I picked up my bag from where the cabby had thrown it when he dropped it off, and surveyed the area. Brian surely does know how to pick them out. It was a beautiful spot, just perfect. I was glad that I had worn my sunglasses, because otherwise the harsh sunlight would cause me extreme pain. I felt hung over.

I hadn't slept since New Year's Eve. Of course, even then, I didn't sleep much. The conversation I had with a certain best friend's best friend kept running through my head. How could I let her talk me into lying to Brian?

I had met Paige three days ago, just after leaving Brian's. The conversation hadn't been overwhelmingly productive. The Reader's Digest version, you ask? Well, this is how it went:

"Hi Nick. Now we need some sort of story, or something, to go by," Paige said rather quickly as soon as she showed up in the run-down coffee shop, where she'd arranged for us to meet.

"We tell Brian," I was determined to stick by my morals. What a time to decide to have them. After considering that most shallow people (undeniably a certain HER I could name) didn't have any morals, and I was on this search for "depth", I had decided that I needed to decide which morals I would have, and which I would stick with. So far, it wasn't turning out that well.

"No, we don't."

"Yes we do."

"No."

"Yes."

"No." Life is definitely a difficult bitch. The night before, we had argued over the definition of love, and she was so eloquent, and now we were having a one-word argument. It's amazing how fast things can change.

"Paige, you won't have to live with him for three months, day in, day out. I'm telling him either way, so either you're in or you're out," I gave her an ultimatum.

"Listen, this sort of thing happened before, with Antoine and Diego, and they nearly killed each other. In the end, we all went our separate ways, none of us happy, three friendships destroyed. Although, Diego and I weren't really friends, we just…well, the jist is that this is bad, so we do not tell him." I tried to stare her down, but she had very good concentration, and I was the first to look away.

"Please, Brian means too much, to the both of us. I know you understand. We'll just stay out of each other's way. We probably won't have to see each other ever again. I'm not into Brian's 'Look at me, I'm a popstar' crowd, so I'll hardly ever be around. We'll just avoid each other," she said, enticingly. Dammit, she was turning on the same charm she had last night. I didn't stand a chance.

"So what do you say? We avoid each other?" she increased the pressure.

"Like the plague," I agreed. It didn't feel right, of course, but she wasn't budging at all and I wasn't about to face the music all by myself.

And so I existed with a tortured soul. Like any other guilty party, sleep evaded me. Hour after hour of insomnia left me to constantly rerun that night over and over in my mind. Guilt is hard to live with. The fact that she had played me for a fool (not once, but twice) was also keeping me awake at night. And now, here I was.

Brian had rented a villa in a secluded spot of Cancun, right on the beach. He was all hyped about it on New Year's, and had demanded that I join him for a few days, claiming he had the room. I hadn't given him a direct answer, but after the hell I was putting myself through, I figured that I better get accustomed to not being able to look him in the eye before our tour recommenced.

So, I had booked the flight, grabbed a cab, and was now standing on the porch, waiting for someone to answer my persistent knocking. I double-checked the address Brian had given me that night and I had it right. Finally, I heard light footsteps padding towards the door, and Kelly threw open the door. A look of surprise passed over her face before she quickly regained her composure and invited me in.

"Hi Nick. When did you get in?" she asked, obviously trying to disguise her complete surprise.

"Not too long ago. Where's Brian?" I asked, deciding to relieve her of trying to be polite when what she really wanted to know was why I was here. Apparently Brian must not have told her that I was coming.

"Kelly, who's at the door?" he called.

"Hey B! Wassup?" I called back. Brian came around the corner, looking puzzled.

"Nick? Hey man, when did you decide to show up?" he asked, slightly bemused.

"This morning. Last minute planning is my true calling, and you know it. How's the weather been?" I asked, feeling a little awkward.

"I hope you don't mind, but its going to be a little crowded. It seems that Brian forgot that he invited you, or at least hasn't mentioned it to me yet, and we dragged someone else along," Kelly explained her bewilderment.

"Oh yeah, Kelly I invited Nick to join us for a few days," Brian called obligingly from behind us as Kelly lead me to the back of the house.

"Thank you Brian," Kelly called, through clenched teeth. Eager to break the ice, I asked who else they had brought.

"Hey Brian, what's the hold up?" a familiar female voice called, entering the room from a pair of French doors that opened onto the beach. She was carrying a pair of badminton rackets.

"Paige, look who's here," Kelly said. Paige dropped the rackets.

* * * *

"Alright Carter, what the hell are you doing here?" Paige hissed.

"Wow, I didn't know we were on a last name basis. What are you doing here?" I hissed right back.

"I was invited, unlike you! What happened to our agreement?" she demanded.

"I was also invited here. Our agreement still stands. We'll just have to try really hard to keep it," I answered back.

"This would only happen to me," she sighed. We were standing in the kitchen, a few hours after my welcomed arrival. Brian had gone for a walk with his dog, and Kelly was in another room, working on an article that she was supposed to send to her office in a few days, leaving Paige and I alone. As soon as the coast was clear, we were both more than eager to answer the pressing questions that were weighing heavily on our minds.

"Well, let's see how your personality, you still believe in that, right? Let's see how your personality can handle this situation," I said, pure mockery. It was quite the low blow, but she was aggravating me. She wasn't the only one that was freaking about this. I didn't know how I could possibly last an entire week here. With her.