The sun in Cancun was bright and hot, coming down strong and pushing its way into the enclosed porch. I was sitting in the hammock with Vic, both of us had our legs resting in the sunlight. We had only been here for a day and I already looked like I was half black... Same with Vic. We were both in competition to see who was going to get tanner this week. I had a cigarette in my right hand, pulling it back and forth from my mouth and to the railing, flicking my ash. Vic was lying with his sunglasses on, holding my water bottle in his lap. I woke up still drunk, and I was trying to become semi sober for when we all went out on the beach. A lot of people were still sleeping. It was only nine in the morning. I had this great way of always waking up extremely early after drinking, and Vic was just a morning person. I threw my cigarette off the railing, being done with it. I nudged Vic to let him know I was getting out of the hammock. He sat up and let me out, then handed me my water bottle. I held my hand up. I was just going to the bathroom, I didn’t need it right now.

I steadied my legs as I opened up the back door and walked into the kitchen. The Fuentes’ beach house was gorgeous and huge. The boys didn’t exactly grow up wealthy, but it was so much cheaper to buy big houses and property in Mexico than it was in America, therefore they were granted with this amazing home. It was a two story house on the water, with bedrooms upstairs and downstairs. It also had a huge family room and kitchen, as well as three bathrooms. Mike and I were staying downstairs in his designated bedroom. It still looked the same exact way as it did when he was seventeen. There were posters all over the walls, nearly completely covering the black walls. The carpet was jet black and pristine. His furniture was pearly white. I remembered the second time we came here. I was sixteen and had never been in Mike’s room before. His mom had put me on duty to wake him up because his room got so dark that he would sleep all day. He made some rude comment about how I was ugly in the morning after I woke him up, and I shot back with the fact that he looked like a flamer with bleach blonde hair. The conversation ended with him telling me to “get the fuck out of” his bedroom, and slammed the door in my face.

The room was still slightly spinning, so I tried to just keep my eyes on my feet as I treaded through towards the downstairs bathroom. I opened up the bathroom door and bursted into laughter as Mike let out a shriek.

“Hurry up. I have to pee,” I whined as he shook dry.

He zipped up his zipper and moved away from the toilet and to the sink, washing his hands. I yanked my shorts down my legs and sat down, sighing in relief. I closed my eyes and automatically felt nauseous. My eyes shot open as I tried to swallow the spit building up in my mouth.

“You’re still drunk, aren’t you?” Mike asked while crouching down and looking at me. He ran his hand through my hair and got it out of my face.

I nodded and breathed deeply through my nose. The last thing I wanted to do was throw up. I hated throwing up alcohol. I rarely ever did it... but I decided that I was going to drink straight vodka last night and I knew I was going to wind up getting myself in trouble. “Please turn around so I can wipe,” I laughed and grabbed the toilet paper. Once I was done I flushed and then sat down in front of the toilet, my short legs stretched out on both sides. “Can you go get my water bottle from Vic? He’s outside.”

Mike nodded and left the bathroom. My best bet was to make myself throw up, just so I could get it all out and feel better. I threw my hair over my shoulder and gagged myself over the toilet. I dry heaved for a few minutes and finally I was able to throw a bit up. I felt a hand rubbing my shoulder and I leaned back, tears brimming my eyes.

“Give me your hair tie,” Mike said softly. I held my right wrist up and he grabbed it, pulling my hair up into a bun on the top of my head. He took a wad of toilet paper and wiped my lips and then handed me my water bottle. “Take small sips and please don’t cry, baby,” he continued to rub his hand up and down my back. I gave him back the water bottle and rested my head on the toilet seat, crying. “Shh... baby girl, it’s okay. Don’t cry. I won’t let you drink vodka ever again.”

I looked at him and let out a small, snotty laugh and wiped my nose with the back of my hand. I started to try to gag myself with my finger again and Mike yanked my hand from my mouth. I looked over at him with a pout, “I need to puke.”

“Don’t force it out,” he shook his head. “You’re better off waiting it all out instead of making yourself vomit. You’re going to get a sore throat.”

“I feel so nauseous,” I frowned and looked down. Mike sat behind me and pulled me into his chest, resting my head on his shoulder and rubbing my stomach lightly. I tried to stop crying and let out a huge sniffle.

“You sound like you have the biggest boogers in the world when you do that,” he chuckled and made me laugh a little bit. I leaned forward and spit into the toilet, which was enough to trigger myself to gag and puke for the next five minutes straight. Mike sat behind me and still rubbed my back underneath my shirt while talking softly to me. He repeated his actions from before, wiping my lips and chin clean of throw up and pulling me back to his chest. He pressed a kiss to my temple and sighed, “I don’t think you should drink tonight.”

