by Meghan Diane
www.BellaBooks.com
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Table of Contents
Cover
Synopsis
Title Page
Copyright Page
About the Author
Dedication
Acknowledgments
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Bella Books
Synopsis
Adulting can really suck. Like being tied down to a job. Figuring out what to do with your life. Not to mention the girl problems.
Okay, let’s be honest—how can you not mention the girl problems? Travel-loving Aurora has had almost as many girlfriends as she has stickers on her luggage. Recovering from yet another relationship implosion, she has bet her pal, Madison, that she can stay single for six months. I mean, how hard can that be?
As an aspiring photographer who likes to step back from the scene and catch people as they really are—not how they portray themselves in selfies—Aurora welcomes the opportunity to step back from serial dating and find out who she really is as well. She’s tired of being the girl who goes for it first and thinks about it later.
But less than two months into the bet her resolve is seriously tested during a trip to Florida where she meets rugby-playing Phoenix who sports adorably tousled hair and a banging bod. As the two lie under the sultry southern stars, Phoenix points out the constellations and explains their mythical origins. And as their relationship deepens, Phoenix seems to offer possibilities that go beyond dating to potential soulmate material—or is that just a myth as well?
Determined to avoid a revved up rebound romance that could just crash and burn, Aurora sticks to the bet and returns home where her mind keeps returning to Phoenix. But what about her bet? Then again, if you don’t play, how can you win?
Copyright © 2017 by Meghan Diane
Bella Books, Inc.
P.O. Box 10543
Tallahassee, FL 32302
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, without permission in writing from the publisher.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental. The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.
First Bella Books Edition 2017
eBook released 2017
Editor: Vicki Sly
Cover Designer: Judith Fellows
ISBN: 978-1-59493-529-9
PUBLISHER’S NOTE
The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this book via the Internet or via any other means without the permission of the publisher is illegal and punishable by law. Please purchase only authorized electronic editions, and do not participate in or encourage electronic piracy of copyrighted materials. Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated.
About the Author
Meghan Diane began her writing career after graduating from West Virginia University. When she’s not writing, she can be found traveling the world. Currently she resides in the fascinating state of New York. Meghan loves to read and spends many nights staying up to the wee hours of the morning just to finish a book. With a coffee in hand, anything is possible.
Dedication
Here’s to writing your own happy endings.
Acknowledgments
Amber—You are my rock, always. Thanks for being my person.
Laura—For reading, even when you’re already busy. And for being my first line of editing.
Chapter One
“When are you coming back?”
“In four days,” I said, with an evil grin on my face.
“Four days! That’s forever!” Ariel groaned and promptly threw herself down on my bed. “But it feels like you just got here.”
I had. I’d moved in three months ago and we were finally getting into a routine. Granted that routine consisted of work, food, and TV on the couch. But it was a routine nonetheless.
“It’s only a long weekend, and I’ll be back before you know it.” I smiled, stuffing some jeans into my suitcase. “Do you think I should take one swimsuit or three?”
“I hate you,” she replied, throwing me a pair of socks that had escaped. “Why do you have to go away for so long?” She was sitting up on the bed now, looking at me with the sad puppy-dog eyes that she frequently did.
Ariel and I hadn’t been friends very long, but we had bonded quickly. There was something endearing about our relationship. We took care of each other. When she needed help building her deck, I was there for her. When I broke up with Reese, she comforted me in the best way possible—with food. She even let me move in with her and Marko, and that’s how I ended up here.
I finished zipping my suitcase. It was one of those with the hard outer shell. I was so excited when I got it for Christmas because it meant that whenever I traveled I could put new stickers on it—almost like badges. I looked up at her and pointed to my case. “You see these stickers? It’s been six months since I’ve added one. Six months, Ariel!” I put on my sad puppy-dog face too, hoping she’d understand.
“I know, I know. You like to travel. You need to travel.” She rolled her eyes, but I knew she understood. She liked the Aurora who sat on the couch with her every night, yelling at the screen. But she also enjoyed the Aurora who was me. And I was a traveler.
“What am I going to do the whole weekend?” she whined, emphasizing the word whole.
I looked around my room. “You can finish hanging my records.” My room was comforting. It definitely screamed Aurora, but it wasn’t finished. I had completely rearranged the room when I moved in. The bed was now against the wall. My desk—my glorious desk—was against another. On top of it sat my record player. The room was clean; I’ll give myself that. But it wasn’t finished. And hanging my three framed vinyl records, well, that would make it finished.
“Oh great. Thank you for the suggestion.” She rolled her eyes and picked up my suitcase. “Come on, you’ve gotta get moving.”
