Chapter Text
Shauna woke up with a piercing headache, in unfamiliar clothes, in an even more unfamiliar bed. Truthfully, the bed was the least concerning part of it all. She’d barely set foot in her hotel room the day before, so for all she knew, this was hers.
But the headache, paired with the baggy shorts and a The Wilderness Co. shirt, gave her a good idea of what went down. She groaned, running her hand down her face as she attempted to remember the events of last night.
There was Medieval Times…no way she could forget whatever that was. Then they went to a tiki bar. Along the way, Melissa had sorta admitted she was into Shauna, hadn’t she? Shauna could remember her seething jealousy when Mari was practically attached to Melissa’s side after one too many shots.
And the bathroom. Oh god, the bathroom. She’d practically pounced on Melissa like the girl was a gazelle and Shauna a starving cheetah. Not that Melissa complained…no, in fact, Shauna had a distinct memory of being pinned against the stall door.
Shauna cringed, remembering that she most definitely begged Melissa to bring her back to her room. Then…
Well, Shauna actually wasn’t sure what happened after that.
She gasped dramatically, eyes suddenly searching the room for a sign. It was definitely Melissa’s. Shauna recognized her bag from yesterday, clothes now thrown around the room lazily. Including Shauna’s outfit from last night, dangling off the wardrobe by the TV.
She experimentally shifted her thighs, not feeling any of the telltale signs she normally does after a night of pleasure. There was the possibility that Melissa was the gentlest lover ever, but Shauna had her doubts after their brief moment in the bathroom stall.
She also really, really hoped that wasn’t the case because then that would mean Shauna couldn’t remember. She’d be damned if she hooked up with that (extremely hot) hat-wearing loser and had no recollection of the night.
She’d been determined to climb that gangly tree. What good was it if Shauna had no memory to cherish when she was back in New York, a few glasses of red wine in? She hadn’t had good material for her alone time in so long.
As Shauna cursed her entire bloodline and the multiple shots she’d taken last night, she heard the distinct sound of a shower cutting off. She hadn’t even noticed it was running until now, too lost in the fact that she’d thrown herself at Melissa for nothing, apparently.
Shauna considered making a run for it, except that would definitely make things even more awkward, considering they still had to see each other for the next three days. She also wasn’t entirely sure where her room key was, and she was not prepared to have to ask Jackie or, god forbid, Lottie to let her back in the room.
So Shauna remained in the bed, accepting her fate as she listened to the gentle sounds of Melissa moving about in the bathroom. It didn’t take long for her to emerge, and before Shauna had even fully made it known she was awake, Melissa was stopping in her tracks. Shauna’s eyes remained trained on the ceiling.
“Oh, hey,” Melissa said softly. “You’re awake.”
“Mhm,” Shauna hummed.
“Did you, uhm, sleep alright?” Melissa awkwardly shuffled closer to the bed.
Shauna shrugged, honestly unsure if she had or not. Melissa laughed, offering her a bottle of Gatorade. It was only then that Shauna turned her head, and she immediately regretted it.
She wasn’t sure when she turned into the equivalent of a Victorian child catching sight of a bare ankle for the first time, but something about Melissa brought it out of her. Her breath caught in her throat at the sight in front of her, Melissa clad in only a pair of grey sweatpants and her sports bra.
Shauna reached for the Gatorade quickly, averting her eyes when the sight of Melissa’s wet hair dripping water down the soft skin of her stomach was somehow making Shauna thirstier.
They sat in silence for a few minutes after that. The only sounds to be heard were Shauna occasionally gulping down too big sips of her Gatorade and the quiet tapping pattern Melissa was now drumming on her thigh as she sat perched at the edge of the bed.
Eventually, once Shauna had managed to quench one thirst, she slowly turned her head back to face Melissa. Having felt eyes on her, Melissa did the same, both of them staring with nervous eyes.
Melissa shifted, moving to sit fully on the bed as Shauna dragged herself into a less awkward upright position. They both leaned against the headboard, staring ahead.
