Just a Guy and a Gate to the Multiverse - Chapter 15 (Patreon)

Chapter 15 - Spring Break

— Miami, 2008 —

The house was shaking.

At least, it felt like it was.

Of course it felt like it. It was fucking spring break, baby!

Bass pounded through the walls, the floor, and my chest with every heavy beat of the music. Colored lights flashed across the living room, turning faces red, blue, purple, and then gold for half a second before changing again. People were everywhere.

They were dancing on the floor, leaning over the kitchen counter, laughing on the stairs, and shouting over the music like volume alone could turn broken conversations into meaningful ones.

It was exactly the kind of party I had imagined when I thought of spring break in Miami.

It was loud, wild, sweaty, and alive.

And somehow, I was right in the middle of it.

As soon as I realized it was time for spring break, I jumped on the next plane from Rome to Miami. I had always wanted to experience one of these parties.

I had only been in Miami for a day, but the city already felt like it had grabbed me by the collar and dragged me into a different version of myself. Normally, I was more reserved, but the last few months of traveling around the world had done wonders in loosening me up.

Tonight, I was laughing with strangers, dancing badly, and enjoying every second of it.

After my flight, I had literally just been chilling at the beach, working on my tan and showing off my defined body until I caught the attention of some college-aged girls checking me out. That was one of the things I had to get used to at first: how much attention I got from women because of my well-trained body.

And I meant it. I wasn't your usual blewn up steroids and eggwhites kind of buff, but the real deal. Build like Superman if he were real. A real life man of steel!

Man, I wished getting a body like this without cheating were just as easy. Unfortunately, for normal people, that took months or years of dedicated training and specific dietary needs. You couldn’t just grind for a few weeks and use a Stimpack as soon as it started hurting too much.

Sucks to be them.

Anyway, thanks to the right kind of attention, led by a hot blonde, I was immediately invited to a college house party thrown by some of their friends. Since I had always wanted to experience one, I easily agreed, and now here I was.

The house was massive, rented by a group of college students for the week. Palm trees stood outside near the driveway. Cars lined the street. Inside, every room had its own chaos. The living room had a DJ setup and a crowd packed so tightly that moving through it felt like swimming.

The kitchen had people mixing drinks, stealing chips, and trying to talk over the music. The backyard had a pool glowing bright blue under string lights, with people sitting around the edge or jumping in fully clothed because spring break apparently had its own rules. Further down more people were by the beach.

I stood near the living room, one arm around some guy’s shoulders as we shouted the chorus of a song neither of us knew completely. I had no idea what his name was, but he was my new best friend. At least for the moment.

“You don’t know the words!” he yelled.

“Neither do you!”

“That’s not the point!”

Then another guy appeared beside us with his shirt halfway unbuttoned and sunglasses on top of his head. “Beach Volleyball Josh!”

Oh, his name was Josh.

He groaned. “Not again!”

“Ah, come on! We need another player!”

But Josh managed to shake him off.

A few months ago, if someone had told me I would be dancing in the middle of a Miami college party, surrounded by strangers and actually enjoying myself, I would have laughed or shot him since they seemed to know too much about my abilities. I had never been the partying type. Now I was there, and for once, I was not thinking too much.

The music changed to something faster, and the crowd reacted instantly. People cheered. Someone near the stairs threw both hands up and spilled half their drink. Josh grabbed my wrist and pulled me farther into the living room.

“Come on!” he shouted. “No standing around!”

I followed, laughing as we pushed into the moving crowd.

The air was warm and thick with bodies, music, and perfume. My shirt stuck slightly to my muscular back, but I did not care. The lights flashed across everyone’s faces, making the party feel half real and half like a dream. Girls danced in groups, guys tried to look smoother than they were, and everyone seemed determined to make the night matter.

For once, I did not feel like a tourist.

I felt like part of it.

I danced until my legs burned. Not well, probably, but better than before, or at least with more confidence. I had never learned how to dance, but Miami had a way of making embarrassment seem unnecessary. Nobody was watching me as much as I thought they were. Everyone was too busy chasing their own night.

After a while, I pushed my way toward the kitchen for water. I had learned quickly that spring break parties were a lot more fun when I did not act like an idiot. I filled a red cup at the sink, drank half of it in one go, then leaned against the counter and took a breath.

That was when I saw her. She was one of the girls who had invited me. The hot blonde one.

She stood across the kitchen near the sliding glass doors leading to the backyard. Blonde hair fell over her shoulders in loose waves, catching the colored lights from the living room every time they flashed across the room. She wore a white crop top, a short denim skirt, and a thin gold necklace that rested against her collarbone. Her skin was lightly tanned, her lips were glossy, and the smile on her face was dangerous in the best possible way.

She was laughing at something her friend said, her head tilted back, completely relaxed.

Then she looked over and caught me watching.

I should have looked away.

Instead, I smiled.

She smiled back.

Not politely. Not accidentally. She smiled slowly, clearly recognizing me.

My pulse jumped.

