Ask Me Anything

Chapter 16

Abby and Carrie had just put the last couple of chairs against the side of the house when the heavens opened up and a massive rumble of thunder roared through the sky. 

"Damn, talk about good timing," I said, closing the door behind them.

We all made our way into the kitchen. Morgan pulled out our handy stack of menus, and she, Abby, and Carrie started to go through them while I dragged myself back to the bathroom to shower. Showers after the beach are so much more refreshing than just taking one when you wake up in the morning. I don't know, they just hit you differently. Maybe it's because you've spent so long out in the sun, and washing all of that sand and sunscreen off just gets you feeling so renewed.

I grabbed my stuff, turned the hot water on, and played a little music from my phone that I left resting on the windowsill next to the shower. I wasn't in there very long, but I let myself bop to the music a little bit before getting out, drying off a little, and wrapping the towel around my chest. I pulled the bathroom door open and slipped into my room, calling to the others that the bathroom was open. 

When I got in, I left the door open just a crack, and turned my music up a little louder. I kept singing as I started going through my drawers, grabbing some underwear and a bra haphazardly. It's not like we were going out again if the weather was going to persist in sucking, so I wasn't really looking to impress anyone. I heard voices just outside my door, but I didn't think too much of it until I saw it open out of the corner of the mirror on top of my dresser and could see Kylie standing there with Lucas. 

"And this is Connor's room, which will probably look immaculate in comparison to Carrie's which looked like a bomb hit it," she was explaining. 

"NO!" I screamed at her, throwing the nearest object I could find at the door. It ended up being my flip flop. 

They both yelped, Kylie's eyes opening wide, and Lucas jumping back almost immediately. 

"Naked! I am definitely naked right now, all I've got is a towel on," I stammered nervously, all of a sudden feeling very self conscious as my towel almost entirely fell off.

"Well why didn't you close the door all the way?" Kylie asked, sounding apologetic. From behind her, I could hear Lucas laughing at the whole ordeal. 

"Because I didn't think anyone would have thought it would be a good idea to storm in without knocking like they were going to be getting a free peep show or something?!" I pushed back at her. "Now keep it shut and I'll come out when I have some freaking clothes on, okay?" 

"I mean, only if you want to put clothes on," Lucas laughed, as I heard Kylie snicker. 

"Don't think I won't hesitate to beat your ass too," I shot back at him, chuckling under my breath as the adrenaline slowly fell. 

Once I calmed down a little and my hands stopped shaking, I threw on some gym shorts and a Rolling Stones shirt. Suddenly, my phone dinged on my dresser that I had another email. Inside my stomach, that aforementioned Rolling Stone pit was hitting a little harder, like a stone sunk to the bottom. 

I unlocked my phone and looked at the highlighted, new message, this one from USA Today. A few weeks ago, I had applied for an open Entertainment column position. It was a bit ambitious to think that I would get my own column as my first official job, but if you don't aim high and try, you'll always sell yourself short, right? I closed my eyes for a second and took a deep breath, hoping that I was going to get good news I could go out and share with everyone. Please, just let me have this. 

I clicked the email tentatively, and took another deep breath before reading what looked to be a fairly short email... not a good sign. 

Dear Connor,