It was way too fucking awkward after what went down last night. Even if Shauna had no memories past the bathroom in that dumb little tiki bar, she was sure something had gone down after. And she needed to know.
The silence evidently had gotten to Melissa, too, as they both opened their mouths and began speaking over each other.
“So, about last night–”
“Did we have sex?”
Melissa choked on air at Shauna’s question, her head turning quickly like she wasn’t sure she’d heard her properly. Apparently, she hadn’t.
“I’m-I’m sorry?” Melissa stuttered out, wide eyes blinking at Shauna.
Shauna rolled her own eyes in response. “Well, I’m in your hotel room, in your bed, in your clothes…” Did she need to continue?
Melissa’s eyes grew impossibly wide, shaking her head so aggressively that she shook water onto Shauna, much like a dog that just got out of a bath.
Shauna felt a sudden sense of relief, thankful they didn’t have sex. It wouldn’t have been the worst thing in the world, but she was pretty sure it would be something she’d want to remember. Only now, Shauna found herself with even more questions.
Before she could begin blurting out one of the many questions running through her head, Melissa beat her to it.
“You seriously don’t remember?” Melissa tilted her head, and Shauna shook her own in response.
“Can you…fill me in?” Shauna mumbled. “I remember leaving the bar, but after that…”
“Oh,” Melissa seemed surprised. “You remember the bar?” Her cheeks flushed slightly, clearly now thinking back to their time in the bathroom.
Shauna nodded. “Kinda why I jumped to the whole…sex thing, Mel.”
“Right, well,” Melissa cleared her throat, tapping her fingers atop her thigh. “No sex thing.”
Shauna genuinely couldn’t fathom what happened at this point. If they hadn’t hooked up, why on earth was Melissa still being so awkward? She supposed it was the girl’s default setting, but Shauna was already in her bed.
She was already slightly mortified she’d blacked out. She swears she didn’t drink that much, but she’s also not eighteen anymore, and she’d never been able to hold her liquor that well. But with how Melissa was acting, Shauna couldn’t even imagine what she’d done.
And now Melissa was looking at her with slightly furrowed eyebrows, almost like she was questioning if she should actually tell Shauna what went down. It was not making Shauna feel great about whatever had happened.
Shauna ran a hand through her hair, sighing quietly. “I totally embarrassed myself, didn’t I?”
“No!” Melissa quickly responded, startling even herself. Then, softer– “No, you didn’t embarrass yourself.”
Shauna sent her an expectant look, forcing her eyes to remain firmly on Melissa’s face as she did so. No matter how badly she wanted to let them drift lower, to maybe actually make good on what she’d thought they’d do last night— no, she had to stay strong. She needed to get answers first.
“So, like, when we first got back, you were really insistent on going skinny dipping…” Melissa started, and Shauna’s eyes already began to widen in horror. “In Van and Tai’s pool! Not the public one, or whatever,” Melissa waved her hand out.
Was Shauna sixteen? What in her drunken mind made her think it’d be a good idea to go skinny dipping? Shauna’s eyes briefly dipped lower, catching on a drop of water running down Melissa’s chest to her stomach— and, okay, Shauna might know what made her think it was a good idea…
“And of course we couldn’t because I didn’t have a key to their room.”
“That’s what was stopping you?” Shauna raised an eyebrow, and Melissa blushed.
“It didn’t seem like a horrible suggestion,” Melissa shrugged, eyes avoiding Shauna’s gaze. “Sixteen-year-old me probably would have told me I was dreaming.”
“What?” Shauna tilted her head slightly, confused as to why Melissa’s younger self would be in disbelief. Although Shauna figured her younger self would also be shocked she was trying to go skinny dipping with the hat-wearing lesbian from the soccer team.
“Nothing, just–” Melissa paused for a moment, biting her lip like she was unsure if she should continue. “I guess the logical part of my brain kinda kicked in at that moment. You were so insistent on it, and you were hanging off me, and I sorta realized you might not…be in the right head space.”
