The Senior Trip

Chapter 57

Harper

Ezra's room is littered with clothing and empty cans. He helps me onto his bed without pausing the stories of what I've missed. He finds a pillow somewhere in the piles of discarded vacation items and elevates my swollen ankle.

"I thought I just kept missing you," he says. "I wasn't sure why you weren't answering my texts, but then I found out there had been quite a few stolen phones out by the pool and we all know how you are with your phone."

"Sorry it isn't attached to my body at all times." I say with a laugh.

"I'm just saying, it's not normal for people our age to not be constantly connected. You never have your phone on you. It drives me nuts," he says exacerbated.

"I was lost for days Ezra!" I tease.

"Well in that case, you're lucky I didn't notice because your parents would have been contacted and this whole thing could have really been blown up."

"You're right. It's for the best. I'll forgive you one day for not sending a search crew," I tease, tossing a random flip flop at him.

"What happened to you guys?" he asks.

"It's such a long story, " I tell him.

"Lucky for you, I don't think anyone else noticed you two were missing together. Imagine the drama! Jess would have lost her shit."

"I don't think so..." I say.

"What do you mean? You don't think she would care that you and Asher got lost together? I think she might take issue with that." He starts tossing the clothing into piles that seem to have no clear category of organization.

"Maybe," I say.

"You missed so much. Two kids got alcohol poisoning and had to be sent home, another school arrived last night and it was pure chaos. Couples that had paired up at the start of the trip suddenly were fighting. It was like a reality dating show. And then there were the excursions..." he faces me and lifts his brows in shock. "Let me tell you, I'm surprised any of us made it back."

"Sound like you've been having a lot of fun without me," I tell him.

"Same with you. Don't think I'm letting you skirt from giving me the details. I'll take pity on your broken ass right now," he says, pointing to my ankle, "but I will hear every fun moment."

"Deal," I say.

"What do you want to do our last night here?" he asks.

"You don't have plans?" I reply.

"None that are more important than you. We said we were doing this thing together and that fell apart. We need to make it right tonight. We could grab tacos? Go night swimming—or floating because of your injury. I have a blow-up unicorn in the closet—don't ask," he says.

"Room service and a movie?" I ask. I know we should do something epic, but I kind of miss our usual night-time hang outs. I want to tell him everything.

His smile spreads as he nods. "Perfect. I'll get the menu."

He goes right to work, digging around for the room service menu and I work on pushing the items I can reach off the bed so he can sit beside me.

"Should we order some for your lady friend?" I tease. "She'll be back here at some point right?" I ask.

"Umm, no. We should be good," he tells me. I can hear the sadness in his voice.

"Want to talk about it?" I ask.

"Not right now. Right now, I want tacos, soda, and the scariest movie you can find."

Sounds like it's been a crazy week for both of us. This is my Ezra—he'll tell me what happened on his own time. I'm just glad we will always have each other. I pat the bed beside me and make an exaggerated motion towards the channel changer that is barely out of my reach. It makes him laugh.

"I missed you," he says.

"I know," I joke because I'm afraid to let things get too deep in this moment for fear we will both have to sit in the sadness of the time we lost together on this trip and the pain of our short dips into love or lust—whatever it was. In the end, it's just the two of us.

"I didn't miss your special orders though," he says, rolling his eyes as he lifts the phone to his ear to order our dinner. "You eat like a child. Tacos—no lettuce?" he asks, knowing exactly what I want.

I toss the unnecessary menu back to him. "Yep. And I think I only want one."

He nods, but we both know that he's ordering me two so he can eat the other one. For some reason it's been that way since the beginning of our friendship. He orders me too much food, and I pretend it was my idea and he's doing me a favor eating the extra. I wonder if one day when we are older and living our separate lives, he will ever order the correct portion for himself. And I guess if I'm honest, I don't want that day to come. This works.

When the food has been ordered and the movie is cued up, I relax into the pillows and try not to think about Asher and the date he's on with Jess. I find myself spinning the ring he gave me and wondering if the night sky is reminding him of me or if the sun has set on that as well.