Touch Me Again Chapter 1

FAN PRICING ONLY 99¢ (ENDS MIDNIGHT MARCH 3RD) Chapter OneRiley

I slid my finger up my phone, over and over. I was bored. Scanning Instagram seemed like a good way to pass the time while I waited for my flight to board. It wasn’t. I felt like I was losing brain cells by the second with every stupid selfie and picture of food. 

“So dumb,” I muttered. 

Social media confused me. Who in the hell cared what someone was eating for lunch or dinner? Not me. No one did. The stupid little designs that were on the tops of some stupid eight-dollar coffee also confused me. I didn’t understand the desire to share every aspect of one’s life. I rarely checked social media except in times like these when there was almost little else for me to do. 

I stopped scrolling when I came upon a picture posted by my sister. “Spring Break bound,” I muttered to myself as I read her hashtag. She was wearing a bikini and standing in front of a mirror. Again, nothing but a vanity post. “Everyone look at me and my perfect model body.”

It seemed like everyone from the age of eighteen to twenty-five was headed somewhere warm for spring break. Including me. But I didn’t want to go. I wasn’t bragging about my trip, and I sure as hell wasn’t stripping down almost naked to get my message across. I didn’t want to go somewhere warm and drink too much and hook up with random guys. That was not my thing. That was Hannah’s thing. My older-by-a-year sister had some very strange ideas about what fun was. 

“Heading out for some wild adventure?” a female about my age asked as she flopped down in the seat next to mine. 

I glanced around the gate seating area. There were plenty of available seats, but she chose the one next to me. “I’m meeting up with my sister,” I said. 

I was embarrassed to admit I was one of them. I was a spring breaker. Not by choice. If I kept telling myself that, it had to make it true. I felt so, so cliché. I hated feeling like I was one of the crowd of lemmings. I supposed that was my own arrogance.

“I’m meeting my boyfriend,” she sighed. “I’m lame.”

“That’s not lame.”

“My friends think so.”

I looked out the window. A late spring snowstorm had covered the area in a light blanket of white. The snow was causing some delays. I secretly hoped my flight would get canceled altogether. “My sister thinks I’m lame,” I admitted. 

“Why?”

“Because I would rather stay in Boston and study.”

“What’s your major?”

“Law. I need to finalize some of my law school applications. She said I was lame and boring, and I was going to regret it if I didn’t go out and have some fun at least once before I went on to law school.”

She smiled and nodded. “Law school is no joke. Are you at Northeastern?”

“Yes, you?”

“Yep. I graduate next year. Computer science.”

I grimaced just thinking about the math. “That sounds brutal.”

She shrugged one shoulder. “It’s not that bad.”

“Does your boyfriend go to Northeastern?”

“No. He’s a little older. I’m from Chicago, and that’s where he lives. We don’t get to see each other all that often. We’ve been planning this vacation for months. My friends are all going to Mexico, and I’m headed for Florida.”

“I’m Riley,” I said and extended my hand. I could use more friends at school, even if it was only for a few more months. 

“I’m Megan.”

“Is the thing with your boyfriend serious?” I asked. I didn’t think that was too forward. I hoped it wasn’t. I had been told more than once I interrogated everyone. I didn’t mean to. It was the future lawyer in me. I was an inquisitive person. 

“It is. We’re going to get married after I graduate. He’s four years older than I am. He asked me to marry him my senior year in high school. We agreed I needed to get my education before we got married.”

“Good for you.”

She laughed. “What about you? Do you have a boyfriend?”

I rolled my eyes. “Nope. I have not had the time this year. I wanted to make sure I focused on my education and then my career before I got mixed up with romance. I did it once, and I’m not interested in doing it again. Too messy.”

“It can be, but it’s also super rewarding.”

I wasn’t sure I bought that. I just smiled and nodded. That was a trick I learned in one of my criminal justice classes. Smile and nod. Never openly agree or disagree with what a suspect was saying. I was saved from having to get into the awkward conversation about boys when our flight was called for boarding. 

After the initial shuffle onto the plane and the very polite fight to get space in the overhead bin, I sat down and buckled up. I looked out the tiny window and thought about the coming week. I was dreading it and looking forward to it at the same time. 

The thought of wearing a bathing suit and drinking all day and into the night did not thrill me. But the allure of getting to hang out with my sister, who I really did love, and my two best friends from high school did get me a little excited. I closed my eyes and settled into the seat. I didn’t want to be negative. Hannah, the consummate cheerleader—literally, she’d been a cheerleader since she was twelve and hoped to cheer professionally for the Texans—was always telling me to be positive. “Rah, rah,” I muttered under my breath. 

It was one week. One week in West Palm Beach would do me some good. I could use a break from the pressure of trying to get into law school. Correction, a good law school. I had options, but I wanted to be the best from the best school. That familiar voice in the back of my mind stepped forward. It was the voice of reason. 

“I should be writing essays,” I whispered under my breath. 

Florida would be there after I got accepted. That’s what I had told Hannah. Repeatedly. She refused to take no for an answer, and now I was on a plane and headed south. My laptop was stowed in the overhead cargo bin. I could get up and get it once we took off and work on fine-tuning my essay. Then I wouldn’t feel nearly as guilty about taking a week off.