“I guess you weren’t wrong, but Mel-” Shauna went to question why those were the giveaways. Shauna was, like, 100% positive her sober self would probably act the same way given the chance. It was taking everything in her not to jump Melissa’s bones at this very moment.
“It’s cool,” Melissa waved her off, apparently reading Shauna’s mind. “That wasn’t the only giveaway.”
“Oh, God,” Shauna was growing even more worried. “What else happened?”
“After the skinny dipping was a no-go, I offered to take you back to your room. Except you didn’t have your room key? And you kept saying you wanted to have a sleepover,” Melissa laughed at this, and Shauna found herself smiling along.
“Guess that’s how I got here?”
Melissa nodded, and Shauna felt the bed shift a little as she leaned the slightest bit closer to her. Shauna’s smile grew, leaning in with her.
“You totally threw a shoe at me, though.” Melissa’s head turned to face forward again. Her words had Shuana gasping, her smile dropping instantly.
“What? Why?” Shauna leaned her head back, almost putting herself further away than she had been before they’d leaned closer.
“Uhm…”
“Melissa…”
“I brought you back here,” Melissa turned her head back to face Shauna once more. “And I was trying to help you change,” She reached out, almost without thinking, and tugged on the hem of Shauna’s shirt. Then, like her brain caught up to her actions, she pulled her hand back to her own lap. “And you kept trying to kiss me.”
Shauna scoffed, crossing her arms over her chest. Melissa could have kissed her while she was drunk. It wouldn’t have been the end of the world. Shauna had had plenty of drunken makeouts she didn’t remember, only existing on grainy videos taken by her friends.
“Shauna,” Melissa sighed, reaching out to uncross Shauna’s arms from her chest. “I did kiss you.”
“Really?” Shauna hated the way she perked up, but she couldn’t help it. The mental image of Melissa giving in to Shauna’s drunken neediness, kissing her as she tried to help her change, was sweet.
“Not that I was against them, but you did kinda just keep laying them on me…” Melissa, in a moment of boldness, reached her hand out again, this time grabbing at Shauna’s and lacing their fingers together. “It was kinda cute.”
Shauna blushed at this and cursed herself for whatever Melissa was doing to her. Shauna was not cute. Except when Melissa said she was, she found herself not minding it. Maybe she could be cute…Only for Melissa, though.
Shauna squeezed Melissa’s hand. “So what led to the whole shoe thing?” She grimaced at her own words.
Melissa’s head turned to the door, and Shauna moved to follow her line of vision, cringing when she saw an Air Force lying by the wall right beside it. The shoe in question, no doubt.
“Right, well, when I wouldn’t fully make out with you, you kinda started,” Her thumb ran along Shauna’s knuckles as she searched for the right words. “Making accusations?”
That definitely sounded like something Shauna would do. She’d been doing it sober all day yesterday, in her mind. But surely she wouldn’t— no. “What kind of accusations?”
“You kept calling me a tree?” Confusion laced Melissa’s tone, and Shauna’s jaw dropped. She already knew where this was going. “Then you, uhm, asked why I’d let…Lottie climb me but not you?”
“Stop it,” Shauna begged for it not to be true. But then, because she never really could help herself, she continued. “And what did you say?”
“Shauna,” Melissa sent her a sideways look, exasperation evident in her voice. So Shauna was clearly repeating part of last night’s events. “I told you that Lottie has never climbed me like a tree— not a sentence I ever imagined I’d be saying by the way— and you, like, didn’t believe me.”
“Oh.” Shauna slumped down slightly.
“Yeah,” Melissa nodded. “Anyway, I finally got you changed, and you seemed kinda upset, so I offered to go sleep with Mari and let you have the bed to yourself.” Shauna could see where this was going. “And that was definitely the wrong choice of words.”
“I totally lost it, didn’t I?” Shauna groaned, knowing her sober self could barely control herself at the mention of Mari, let alone Melissa sleeping with Mari. Even if that’s definitely not what the girl beside her meant last night.