For a second, the party blurred around her. The music was still pounding. People were still shouting. Someone behind me was still arguing about where the limes had gone. But my attention stayed on the blonde girl by the door.

The least I could do was say hi and thank her for the invitation, right?

Before I could, the blonde girl said something to her friend, then started walking toward me.

Noticing our exchange of looks, Josh’s grin became unbearable.

“I’m leaving,” he said.

“What? Why?”

“Good luck, soldier.”

He slipped away before I could stop him, leaving me alone at the counter just as she reached me.

Up close, she was even prettier. Blue eyes, long lashes, and a confidence that made it seem like she was perfectly aware of the effect she had on people.

“Hi,” she said. “You actually came!”

“Hi. Well, you guys invited me!”

“You’re the guy who was dancing with the loud group, right? I didn’t know your friends were here too.”

I looked toward the living room, where Josh was now pretending to conduct the DJ with both hands. “That depends. There are a lot of loud groups here.”

She smiled. “The loudest one.”

“Then yes. Those are my new friends that I met here. Unfortunately, I connected with them.”

“Unfortunately?”

“They adopted me as soon as I stepped into the party.”

“That sounds serious.”

“It happened quickly. I had no legal representation.”

She laughed, and the sound cut through the music in a way that made me want to hear it again.

“I’m Chloe,” she said.

Chloe, huh? Pretty name for a pretty girl. “Matt.”

She leaned against the counter beside me. “First time in Miami, Matt?”

“Is it that obvious?”

“A little.”

“I need to work on that. It tends to happen a lot wherever I travel.”

“No, don’t. It’s cute.”

That was unfair.

She said it casually, like she was only giving an opinion, but the way her eyes stayed on mine turned that simple word into something warmer.

“Cute?” I repeated.

“Yeah. You look like you’re trying to pretend you’re not surprised by everything.”

“I’m failing?”

“A little.”

“I’ll have to improve.”

“Maybe.” Chloe looked me over, not hiding it. “You’re doing okay so far. So, you travel a lot?”

The kitchen suddenly felt warmer.

I had talked to pretty girls before. Of course I had. But Chloe had a way of making each word feel like a step closer. She did not rush. She did not need to. She looked at me like she had already decided I was interesting and was waiting to see if I could keep up.

“Yeah, I’m between jobs.” At least you could say it like that. Altough reducing relaxing between Universes to just jobs was a bit of a big stretch. “Still figuring out what I want to do next. Traveling seemed like a good option for now. Are you from here?” I asked.

“No. Arizona. I’m here with a few friends from college.”

“Spring break?”

“Obviously.” She lifted her cup slightly. “Last real break before finals destroy my soul.”

“What are you studying?”

“Marketing.”

“That explains the confidence.”

She raised an eyebrow. “Does it?”

“You walked over here like you already knew I wanted to talk to you.”

“I did know.”

I laughed, caught. “That obvious?”

“Yes.”

“At least I’m consistent.”

She stepped a little closer, close enough that her shoulder almost brushed mine. “Don’t worry. I wanted to talk to you too. Already at the beach earlier today, but we never got a chance with all my friends around.”

There it was.

No guessing. No confusion. No polite small talk pretending to be accidental.

A clear invitation.

I felt my nerves stir, but this time, I did not let them take over. I leaned closer too, just enough to show I understood. While I had gotten more experienced while exploring the world and all that, girls were a different matter altogether.

The last time I dated was in school. There had been no real opportunity for even a casual fling since then. I had not really had a mind for anything like that on my journey.

“Then I’m glad you came over,” I said.

“Better,” she said.

“Better?”

“Than just staring.”

“Ouch.”

“You survived.”

“I barely survived.”

Her smile turned playful. “Want to recover outside? It’s hot in here.”

I glanced toward the sliding glass doors. The backyard was crowded too, but less packed than the kitchen. The pool glowed under the string lights, and people were gathered around it in small groups.

“Yeah,” I said. “Outside sounds good.”

We moved through the doors into the backyard. The warm Miami air met us, carrying the smell of chlorine, grass, and the ocean somewhere beyond the houses. Music still blasted from inside, but out here, it was softened slightly by the open air.

People sat along the pool’s edge with their feet in the water. A guy jumped in fully clothed and came up yelling. A group near the fence chanted for someone to do a shot, while another group ignored them completely and took selfies under the lights.

Chloe led me toward a quieter corner near a palm tree. The lights from the pool painted soft blue patterns across her legs.

“This is better,” she said.

“Less likely to lose my hearing out here.”

“Exactly.”

We stood close, facing each other. The party moved around us, but for the first time that night, I felt like I had space to breathe.

“So, Matt,” she said. “What brings you to Miami besides looking cute and confused?”

I smiled. “Spring break. I always wanted to experience the real deal, and since I’m traveling anyway, it seemed like the perfect chance. Maybe I’m trying to be less careful for once and enjoy myself in the moment.”

“Less careful?”

“Not reckless. Just less stuck in my own head.”

She nodded slowly. “I get that.”

