Page 1 of Break: Vol. 2

Spring Break: Book Three

Chapter 1

“What about Washington DC again?” Taylor asked.

“Denied.” Both Dex and I immediately vetoed that idea, and I grinned as I crumpled a paper brochure with the image of Washington DC on it and tossed it into a wastepaper basket clear across the room.

“Score!” I put both hands up and waved them around.

Cody chuckled, high fiving me before returning his attention to his textbook.

“Florida?” Taylor tried again. “Or what about Myrtle Beach? It’s closer.”

“I feel like everyone goes to Myrtle Beach for spring break.” I tapped my pen against my unopened textbook. “I wanna go somewhere else.”

“I feel like you need to be studying for your last midterm if you want to go anywhere,” Dex said without taking his eyes from his computer screen.

I wrinkled my nose and stuck my tongue out at him.

“Don’t show it if you don’t plan to use it,” Darren said with a laugh as he walked into the apartment.

I smiled back at him, watching as he slumped down into the chair next to me at the dining room table.

“Oh, I’ll use it,” I promised, tilting my face up expectantly. He chuckled and leaned down, returning my expectant expression with a kiss. A deep, satisfied sigh left my lips when we pulled apart a moment later. “Welcome back,” I said. “Glad you’re off work.”

He groaned, laying his head back against the chair as he stared up at the ceiling. “Yes, finally. I have the next week and a half off. So, you better pass your midterm, or my spring break is gonna be filled with spanking your sweet ass.” He paused and then sent me a lascivious grin. “On second thought…”

I slapped his chest playfully. “I’m going to pass. It’ll be fine.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” Taylor complained. “We all know Miss Smarty Pants is gonna pass. What we don’t know is where we’re going or what we’re going to do.”

“Shut up!” Cody, Darren, and I called at the same time. Pausing, we all looked at each other for a split second before we burst out laughing.

“You’re just lucky all your professors have you doing for midterms is team projects and presentations,” Cody said, wiping an amused tear from his eye.

Taylor shrugged. “Business is surprisingly easier than I thought it would be.”

I tilted my head back against my chair and stared at the ceiling. “It’s all common sense.”

“Other than accounting,” Taylor replied. All of us shuddered, and even Dex—the king of straight A's no matter the subject—grimaced.

Shoving my textbook to the side and dropping my pen into my little pen holder, I stood up and circled around the dining room table, heading towards the living room where Taylor sat on the couch, an open laptop perched on his knees. Pausing at the back of the couch, I propped myself against it and glanced over his shoulder.

"We'll figure it out," I commented lightly, noting the dozens of open tabs that displayed trip opportunities from Barbados to San Francisco. I groaned and reached over, gently shutting it before I turned my head and kissed his cheek.

“Think of something else,” I suggested. “Something simpler. It doesn’t need to be anything fancy."

“It’s our first vacation together,” he said. “Washington DC totally didn't count."

He was right about that. Washington had been nothing but a big disappointment. Then again, it'd also been a good life lesson. You didn't always get what you wanted, but you could get by with what you needed.

Taylor looked up at me, capturing my hand and holding it in his. "I want it to be special," he said.

I smiled, adoring how cute he was when he pouted. With my free hand, I reached up and slipped my fingers through his long-ish hair. The soft brown strands, highlighted in some sun-bleached blonde ones, were almost all the way down to his shoulders now. “Itwillbe special,” I assured him.

"It's not our first trip, man," Darren called from the kitchen. "It'll be fine."

Taylor rolled his eyes and pushed his laptop to the coffee table before leaning back into my magical massaging hands as I began to work them against his scalp. “I didn’t say it was our first trip,” he replied. “I said it was our firstvacationtogether. Washington was a bust because it was technically for Jamie's internship."

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