“Shoe thrown.” Melissa laughed. “And tears shed.”
“I cried ?” This just kept getting worse.
“Only a little bit!” Melissa tried to make Shauna feel better. “And you kept calling Mari a tramp.”
“If the shoe fits…”
“Shauna!” Melissa’s grip tightened on her hand. “Anyway, you then dragged me back to the bed and said I was going nowhere near that common harlot.” Another knowing look, and Shauna attempted to smile innocently. “And obviously I wanted to be here with you more, anyway.”
“Really?” Shauna could tell shyness was creeping into her voice, and again she wondered what Melissa was doing to her.
“Duh,” Melissa pulled Shauna’s hand into her lap, pulling Shauna closer as she did so. Shauna went willingly, trying not to focus on how close she was to being up against Melissa’s bare torso. “Then we cuddled and watched House Hunters while you calmed down.”
“Not exactly the scandalous night I was expecting when I dragged you into the bathroom stall,” Shauna sighed, finally allowing her head to rest against Melissa’s shoulder.
Melissa chuckled, then, without warning, released Shauna’s hand so she could wrap an arm around Shauna’s side, pulling them flush together as she shifted them down onto the pillows. Shauna froze for a split second, not completely prepared to suddenly be right against her naked skin.
Shauna felt like things should be a bit more awkward between the two of them, but it wasn’t like Melissa was a stranger. She also wasn’t someone Shauna felt like she ever really knew, either. Maybe that was the sweet spot. Besides, if Melissa wasn’t going to make it awkward, then neither would she.
After a moment, she allowed herself to relax into it, her head fully resting on Melissa’s shoulder as her own now free hand moved to rest on Melissa’s lower abdomen, absentmindedly tracing the tattoo that peeked out from below the waistband of her pants.
Shauna made a mental note to see the full thing later.
“Well, the good news is we still have a few more nights here…” Melissa said hesitantly, not realizing Shauna was currently on the same page as her.
Shauna tilted her face just enough to place a kiss against Melissa’s shoulder, smiling at the goosebumps that instantly rose on her pale skin. Her stomach twisted slightly, not in an unpleasant way, but in a way that had her wondering exactly what was going on between them.
They could figure that out later. All that mattered was that they were on the same page. Shauna was right where she wanted to be since yesterday, when she saw Melissa getting out of that airport taxi.
She still hadn’t put much thought into what it all meant yet, but if Melissa had put up with Shauna’s unwarranted drunken jealousy meltdown last night, and still wanted to have her curled up against her now?
“Yeah, we do still have a few more nights,” Shauna said softly, moving her arm to fully wrap around Melissa’s torso as Melissa’s hand traced along her spine gently.
Shauna sighed contentedly, nuzzling further into Melissa as she closed her eyes, letting the steadiness of her heartbeat lull her back to sleep.
Shauna was startled awake by loud knocks on the bedroom door a couple of hours later, blinking sleep from her eyes as she lifted her head from where it’d drifted down to Melissa’s chest.
“Shauna? Are you in there?” A voice called out from the other side of the door, and Shauna groaned as Melissa shifted out of her grip, climbing out of bed to open the door.
She already knew one Jackie Taylor was waiting on the other side of it, and she really had no idea what she was going to say. She’d let Melissa handle that.
“Hey, Jackie,” Melissa greeted kindly as she pulled the door open.
“Oh, uhm,” Shauna heard Jackie pause to clear her throat, making her perk up a little in bed. “H-hey, Melissa.”
The fuck?
“Shauna just slept in here last night. We couldn’t find her room key,” Melissa explained easily, totally unaware of Jackie’s alarmingly odd stutter. “Guess you knew that, though. Considering I texted Lottie last night,” Melissa laughed awkwardly, and Shauna fought that green-eyed monster off tooth and nail. She had bigger fish to fry.
