𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐈𝐑𝐄𝐋𝐘 𝐎𝐔𝐑𝐒

ɴɪɴᴇᴛʏ - ᴇɪɢʜᴛ

𝗔n hour after he promised Caycee a ride on the bike across town if she kept Mason company while he waited, he found himself lying in his bed, bored out of his mind. His fingers subconsciously spun around the small circles of his new earrings as he gazed at the white canvas above him.

Caycee had not come back to the room since they got back, and he knew that she had to be around here somewhere because the guy who rented the bike to them was waiting to pick it up the second they pulled back into the driveway. He had to admit – she was one talented driver. She mentioned during the ride that her means of transportation back in America was a street legal bike as well, so it made sense how smoothly she handled the monster on the road.

But, since getting here, and since the plane ride – that's all the attention she has given him. Disregarding the small talks and snide remarks she threw his way when they passed each other in the hallways, she couldn't be more disinterested in him. And he couldn't really blame her. She didn't know him at all, and that little bit of himself that he showed her – it was the stupidest side of him. The side that doesn't think before speaking. The side that believes humor is the cure for everything.

Kaedyn sat up and ran his hands through his hair, looking off to the side at the closed balcony attached to their room. He had closed the door once he got back, and lined the bottom of them with towels, as it had already begun to downpour and make a mess in the room.

As dangerous as the lightning looked crossing the sky, he wanted to do something. So he got up, padded over to his dresser, and popped open the top one, grabbing hold of the first bathing suit he could get his hands on. When he was dressed, he quietly descended the two flights of stairs on a mission to go swimming in the middle of the night.

The house was quiet, and the only sounds throughout its darkened structure were the rattling of the windows and flapping of curtains, desperate to be freed from the rods that hung them up.

He pushed open the first floor, sliding glass door, and stepped out onto the patio, immediately tensing up at the temperature of the water droplets. They were so cold, despite the humidity in the air, and the normal heat index of this country.

The rain smooshed his hair to his head, plastering it as he walked out a little further. The pool was still glowing with the colorful colors that were programmed into it during the night. He reached down and swooped a hand through the liquid, watching as the rain made patterned circles through its volume. It was warm – much warmer than the natural water coming down on him.

In an attempt to resolve his shivers, he took a step back, about to jump in, when a voice coming from the side of him made him jump in place in fear instead.

"I wouldn't go in there if I were you."

He grabbed his heart and breathed heavily as his eyes scanned the backyard, attempting to see where that voice was coming from. It only took a moment. At the edge of the pool deck, sat Caycee, staring off into the thundering horizon. One hand was holding a cigarette, a cloud of smoke filtered around her, and the other hand was shielding the stick from the rain.