Runaway Ex

                     Becca POV

I push my cart around the mall like a lost woman, just because I'm looking for Nutella. They're my favorite and can go with literally anything when I hear someone call my name. It's a huge mall, and only a few persons could know me, but I'm surprised when I see it's Ernest. He has a grin on his face as he walks to me, his hands in his pocket.

Ok, what do I do now? I fiddle with the paper on the cart. I'm exactly used to running into failed dates. It happened once or twice, but that was a long time ago.

"Fancy seeing you here, but hey! You gotta eat" he pulls off a very lame joke that has me rolling my eyes internally.

"Hello, Ernest" I greet. "Nice to see you here"

"You too, Becca. I was looking forward to knowing you more, but you left"

Here we go...."I um...felt sick" the usual lie.

"Oh my, are you ok?" He's standing by my side, tapping my arm. I pull my hand away from him gently.

"Yes, yes I'm fine now," I say with a smile in hopes he just says ok and away but he doesn't. He moves on to ask.

"So, would you be free this weekend? How about another date?"

Time to input the other lie. I only use this when. The first lie doesn't drive them away. "I already met someone" I mumble, pinching my eyes, and biting my bottom lip, trying to look guilty. His mouth forms into a big O.

"I'm happy for you, Becca" Ernest grinned, and I can't tell if it's genuine, because he's always smiling.

"Thank you, Ernest. I hope you find someone, one day" I tell him, my eyes moving left. "Ah! There they are!" I sigh, rushing to get five jars of Nutella.

"You love those too?" He chuckles

"Very" I giggle.

"That's nice. They're good stuff" he dips his hands back in his pocket, staring down at me. "I hope we can still be friends" he then smiles, and hand me a card. "You left in a hurry the other night so I couldn't give you this"

I stare at the card. "You're a cop?" I smile and he nods.

"Call sometime?"

"Sure," and he moves close to me. My body moves back a bit but relaxes when he placed a kiss on my cheek and I sigh out in relief. It wasn't anything creepy.

"Bye Becca" he grins before walking off. I wave behind him, into the distance, praying I haven't lost my shot at having a decent man in my life for once.

I hurry to the cashier to check out and get my things ready for the travel tomorrow.

°°°

Bailey dropped a message about me parking cold, but sexy clothes, and I just rolled my eyes a dozen times. She has this imperfect illusion, that I would meet someone during my vacation. Well, we all know that's a funny cliche thing to happen even if it does happen Besides, I'm happy with my life the way it is right now.

I replied to her text telling her to fuck off and she texted back with ten laughing emojis.

A smile forms on my lip when I see it. I quickly drop my phone after sending her a quick text that, I got to park my bag because I haven't. And if she doesn't want me missing our flight? She should give me some space.

So I turn off my computer so I don't get any other emails from my work or socials, before walking to my wardrobe and sliding it open. I pick a lot of thick pants and cardigans, by-passing all my dinner gowns. There's no way in hell I'll need that.

Swap! After a lot of d thinking, I find myself taking two of the gowns. You never know when you need it.

°°°

My alarm wakes me up first thing in the morning, and I get up quickly, going to the bathroom to wash up. My eyes are baggage and I know why. I didn't sleep much last night. Also, I have always had this sleeping problem, so I carry around sleeping pills, but I forgot about them last night.

Clumsily, I walk into the shower, allowing the hardness of the water, fall on my skin, soothing me.

I walk out, about twenty minutes later. I know... I'm a sucker in the bathroom. But I had to shave my leg hair, shampoo my hair, untangle my hair from the monster twist that it was in and free the people from the apocalypse. Lol...that last part wasn't intended at all.

A few minutes later, I'm dressed and carrying my bags downstairs so I catch an Uber. I called the closest one about a minute ago and I see it pulling up in front of me.

"Where to miss?" The driver asked when he got down.

"The airport," I say. He takes my bags from me and puts them in the trunk before getting back into the car and driving off.

°°°

There are only Thirty more minutes before the plane takes off and Bailey and the Family aren't here yet. Out of curiosity, I get my phone out and call her. She picks on the first ring but her voice sounds hasty and depressed.

