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weekends, it made getting up so early during the week almost pleasant.
    Mark grabbed his phone and walked out into the hallway. The sun was still shining but it wasn’t as strong in the hallway and his eyes had begun to adjust rather quickly. He thumbed through some emails to ensure that nothing important was going to ruin his day drunk, then saw that he had an email from Jace that was sent around six AM this morning.
    “What the fuck is he doing up at six AM?” Mark muttered to himself. “It’s fucking Saturday.” For a moment, Mark entertained how he would have told him off if it was a text message or phone call instead of an email. The subject line read : Heeding your advice. Mark looked down at the phone, perplexed.
    He clicked on the email and a photo uploaded to his phone. It was a selfie of Jace and the blonde girl from yesterday. The sun was still in its daily infancy and the backdrop was white sand and blue oceans. A single wave was cresting and just ready to break across the screen. Marks eyes shot open.
    “Holy shit .”
    I really hope he doesn’t try to expense this.
    Mark typed out a message and hit send.
     
    An hour after their message back to the real world, Jace pressed Maddy up against the door of their executive suite. She kissed him roughly, her lips pressed hard against him, and her hands wrapped around his neck. Her left leg was raised up and curled around his back. She grinded her hips into him. Jace fumbled clumsily, trying to get the hotel key out of his pocket, partly because of the drinks, but mostly because of the intense passion she was inflicting onto him.
    They had arrived early, or late, depending on your time zone, but were both too alive with excitement to sleep. Jace made the silent decision as soon as they landed that an afternoon nap would be the price of admission for the sunrise. Maddy didn’t have to say anything; she was of a similar mind. The pair checked into the resort. They had no bags, no luggage. They just had one another. Two puzzle pieces recklessly thrown into a whirlwind of happenstance that collided at just the right time and speed to piece together.
    They managed to find the general store on the resort. And there, Jace purchased bathing suits for both of them, sun block, and a bottle of champagne.
    Eagar to see the beach, the new couple powerwalked through the resort. They gazed about in glory of the beautiful surroundings. The green grass, the palm trees, the wild peacocks that wandered the grounds—it all made the place seem magical, like a dream world that they had somehow willed into reality. They walked quickly, passing the pool. There was a sign that said it would be closed until seven AM, which was just over an hour, but the beach that laid beyond it was always open. The concrete pathway gave way to sand and palm trees and the stacked resort furniture fell back allowing the vast daunting view of the blue ocean to overtake them.
    They both paused, and Maddy reached over and squeezed Jace’s hand. He smiled but did not look at her. He was entranced. The sound of the waves crashing into the water was all that was heard. The water going up and then flowing over itself. The white crest foamed and dissipated. It was the heartbeat of the world, the constant rhythmic sound of life.
    Jace dropped the bag in his left hand and freed his hand from Maddy’s. He turned to face her and stepped in. She threw her hands over his shoulders and he placed his hands on her hips.
    “Isn’t it beautiful?”
    “It’s amazing.” He began to unbutton his shirt, and took off the formally new white shirt she had bought for him earlier that day and blanketed it down on the sand. He knelt down on one side to keep it from flying away and Maddy joined him on his makeshift blanket.
    With a few ruffles and a loud pop, the champagne had been opened and the brilliant gold rays of the sun peeked out from beneath the night and cast its light upon them. They sat in awe drinking champagne