“You do?”

“Yeah. I spend most of the semester being responsible. Classes, deadlines, internships, planning everything.” She looked toward the pool, then back at me. “Sometimes it’s nice to come somewhere and not be that version of yourself for a few days.”

“That’s exactly it.”

Her expression softened for a moment, and I saw something behind the party-girl confidence. Not sadness, but recognition, like we were both here for the same reason, even if we had arrived from very different places.

Then the playful look returned.

“So,” she said, “are you succeeding?”

“At being less careful?”

“At enjoying yourself.”

I looked at her, at the way the warm light caught in her hair, at the small smile on her lips, and at the fact that she had chosen to stand out here with me when she could have been anywhere else.

“I think so.”

“Only thinking?”

“Well,” I said, stepping a little closer, “the night is still young.”

Chloe looked up at me. “That was almost smooth.”

“Almost?”

“You’re improving.”

“That seems to be a theme tonight.”

She laughed softly. “Maybe I’m a good influence.”

“I’m not sure that’s the right word.”

“What word would you use?”

I let my eyes move over her face, slow enough for her to notice but not so much that it felt rude.

“Tempting,” I said.

For the first time, Chloe looked slightly surprised.

Then she smiled.

“Careful, Matt.”

“I thought we were being less careful.”

“Less careful doesn’t mean stupid.”

“Good point.”

I held her gaze. “Then I’ll be honest instead.”

Got the body. Now it was time for the confidence.

“About what?”

“About the fact that I wanted to kiss you from the moment you walked over.”

The air between us changed.

The music, the shouting, the splashing in the pool, all of it seemed to move farther away.

Chloe did not look away. Her smile faded into something softer and warmer.

“You’re getting much better,” she said.

“Is that a yes?”

She stepped closer until there was barely any space left between us.

“Yes.”

I kissed her.

At first, I kept it light. A careful press of my lips against hers, giving her every chance to pull back if she wanted to.

She did not.

Instead, her hand slid up to my chest, fingers curling lightly in my shirt, and she kissed me back.

That was when the night shifted completely.

The kiss deepened, slow and heated. My hand settled at her waist, and she moved closer like she had been waiting for me to stop holding back. She tasted faintly sweet, and her perfume mixed with the warm Miami air until I could not separate one from the other.

When we broke apart, she was smiling against my mouth.

“Still feeling confused?” she asked.

“Less than before.”

“Good.”

She kissed me again, shorter this time and teasing. Then she took my hand and pulled me closer to the pool, where people had started dancing outside too. The music from inside had changed to something slower but heavy, the kind of beat that made bodies move closer without anyone needing to say much.

We danced near the water.

Chloe moved with easy confidence, her round hips following the rhythm like she had been born to it. I tried to match her, and this time, I did not feel awkward. Maybe it was because she kept her hands on me. Maybe it was because she smiled every time I got closer. Maybe it was because the party around us was wild enough that nobody cared what we did.

My hands stayed at her waist. Hers slid around my neck.

“You’re not bad,” she said near my ear.

“High praise.”

“Don’t get arrogant.”

“Too late.”

She laughed and pressed closer, her body warm against mine.

The dance became less about the music and more about the space disappearing between us. Every movement felt like a question and an answer. She turned in my arms, and I followed. Her hair brushed my cheek. My fingers tightened slightly at her waist, and when I realized what I had done, I eased my grip.

Chloe noticed.

“You don’t have to act scared of me,” she said.

“I’m not scared.”

“No?”

“I’m trying to be respectful.”

Her eyes softened for a moment. Then she leaned closer, her lips near my ear.

“I’ll tell you if I don’t like something.”

My pulse jumped.

“Okay,” I said.

“And Matt?”

“Yeah?”

“So far, I like it.”

That single sentence nearly ruined my ability to think.

She knew it too. I could tell by the satisfied smile on her face.

We kept dancing. The party got louder around us. Someone jumped into the pool again, splashing a group of people who shouted and laughed.

The heat between us had become impossible to ignore. It was in the way she touched me, in the way her eyes dropped briefly to my mouth, and in the way she kept moving closer even though there was no more room left between us.

I leaned down and kissed her again.

This time, there was nothing careful about the way she responded. Her arms tightened around my neck, and she pulled me down to her like she had already made up her mind. My hand moved along her side, stopping at her waist, and she made a soft sound that I felt more than heard.

When we separated, both of us were breathing a little harder.

Chloe looked at me through her lashes. “Where are you staying?”

The question was quiet but clear.

My mouth went dry.

“A hotel near Collins,” I said. “Not far.”

“How far?”

“Ten minutes by car. Maybe less.”

She looked toward the house, then back at me.

“I don’t want to stay here all night.”

There it was.

I could have rushed. I could have acted like I had won something. But that was not what this felt like. Chloe was not a prize. She was a person standing in front of me, choosing the same direction I wanted to go.

So I kept my voice steady.

“You want to leave with me?”

She smiled slowly. “Yes.”

[ End of the Chapter ]