Shauna only heard Jackie stutter for two reasons. One, if she was extremely upset and unable to gather her thoughts. But that didn’t make sense in this case. Jackie hadn’t sounded angry when she called out for Shauna.
And the other reason was when Jackie was— flustered.
The realization that Melissa had gotten up to answer the door, still shirtless, rushed over Shauna like a bucket of cold water. Before she could help herself, she sat up, looking over to find Jackie’s cheeks tinted red as she did everything in her power not to look at Melissa.
“W-well, I just wanted to come find her so we could get ready for brunch,” Jackie rocked back and forth on her feet, looking past Melissa and catching sight of Shauna in her bed. “Shipman! Let’s go!”
“I’ll be there in a minute, Jax!” Shauna sent her a pointed look, hoping she’d take a hint and walk back out into the main living area. However, Jackie continued standing there, and when Shauna saw her eyes drifting back to Melissa again, she cleared her throat loudly.
Jackie jumped, blushing even brighter before she nodded and walked off, leaving Melissa standing by the door with a confused look.
Shauna groaned, getting out of bed and trudging over to shut the door with more force than necessary.
“Everything okay?” Melissa asked nervously, her hands awkwardly fiddling in front of herself as she sent Shauna a wary look.
“She was totally checking you out,” Shauna mumbled while she reached out to grab Melissa’s hands, moving them to rest on her hips before resting her hands behind Melissa’s neck. A surprised ‘ oh ’ left Melissa, though she settled into it easily. “Do you walk around shirtless a lot?”
“Well, I wouldn’t say a lot,” Melissa defended, her hand slipping under the hem of Shauna’s shirt sneakily, and Shauna felt her skin go ten degrees hotter at the contact.
She still hadn’t gotten over just how much bolder this older Melissa was.
Shauna let her eyes wander down for a split second, admiring Melissa’s toned figure before looking back up into those bright blue eyes. “I can’t say I mind the view, but apparently neither does anyone else.”
“You should know,” Melissa’s hand slipped further back, resting on the small of Shauna’s back and bringing her even closer. “There’s only one person I’m really going shirtless for.”
“Yeah?” Shauna whispered, her forehead moving to rest against Melissa’s as the other girl hummed out in agreement. “Good.”
And maybe Shauna putting them into this position first started it, or maybe Melissa really was just that much more confident these days. Either way, she wasn’t complaining.
Not when Melissa dipped down, capturing Shauna’s lips in a soft kiss. It was so much different than the night before, less heat but just as much fire.
Shauna had a weird feeling in her chest, like maybe she’d been waiting for this longer than she thought. Not Melissa in particular, but someone like her. And, well, she wasn’t going to protest the fact that it was her.
Much to her dismay, Melissa pulled away after only a few seconds. Shauna couldn’t help the small frown that formed on her lips, and Melissa laughed, leaning forward to leave a quick peck against it.
“I do think we actually need to be at brunch soon, so you'd better go.”
“Do you have to be the voice of reason while standing here without a shirt on?” Shauna grumbled, though she used all her willpower to detach herself from Melissa. She missed the feeling of her soft skin immediately.
“I’ll put one on if it makes you feel better?” Melissa went to grab a discarded tee from the floor.
Shauna sighed, admiring the way Melissa’s back flexed as she bent down. “Maybe wait until I’m gone.”
Melissa stood back up, eyebrow arching as she noticed Shauna was already staring at her. Shame was long gone for Shauna, though. She didn’t have a care in the world as her eyes skated over Melissa’s figure once more. Just cataloging it for later. Something to hold her over.
“Noted,” Melissa nodded, shirt dropping back down to the floor carelessly.
She walked over to the TV stand, grabbing Shauna’s phone while Shauna collected her clothes from the night before. Melissa approached her with a small smile, holding out the phone as Shauna finished balling her clothes up in her arms.
Shauna took it, cringing as she noticed the multiple texts she’d received this morning from both Jackie and Laura Lee. Guess no one had thought to ask Lottie.
“See you in a bit?” Shauna asked as she walked toward the door, hand resting on the doorknob.
