I sink down the water like a rock.
As I sink, I look up the water above me. Distorted lights dance at the top of the water and it feels warm against my skin. It would have been peaceful, except for the fact that I swallowed in gallons of pool water already into my mouth and nose and is struggling for my life.
How deep is this damn pool?
My lungs begin to ache for air as I use my hands to flap and yank myself upwards. I cough out water from my mouth like a fountain and take in a breath of fresh air, reminiscing how I could have could've died seconds ago I didn't know how to swim.
With a hand, I wipe off the water running down my face to glare at an unconcerned looking Noah.
"You pushed me!" I yell.
"Tell me something I don't know." I'm still trying to gasp for air, not believing he's cool with almost killing a person. "It's smaller than I thought."
I frown deeply. "What?"
"I can see through your shirt."
I gaze down my body. The slight white fabric of a shirt I wore is now glued to my chest provocatively, the white bikini bra I wore under too isn't doing much covering of my flesh so I huff out a breath in frustration.
"And to think you called me a pervert."
"It's not really a pretty sight to look at. You should cover all that up." He gestures to my chest.
"There wouldn't have been any covering if you hadn't pushed me in," I say, trying not to yell.
"I wanted to. We're even now." He shrugs.
"So we're friends now, right?"
"I said we're even, not friends. I already have enough idiots to deal with, don't add to the list."
I feel slightly offended but I should've seen it coming. I should've known I had to grow a thicker skin to deal with him.
I must really look like an idiot right now.
A drenched one. With remnants of water pouring off her ears and nose.
"Don't cry on me and get out of the water, you'll catch a cold," Noah says and turns to walk away.
"Well then, I'll see you tomorrow!" I call after him.
"I hope not." He says softly but loud enough for me to hear.
I step out of the pool and hurry into the building, moaning in relief as the cold air conditioning hit me. I tiptoe into the shower, not wanting to wake Simone and Lacey already in their pajamas and snuggled into bed. When I'm done scrubbing the chlorine pool water off my body, I jump back outside to change into one of Simone's big tee shirts and shorts. Not that she'd mind anyway.
I spend the next sleepless hour binge-watching new episodes of Game Of Thrones that I had recorded into my Laptop. I'm halfway through the last season's finale when I hear a soft knock on the door. I hit pause on my laptop and hop off from my bed, hurriedly walking over to open the door so the sound of the knocks wouldn't wake the two snoring sleeping beauties.
I open the door to see Cory standing in the hallway. "I thought you'd still be awake."
"What are you doing here? It's past midnight." I say in a hushed tone.
"Everyone fell asleep and I was bored," He enters the room and I close the door behind me. "Oh and by the way, I brought popcorn."
"Just what I needed. I could kiss you right now," I grab the popcorn from his grip and pause, realizing what I just said. "I didn't mean that literally you know... not like I'd want to kiss you or anything... I just said that to show how great full I was for you showing up on my doorstep with popcorn and that just flew out my mouth... and..."
"Jesus Christ, shut up Allie."
"Copy that." I am the cause of my own problems.
"Are you watching porn?" He points to my opened laptop and gives me a look.
"Ew, no. I'm catching up with new episodes of Game Of Thrones."
"Really? Did you know that Jon Snow..."
"No spoilers!" Cory chuckles and plumps in beside me on the bed as I set my laptop on my laps for the both of us to have a better view of the screen.
"So what went down with that dude?" He asks while the film plays.
"I'll tell you what went down. My body. At the bottom of the pool."
"You went swimming?"
"I wish that's what happened," I mutter. The film continues as we both go silent, the sound from my laptop filling my entire room but not loud enough to wake Simone and Lacey.
I don't see Noah throughout the next day. Not that I was hoping to see him or anything.
I want to think maybe he's avoiding me but he doesn't seem like a person to do so. Ok, maybe a little.
Cory, Simone, Alexa and I spend most of the day at the supermarket downtown trying to get supplies for the kitchen. The hotel management set out various works for us to keep ourselves busy most of the time instead of just laying around and tanning ourselves brown the entire day.
Some people are assigned to the beach for clean keeping including Lacey. I wish I was assigned to the beach instead, then I wouldn't have to deal with Satan's incarnate who looks for ways to annoy the Frick out of me.
After a long day at the market and in the kitchen, I wrap a towel around my neck and walk to the pool to freshen myself up before taking a shower. The gate to the pool house is wide open and I turn on the lights, the brightness piercing through the darkness and my eyes.
The place is empty, only a bunch of rubber ducks in the pool and floaters. I strip off my clothes and put on my swimsuit, stepping into the water and leaning on my back with my feet up. I close my eyes as the water rushes over my ears and dances on my skin.
