Secret Rulebook of Cheating

Rule #12: Teasing is Foreplay

I peeked at the reception desk when I was at the bottom of the stairs. There was a couple standing there that was waiting for Lionel to do something on his computer. I thought it was the best shot I got so I hurried to the automatic doors trying not to get any attention to myself. I speed walked with a hand covering the side of my face that was to the check-in desk. I could hear Jason chortling behind me. Thanks to him I had to avoid the man in the next four days.

Everyone was already on the benches outside the hotel, waiting for us, when we emerged from the doors.

“Beach time!” Rob announced at the sight of us.

“Whoop! Whoop!” Dan fist pumped the air.

“How’s your room?” Sylvia came to my side. She was in a pink strapless ruffle romper, her hair gathered in a sleek blonde ponytail. “Our terrace overlooks the ocean! It’s really beautiful! Do you have a view?”

“I don’t know. I didn’t have time to check.” Between trying not to kill Jason and figuring a way out of having to sleep not just in a room with him but on the same bed as him – the view was my last concern.

“I think all the rooms have an ocean view,” Nadia meddled in. She looked quite fit in her green slim boyfriend shorts and a white low-armhole sweater. “It wouldn’t be called Ocean View Hotel otherwise.”

I peeked up at the sign above the entrance. I hadn’t even noticed.

“Shall we?” Dan stood beside Sylvia and offered her an arm to loop hers around.

Rob appeared behind Nadia and threw an arm around her shoulders. She was fairly tall so he didn’t have to bend. “Let’s go, baby.” His fingers were dangling over her one sided braid and she weaved hers into them.

The four of them started walking and I hurried after, not wanting to be left to walk alone with Jason. We were soon at the beach and found a couple unoccupied straw umbrellas to settle under. I dropped my bag under one and set to get rid of my dress. It caught in my anklet for a second but I managed to free it and pulled it over my head. By the time I hung it on the inside of the umbrella, Jason had spread his towel, taking almost all of the shadow it was providing. He was lying on his back with his hands behind his head, his eyes closed, and a peaceful smile on his lips. He looked like he was enjoying himself.

“Hey! That was my umbrella!” I insisted, placing my hands on my hips.

He lifted his eyelids to look at me. “And now it’s ours.” He had his self-satisfied face on.

“No, no, no! I’m already sharing a room with you. I’m not sharing an umbrella, as well!”

“That’s too bad ‘cause I don’t see another empty one nearby.”

I looked around. Sylvia and Nadia had already installed themselves on their towels under the neighbouring umbrella with the guys shuffling around them. There was no space for a fifth person there. And all the others were already taken. I didn’t want to risk getting sunburnt on the first day of our vacation so in the end, he left me no choice.

“Would you at least make some space? You’ve taken all the shadow.”

“We can always share a towel, too.” His eyebrows went up suggestively.

I sent him a mean look.

“Okay, okay. I’m moving.”

Ha. I was getting good at those.

Jason pulled his towel a little and I spread mine, laying on the edge of it, as far as possible from him. I was on my belly, with my head resting on my arms, looking the opposite way. The tiredness from getting up so early and travelling for so long made my eyelids heavy and not long after, the noise from the beach vanished completely, leaving me to my dreams.