When I woke up the next morning, everything from the middle of the night came flooding back to me.

I hooked up with Avery. A woman.

...and I really liked it.

"Whoa, Iz! Did you get secretly laid last night? You have major sex hair."

"What?" I frantically smoothed down my hair as I sat up in my bed after Naomi commented on my hair.

"Your hair. It's a mess," Naomi bluntly said to me. She was up and about, packing everything in her bags, as we were leaving the beach this morning.

"I guess I just tossed and turned a lot in my sleep. I'll brush it now."

I got up, walked to the bathroom, and looked in the mirror.

Oh boy, Naomi is right. My hair does look ratty.

I grabbed my brush by the sink and ran it through my hair. After brushing my teeth, I started to pack up all of my belongings.

"This weekend has been a lot of fun," Nhi said as she packed her bags, "Back to reality tomorrow."

Over the course of the bachelorette party, I learned that Nhi was a nurse at an OBGYN office.

"Tell me about it," Naomi groaned.

Nhi and Naomi continued talking about how they didn't want to go to work tomorrow, however I unintentionally tuned them out.

All I could think about was Avery.

Is seeing her this morning going to be weird?

"Earth to Izzy!"

Naomi snapped her fingers in my direction as I mindlessly put a bikini my suitcase.

I turned to Naomi, "Yes, cousin?"

"What's going on, are you alright? You look like you're in your own little world," Naomi said, zipping up her bag.

"I'm all good, just tired," I responded to Naomi, "Are you alright?"

Naomi rolled her eyes, "Obviously. Are you both ready to go? I hear everyone heading downstairs."

Nhi nodded, "I'm ready. This has been so fun. I'm looking forward to seeing you all again."

"The wedding is in what, 2 months? We should all plan to get together again before that," Naomi suggested.

"I know the night before the wedding we'll all be staying at Isla's apartment while Eli is gone, but we should all get together before that, I agree," Nhi nodded.

"We should," I nodded in agreement.

I hope I see Avery before that...maybe I will?

Naomi, Nhi, and I walked downstairs with our bags, and everyone was already by the door.

As I walked down the steps, Avery's eyes locked with mine, and my face immediately grew warm.

Before we all left and split up for the drive home, Isla said, "Ladies, this has been so fun. I can't thank you all enough for coming."

"We love you, Isla," JJ said, putting her arm around Isla, "Next stop...wedding!"

Naomi had driven Isla and I down to the beach, and Nhi and JJ went in the same car, as they learned they only lived minutes away from each other. Avery and Crystal drive down in their own car as well.

Everyone hugged each other by the door, and when I got to Avery, my heart hammered as she pulled me in close.

"I'll text you, alright?" she said softly, close to my ear.

I nodded and smiled at her bashfully as we pulled away.

Isla and I piled into Naomi's Range Rover. Isla sat up front next to Naomi, and I sat in the back behind Naomi. Naomi put on an old J Cole album and started driving.

The drive was around 3 hours long, and for a half hour of it, Naomi had her fiancé, Brett, on the phone, arguing with him as usual.

I rolled my eyes as they bickered, letting my mind wander back to Avery.

I don't think I want this to be a one time thing.

Even though that scares the fuck out of me.

"How are you friends with Crystal?" Naomi asked Isla at one point, "She's the only one that irritated me. I love JJ, of course. Nhi is super sweet, and Avery is really chill."

Even at the mere mention of Avery, my heart skipped a beat.

"I think you're judging Crystal too much," Isla responded, "She's actually really sweet and a lot of fun to be around. Sure, sometimes she is a bit too much, but she's a good friend to me."

"Fine, if you say so," Naomi shook her head, "I just think for a 28 year old she's a bit immature."

"She's 27," Isla said back in a playful tone.

"You know what I mean!" Naomi laughed. She then glanced back at me and said, "You're 27. You don't act that way."

"That would be because that's not my personality. Sometimes I wish I was more like Crystal," I replied from the backseat.

Naomi dropped me off first at my apartment, and Isla walked me to the door.

"This was so much fun," she said, giving me a hug, "Come over sometime this week, okay? We can debrief the weekend together."

"Sounds great," I hugged my sister back, "I'd love to."

When I walked inside my apartment, the feeling set in that usually does when I am at home, which is loneliness.

Yes, I have a roommate, Helene. However, she's just someone I live with, I wouldn't consider her a friend. She's 10 years older than me, works overnight and sleeps during the day, and ever since she started dating her boyfriend about 8 months ago, she's always at his place. For a lot of people, that would be a dream. However, for me, it gets lonely.

I started to unpack my belongings when my phone vibrated. Since we left the beach, the group chat had been going off with messages, mainly pictures everyone took. That's what I was expecting it to be, however it wasn't.

It was a separate text from Avery.

My heart raced when I saw the message was from her.

As I sat on my floor, unpacking my clothes, I read the text from her.

It said: Hey, Isabelle. I hope you got home okay. I just wanted to let you know that I really enjoyed getting to know you this weekend, and I'd like to hangout with you, just the two of us. If you want, of course.

I stared down at my phone, reading the text over and over again. All day I felt unsettled...but not in a bad way. I couldn't get Avery off my mind.

I texted her back saying: I really enjoyed getting to know you this weekend as well. When are you free?