I submerge deep into the water after a while and sit at the bottom of the pool, bringing my knees up to my chest and wrapping my arms around them. This is one of the reasons I don't like being alone. The racing obsessive thoughts won't stop so I try to surround myself with people to distract me and block them out.
I can't help but let the guilt eat me up. It's been years already so it's normal I let it go. That's not what my brain is telling me. If I could just drown right now and right here and end it all, it'll be much better for me. All I have to do is just breathe in the water and let my body take over... it can't be so hard...
I emerge from the water with full force and breathe heavily, spitting out water from my mouth. What was that all about? I was just going to take a swim, what got into me? I should get out of here before I do something stupid.
My clothes are missing when I get to the changing room and there's only one person capable of doing this.
"Very funny Alexa," I think aloud. "I'll get you for this one."
There's a shirt at one corner of the dressing room she might've forgotten to take along. I pick it up and notice it's not mine but shrug it in anyway with the intention of returning it back tomorrow. Whoever had the shirt must be very tall because the shirt stops on my thigh when I put it on. Or maybe I'm just the one extremely short.
I fling the dressing room door open and yelp in shock when I see Noah standing right in front of the door.
"What are you doing here?" I ask, my hands on hips.
"I'm in charge of the pool, I can come here anytime I want. What are you doing here? The pool closed minutes ago."
"Really? I didn't realize that. What time is it anyway?" I fake a yawn.
"Past time for you to do some explaining," I don't miss the silky threat in his tone. "Breaking into the pool after it's closed is an offense. I could report you to the hotel management."
"Leaving the gates open and unattended to after the pool closes is an offense and I could also report you to the hotel management, so it's a win-win." His eyes blink shut for a moment. "Let's both do ourselves a favor and not tell anyone about this."
"And my shirt?" Noah eyes the fabric on my body.
"Oh, for crying out loud! It's the middle of the night. You want it back? Fine."
I reach for the top button and wonder if he'd really make me take it off. Surely not. This guy is all but starched rigid. Still, his unwanted gaze on my body makes my usually agile fingers shake unacceptably.
One button.
Two.
"Stop!"
Thank goodness! One more button and I'll be wishing for a belly-button ring to distract him. I wait while he mutters something under his breath and runs a hand through his hair.
"I cannot believe you were about to do that."
"Me neither," I agree, redoing the buttons with much more speed than I managed to undo them.
"Keep the shirt. Not like I'd want to wear them again."
"Actually, no. I'll return it back when I want to and use it as an excuse to talk to you."
"Why are you trying so hard? I'm still not even sure if I like you."
"Save this conversation till when I return back your shirt," I pat his shoulder and walk past him.
"I told you to keep it!" He groans.
"Goodnight Noah," I sing in a cheery voice, skipping out of the pool house and away from the moody boy behind me.
I force another spoonful of food into my mouth and smile awkwardly at Simone."So? How is it?" She asks."It's great, never tasted anything like it." I'm not a very good liar but I'm sure that comes out as believable because she beams. I glance at the rest of the guys on the table and we all share awkward looks.You might be wondering what's going on. Well for starters, I think any meal Simone cooks should come out of the pot with a label that says: Eat me if you want to die.The Salmon resting on my plate stares at me and I stare back. So earlier today, we came up with the idea of learning new traditional Hawaiian foods. We see the hotel chefs doing their thing every time in the kitchen and we got inspired. I mean, if they can, why can't we?I found out the answer to that question today. They have a Culinary art diploma while we have a High school diploma.We went for the Lomi Salmon because it looked the easiest to make.
