Writing Prompt | Write a short Story titled ‘THE DAY AFTER’
This is written with two Characters I have Developed for a future book in my Nighthawk Series, Vaughn & Adelaide | Adelaide's POV & they are in New Orleans.
BEFORE YOUR READ: These writing prompts come from a writing coach I follow: The Plottery. I try to use characters I already have to help develop them a bit more, get to know them, and see what they would do in different situations. Mostly, they are not the Main Characters in my current work in progress. I do treat each of these as If the chapter was plucked out of their book, though… in this case, that is accurate. This is very close to what one of the chapters in this book (which is much later in the series) will look like.
Vaughn Lark is the quarterback for the Chicago Nighthawks in the books that lead up to this. In his book, this is part of his story with Adi that starts long before we get to the Nighthawks Story. Adelaide Romano is the Granddaughter of one of Chicago’s Italian Mafia Don’s. Before she meets Vaughn in NOLA while on vacation, her father is pushing her to accept an arranged marriage, guilting her and using her inheritance to manipulate her. She has been working to try and separate herself from her family and needs her inheritance to be able to do that. She’s stuck and wants to take some time to weigh her options and let loose with her friends.
We enter their story just as the Bachelor Weekend for Vaughn’s Brother is coming to an end, and Adi arrives with her friends for their girl’s trip.
I don’t want to open my eyes. There is a pounding in my head that feels like a gorilla using my skull as a drum matching the beat of my heart. I know that if I open my eyes there is a high chance that the room will spin, leading to spending time on the cold tile of the bathroom. I’m to have to however, I hear the buzzing of my phone alarm somewhere in the room. I also notice that in addition to the hangover threatening to ruin the morning, there is a warmth radiating from behind me and a weight over my midsection.
Everything comes flooding back to me from last night.
Landing in New Orleans for the girl’s trip. The rooftop restaurant at the hotel. The guys we met. The shots - why were there so many shots? The club. The Dancing. Vaughn - the most beautiful man I have ever laid my eyes on.
Sometime during dancing the memories are slower but I still remember how Vaughn ruined me for any other man in the way he cared for me, in every sense.
I groan as I force myself to open my eyes and find a blissfully darkened room. At least we had the forethought to close the curtains, well mostly, there’s a few inches of light leaking in enough to see the trail of clothing - mine mixed with his on the floor and the large hand gently resting on my belly.
Buzzing stopped and started again. Shit. That isn’t alarm. Slowly, I move his hand, noticing the roughness of the calluses on his palm and yet the softness of the rest of it, remembering what it felt like to have them on me.
I sit up slowly testing the room, so far, so good, no spinning. I can get to my phone without losing whatever contents are in my stomach. Did we even eat? I quietly get up and locate the device that started buzzing for the third time and rush to the bathroom to check my phone, snagging one of Vaughn’s shirts along the way.
There is a slew of texts in our group chat asking for all of us to check-in. I let them know that I am alive and well, inserting the emoji code we made in college at the end so they know it is me.
Then there are two missed calls from my brother, Vito. Ugh. They are supposed to leave me alone this weekend. I swear my family can’t ever respect the boundaries that I put in place. I ignored his calls and the voicemail he left to use the restroom, splash some water on my face, and finger-brush my teeth with the little tube of paste I found.
Vaughn’s toiletries are sitting in a partly open leather bag. I can tell from the contents that he is a man who takes great care of his appearance even if I don’t recognize the brands. I respect that more than he will know. I pop open the bottle that says it is a face and beard wash in one to smell it, it’s a fresh - clean smell with a hint of aloe.
Then there is the smoky glass tube under the moisturizer that tells me exactly what he smells like - Tom Ford Oud Wood in travel size because he travels a lot. I smell it wishing I could take it with me. That earthy smell will be imprinted on my mind.
“You like that?” A gruff version of his warm voice comes from the man who fills the doorway, startling me.
“I do,” I say as I place the cap back on and put it back while he takes a few steps into the room to pull me in by the waist.
“I thought for a moment that you left me without a morning kiss. I was happy to hear you were hiding in here.” And he smirks like he did last night to show that adorable dimple.
“I’m sorry, my phone was buzzing and I thought. it was a good idea to let people know I was alive. I didn’t want to wake you.”
“I wouldn’t have minded. How are you feeling? We had quite the night.”
“My head aches, and I could probably drink a gallon of water this morning before I find a coffee but otherwise I’m doing fairly well. What about you?”
“I came to find my advil stash and trying to see if I can room service for the rest.” He reaches around me to his little leather bag, the reaming arm tightens around me and I lean into him welcoming his warmth.
“There are a few water bottles in the other room, let’s get cozy and hydrate.”
“Never did I think hydrating would sound as delightful as you make it.” He nudges me out of the bathroom toward the bed before grabbing to waterbottles from the little fridge under the desk and getting in besides me.
“Here.” He hands me two white pills and an open water. “Now, what does the lady eat to cure hangovers?”
“Hmmm, usually, there is this bagel place I like to stop at that makes the best bagel breakfast sandwiches. The owner is from Brooklyn and just knows what people need after late nights out. I get the one aptly called the hangover. It is a plain bagel, melted cheddar, drippy egg, and bacon then pair it with a black coffee. What about you?”
“Well, depends. Sometimes, it’s a smoothie that is provided for me at work. Sometimes, I stop at this dinner on my block and get this breakfast skillet dish with potato, sausage, egg, some veggies, and extra melty cheese. So good.”
“That does sound good. The skillet at least.”
“What should we get this morning?” he passes the menu to me as my phone buzzes again.
“Ugh, I have to answer this. It’s Poppy, she is kinda the mom of the group.”