“You’re the best.” I smiled. I really loved Ariel. She was quickly becoming one of my closest friends.
“You better come back to me, Aurora,” was all she said as she walked out my bedroom door.
Neither of us was any good at goodbyes, and that was about as close to a send-off as I was going to get. I surveyed my room one more time to make sure I wasn’t forgetting anything. It always seemed that no matter how prepared I was for a trip, I’d always forget something. But to be fair, I had just started packing twenty minutes earlier, so my level of preparedness wasn’t very high. I shook my head before reaching down to feel the front pocket of my jeans. Yes, my coin was still there. I wou
ldn’t make that mistake again.
I picked up my suitcase that Ariel had so graciously left for me at the front door, and threw it into the trunk of my black Volkswagen Golf. I had purchased the car a few months ago and it was my pride and joy. The payments on it sucked, but it was worth it. And, like my suitcase, my back window was home to a collection of stickers. It made the car more me, and I couldn’t help but smile when I’d look through my rearview mirror and see a zombie apocalypse sticker staring back at me.
I slowly pulled out of the driveway, careful to not hit the hidden mailbox. That was an unfortunate mistake I’d made the first week of living here. On the bright side, it wasn’t my car that I’d hit it with. It was Reese’s.
She was pretty mad about it, but I’d had it fixed before telling her. That softened the blow a little bit. God, I was glad that relationship was over. It wasn’t that we hadn’t had good times. We had. We went to festivals, we ate lots of exciting new foods, and we even traveled a bit. But, the truth was, we didn’t really click. I had goals, and she had goals, but we didn’t have goals as a couple. There was no talk of a future, of babies. And I wanted babies. Lots of them.
Now I understand why we didn’t work out. And it showed. All of our friends could tell you that we were the notorious couple who was always arguing. We put each other down on the daily, and it became our natural go-to. The love left the relationship before either of us had even realized.
There were days when I would be sad, days when I missed her. But the second I spoke to her on the phone, the arguing would start, and I would know that I’d made the right decision. I was too mellow for a relationship like that.
I rolled to a stop at the end of my road, patiently waiting for the light to turn green. I peeked at my empty passenger seat. “Ah sweet freedom.” I smiled, before popping the top on the energy drink that I’d brought with me. “No more thoughts about Reese,” I told myself. “Vacation has begun. Just seven more hours of driving to go.”
* * *
Halfway there, my love, I texted Halley. I’d been driving for almost four hours, and as I put gas in my car, I thought about how I was in desperate need of some snacks. Oreos sounded perfect. Though from experience, I knew that could end in me “accidentally” eating the whole package. Do it, my sweet tooth screamed.
My phone buzzed, bringing me out of my daydream. YAYYYYY! Halley had texted back. I smiled. Halley had been my best friend for over ten years. After we stopped living in the same state, we got to see each other in spurts of maybe two days at a time. This time wasn’t much longer, but four days was better than two, and I would take every second I could get.
I cannot wait to see your shining face, I texted back. And meet all of your new friends that you seem to have made without me. Passive-aggressive was always our go-to means of communicating. And meet this new boy.
Halley had just gotten out of relationship with a guy she had been dating for over a year. I thought they were going to get married, but one day she just accidently blurted out that they weren’t together and she was going on a date with someone else. Which was fine with me, because I’d never even met the first guy.
But I’d get to meet this one.
EEEEE, was her response. I’m so excited too. Have you stalked my friend Phoenix yet?
Phoenix? I racked my brain trying to decipher through all of the names she had given me in the past four months. I knew Stella. She was the girl in all of the pictures. I’d briefly looked at her Facebook account. And there was Spencer, the new boyfriend.
Phoenix?
Yeah, get with it, Aurora.
I cocked my head to the side. Was I missing something? I quickly pulled up this girl’s Facebook page. She looked normal enough.
Should I know this girl? I texted back.
I’ll probably be drunk by the time you get here, was the response I received.
Avoidance, huh? And then it dawned on me.
Halley, is this your way of telling me that this girl is gay?
See you soon my love.
My brows furrowed together. What was she up to?
I let out a sigh as I pulled out of the gas station. Driving was one of my least favorite things. There was a bit of irony to it I suppose. I liked to travel and go places, but there was something about the actual act of driving that got under my skin.
I could feel a bad mood already tugging at me, willing me to give in to its madness. I narrowed my eyes. “Oh no you don’t,” I muttered to myself before unceremoniously popping an Oreo into my mouth. I reached over and turned the Coldplay song up a little louder. “There, that’s better.”
