There was a knock on the side door at seven in the morning while Casey was just finishing her packing for her road trip weekend with Daniel and Jackson. She had no idea where they were going, but she was excited to get away. She was told to bring some change of clothes, her bathing suit, and anything thing else she could fit into a backpack. She wore her Birkenstocks but brought her Nikes for if they did any walking around. She looked out the side door and found Daniel and Jackson preparing to knock again. She slid the door open.

"Stop, you'll wake my parents!" She whispered as she slid the door closed behind her.

"Ready for this?" Daniel asked, and she nodded excitedly.

"I've been looking forward to this all week." She answered. "Shotgun!" She dibbed as soon as they saw the car, and Daniel groaned.

"Hey, she called it fair and square." Jackson defended, and he went ahead and hopped in the backseat of Jackson's car. She put her backpack in the backseat with him then got into the passenger seat, her phone hooking up to the bluetooth as soon as Jackson turned the car on.

"So, where are we going?" She asked as soon as they got out of the driveway, causing Daniel to laugh.

"You're so impatient." He said, and she shot him a glare before shrugging.

"I want to know that I'm not being kidnapped." She answered, getting a laugh from the both of them.

"We'll explain over breakfast." Jackson answered, and Casey was satisfied enough with the answer. She turned the music up and tapped her finger against the handle of the door. It was early, but she was a morning person, and she was ready to get the day going.

They stopped at a small diner just outside Tampa called Isaac's, and it was somewhere they stopped on the way to games in Orlando for the Pride. They all got the same thing they would get any other time they came so they could get on the road quicker.

"Okay, where are we going?" She asked again, remembering Jackson's promise to tell her when they got to breakfast.

"Well, we are road tripping, but we're just gonna go all over. Maybe hit Disney, Daytona Beach, just go around Florida and hang out. I'm thinking we get a motel one night and stay in the car another night, really road trip this." Jackson said, and she grew excited, then sighed.

"Do we have enough money for all that? I mean I have money, but just what's in my savings account from work." She asked, and Daniel pulled out a wad of cash. "Where the hell did you get all that?"

"I've been saving up for this since freshman year. I knew I wanted to something big senior year, but I wanted to be with my friends, so we're gonna do this. I've got enough money to go to Disney for like, three days." He explained, and she grew excited again.

"Are we really going to Disney?" She questioned, and they shrugged.

"Why not?"

--

They did not end up at Disney, but they went all around the state, the windows down, all three of them singing loud and offkey to the music she was playing. They were having the time of their lives, and eventually they ended up at Daytona Beach, and since it was Friday afternoon, there was not a lot of people there because everyone was heading home. They got some lunch and laid out on the beach, Jackson hooking up his speaker to his phone and the three of them hung out, eating, tanning, and just hanging out.

"So how was training with Florida State?" Jackson asked while they were eating.

"It was alright, they were all really nice and I was able to take some stuff away from it all." She responded with a shrug.

"I feel a but coming along." Daniel commented, and she laughed, nodding.

"But, it just felt like another high school practice. If playing college is going to feel as it does now, is there really a point of playing college ball?" She asked, and Jackson laid back on his towel.

"That sounds like something you have to ask yourself, not us." He said, and she threw her napkin at him.

"Okay Mr. Philosophical." She scoffed, getting a laugh out of Daniel.

"Hey, you're the one who asked." He defended, and she just rolled her eyes.

"Alright, what are we doing next?" She asked, for they had been at the beach for a couple hours and she felt fried.

"We could start trying to find a motel. Places are clearing out, we can probably get something cheap in downtown." Daniel suggested. They all complied and started packing up, and her phone started ringing. She went and grabbed it from the front seat and looked at the caller ID, seeing it was her mother.

"Hey ma, what's up?" She asked as they got going on the road towards downtown.

"Oh nothing, just, you know, got a call from the Florida State admissions counselor." She responded, and Casey grinned.

"What did he say?" She asked excitedly.

"He said that based on your academics and athletic ability, as well as your performance at the scholarship day Florida State is offering you a full ride." She informed, and her jaw dropped.

"Shut up. Are you serious?"

"One hundred percent. He also said that Coach Krikorian wants to sign you next week."

"Oh wow."

"Need to think about it?"

"Yeah, uh, I'll let you know when I get home on Sunday."

"How's the trip so far?"

"A lot of fun, just nice to get away with two of my best friends."

"Well have fun, be safe. I'll see you when you get home."

"We will. Love you ma."

"Love you too, see you Sunday."

Casey hung up the phone with the biggest grin on her face, and the other two were beckoning her to spill what she had just gotten news of.

"Well?" Daniel asked.

"Florida State is offering me a full ride." She answered excitedly, as they pulled into the parking lot of a motel just outside downtown.

"That's awesome, Cas!" He answered, hitting on her seat.

"I guess I'm going to Florida State then." She shrugged with a laugh. She promised herself that if she were to be able to get a full ride to anywhere that she was going to take it, and luckily Florida State University was somewhere she was really considering on attending.

"Well that means we've got to celebrate." Jackson commented, and she shrugged.

"We don't have to." She responded, giving Jackson some cash to pitch in on the motel room.

"Oh no, we're celebrating our best friend getting a full ride to her dream university." Daniel objected as Jackson got out of the car to go get a room.

"Okay, how do you suggest we celebrate?" Casey asked, getting out of the car to stretch her legs. She was fried, but she could not feel it yet. She had been burned by the sun so many times it was as if she was immune to it.

"I mean, I'm sure I can score us some alcohol..." He trailed on as Jackson came back out with a room key in his hand, glaring at Daniel for the conversation he had just walked out to.