“Absolutely.” He says as he sinks into the pillows and pulls me into him while reading the menu.
“Hey, Poppy. What’s up?”
“Where the hell are you?” There is a worried tone to her voice that captures my attention. Vaughn must feel my reaction because he put the menu down to put his hand on my shoulder.
“Um, In Vaughn’s room. I said that in my text. Did it not go through?”
“I saw that, but we have a problem. I was in the lobby getting myself a coffee - which turned into me getting coffee for all of us because your brother is here.”
“Wait - Vito? Vito is here? Why is he here?”
“No idea. He was looking for you, but the front desk wouldn’t tell him where you were. I was going to avoid him but was forced to step in when I thought he was going to hurt the poor receptionist.”
“Freaking Vito. He’s called me a few times already, but I choose to ignore him. I had no idea he would follow us here. Where is he now?” Vaughn’s rubbing my upper arm now and it’s so nice. I’m not used to being taken care of and this virtual stranger, who has no idea about my family or really who I am is comforting me.
“I made him wait in the lobby. There are four of us after all. I told him that we were all getting ready for the day and that you were getting ready for a shower when I left the room. I bought us a little bit of time. Sienna is heading back to the room; I told Luna to turn on the shower. How fast can you make it back?”
“Umm,” I look at the hotel phone next to me with the room number. Good, I’m on the right side of the hotel, two floors above where our room is and just off the stairs. I don’t even need to put shoes on. “Let me say goodbye and I’ll be there in five.”
“Okay, hurry.” We hang up and I lean into Vaughn, wordlessly he pulls me into him. I was going to break the one rule I had with him. I wanted to be connected to him. Share my last name and trade numbers. Vito’s arrival just reminds me that I would be putting him in danger. Instead, all we get is memories and a goodbye.
“You're leaving me.” He mumbles into my hair.
“My brother is here. I have to go take care of him.” His hands rub down my back and I look up to kiss him. He rolls us over with me on top, one hand in my hair and the other around my waist, holding me close to deepen the kiss. I can feel his goodbye, and it’s telling me that he wasn’t ready yet either.
When he breaks away I have to push him away. “I have to go, Vito has a temper that this hotel doesn’t need to witness.”
“Are you going to be alright? Do you need me to walk you back?”
“He won’t hurt me. Our family won’t take kindly to that. Don’t follow. It will just make this harder because I’m not ready to say goodbye yet.” I kiss him on the cheek and move to get out of bed. Picking up clothes on the way. I start to remove his shirt, but he stops me with a hand.
“Keep it. It looks better on you, anyway. I’ll even spray it for you.” He walks to the bathroom and grabs his cologne, sprays a little on the front, turns me around, and guides me to the door.
“Thank you, Angel. Enjoy your week here.” He kisses my forehead.
“Happy Birthday, Big Guy.” He smirks and opens the door for me.
I’m halfway to the stairwell when I hear it.
“It’s Lark. Vaughn Lark.” There is a pain in my chest letting me know that I’m missing out on something, I look back at him with a smile. Taking in this sexy as-hell, black boxer-clad, African god of a man as I feel the intensity of his brown eyes sear every part of me while he takes his last look.
“Bye, Vaughn Lark,” I say just before I sprint down two sets of concrete stairs while barefoot and carrying the balled-up dress and shoes from last night.
When I get to our room, Poppy takes my things, and I get into the shower, carefully wrapping Vaughn’s shirt in a hotel clothing bag. I tell myself it’s so no one asks me why I have a very worn, two sizes too big, Cincinnati Bengals shirt - not so I can preserve his smell for as long as possible.
I’m showered and drying my hair when reality sets in with a bang. Literally, Vito is banging on our door. Luna opens it to reveal not only Vito but one of his guys - Gino.
“What the hell Vito? People are still sleeping in this hotel.” I say while brushing my hair in the mirror.
“What no ‘Hello brother’?” He spats back.
“No.” I drop the brush and stand to face him, arms crossed to keep the white hotel robe from coming open, “This week was supposed to be just me and my friends. No family and no drama, so I can think through everything. It hasn’t even been 24 hours.”
“Yeah. Well, Pops is concerned that you might get different ideas.” He says with some hesitation.
“Get the fuck out,” I tell them in my calm but angry voice. The same one my mother used when we got in trouble as kids, one he knows all too well.
“Excuse me?” Vito challenges.
“You heard me. I just woke up. I haven’t had a chance to get clothes on or enjoy a hot coffee with this view of the French Quarter. So, get out of our room. Go sit your asses in the lobby and wait until we are good and ready to see your faces.” Gino stands in shock, looking between me and Vito. My face is a mask of indifference to hide the real rage beneath my skin, and I am afraid I might lose it if they don’t leave the room.
“Let’s go get some breakfast, Gino.” He finally says, walking out of our room. I hold my breath and count to ten like I used to as a kid before breaking down on the floor between our beds.
“It will be ok,” Luna says as she hugs me.
“I can’t even get a week to myself, and they want me to marry into more of this. I hate it. I hate it even more now after I had the best night of my life with Vaughn. I could feel so much in the kiss he gave me when we said goodbye.”
“Shhh, I know. I know.” Luna comforts me. She knows what my family is capable of, hers is not much different.
We do end up doing some light sightseeing that day as planned, with our two shadows in tow. I forbade them to talk to us when we met in the lobby. Of course, they didn’t listen and inserted themselves into everything. It only took a day of being watched for Luna and I left Poppy and Seinna in New Orleans without getting anything else done on my wish list.
I did leave with a souvenir that I won’t discover for a good six weeks though. One that I will treasure for a lifetime.