"This looks nice." Gloria remarked as she, Andrew and Monica strode through the doorway of their hotel suite carrying whatever little baggage they had brought with them. The cruise was tomorrow and they would be staying here for tonight since their plane landed about an hour ago. The rain had ceased, but the threat of overcast still hung in the air in downtown Miami. At least it was warm here and the angels could walk around in nothing more than T-shirts and shorts.
"Yeah, this is great." Andrew agreed as he dropped his shoulder bag and made his way over to the curtains, which he then pulled open, causing a view worth millions to reveal itself. Monica gasped in amazement when she looked out the huge window and saw it. It was absolutely breath taking. From here you could see the palm trees, the ocean and even the buildings were beautiful as they glinted like diamonds in whatever sunlight was peaking through the clouds. This was so worth the thousands of cases they had completed to get here. Of course, they did their work because they enjoyed it, not because they wanted a free vacation as a reward, but it was still very nice to be able to relax for a few days.
They had checked into actually two rooms, though a door on the far wall connected them. One was Andrew's and the other was both Monica and Gloria's. Of course, the girls' room had both a double bed and a pullout couch, so Monica gave her trainee the option. She agreed to take the pullout couch, seeming more than happy to let her supervisor have the bed. Of course, Andrew was far more content than any to have his own room.
"So, you girls want to go down to the beach?" Andrew ventured hopefully as they all still stood in Monica and Gloria's room, looking at the view. Gloria's answer was quick and easy. "Sure." She beamed excitedly and unzipped her duffle bag and began digging viciously for her bathing suit, but Monica didn't move from where she stood. She seemed undecided on the matter. Picking up on her uneasiness, Andrew was quick to assure her of the thing he was sure she had been thinking. "You don't have to swim." He sighed irritably with an annoyed roll of his eyes as he pulled his own bathing suit out of his shoulder bag. Now Monica grinned contentedly and dropped her own bag on the floor so she could search for her beach clothes.
It didn't take long for them to change into their stuff. By the time they were finished, Andrew was dressed in a loose T-shirt and his bathing suit while Gloria was dressed in a purple one-piece and Monica had decided to put on her bikini top and shorts, just in case someone got her a little wet. But they were finished within ten minutes and they then headed down to the beach.
Once they got there, the sun had fully come out again and the clouds were gone, causing the perfect concoction for a day in the sun. Monica first spread out a towel in the sand and seated herself comfortably on it. But both Gloria and Andrew then turned to look at her with somewhat disappointed glances. "You're not even going to try it are you?" Andrew moaned as he watched his friend pull her sunglasses down over eyes and lay down on her back on the towel. "Nope." She replied without any thought about it as she reached up and put both hands behind her head in pure relaxation, just willing to enjoy the salty, ocean breeze.
Andrew just groaned for the thousandth time and shook his head hopelessly as he turned his attention back to Gloria. "Race you to the water." He challenged with a sly smile, thinking it would be something the young angel wouldn't be able to resist. But to his utter surprise, Gloria glanced back at her supervisor for a moment before turning back to Andrew and shaking her head no. "Nah." She shrugged as if it were something she just didn't feel like doing right now. She realized that if Monica wasn't going in the water, then she didn't want to either. Andrew was fun, but she liked it when her supervisor was with her. It was more fun that way.
She instead glanced around the beach until her eyes fell upon a vacant volleyball net and then the idea came to her. "You guys want to play some volleyball?" She offered hopefully and to her content, her friends seemed to like the idea. Monica sat up again and pushed her sunglasses back up on her head while exchanging a careless shrug with Andrew. It seemed like a good enough idea. "Alright. That sounds like fun." Andrew agreed with a smile as he reached down and helped Monica to her feet by the hand. That was when he suddenly realized how good she looked in a bathing suit and short shorts, but it was only moments before she noticed him staring and her expression did the rest and he quickly looked away as if he was uninterested. She gave a small chuckle and shook her head before they both turned to follow Gloria to the net.
Once they got there, they realized it was a single net, and so only two players could play at once. Gloria then decided she would sit out and watch until the next game. "I'll play winner." She offered as she seated herself in the sand off to the side. They nodded a thanks as Andrew moved around to the other side and picked up the ball sitting almost expectantly in the sand. "Okay, Monica, if you think you can take me." Andrew laughed with self-pride as he readied himself to serve. But it was then that Monica decided it was her responsibility to make this a little more interesting. "Oh, I don't think I can. I know I can." She countered a little to confidently for Andrew's liking. Did she know something he didn't? In fact she did. She was awesome at volleyball.
