I couldn't get the conversation out of my head once we were back at the house. The way he looked at us. The way he smiled through every awkward comment. I wanted to smack Sammy for telling him we would come. My mind raced to figure out why he'd want us there in the first place!

"Which room do you want?" I moaned, throwing my jacket on the floor in the hallway. I was just too exhausted to put it away at the moment. Pushing the bags to the side, trudging down the hallway looking for comfort. Right now, all I needed was sleep, and I needed it fast. I stood in the doorway while Sammy checked out both rooms.

"Are you sure you don't want to be a part of this decision?" She questioned,opening up one of the closets to compare the two in size.

"I honestly don't care. You tend to have more clothes than me anyway."

She ran back and forth for what felt like a hundred times before deciding on a room. "I pick this one," she stated, walking back into the hallway.

"Okay," I sighed, heading in the opposite direction. "Come get me in a week's time. Until then, I will be asleep." I waved my hand, my shoulders drooping as I managed my way into the opposing bedroom.

"Wait, you don't want to know why?" Sammy followed me into the empty room, her hands clasped together in front of her like a small child. She seemed disappointed I wasn't more interested in her reasoning. I wasn't interested in anything other than drowning in a giant glass of coffee right now.

"Why?" I questioned, deciding to be the better person and give her the attention she wanted.

"Because tomorrow's your birthday," she beamed.

"So I get..." I questioned, unsure what she was getting at.

"The bigger room!" she shouted, throwing her hands over her head before rushing over and giving me a quick hug.

My arms were lacking the energy to hug her back.

"Okay, let's celebrate tomorrow after I sleep for twenty hours." I grabbed the door handle, trying to usher Sammy out. She practically hopped across the hallway to her very own bedroom, all the while talking to herself about all the birthday plans she had for tomorrow. Amazing what a nap on a long car ride could do for someone's energy.

I turned to take in the now empty bedroom, the white door shut behind me, locking out any burst of energy Sammy might return with. I closed the distance between me and the bed, not caring if the sheets had been washed, or who slept here last. All I wanted was to get some well-needed rest.

----- Later That Afternoon -----

"What do you want to do for your birthday tomorrow?" Sammy held the glass close to her lips, like she was trying to decide if she should drink the ice-cold water or not. We sat on the back patio, taking in the mountains behind our house.

"I'm not sure, but seriously, how did we get so lucky? These trees, the ocean, a place fully furnished." I looked around once more, taking in everything that had happened today. From the drive last night to the beach this morning, the awkward interrogation from the locals, and now enjoying the mountain scenery.

"Short-term rentals, they make more money if you have to pay all the fees upfront." Sammy piped in, pulling her glass to her lips once more. It had warmed up a great deal compared to this morning.

"I suppose, but you'd think with a view like that, someone would want to just live here forever. Hell, I want to live here forever."

"Hey, focus. We have an entire year to talk about the mountains." Sammy brought her legs up so she could sit on them, turning to face me. I brought my attention to her. The sunglasses she wore were falling slowly off her face.

"Noted, focused." I took a drink of my own water before placing the glass down on the metal table.

"We only get one chance to celebrate your 21st birthday. This is a big deal, and I'm going to need you to loosen up a little." She shrugged her shoulders, feeling content with what she just said. "Also, we don't have to go tomorrow. I felt terrible afterward, not realizing I had made plans for your birthday without consulting with you. I was just excited to make a friend."

"You think that's how you make friends?" I looked at Sammy as if her head had just spun around in a circle. It was amazing she was so socially adept, considering how poorly she handled the situation back at the beach. Now that my brain was refreshed, I knew how bad it really was.

"Yeah, that was a little crazy, but if it works, it works, and what do we really have to lose? You've always had a hard time making friends because you never broke out of your comfort zone. You never came to any high school parties, or any of the college ones either." The list went on, and I didn't really want to hear Sammy talk about all of my faults.

"I know, I know. We're going surfing, though. That could be my birthday celebration. I don't really need anything." I was hoping she would get the memo, since I didn't need a big party. Clearly, we've already clarified how much I didn't like them. I didn't need to go to a club and get drunk. I just wanted to spend time getting to know our new little home and exploring the town we now lived in.

"Wait, are we actually going to go in the morning?" Sammy questioned, shaking her head.

"What!" I shouted, leaning so far I nearly fell out of my chair. "You're telling me you weren't planning on showing up tomorrow when you are the one who told him we would be there?"

"Please. We don't even know his name... but on the other hand, he is total eye candy and we should definitely look into that. Plus, he must be super-rich to live in a house like that, and if that's not a double whammy, I don't know what is."

"You are so horrible. You really want to date him just for his money?" I raised an eyebrow, trying to make her realize her flawed mentality. She shook her head viciously, nearly knocking the glasses off. Her hand shot up to her face to push them back on.

"Not what I said," she half sang as she pulled her phone out. She turned on some music, trying to tune out my judgmental comments.

I chuckled as she cowered away from the conversation. She knew she was wrong.

"Anyway, I think he'd be a better match for you."

"What does that even mean? You know nothing about the guy." My heart nearly jumped out of my chest at the thought of her matching me up with this stranger. I had to admit he was cute, but looked nothing like the guys I would normally date. "That's not what we are here for!"

"Who says? Because I'm here to have fun, and if I meet a guy, then damn it I'm having fun." Sammy picked through her songs, searching for a better one to distract us.

"Okay, so tomorrow will be our first actual adventure. Can we just pretend like today didn't happen? Because this morning was really embarrassing." I felt my face flushing red just thinking about how bad I felt when the man on the beach was handing me my shoes. "That would be a suitable birthday present. Make it so that moment today never happened."

"Let's just hope he's not an ax murderer and we end up getting chopped up and sunk in the ocean because then it would be our last." Sammy picked at her nails and I could almost imagine her rolling her eyes behind her glasses.

"But still our first," I mentioned, wiggling my finger in the air to prove I was right.

"Okay, I'm hungry. Let's order a pizza." She smiles, yet again changing the conversation when she was incorrect.

"Fine. We'll just agree that I'm right and order a pizza." I grabbed my glass of water before heading into the house. Sammy followed, her phone in her hand as she searched for a phone number to the closest pizza place.

"Pepperoni or Hawaiian?" she questioned, holding the phone to her ear.

"Pepperoni or you are dead." I pointed my finger in her direction, trying to look intimidating.

"Hawaiian it is," she mumbled before rushing out the back door, sliding it shut behind her.