had forced me to buy or the demon bracelets on my wrist. Screw it. I pulled the towel off my body and draped it over my arm. This way I could cover the bracelets and hold the towel in front of me while I walked. Besides, I'd rather have people ogle me than be able to do God knows what to me.

  I grabbed the bag that now had my super sensible one-piece in it, and exited the changing room.

  "You're such a hottie," Kristen said. "Why do you always insist on dressing like a forty year old virgin?"

  Layla tried to hide her laugh by coughing.

  "I just want to make sure that people like me for me. And I work with kids."

  "You don't work with kids," Kristen said. "You work with 18 year olds that are super eager to please."

  "Don't be gross." I tried to picture some of the boys in my classes, some of the ones that I was friends with on Facebook. The first thing I was going to do once I got home was delete my Facebook account.

  "I'm with Momma Bear on this one," Alina said and linked her arm in mine. "Mixing work with pleasure is never a good thing." We all walked out of the store in search of the closest pool.

  "I'm pretty sure mixing work with pleasure is what got us both in so much trouble," Layla said with a wink.

  Alina laughed. "Fine, sometimes it's a good thing. But it doesn't work so well with guys that are barely legal."

  "I'm just saying that some of the guys on Daphne's football team have abs of steel," Kristen said. "Don't pretend like you've never noticed."

  I shrugged. I had noticed. But just in a way that compared guys in high school today with guys in high school when I was younger. It just made me think about how much bigger 18 year olds seemed today than back then. There must have been something in the water in New York. Or maybe steroids? Why am I thinking about this?

  We walked out of the hotel to an extremely crowded pool. Most of the chairs were already occupied by sunbathers.

  "Nope, not this one," I said. Part of our agreement was that I got to choose the least crowded pool. No one was getting to my bracelets until I found a loophole in this stupid game.

  We turned around and headed to the opposite side of the hotel. Luckily there were four pools at the Blue Parrot Resort. The
re had to be at least one that wasn't crowded. We walked past the slutty swimsuit place again and back outside. This pool was mostly shaded by the building, which meant there weren't many sunbathers.

  "This one will do," I said and headed toward a chair.

  "Oh come on, it's not even that sunny over here," Kristen said. "I need to work on my tan so that I look amazeballs in my maid of honor dress."

  "There's a few chairs over there that are in the sun," I said and pointed across the pool. There were already a few people in the sunny chairs, but there were four empty ones. It looked like we had gotten there just in time.

  "Oh my God!" Kristen squealed and ducked behind a pool chair.

  All three of us stared at her.

  "Get down, guys!"

  "What exactly are we hiding from?" Layla asked.

  "Professor Hunter is here!"

  I laughed. "Sure he is." I looked over to where I had just pointed. "Actually, that guy does really look like him."

  "Don't stare!" Kristen grabbed my arm and pulled me down behind the pool chair with her.

  "Kristen, you're being ridiculous. The chances are that it's not even him. And even if it is, what are you trying to accomplish by hiding?"

  "Do you think I should go over there?"

  "That depends on what you're planning to do," Alina said and crouched down next to us. "He's engaged, remember?"

  "I wouldn't do anything weird," Kristen hissed. "I just want to talk to him."

  "You guys?" Layla said.

  "Not now, Layla," Kristen replied. "Okay, we need a game plan. Maybe we should just go get those seats next to him?"

  Layla laughed and crouched down next to us. "I know one of the guys that he's with. We can walk over and I can say hi and do introductions."

  "Which one do you know?" I stood up to look at the group of guys, but Kristen immediately pulled me back down.

  "Stop being obvious, Daphne!" Kristen said.

  I laughed.

  "Mason Caldwell. He runs the marketing campaigns for Sword Body Wash. He helped me become their celebrity endorsement. He's a marketing genius. Actually, he's the reason why we can afford to be here." She laughed. "I owe him a huge thank you. I'm glad we're going to run into him."

  "Wait, let me get this straight," Kristen said. "The whole time you knew me, you knew a friend of Professor Hunter's and didn't tell me? You're pure evil, Layla!"

  "I didn't even know about this weird crush you have on Professor Hunter until yesterday. Well, at least, how big of a crush it was. And I didn't put the connection together until I just saw Mason."

  "So does that mean that it's definitely Professor Hunter over there?" Kristen asked. She suddenly looked nervous.

  "Most likely. Hey, maybe he's here for his bachelor party."

  Kristen frowned. "Don't remind me."

  "If we go over there, you have to promise not to embarrass me, though."

  "Why does everyone assume I'm going to be awful? I'm always completely normal around Professor Hunter."

  "Mhm," Alina said.

  "Tell them, Daphne," Kristen said.

  I shrugged. "I never had a class with you and him. I have no idea how you acted. I just know that you talked about him nonstop and made me sit outside of his apartment building a few times. Because you're a stalker," I whispered.

  Kristen frowned again. "I'm not going to be weird. I haven't seen him in a few years. And I'm dating Tim. I'm in love with Tim. I just think it would be rude to not say hi. That's all."

  "Fine, but I'm not spending my whole bachelorette party stalking him with you."

  "I promise that won't happen. I cross my heart and hope to die." She made a cross over her chest as she said it, to prove how serious she was.

  "Great. So, does this mean we can stop hiding and being weird?" I asked and stood up.

  "I guess so," Layla said and stood up beside me.

  Alina stood up and pulled Kristen up too.

  "Just act super normal, everyone," Kristen said.

  "I don't think we're the ones anyone's worried about," Alina responded.

