The Girls Trip

Part 1

"Are you sure you don't want to come with us?" I ask my boyfriend of 4 years, Luke.

He shakes his head as he finishes typing something on his laptop. His short brown hair sticks up in every direction from sleep and his lips are in a thin line as he reads something. After a few long moments he shuts his laptop and looks at me, light brown eyes meeting my gaze.

"I'm sure. I have a lot of work to do." He stands up, towering over me even though I am fairly tall, 5'10 but he is at 6'5. "You know I don't care for the snow.. But go and have fun with your friends." He kisses my forehead before heading into the bedroom to get dressed for the day.

"Okay." I say down hearted even though I knew he would say that. "I'm going to head out then."

"Be safe. I love you." He calls out from the room not even bothering to wave me off.

With a frown I grab my bags and head out of the door. The humidity hits me like a wall instantly making it harder to breathe. I smile inwardly as I throw the bags in the car thinking of how I will soon be greeted by snow and trees, leaving this humid city life behind for a few weeks.

I drive to the airport and go through customs and wait at my gate in a haze. The excitement in me begins to build making me antsy. To distract myself I pull out my phone and work on my blog.  The distraction helped because before I know it I am boarding the plane and sitting in my first class seat.

I put in my earpods and play some music as I finish up the blog before leaning my head back and relaxing.

It has been years since my college friends and I got together and stayed up at the lodge in the Colorado mountains. It used to be our go spot. But over the years we all got too busy with life to make it up there. 

Not to mention we haven't had much time to spend together since we all lived in different states. Claire McCarthy and her fiance live in California. Steven is a highly requested lawyer to the rich and Claire has made a name for herself as a home decorator. Which fits her perfectly because she is all about fashion and style.

Toni Mullins lives in New York working for one of the top legal firms, Clearwater Company. She busted her ass off for 6 years and just got promoted to a COO to the company and have a strong feeling that she will make CEO. When Toni wants something she ends up getting it.

June Slater left the states years ago to travel across Europe but she was living in Louisiana before that. The golden haired Southern Belle left behind her parents expectations and made her own way in life by exploring the wanders of the world.

I moved to Florida, not necessarily for myself but for my boyfriend Luke. We started dating in our last year of college and when we graduated he got a job in Florida as a sales representative for insurance policies. I moved with him since I had no job or plans for where to start my life. Luckily after a week I got a job request from A Destination Magazine to write blogs on their websites and sometimes articles for the magazine itself. 

My friends and I met in college 10 years ago, freshman year.  We were in the same welcoming group so we all got to spend the week together before classes started to help get us settled. We became inseparable instantly. A force to be reckoned with. 

June was the sweet and flirty one of the group. Claire was the fashion queen, everyone wanted her to give them a makeover. Toni was the brains of the group, leading the study groups and helping us when we struggled with classes. I on the other hand was just the average girl with beautiful outgoing best friends, shocked that they would even give me the time of day.

I wasn't flirty, a fashionista, or a genius. I was the nerd. I was the one that would bring a book to a party. I wasn't outgoing or loud and the fact that we all somehow complimented each other was a shock. But somehow we worked great together.

Our friendship was ironclad. Over the years it has been tested and tried and came out stronger than ever every time. If there was ever an emergency we would all drop everything to help anyway we could. Really. They have dropped everything for me when my parents died, they stayed with me for two weeks, pausing their life to help and take care of me. Kind of like the reason for this trip. 

I called them and told them I needed to get away and let loose because I needed to escape for a little while and they instantly agreed and we set up a date to go on a girls trip.

Why might I need an escape? I know I have a boyfriend, who is great and good looking. I have an amazing job in writing for a magazine and it has honestly opened up so many doors for my future, but that is just it. I got a job offer to move to Scotland for a few years to be able to write about some of their history and hidden gem vacation destinations. 

It is honestly a dream job but my boyfriend won't want to move to Scotland. He told me before it was not a place he would ever want to visit. He is not about the cold, wet, and countryside life. He is all about the humidity, beach, and bustling life of the city.

So I guess this trip is for me to reflect and decide what I want to do. Do I turn down my dream job for my nice good looking boyfriend or move on from him and do what I love? It seems like a simple question right? But unfortunately it is anything but that. I love him, I do. I don't want to hurt him. To be honest it is kind of hard to see my life without him. So imagining myself living in Scotland single and doing my dream but without him is kind of...lonely.

I hail a taxi after my plane lands. I give the driver the address to the lodge before sitting back in the seat looking out the window. There is a thin layer of fresh snow in the city but as we leave the city limits the deeper the snow gets bringing a smile to my face. The huge trees and their branches are weighed down from the amount of snowfall in the past couple of days and from the sound of the radio there is supposed to be even more snow in the next week due to a storm.

Oh Luke would be miserable and grumpy the entire time if he came with me.

I shake the thoughts away as the lodge comes into view. The big log cabin style building is lit up with the warm glow of lights that reflect off the fresh fallen snow as the night darkens. People mill about walking from the lodge to the smaller buildings off in the distance all bundled up to stay warm. A smile forms on my face as I get out and stretch my cramped muscles. The crisp cold air bites at my face but I enjoy it as I grab my bags from the trunk and pay and tip the driver.

He smiles and nods before he drives away leaving me to embrace the beauty of the snowy mountains. This is way better than humid hot air year round. This is the perfect romantic destination, if only Luke agreed. And if only he was romantic.

"There she is!" A woman squeals, pulling me from my thoughts.