Where I Need to Be (Club 24, #1)

Chapter Two

The next week flew by. At the gym, I saw my hottie a few times, but he just smiled at me, same as he did every time he saw me. Maybe he was just being polite. I had already given up any hope that he would ask me out and I was too chicken to say anything to him. Call me old fashioned, but the guy should make the first move. Besides, I'd given him plenty of flirtatious smiles to let him know I was interested and Ryan already forgot her threat because of the whole Max ordeal.

On Friday after work, Ryan and I headed to the airport. "I can't wait—long drunken nights followed by tanning by the pool during the day. This is going to be a blast," I said to Ryan.

"I know. What do you want to do first?"

"I don't know... let's see what clubs we can get into tonight with those free passes they give out on the Strip."

Ryan and I were no Vegas virgins. With it being only an hour and a half flight from SFO, we usually went to Vegas at least once or twice a year, or maybe more.

As Ryan and I approached our gate, I noticed him. My left arm and hand had a mind of their own as they launched out and grabbed Ryan's right arm. "Ow! What the hell, Spence?"

"Holy shit! The guy from the gym is sitting over there."

"Shut up! Oh my God, are you serious? Where? Which one?" Her head swung around to look for him.

"Dude, don't make it so obvious." I pinched her arm to make her stop looking. "Look casually...by the window between the guy and girl," I said while nudging my head in their direction. Of course, at that moment he decided to look up and caught me staring at him again. Without skipping a beat, he flashed me that heart-stopping smile. I felt as if my legs were going to give out on me at any moment.

"Damn!" she said, dragging out the word. "He is hot, Spence. And I think he's going to Vegas, too."

"Seriously?" My pulse jumped as I thought of the possibility of us seated next to each other on the plane.

"Well, it does look like he is waiting at our gate."

I was starting to feel giddy, but then I saw him smile and dip his head to listen to something the girl next to him was saying. Please tell me that is not his girlfriend. My heart began to sink.

I didn't know if being on the same flight was fate or pure coincidence, but it didn't matter if he was already taken. Regardless, I couldn't sit at the gate with him and kill myself wondering for the next hour. Sighing, I tugged on Ryan's arm. "Let's go grab a drink at the bar."

*~*~*

When we boarded the plane I saw him, I wasn't sure if he noticed me since Ryan and I sat at the back of the plane and he was toward the front. I'm not sure what I would have done if we'd been seated close together.

If I wasn't so shy, I might have approached him and struck up a conversation. The last thing I'd expected upon arriving at the airport was finding him there, and I was certainly not expecting him to be on the same flight as me. I wondered where he was staying and why he was going to Vegas. I scolded myself for wondering—none of that mattered if he had a girlfriend.

We landed in Vegas around eight. After an hour, Ryan and I finally made it to our hotel. We spent the next hour getting ready to go out by freshening up our make-up and downing a bottle of champagne to get a head start on our night of partying. We decided to change into short skirts with sparkly tops and strappy high-heeled sandals that were sure to make our feet hurt from all the dancing. Looking in the mirror at ourselves and striking high fashion model poses, we giggled as we took one Facebook photo after another. Over the years, we'd sometimes been mistaken as twins, but more often as sisters.