  She swiftly got an elbow in the ribs.

  I followed the three of them to the other side of the pool, making sure my towel was covering up my bracelets and was in front of my inappropriate bikini. Not that I had anything to worry about. Professor Hunter was engaged and I knew enough about Mason Caldwell from tabloids to know that he had been dating a beautiful blonde for a couple of years. Professor Hunter and Mason had both been New York bachelor royalty. One of the other guys with them was just as gorgeous as Mason. They looked pretty similar, but he was definitely younger. Maybe they were related?

  I stopped walking when my eyes landed on the man sitting beside Professor Hunter. But not because he was the most gorgeous man I had ever laid my eyes on. Well, maybe partially. It was mainly because I recognized him from campus, though. I used to see him almost every day, running along the paths on the green. I'd be lying if I said I didn't stare. It was hard not to.

  He looked a lot like Professor Hunter. Maybe they were related too? I wasn't sure why I had never put that together before. He was laughing at something that Mason had just said. He seemed more carefree and easy going. It had always seemed like Professor Hunter was uptight. It was probably because all the girls on campus were stalking him. The guy sitting next to him seemed so relaxed and happy, though. He also had shaggy brown hair instead and was tanner. He glanced over at us and made eye contact with me. He smiled, a dazzling white, perfect smile that made my insides flip over.

  I quickly looked away. For some reason my heart was beating fast. Probably because I had been caught staring. It definitely had nothing to do with how hot he was. I stopped by the chairs we'd be sitting in and picked the one farthest away from the guys. Fortunately it was also the one in the shade, or else I would have had to choose between sitting near them or getting skin cancer. I'd just sit here while Kristen embarrassed herself. There was no reason why I had to be part of whatever awkward conversation was about to ensue. And once I was done eavesdropping, I could swim some laps. It was going to be a perfectly relaxing afternoon.

  I put my bag with my old bathing suit on the chair beside mine, in case some eager sunbathers wanted to swoop the chairs beside me, and sat down, making sure to keep my blanket over my wrist.

  "Well, if it isn't Mason Caldwell," Layla said.

  Mason smiled. "Layla Torrez." He stood up and gave her a hug. "You quit on me and now you're spending your days in Costa Rica?"

  She laughed. "I'm spending my days doing what I love now. You know that. I'm here for my friend's bachelorette party."

  "What a coincidence. That's why I'm here." He pointed over his shoulder at Professor Hunter. Professor Hunter was reading a book. He didn't even look up. "Which one of you lovely ladies is getting married?"

  "This is my friend, Alina," Layla said. "Alina, this is Mason."

  Mason lowered his eyebrows slightly as he shook Alina's hand. "You look really familiar. But I have no idea where I've seen you."

  Alina laughed awkwardly. "I just have one of those faces."

  "That's not it," the guy who looked like Mason said. He stood up and joined Mason. "I definitely recognize you. You're Alina Smith. She's the tiebreaker girl, man," he said to Mason.

  Mason laughed. "Oh." He scratched the back of his neck. "Right. Well, I'm pretty sure most guys weren't staring at your face."

  Alina's face turned bright red.

  "But this is my brother, Matt," Mason said and slapped the guy next to him on his back.

  "It's great to meet you," he said to Alina. "That was some quality television. I'm pretty sure I still have it on my DVR."

  Mason cleared his throat. "And that's my friend James behind me and his brother Rob."

  Brothers. That made sense. I looked over at Rob again. I swallowed hard. He was still staring at me. I turned back to my friends, but every few moments I'd glance in his direction. He looked pleased with himself. Like he knew I thought
he was hot. Well, he didn't know anything about me. And he certainly didn't know anything about what I did and didn't like. I looked over at Professor Hunter instead. He was still reading his book.

  "Nice to meet you guys," Layla said. "Oh, and this is my friend Kristen Dwyer."

  James looked up from his book. I could have been imagining it, but he looked slightly freaked out. Like maybe he knew Kristen had stalked him in college. And maybe he was still worried she was.

  "Great to meet you," Mason said and shook Kristen's hand.

  "You too. Alina and I were actually in Professor Hunter's class at the University of New Castle. Well, I was in a few of his classes, Alina was just in one."

  "I should have known you ladies were from there. I think James and I both agree that some of the hottest girls are from the University of New Castle."

  I rolled my eyes.

  "My girlfriend went there. And so did James' fiancée. Aren't you going to say hi to your old students?" Mason asked Professor Hunter.

  Professor Hunter stood up and stretched. He seemed completely uninterested in the conversation that was going on. But I could tell why Kristen was obsessed with him. It was hard not to stare at his perfectly sculpted torso. It was certainly easy to imagine licking the lines of his six pack. I shook the thought away. It had been way too long since I last had sex.

  He cleared his throat. "Kristen and Alina, of course. It's great to see you again." He shook Alina's hand and then Kristen's.

  The smile on Kristen's face made her look like a crazy person. "It's so good to see you again. Your classes were definitely my favorite. I was so sad when you stopped teaching, Professor Hunter."

  "You can just call me James. And thanks. I'm glad you got something out of my classes."

  "Okay, James," she said with a smile. I'm pretty sure she sighed, but I could have been wrong. I wasn't close enough to tell.

  Professor Hunter looked over at Mason and raised both his eyebrows.

  It was so obvious that he knew that Kristen had stalked him. I laughed out loud. Mason, Matt, and Professor Hunter looked over at me.

  I hadn't meant to laugh. I quickly looked out at the pool. There was just one lady swimming laps. Now it looks like I have the hots for women.