I got a text back a moment later saying: Tomorrow night? We could always grab a drink after work

I'm actually doing this. I'm going to meet up with Avery, just the two of us.

I texted her back letting her know that sounded great, and she suggested a bar that was about 10 minutes from my apartment.

I knew that getting through work the next day was not going to be easy.

Hell, getting through that night wasn't easy. I was excited yet falling apart all at the same time. As I lay in my bed, I couldn't stop picturing what I had done with Avery the night before, to the point where I started touching myself as images flashed through my mind of the night prior.

I gripped my bedsheets with my free hand as I came from thoughts of the night before, though it certainly didn't match the intensity.

"Fuck, Isabelle," I said to myself, breathless, "You are so, completely, fucked."

I'm grateful that I work remotely 3 days a week. I go into the office on Tuesday and Thursday, and work from home MWF. It doesn't help with my loneliness, but at least some days when I really don't feel like getting ready for work, I can wear no makeup and sweatpants.

As I worked, I thought about Avery. She was working with my sister, in the same office. Yet she knew that she would be getting drinks with me afterwards.

It's not that I couldn't tell Isla about Avery and I, even if it was just telling her that we hooked up. Isla is very accepting of people, and I know she would be of me and my sexuality.

I just wasn't quite ready to fully face it all myself.

Avery and I agreed to meet at the bar at 7 PM, and I found myself not knowing what to wear. I stood in front of my closet, scanning all of my shirts, dresses, and pants.

Avery has seen me now in everything from pajamas to a bikini to a dress. Just pick something out for fucks sake, Isabelle.

I settled on a cute light blue sundress with a floral print and short sleeves. It showed just enough cleavage that it would be a bit of a tease.

As I drove to the bar, which was called Triple Sun Spirits. It was known for their drinks, of course, and their small plates.

My heart raced as I pulled into the parking lot, and Avery texted me that she was inside.

Is this a date?

Am I going on a date with a woman?

A woman that I already hooked up with...

Just go inside and see what happens.

When I walked in, I spotted Avery right away. I took a deep breath before walking up to the empty seat next to her.

Her eyes lit up as I approached, and I couldn't help but smile.

Avery stood up and pulled me into a quick hug. Same as at the beach, she smelled incredible.

"Hey Isabelle," she said as I sat down next to her, "Thanks for meeting me."

"Of course. It gave me something to look forward to all day."

Oh god. Does that sound desperate?

Avery, however, grinned.

"I was definitely looking forward to this all day as well. Made work go by that much faster."

A bartender came over and we placed our drink orders, plus a basket of fries to share.

"How was your day?" Avery asked me, "Hopefully going back to the office wasn't too bad for you?"

"I worked remotely today, I do on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. So I didn't actually have to go into the office, which was nice. I could wear sweatpants all day. I hope your day back at the office wasn't bad."

"That's really nice," Avery said, taking a sip of her drink, "I hope one day I work remotely even if it's just one day of the week. Work wasn't awful. I mean, work itself sucks, but it's never bad with Isla and Crystal there."

"Does Isla know...that we're here?" I asked Avery.

"No, she doesn't. I wasn't going to tell her unless I got the okay from you."

"Thank you," I looked at Avery, "It's not that I'm ashamed to be spending time with you, or don't want her to know. It's just a bit complicated, that's all."

"Well, I'm all ears if you want to explain why it's complicated."

"As I mentioned to you before, I've never actually been with a woman," I said to Avery, lowering my voice instinctively, "I just...I don't know exactly what I'm feeling. I mean, of course I'm feeling like I want to spend time with you. The thing is...god, I feel like I sound so stupid. I can hardly articulate my words here."

I was growing flustered by the second, and Avery looked at me calmly.

"I can imagine this is confusing for you," she started to say, "Listen, if it's too much, we can always just be friends. I don't want to put any pressure on you, Isabelle."

"That's not what I want. I want to get to know you better...not just as friends."

Avery looked relieved, "Okay, I'm glad to hear that. Obviously I respect whatever you want to do. But I'm glad to hear you want to explore this. Whatever it is right now."

"Can I tell you something?"

"Of course," Avery nodded.

"This isn't completely shocking to me. Yes, I'd never been intimate with a woman before. In college, however, I used to kiss my friends a lot, especially when we would drink. I found myself wanting to take things further, but I never dared to."

"So you've always been curious?"

I nodded slowly, "You could say that. I just never acted upon it. Until now. You made it hard to not want to act upon it, honestly."

Avery flashed me a smile, "I tend to have that effect on women," she then shook her head right away and added, "That was a complete joke. But I'm glad I had that effect on you."

"You basically did from the moment I met you at the engagement party," I admitted, "Of course I now know that you weren't single then. But when I saw you, I felt...something. It's hard to explain."

"Obviously I was respectful because I was in a relationship then. But I definitely noticed you as well, Isabelle. I'd be lying if I didn't think to myself how pretty you are."

My face grew warm as I responded, "You're really pretty too, Avery. I could hardly keep my eyes off you this whole weekend."

Avery leaned in a bit and said to me, "And I've hardly been able to get you out of my mind since then."

I looked into Avery's pretty brown eyes and felt the same rush that I did when I first laid eyes on her.

Oh boy...I'm in trouble.