"Are you ok?" I ask, immediately going into defend mode.

"Yes I am"

Ok good. My first thought was Colton has done something. Maybe, sent in a divorce letter, or he became violent or just left. My second thought was they were being held hostage by some kidnappers. Random-crazy thoughts I know. This is the real deal. This is happening I stopped living in fairy tales since I was eight.

"When are you guys getting here? It's almost time..."

"Kai is sick, she's been throwing up, so we took her to the hospital"

Ok...I was not expecting that one but what?!

"Oh my gosh that's bad" I whisper. "Is she doing fine?"

"Kind of, the doctor said it's lack of multivitamins. But she'd be fine"

"So... Aspen?"

"Oh, we can't make it today but, you can still go dear. We'll meet you there in a day" Bailey said before sighing. She must be feeling this so much.

"Ok? So I still book your rooms or I wait till you guys get here?"

"Book the rooms sweetheart. And if you need anything, don't hesitate to call me or Colton"

Pfft! No way, I'll call Colton. "Ok sure, sure"

The last call for boarding goes and I get up. "I gotta go now"

"Alright. See you in Aspen tomorrow" Bailey says before hanging up. I shrug, picking up my bags and walking toward the escalator. This Vacation better does me a whole lot of favor.

°°°

Aspen!

The mountains are covered in snow, and the Uber driver had to use a sleigh to take my things to the resort. I'm cold, a bit wet from walking in all the snow and all I need is a warm bath, probably holding a glass of red wine while I read my favorite novel. Or maybe cuddled up in bed with a warm snack and my favorite novel.

Whichever one comes first or best.

"Thank you. Keep the change" I say to the Uber driver. He thanked me a lot and I smiled before walking off, rolling my bags behind me. I pull out my phone from my bag, to send a quick text to Bailey telling her I arrived.

I could've told her when I dropped off the plane, but I didn't want to jinx it. Anything can happen, I would've arrived at the resort and seen it was engulfed in a pool of magma, or all the staff had disappeared and the place was a ghost town.

Gee! I imagine a lot.

My hair is a wild mess from the wind outside so I brush it down with my hand before entering the resort. The reception is warm, with fireplaces at random corners, warm-looking rugs, and sofas. I quickly went there to grab a seat. A staff pulled up with a hot mug of cocoa I think.

"Care for some miss?" He asked, I smile collecting it. Duh! It's free stuff and it's hot.

Just as I'm about sipping, my phone rings and I see Reid's name flash the screen.

"Hey, Whatsup," I say.

"Waddup bitch. How's Aspen?"

"How did..." I sigh. "Never mind" it's Reid we're talking about after all, or maybe, Bailey told him? I'm not sure.

"It's so cold and I've only just arrived so don't ask how good their system is!" I sigh.

"Gee, I wasn't going to babe. Just have fun. Called to be sure you were alright"

"Yeah... I'm fine" real hero.

"Heard from Ernest?"

"Why would I need to hear from him?" I ask and then noticed that my hot cocoa was losing steam, so I drank it.

"He said you guys hit it off," Reid tells me and I roll my eyes. As scary as that was, we did hit it off at first because we had so much in common.

"We um..met at a mall yesterday, but that was all, I told him I found someone else"

Reese gasp!

"Oh my gosh, babe, I'm so happy for you" he chuckled and I roll my eyes. If only he knew I just said that to get Ernest off my shoulders, he was already giving me the lost puppy eyes that said let's date. Never again.

"I gotta go now, Reese. Talk sooner than you know" I say and hang up before dropping the empty mug down on the wooden coffee table before rolling my bags to the counter. There's a guy there, but he didn't seem to be doing anything so I butt in.

"Sorry, here for two rooms," I say and the Attendants nod, typing into her computer. I breathe out, turning to stare at the guy, maybe he could scoot over a bit but I stopped short when I saw who was standing in front of me.

Why if it' isn't runaway Jacob Fox. My eyes pop at that realization that he might be here for a vacation too because he's got bags with him. Will I be stuck here with him?.