“I don’t think so either,” I said quietly while wiping my eyes. If I woke up drunk and throwing up there was no way in hell I should be drinking tonight. I was going to load myself up on gatorade and water. There would be no alcohol for Rae Alexandra Matthews. “Can I have my water?”

I slowly sipped at my water while Mike was in the kitchen. He made me a small glass of Alka Seltzer Plus, something that usually cured hangovers and nausea. I hated the flavor of it, but I gulped it down just to make myself feel a little better.


As pissed off as I was with the whole text-message-situation, I was extremely thankful for Mike this morning. He sat in the bathroom with me for two hours while I puked my brains out, and had sat with me while I showered just in case I felt sick again. He even told me that we could sit out on going to the beach because of the heat, but I shushed him and told him that if I felt sick at the beach, I would let him know and we could just come back to the house. Everyone else had already gone down there, so it was just Mike and I here right now. I pulled on my bathing suit, a simple black push-up bikini from Victoria’s Secret, and grabbed my beach bag. I set it on the bed and put two towels in it, tanning oil and sun screen. I grabbed one of my sheer scarves and tied it around my waist as a cover up, letting it fall in an A-line, high on my thigh on one leg and down to my knee on another. I walked into the kitchen and grabbed some water bottles and put them in my bag and also some beers for Mike. He was standing outside smoking a cigarette and talking on the phone.

I slipped on my flip flops and walked out there with a smile on my face as I heard him talking to Vivian. Once he hung up the phone he turned and looked at me with a smile. I held my beach bag out in his direction, “You better carry this for me.”

When we got down to the beach everyone was already buzzed and having a good time. Mike and I put our towels down in the sand and I grabbed a water bottle, cracking it open and gulping half of it down. Mike had run out into the crystal clear water with Casey and a beer in his hand, acting like two idiots. I pushed my sunglasses up further on my nose and let out a laugh.

“You feeling better?” Jess asked with a smile.

I nodded, “Yeah. Thank god. I’m not drinking again until tomorrow night.”

“Aw, party pooper,” she laughed. “I’ve been meaning to ask... is everything okay between you and Mike? You seemed a little hostile to him on the plane yesterday morning.”

I licked over my lips, “Yeah, everything is fine between us. It was because he decided to wake me up super late and it irritated me. You know how I get when I’m tired.” I laughed, “We haven’t gotten into any fights yet. Which is pretty impressive seeing as it’s been almost two months, and the two of us know how to push each others buttons.”

“You guys are still in the honeymoon phase,” Jess laughed. “I totally agree though, that is pretty impressive for you and Mike. Jaime and I didn’t get in a fight until five months passed.”

A smile broke across my face, “I remember that fight.” I ran a hand through my hair and then pulled it into a high ponytail, “I’m hoping Mike and I can go a while without fighting, but whatever happens happens, you know?”

“Yeah, I know what you mean,” she nodded and then laid back on her towel to catch some rays.

I put down my water and grabbed my tanning oil. I oiled up my body and then laid down as well, popping my earbuds into my ears and turning shuffle on my phone. I took my sunglasses off and laid them next to my head and closed my eyes. The sun felt great on my skin. I had always been a huge fan of the sun, ever since I was a little girl. By the end of this vacation I was going to need to dye my hair because the sun always lightens my hair to a medium brown from my regular dark brown, almost black, hair. I relaxed for a little until I felt myself get sprayed with water. I ripped out my earbuds and opened my eyes, glaring at Jaime as he stood over top of me, shaking his head.

“Seriously?” I raised an eyebrow. “What makes you think that it is okay to get me wet while I tan?”

“Come out in the water with us!” He chuckled and showed me his dimples. “Mia’s out there with Casey.”

I smiled and reached for his hand so he could pull me up. I ran down the sandy beach with him until we hit the water. The water in Mexico was beautiful and warmer than in California. I walked out into the water with Jaime until it hit my belly button, then I was scooped into Mike’s arms.

“You look very pretty today,” Mike smiled as he walked out deeper into the water.

I rolled my eyes and wrapped my legs around his waist, “I look the same as I always do.”

“No,” he chuckled. “You don’t have any make-up on, your hair is up and wavy, you’re not dressed in expensive work clothes... I like you best all natural.”

I smiled, “I like you best all natural too, Mikey.”