"That's probably not a good idea, Dan." Jackson scolded, and he shrugged with a laugh.

"Aw come on, she's getting a full ride!" He countered, and now both Casey and Jackson shot him a look, and he shrunk back.

"Fine, no alcohol, but can we at least get some take out? I'm starving." He answered, and that was something they could agree on.

"Casey, you can choose and I'm buying." Jackson said, and her eyes went wide.

"I don't want to choose, that's a lot of pressure!" She retorted with a nervous laugh.

"Then we've got a problem, because then we're not eating." He answered crossing his arms.

"Aw come on Cas, just pick something!" Daniel groaned, and she just laughed.

"How about Chipotle? We can get that delivered, right?" She suggested.

"I am totally down with that, and yeah, we can." Jackson answered. They grabbed what they needed from the car and went to their room, which was conveniently right where they parked. Jackson unlocked the door and they walked in, Casey turning on the lights.

"Uh, Houston, we have a problem." Daniel said, looking at the two queen beds sitting on opposite sides of the room.

"It's no biggie, I'll sleep on the cot against the wall." Casey said, looking near the closet to where the cot was resting up against the wall.

"No, you're getting a bed. Daniel and I can just sleep together." Jackson argued, looking to Daniel, then adding, "No homo."

"Gee thanks." He answered with a roll of his eyes, setting his backpack on the floor and throwing himself on the bed closest to the door.

"Okay, then I'll sleep on the cot." Jackson suggested, and Daniel just threw a thumb up on the air, his face against the mattress. Casey just chuckled at the whole ordeal, opening Grubhub to order their food.

"Dan, Jackson, what do you guys want from Chipotle?" She asked, then Jackson took her phone from her. "Hey, give that back!"

"I said I was paying, so exit this out, and let me pull it up." He answered, clearing the app on her phone and giving it back to her. She sighed, sitting down next to Daniel. The shift in the bed made him roll towards her with a groan, and she pushed him the other way, accidentally pushing him off the bed.

"Ow! Casey what the hell was that for?" Daniel groaned as Casey and Jackson died laughing.

"No reason, because I felt like it." She answered with a shrug. She continued to laugh as he struggled to get himself unstuck from between the wall and the bed.

"Okay, food should be here in twenty minutes." Jackson interrupted as he sat down on the other bed, plugging his phone in.

"Did we bring any aloe?" Casey asked, and Jackson thought for a minute before grabbing the room key and heading back out to the car. She grabbed the lotion from her bag and he came back with a bottle of the green gel-like substance that cooled and calmed her sunburn. She had a whole routine at this point and she could get her skin to be calmed enough to not peel that night. She grabbed a couple other things from her bag and went into the bathroom, locking the door behind her. She looked in the mirror as she stripped from her clothes, her tanned skin red from the sun. She put all of her clothes in a pile on the floor and hopped into the shower, the water on the cooler side so she would not destroy her skin. She washed her hair and lathered her skin with a skin softening soap that she always used after getting a bad burn, then got out, dabbing her skin dry with the towel. She then rubbed the aloe and lotion into her skin, the coolness of it bringing relief to her skin. She could not reach her back, and although she felt awkward about it, she threw her shorts back on and held the towel over herself before cracking the door.

"You good Cas?" Daniel asked as she stepped out.

"Uh, could one of you come get my back? I can't reach." She asked in response, and there was as second of silence before Jackson silently volunteered, getting up off his bed and following her back into the bathroom.

"Jeez Casey, you're fried." He commented as they got into the light of the bathroom. She handed him both the aloe and the lotion.

"Just get from my neck down so I'm sure I didn't miss anything." She responded, sitting down on top of the toilet seat. She held the towel over her front and let it fall from her back around her. His hands were warm against her back, and it made her straighten up with tension.

"Relax, Cas, I know what I'm doing." He said lowly, and she nodded, using a free hand to pull her hair out of the way.

"I know, it's just that you're hands are so warm even with the aloe. I would have expected them to be colder." She explained with a laugh. His hands went up and down her back, the two of them falling into conversation as he made sure he got every part of her skin covered.

"Alright, you're good, I hope." He said, closing the bottle of lotion and aloe, setting it back on the countertop.

"Thank you." She answered, turning back around to face him, a smile on both their lips.

"Food's here!" Daniel called from the other room, and their moment was broken up. Jackson went back out into the main room and left Casey to dress herself, putting her hoodie back on and throwing the rest of her clothes in her bag. She went back out into the main room and found her food waiting for her on the dresser. There was a soccer game on, and she saw it was LA Galaxy vs Orlando City, and they all sat around and watched, ate their food, talking and celebrating her getting a full ride to the university of her dreams.

After they finished their food, Jackson made a run to the dumpster outside so their food did not stink up the motel room. Daniel was in one bed, already half asleep, she was in the other, and the cot was set up with a blanket and a pillow for Jackson. She felt awful about it, and she did not mind taking the cot, but Jackson was persistent.

She was just settling down in bed when Jackson came back, locking the door behind him and sighing, picking up the blanket on the cot and going to lay down. She could hear him flipping back and forth trying to get comfortable before he slammed his hands against the pillow.

"Jackson." She said, getting his attention.

"Sorry, did I wake you?" He asked, and she shook her head, even though it was dark and he could not see her.

"I haven't fallen asleep yet." Casey responded. "You can come lay in bed with me, or I'll sleep in the cot." She offered. He was quiet for a moment, the only sound being a soft snore from Daniel. Then she heard his feet hit the floor and walk towards her bed. She scooted over on the bed and he crawled in next to her.

"Thanks." He said, facing the ceiling.

"No problem." She answered, facing the other way and going to sleep, listening to the sound of Daniel's snoring and his breathing.