"You shouldn't have texted in the first place," I say and exit the lounge with Lacey behind, saying something about what outfit she'll rock to tonight's club party but I block her out when the evening wind hits my face. I take a few steps into the parking lot and look down at the water, which looks almost orange in the glow of the sun. I spot a few surfers out in the waves who looked like they weren't about leaving anytime soon.It's going to be Friday night within a couple of hours, which means everyone is ditching their works already to get ready for clubbing tonight.I'm not going.As much as I love just the sound of the word 'party' itself, I'm going to have to bunk in on this one. Mom and Mabel have already scheduled out tonight to Skype with me. I didn't talk to them yet since I arrived in Hawaii, only random texts from Mabel telling me about Mom's attempt at a dating site and her stupid Kermit the Frog memes.The sun disappears behind t
Silence to me, is torture.It seems like an ordinary Friday night, so to speak, except from the fact that I'm boxed up in a truck with a boy who doesn't look too thrilled to be breathing in the same air with me.The silence stretches between us like a long, fat rope, tightening me around the neck as if to suffocate the living daylights out of me. I shift uncomfortably in my seat before outstretching my arms to turn on the radio. The sound of music might keep me alive for awhile.Marvin Gaye's Sexual healing blasts loudly through the speakers and I realize I shouldn't have turned on the radio.Baby, I'm hot just like an ovenI need some lovin'And baby, I can't hold it much longerIt's getting stronger and strongerMy hand goes up to awkwardly scratch the back of my neck, my eyes darting in all corners of the truck to find something that'll catch my attention and keep me away from staring at him.A
My cellphone blares at some ungodly hour of the morning, waking me out of my blissful slumber. I roll over and slap a hand on my nightstand till it finds my phone. It takes me some seconds to figure out how to answer the stupid call, then I bring it to my ears and grunt out an hello."I can't sleep.""Excuse me?" I take a peek at the caller ID and see Mabel's name boldly written there. "Have you tried closing your eyes?""Sometimes I wonder how we're related. Anyway, I've got big news.""Can't it wait till when every normal human being is awake?""Zach asked me out."I sit upright on my bed, suddenly very awake now. "ZACH DID WHAT?!"There's going to be a funeral when I get back home to Florida."Calm your tits, I didn't give him an answer yet. What do you think?"A sharp pain jabs at the walls of my stomach and I wince, scurrying out of bed into the bathroom as I flicker on the lights. I groan when I see my pajama
When I'm done in the bathroom, I step back into the room and set our alarm clock to go off in five minutes, then lock it up in a box and shove it under Simone's bed.She'd be so thrilled.I step into the hallway next and head for Cory's room. I can't be the only one having a bad morning. A few girls are already up and loitering in the hallway and lobby, taking orders from Renee before scattering out to get to work.I burst open the door to Cory's room without knocking even after reading the sign Do not disturb. I'm know I'm acting like an annoying little sister right now.The boys room is decent and well kept unlike what I originally had in mind. I wasn't exactly expecting a dumpster of a room and I also wasn't expecting it to be so well organized. All three of their beds are neatly made and the soft music playing at the background makes the serenity feel more warm.Noah is already awake but still on his bed, holding a book
Today is the day I die. Either from Noah's long and hard stare, or mob beaten by hungry guests.Despite my job now hanging on the line between me getting fired, which I don't really care about because I'm not getting a dime out of this, I'm more concerned on the monstrous assumptions Noah already has in his head.Did he really hear everything? I can't tell. His bushy eyebrows are slightly furrowed, and his mouth is set into a line as thin as paper. A well known scowl.He should know very well by now that my mouth works without a zipper and everything that comes out of it shouldn't be taken too seriously. Mom had always told me my mouth diarrhea would get me into trouble one day, and today is definitely looking like that day.Sharp heels click themselves to our direction as I see Miss Renee stomping towards us, looking like she's about to shove a stick up someone's ass.Point of correction, that ass would be mine.Woe
I keep my feet planted on the surfboard, knees bent, arms loose, and my eyes looking in the direction I'm going. My dampened hair sticks to the side of my face as the rush of the wind kicks the sea into into a huge wave. I almost lose my balance from the force of the wave but Cory's grip on my arms has me pull myself back to my perfect position.It's a perfect Tuesday afternoon for a surf date with Cory— that's what I call it, sue me— and we both sneaked out of kitchen duties to hang out with dolphins instead. They seem friendlier than actual humans these days.I opted for a wetsuit, and I'm glad I did because it's keeping my body warm in the cold water, preventing chills. Cory's figure becomes distorted as the water separates and comes between us. We connect our hands through the water as he unexpectedly drags me away from my surfboard and lands me on his hands, carrying me bridal style."I didn't plan for this!" I yell over the lo
"Butter or Mayonnaise?" He asks. I'm confused for a moment before my head tells me he's talking about making me a sandwich."Mayonnaise."Noah spreads Mayonnaise on bread. "So what's it?""What?""Your tattoo."I lower my eyelashes and fiddle with the pendant on my neck, suddenly feeling embarrassed. "It's a unicorn."He makes a sound at the back of his throat and shifts the sandwich towards me. I take a greedy bite out of it as I hear loud voices approaching our table from behind me."Get ready to meet the lousiest group of people ever.""GALLAGHER!" A voice booms. "Where have you been? We've been looking everywhere for you." The four lousy shenanigans appear on our table and noisily drags out seats.Seeing more of the Kingston boys up close now makes my previous impression of them dissipate. True, they might look like they just came out from a teen model magazine, but I feel less bothered now at