“Mhm,” Melissa walked over, stopping Shauna before she could fully walk out. “Kiss for the road?”
Shauna playfully rolled her eyes, leaning forward as Melissa grinned in response. She leaned in, connecting their lips in a kiss far too short for both their liking. As they pulled away, Shauna sent her once last smile, slipping out into the main living space as Melissa headed back toward the bathroom in her room.
Shauna was met with Jackie, who was doing her best to seem uninterested in whatever had been happening in the bedroom, scrolling through TikTok as she hummed quietly.
“Let’s go, pervert,” Shauna headed toward the door, and Jackie made a noise of discontent as she quickly scurried behind her
“Perv-pervert?” She whisper-shouted as they exited into the hallway.
“Yes, pervert,” Shauna nodded, sending Jackie a glare as they walked toward their shared hotel room. “You literally saw her at the pool yesterday. Why were you being weird?”
“I wasn’t being weird!” Jackie argued. “I just didn’t expect to come face to face with a shirtless hat girl at ten in the morning!”
“You were blushing!”
“Okay, a hot shirtless hat girl at ten in the morning!”
“Watch it,” Shauna snapped as they stopped outside the hotel room. “And her name is Melissa.”
Jackie rolled her eyes. “Whatever. Don’t worry, I’m not gonna try and go for Melissa ,” Shauna sent her a warning look at her tone. “Pretty sure you’d have already peed on her if you could,” Jackie mumbled under her breath.
“ Excuse me?” Shauna’s jaw dropped at Jackie’s words. Shauna would not pee on Melissa. She wasn’t even into that!
“You slept with her once and now you’re, like, totally territorial!” Jackie exclaimed.
“We didn’t even sleep together,” Shauna sighed, and Jackie sent her a disbelieving look. “We didn’t! I was super drunk last night and apparently, she’s just as chivalrous as she was in high school.”
“Makes sense,” Jackie shrugged as she held their key card up to their room. “Remember when she used to hold the door to the locker room for literally the entire team?”
Shauna laughed as they stepped into the room. “She’d always get yelled at for being the last in the locker room, too.”
As soon as the words left her mouth, Shauna came face-to-face with a smug-looking Lottie Matthews, lounging on the couch like some fancy housecat as she eyed Shauna’s clothes. Well, Melissa’s.
“Have a good night, Shipman?” Her grin rivaled the Cheshire Cat, and Shauna felt the familiar twitch of her right eye immediately. Even if Lottie hadn’t slept with Melissa at some point, she was still playing some game Shauna had no interest in being a part of.
“Okay, seriously,” Shauna nearly ran to the couch with how fast she was moving. “What the fuck is your deal with Melissa?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Lottie shrugged, and Shauna had the urge to rip the bangs right off her perfect little forehead.
“I know you guys didn’t fuck, so why have you been acting like it since yesterday!”
“Oh goodness,” Laura Lee shook her head from the armchair she was resting in.
Lottie sighed heavily, moving to sit up slowly. She sent Shauna a level look, patting the seat beside her on the couch. Shauna eyed it hesitantly, unsure if this was some sort of trick. What could the trick be? Unknown, but Shauna still didn’t trust it. Regardless, she sat down. Jackie joined Laura Lee at the chair, sitting down on the arm as she anxiously looked over at the duo on the couch.
“Can I be honest with you, Shauna?” Lottie started gently. Shauna nodded slowly, not sure where this was going. “Your choice in partners over the years has been…questionable.”
Shauna scoffed. “Well, I wouldn’t say they’re that bad-”
“They’re pretty bad,” No one asked, but Jackie joined in anyway.
“Anyway,” Lottie held her hand up, like she was telling the audience to settle down. Shauna wanted to slap it down, but restrained herself. For the time being. “When Melissa got out of the car yesterday, you looked like you wanted to jump her bones.”
“I did not look like I wanted to-”
“You definitely did, Shauna,” Here came Laura Lee, adding her two cents in as well.