Or I could take the nap I had been promising myself for the last several years. Four years in college with me burning the candle at both ends was slowly wearing me down. Hannah saw it. She claimed this trip was necessary for my mental health. A few more months of busting my ass wouldn’t kill me, would it?

The plane took off. I told myself I would just close my eyes for a few minutes, and then I would get my laptop. The next thing I knew, my head bounced on the seat as the plane touched down. I sat forward and rubbed my eyes. 

I looked to my left and saw a man dressed in a suit giving me the side-eye. “Have a nice nap?” he asked in a dry tone.

I wiped my mouth. “Uh, yeah. Did I snore?”

“Not terribly.”

I felt my cheeks burning. “Sorry.”

He didn’t say anything more. I couldn’t believe I slept the whole flight. I was like a little kid being lulled to sleep in the car. The moment the wheels were up, my lights went out. I didn’t want to admit I felt better. Rested and recharged. I turned on my phone as we taxied up to the gate. I quickly sent Hannah a text and let her know I’d landed. She was supposed to be meeting me at the airport, and then we would go to the rental together. 

I wedged myself into the crowd to get off the plane and headed for baggage claim where Hannah was supposed to be waiting for me. I was glad I opted to freeze my ass off in Boston this morning with the expectation of the warm Florida weather. I was hot. I was not used to the humidity. I could practically feel my hair frizzing as I walked. 

I subconsciously reached up and slid my hand down my dark blonde hair, light brown to some, and made sure it wasn’t giving me a do that belonged in the seventies. No perms for me. My hair was naturally curly, something I hated most days. Everyone always said they loved it, but not me. It was a pain in the ass to manage, and the tangles were ridiculous. I brought extra product to help keep it tamed in the Florida humidity, but I had a feeling my usual straightener was no match for this place. 

“Riley!” I heard my name. 

I looked ahead and smiled. My sister was rushing toward me with her arms wide. I accepted her exuberant hug, nearly falling backward under the weight of my backpack, and her slim figure plastered to my front. 

“You’re here!” Petra, my best friend from high school rushed me. I wouldn’t have recognized her if she hadn’t called my name. Her hair was a strange, albeit pretty rainbow color. Like all the colors of the rainbow. 

Hannah stepped to the side and made room for Petra. “It’s so good to see you,” she squealed. “I thought I was never gonna see you again.”

Her Texas drawl always came out when she was excited. “I’ve missed you,” I told her. 

“We have so much to catch up on.”

“I can’t wait to hear all the gossip from home.”

Cara, my other friend from home, smiled and patiently waited for Petra to release me. “Hey, you,” she greeted with a smile. 

“Hi,” I said and gave her a warm hug. “This is quite the airport welcome.”

“I’m so excited!” Hannah said and clapped her hands together. She was ever the cheerleader. 

“We are going to have so much fun,” Petra agreed as we made our way to the baggage carousel. 

I was having a hard time feeling the same enthusiasm, but I was certain another hour with them and I was going to be doing cartwheels. “Have you guys been outside yet?” I asked. 

“Nope,” Petra answered. “We wanted to wait for you. We are going to experience this together. I’ve always wanted to have a girls’ trip. I’m so glad we get to do this. Finally.”

“We had to do it now, otherwise we’d never get Riley away from law school,” Hannah said. “She’s going to be a big, fancy lawyer one day, and we’ll never see her.”

“Hey, when I’m a big, fancy lawyer, I’ll be able to pay for all of us to go on a tropical getaway,” I said with a laugh. “At least that’s the plan.”

“But you’re coming back to Texas, right?” Petra asked. “You said you weren’t going to leave me forever.”

“I’m exploring my options.”

They all groaned. “She’s turning into one of those city girls.”

“That was the plan,” I reminded them. 

“You can take the girl out of Texas, but you can’t take the Texas out of the girl.” Hannah repeated the same phrase I had heard no less than a thousand times in my life. 

“Okay, dad,” I teased. 

“He’s right. You’ll be back.”

“Maybe, if that’s where I find a job.”

“You miss Texas,” she insisted. 

I did a little but not like she wanted me to. I was enjoying my life in Boston. Mostly. I didn’t necessarily have an active social life, and the weather was rough on a Texas girl, but I did like the diversity and the culture. 

“I miss it a little, but I don’t miss the dirt.”

Petra threw her head back and laughed. “Who knew they didn’t have dirt in Boston?”

“You know what I mean. There’s a lot less of it.” My eyes scanned the carousel. “That’s mine,” I said and stepped forward to grab it. 

I dragged it behind me as the four of us walked toward the exit. “The first thing I’m going to do is put on a bikini,” Hannah declared. “I am so ready to play! I hope you girls all brought your sexiest and skimpiest bikinis.”

Cara and I exchanged a look. Hannah was a perfect size two. We were not. Never had been. When the four of us were together, we always felt like the big girls. Petra was just as skinny as Hannah. Cara and I enjoyed the proverbial cake. I didn’t mind my curves, but I wasn’t going to parade around in a skimpy bikini. That was just not my style.