He leaned in and pressed his lips firm against mine, “I love you, Rae-Rae.” I really wanted to smack him and ask him how he could love me but do me dirty behind my back, but of course I couldn’t do that. I just smiled and kissed him back softly. We were in the water, now up to his shoulders. He was holding me up a little higher so that my hair wouldn’t get wet.

“I don’t like being out this deep. It scares me,” I whined and clawed at his back, making sure that he wouldn’t let go of me.

“I’ve got you, baby. We’re fine,” he gave me a reassuring smile. A wave started approaching and he looked at me with a grin, “Go under it with me.”

“Mikey... I don’t know about all that...” I said, weary of going under the water.

“I won’t let go of you,” he pulled me flush against his chest as the wave got closer. “One... two... three...” The wave cascaded over our heads and I held my eyes clamped shut. I heard Mike laughing, “Open your eyes, weirdo.”

I whined as I opened them, “Salt water hurts my eyes! You look like a wet dog.”

He rolled his eyes with a laugh, “Thanks, babe. You look great too.” He shook his head and flipped his wet hair back.

I reached my hands up and ran them through his hair, untangling it from the waves. I hated how attractive he was, I always did. Even in high school I thought Mike was one of the most gorgeous guys I had ever met... and here we were, after seven long years and I still thought the same thing. His dark brown eyes stared into mine. Every time I looked into his eyes all I saw was love, and it just confused me more and more.

I diverted my attention from him and down to the water, “Can we go back on the beach? I want to get a little bit of sun before we leave.” He nodded and carried me back to shore.


After we all left the beach we went out to dinner and then back to the beach house. I showered again while everyone else started drinking. I sat in Mike’s room with my wet hair up in a towel. I was in my bra and underwear on the bed. I saw his phone sitting on his bedside table and I gnawed at my lip. I argued and contemplated with myself for fifteen minutes over whether or not I should look through his text messages. I still remembered his password. I then got the idea in my head that I was his girlfriend and he shouldn’t hide anything from me. I leaned over and snatched the phone, holding it in my hands and typing in his password. I clicked on text messages and searched for that dreaded name. I found nothing. I then went to recent calls and started to scroll...

“What are you doing?” Mike’s voice sounded from the door.

I looked over at him. He was leaning on the doorframe with his body, his left arm extended and his hand on the other side of the door frame. He had an eyebrow raised. “I... uh... I can’t find my phone... I was going to call myself...” I said and smiled sheepishly. I clicked onto my name and waited for my phone to ring. I knew exactly where it was.

Mike walked over to my beach bag and grabbed it, “Here.” He took his phone from my hands and put it in his back pocket, “Are you going to come out here with us?”

“Oh yeah... in a little bit...” I said while playing with my phone in my lap. That was a close one. That could have been really bad. I looked down at my phone, not wanting to look up at him. I was kind of embarrassed that he almost caught me.

His bottom lip jutted out and he sat down on the bed by me, “Are you okay, Rae?”

“Yeah. I’m fine, Mikey,” I said and picked at my phone case.

“Look at me,” he said and lifted up my chin. I blinked and looked at him. He sighed, “You’re hiding something from me, but I hope whatever it is you are okay. You know you can talk to me about anything, baby.” He rubbed my chin with his thumb, “Come out when you want. I’ll be outside.” He leaned in and kissed my lips then disappeared through the doorframe.

Notes

First off, I want to say thank you to everyone who has rated, subscribed, commented, read, etc. You guys are some of the most awesome human beings on the planet. I still cannot believe that this story has turned into something so big. It really means a lot to me that you guys enjoy it. I can't wait to write the sequel. I'm still trying to decide if I'm going to post it on both Mibba and PiercetheVeilFanFiction.com, but we will see when the time comes.

Secondly, a lot is happening here! Rae is faced with an internal struggle when it comes to what is going on with Mike. Neither the text message nor the sender have been revealed yet! I know a lot of you have ideas on who you think it is, but I'm not going to give any clues! The person will be revealed very soon! How do you guys feel about Mike being so sweet and sincere when it comes to Rae? Is he really doing something behind her back? Is she going to survive five more days on vacation with him? His birthday is the next chapter... how is that going to go? Don't forget... Lex comes to visit the week they get back! What's going on with that? Also, the meaning behind the title "Sam's Town" will be revealed in the second to last chapter. I know a lot of people are confused about it, but there have been a few references before hand that no one caught on to because I didn't make them very significant. You'll just have to wait and see!

I love hearing everything you guys have to say.
The next update will be by Thursday!
xoxoxo