Andrew swung his arm back and served the ball cleanly over the net. For a moment, he thought he would get the point because the ball looked as though it was going a little too far out of Monica's reach, but she leapt to the side and made a dive for it, sending it back over to Andrew's side, where he missed it and it landed squarely in the sand. With a sigh, he made his way over to it and picked up before tossing it over the net to his friend's side, as it was fairly her serve now. Gloria watched in slight amusement as her two friends battled it out and Monica prepared to serve this time. She sent it soaring just the right amount over the net. This time Andrew didn't miss and he bumped it back over to her side, but he made the mistake of sending it the right height for her advantage and she leapt as high into the air as her petite frame would go, spiking back to his side of the net, where it again landed with a small bounce in the sand.
Monica beamed proudly and shot Andrew an I-told-you-so glance as he looked up at her irritably. "Point." She proclaimed simply, still not failing to hold that same, proud smile. Andrew stared back at her suspiciously for a brief moment before tossing the ball back to her again. This time it must have stayed in the air for at least six times back and forth, but again, it ended up landing on Andrew's side. This was really starting to irritate him, but it seemed the more frustrated he became, the worse he played and in the end, Monica had skunked him. It was then that Gloria stood from her spot in the sand and brushed herself off, preparing to play, but Andrew stopped her.
"Wait." He held up a hand to the young caseworker, but didn't take his eyes off of Monica, his gaze holding nothing short of a first class challenge. "Rematch." He demanded in the most determined tone Monica had ever heard out of him. But Monica only laughed and shrugged carelessly. "Andrew, I completely skunked you. Why…" But Andrew didn't give her a chance to finish. "REMATCH!" He repeated a lot more firmly this time. Monica sighed and shrugged again as if she could care less as Andrew tossed her the ball again. She caught it and exchanged amused glances with Gloria before serving once again. But just as before, by the time it was finished, she had won again. Of course, Andrew wouldn't have the humiliation so he demanded yet another rematch. And another…and another. But each time Monica won, leaving Andrew with nothing more than a horribly injured pride.
After far too many games to count, the angels decided to call it quits and they headed back up to their hotel room before the breath was completely gone from their lungs. Andrew just couldn't understand why he kept losing. He was great at volleyball. Of course, perhaps he wasn't playing bad, maybe it was just because he was playing against Monica that he kept losing. He eventually decided that had to be it. He often forgot that Monica may not be able to sing or paint or swim in the ocean, but there were just as many things that she was good at. Such as pool, skating or apparently volleyball.
But the day had to end sometime right? The angels turned in early that night for they wanted to be rested for their cruise tomorrow, plus it had begun storming again so there was really nothing else much to do. But right around midnight, something roused Monica from her deep sleep and she rolled over uncomfortably in her bed. She could hear the loud rumble of thunder outside, but that wasn't it. She was sure of it. But then it came to her. She knew what it was and she moaned in an annoyed manner as she swung her legs over the side of the bed and strode over to the door that separated her room with Andrew's. This was the last straw. She needed her sleep and the fact that she was tired intensified her attitude even more.
Brushing a few strands of her long, ginger hair behind one ear, she turned the door knob and tossed open the door so it banged loudly against Andrew's wall and, just as she had suspected. He lay sleeping so soundly in his bed that he was snoring at a horrible volume. With a roll of her eyes, Monica decided she only had one choice. "Andrew." She called sharply and irritably to the sleeping Angel of Death, but he didn't wake. He only lay there and continued to snore. "Andrew!" She tried again, loudly enough now that he had to wake up, but as she stared at him trough the dark interior of the room, he didn't move. Then it came to her. "Andrew, look out! A squirrel!" She screamed as loudly as her lungs would allow, hoping this would trigger some kind of reaction. Just as she had suspected, Andrew's snoring ceased and he sat bolt upright in bed yelling something along the lines of: "What! Where?"
With a small chuckle, she shook her head cleverly and made her way over to his bedside. "Gloria and I are trying to sleep." She reminded him as he began to calm down and turned his attention to her, seeming to forget what had just happened. "So?" He questioned, clearly not catching her meaning of waking him up in such an abrupt manner. So Monica went on to explain. "You're snoring…very loudly." She informed him irritably, but Andrew only groaned in an exhausted manner and shook his head. "You woke me up for that? Okay, now you're going to get it." He teased as he reached across the bed and snatched the pillow from beside him before raising it over his head and whipping it up at Monica, who caught it – but not without difficulty – and brought it down playfully on Andrew's shoulder. Andrew then rolled over again to look at her in a mock angry manner. The situation had suddenly been given a violent shove from arguing to a playful pillow fight as the two laughed and began to send goose feathers fluttering everywhere.
But then Andrew pounced up from his spot on the bed and chased Monica across the room before snatching her around the waist and tossing her down on the bed like a rag doll, all the while both of them laughing and screaming playfully. Luckily for them, Gloria was a heavy sleeper and didn't wake in the next room. Andrew then sprung back onto the bed himself and the tickling match that followed lasted until both of them were too out of breath to continue. And they instead fell into a deep sleep; one in which Andrew didn't snore anymore.