* * *
By the time I pulled up at three a.m., Halley was already drunk. And apparently so were all of her friends too. I opened the door to Waffle House and walked in.
“Hey best friend.” I beamed at Halley.
“Oh my gosh! You made it,” she slurred, jumping up to greet me. She wrapped her arms so tight around my neck that I almost couldn’t breathe. I was barely taller than her. In fact, we were nearly the same size. We’d been sharing clothes and, more importantly, shoes for as long as I could remember. When our hair was the same length, people would ask if we were related. But now, she kept her hair short.
“Hey.” I smiled back. “I’ve missed you.”
“Not as much as I’ve missed you!” she squealed, slowly letting go of my neck.
I backed away, surveying the various people in the booth that I’d never met. Three sets of eyes stared at me.
Halley slid back into her seat, next to someone I assumed was her boyfriend. She left enough room for me, so I slid in after her.
“Hey guys.” I smiled as I took them all in. They seemed normal enough. They also seemed pretty drunk.
“You’re prettier in person,” the boy across from me blurted out.
I took in his ruffled blond hair and polo shirt. He could be cute, I guess. “Ouch.” I responded, cocking an eyebrow. “I think I’m offended.”
“No! It’s a good thing.” He smiled back. “I like it, and your eyes. I like your eyes. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone with green eyes that shine as bright as yours.”
A blush crept up my cheeks. “You mean except for Halley’s?” That was another trait that we seemed to share. “But thank you.”
“He’s right, you’re super cute.” Halley smiled at me, her eyes threatening to droop down. “With your cute little smile, and your cute little tan.”
I glared at her.
“And your hair. I want it. How can I get hair that thick and that long? Like it’s nearly to your ass. May I borrow some pleaseeeee?”
I raised my eyebrows at her and ignored her compliments. “How did you guys end up here? Also PS, you chose to cut your hair shorter, I told you not to.”
She narrowed her eyes at me. “It was a mistake, I know that now. And we were hungry, and they had food.”
Yup, they’re pretty drunk. “Okay, that sounds fair enough.” I looked at the boy sitting in the middle, across from Halley. He was your average pretty boy. He was also wearing a standard issue polo shirt, and I quickly peered under the table to take in his khaki pants before introducing myself. “I’m Aurora by the way. We haven’t actually met yet.” I waited for him to take my outstretched hand.
“Peter.”
“Hi Peter,” I said, giving him my warmest smile, before turning to the charmer across from me. “And you are?”
“Your soul mate.” He smiled, not missing a beat.
“Oh great.” I rolled my eyes.
“Matt.” He extended his hand. “It’s Matt.”
Just what I need, another guy in my life who thinks he can charm the pants off any girl he meets. But, he was a friend of Halley’s so he gained some credibility there. I decided I would give him another chance, just maybe not tonight though.
“And that makes you Spencer right?” I asked the boy on the other side of Halley. I was smirking at this point. I knew who he was.
“Ye
ah buddy, the one and only.” He smiled at me and then sheepishly turned toward Halley.
“I’m glad that I’m finally getting to meet you. I’ve heard so much about you. All bad of course.” The whole table laughed, and I felt better. The awkward tension had been broken. I looked around at the group of people before me. I pictured what it would look like to be on the outside staring in.
Here were five young adults sharing a run-down booth with holes in the cheap plastic and smiling awkwardly at one another. It would be presumed that we were drunk, and for the most part they would be right. On one side they would see Matt struggling to keep his eyes open while Peter played with the scrambled eggs that were left—ketchup smeared across the plate. Then they would take in Halley and Spencer, who were now staring into each other’s eyes, no doubt telling the other how much they loved them. Or maybe they’d just met? It would be hard to tell at first glance. Finally, their eyes would land on the last girl in the booth, staring off into space.
I wonder how they would perceive me. Would they know that I didn’t fit in here? Would they know that a piece of me was missing? Or would they take me as whole, assuming by default that this was the norm, that this was who I was, the girl in the booth with the green eyes?
I snapped out of my thoughts as two arms wrapped around me. “I love you,” Halley murmured. A smile crept up, until I gave in to the warmth. It was good to be with my best friend again. But something was still missing.
Chapter Two
“Want to go to a party at someone’s beach house tonight?”
I rolled over and hugged my pillow to my face. “Why are you awake and texting this early?” I looked at my phone, silently noting that no one had texted me. “It’s seven forty-eight in the morning.” I lifted my head in an attempt to get up, but failed and let my face fall back to the pillow. “And yes to the party. Yes to anything that involves a beach.”