And okay, they weren’t wrong. But Shauna was beginning to feel a bit like a cornered cat, and she really did not want to start hissing and scratching. She hated when people could actually read her, and this was not looking good for her.
“And Melissa is, quite frankly, the sweetest loser I know,” Lottie picked back up. “And it doesn’t help that she’s pretty hot.”
“True,” If Jackie opened her mouth one more time…
“So, I figured you needed a little push,” Lottie shrugged, like she hadn’t been psychologically terrorizing Shauna for the past twenty-four hours. “Some harmless flirting with Mel seemed to do the trick.”
Harmless? Harmless? Lottie was out of her mind.
Shauna had been riddled with rage since the pool yesterday. She’d fantasized about murdering one of her closest friends multiple times. Shauna knew it wasn’t healthy, but once she set her mind to something, there was no stopping her. She’d caught sight of Melissa and had had a one-track mind ever since.
Maybe Lottie's flirting did, admittedly, push her to move a bit quicker than she normally would have. But Shauna Shipman did not lose, so she had an excuse for feeling a little out of her mind.
“How are you guys so close, then? She literally knew your drink order!” Shauna was still slightly confused.
“Lottie invested in their company back when it was a start-up,” Laura Lee answered for her. “They’ve all been close for years now.”
That…explained so much. Of course, Lottie would invest in their little t-shirt brand. She was always such a do-gooder in high school, trying to be wise with her money and not show it off.
It would make sense that she kept in touch with all three of them after the company really hit it off. Shauna also felt a little bad for never asking Lottie what she was up to with her investments these days. She’d been really big into start-ups during college, and Shauna always just assumed it was tiny businesses that weren’t really going anywhere.
Everyone makes mistakes!
God, Shauna felt a little bad for all the thoughts she’d had lately. She really was so close to bitch slapping both Lottie and Mari.
“Wow, so you and Mari planned all this just to get me to make a move?” Shauna laughed, relaxing a little in her seat.
“Mari?” Lottie tilted her head, genuine confusion evident.
“I’m gonna be honest, Ship,” Jackie was chiming in once more. “I think Mari might also be plotting on hat girl.”
So maybe Shauna still wanted to murder one person.
After that conversation, and Shauna still needing to get ready, they ended up being the last ones to arrive for brunch at the hotel. Shauna had to hold back multiple curses when she got to the table, only to discover both seats by Melissa were already taken. One by Gen, and the other by none other than Mari.
Except as Shauna sat down across from them, Melissa immediately grabbed the mimosa carafe, pouring one for Shauna and shifting her attention to her completely as she did so. Gen bit back a laugh, and Mari simply rolled her eyes before turning her attention to whatever Crystal and Misty were going on about. Probably some musical that Shauna couldn't care less about.
Maybe Mari knew Shauna had stayed the night and taken a hint. One could only hope.
After brunch, where Shauna spent most of her time finally figuring out what Melissa, Van, and Natalie had actually been up to the past five years, Tai brought up the rest of the schedule for the day.
“Obviously, there’s more pool time,” She sounded off, looking to Melissa and Nat for confirmation. They both nodded. “And then…?”
“Uhhh, let’s see,” Melissa mumbled, pulling out her phone. “We have the Museum of Illusions, a few bars, a little bit of time at the casino…”
“The Taco Bell cantina!” Nat added on.
“And then…” Melissa drawled, eyes nervously flicking between both Tai and Van.
“Then? Then what?” Tai leaned in, eyeing both Nat and Melissa suspiciously. “I swear to god, if you idiots-”
“Mel, you didn’t,” Gen eyed her, before turning her attention toward her girlfriend. “Natalie…”
“It better not be fucking strippers!” Tai exclaimed as Van hid a laugh behind her hand.
Melissa and Nat sank lower into their seats, cheeks turning bright red as everyone's attention turned toward them. Shauna sent her an amused look, and all Melissa could do in response was shrug.
Oh, these idiots definitely booked strippers.