Broken

• Chapter 115 •

"WE'RE IN THE FUCKING BAHAMAS!"

"Language," Ms. Shanice snaps her head at me as we retrieve our baggage. I grin sheepishly, "Sorry."

"Let's get going."

The drive to our destination is gorgeous, I can't pry my eyes off the surroundings. I feel like a child.

"Alrighty. There will be five people per room," Ms. Shanice informs us as we step off the bus. "Boys and girls will be separated, naturally. So no sneaking off to someone's room in the middle of the night. Keep it in your pants for a week."

She's blunt.

"The family that owns this place is currently residing here, so if you see them... Be anything but yourselves. That means have manners, Dustin," she snaps before beginning to call off names and tellings us which rooms to go into.

I end up being roomed with Aya, Ashu, Kate, and Isabella. This should be interesting.

"We'd like to remind you of the rules once again. No inappropriate behavior. No smoking, no drinking. Stick with the group. Keep it together for a week, or else we'll be forced to send you back. And that wouldn't be too great, would it? Cause you paid a lot of money to be here," Mr. Black shakes his head.

"Please don't make this an unpleasant trip y'all, follow the rules and have a good time," Ms. Shanice sighs. "Now go on and settle in. You may go down to the beach or relax in your rooms until tonight at eight, where your instructor will come and meet all of you right here."

Aya turns to me in horror from the sand surrounding us, "Ugh. I can't wait to stay in the room and sleep all day."

I shrug, "I'm going to be swimming at the beach." Aya grimaces, "Ew, there's sand everywhere!"

I blink several times before pressing my lips into a thin line, "Yeah... It's the beach..."

She, Ashu and Ashton laugh. She shakes her head, "I hate myself."

I smirk at her and Ashton sighs. "I'll catch you later," he tells me.

"See ya," I'm about to kiss him when I realize we aren't a couple. And no one apart from Eric, Hana and Aya know about us. I clear my throat and shake my head, he gives me a sheepish shrug before going off to his room. Thankfully, no one has noticed this awkward exchange. Apart from Aya.

"So how come you guys aren't a couple yet?" she prods as we unpack our stuff.

I sigh, "We're taking things slow, Aya. It's working so butt off."

She rolls her eyes, "I'm just saying. You guys are perfect for each other. I don't understand why you're not telling people."

I shrug, "Why do we need to tell people? We're happy, no one else needs to know what's going on."

"So what, you don't wanna be social-media official? Couple-official? What the hell, Clem? You guys could be prom king and queen!" she scoffs.

I laugh at her idiocy. "Oh my God you're so extra. I don't mind people knowing, but it's not something that's eating at me right now... We're fine the way we are," I shrug uncomfortably.

Should I want everyone to know? Should I care as much as Aya does about this? I shake my head to myself, snapping out of it. I'm fine with where Ashton and I are. It hasn't even been a month yet. It's only been three weeks. Plus, we're both pretty private people.

"Fine, just promise you won't let him take too long to make you guys official?" she pushes.

I roll my eyes at her, "Is that a spider on your shoulder?"

She shrieks in horror and starts jumping up and down, running around the room in a panic. I laugh my ass off, "I'm just fucking with you."

___________________

I knock on Ashton's door, already dressed in my swimsuit. "Hey," I tell him when he opens the door.

He grins at me and his eyebrows raise when he looks over my body, "Um tell me you aren't wearing that."

I roll my eyes at him, "No of course not. I'm actually planning to wear a nun outfit and go swimming. Yeah. I heard the sun is really attracted to black."

He snorts and shakes his head, "You look fine as hell. I just don't want you swept away by Bohemian boys."

"Damn that was on my bucket-list. Wanna hit the beach?" I poke. He groans, "Actually. I'm really beat from that horrific plane-ride. Might nap for a few hours."

I sigh, "You suck."

He shrugs, "No that's you." I laugh and shove him, "You're vile."

He smirks, "You like me anyway."

"Unfortunately."

He steps forward and cocks his eyebrow at me, "Unfortunately, huh?" I open my mouth to retort when Arin walks in, we hastily break apart.

"Hi, guys!"

Ashton clears his throat and distances himself from me, "Hey."

He turns into the cold, intimidating exterior Ashton in a matter of seconds. I frown slightly and turn to Arin, "Hey Arin..."

Arin's eyes dart between Ashton and me awkwardly, his face falls in comprehension, "Did I interrupt something..?"

"Nah. She was just telling me about the..." Ashton rubs the back of his neck, "Meal plan. Yeah..."

I turn to Ashton with arms folded across my chest. He's so determined on not having anyone know about us and whatever it is we have that it's starting to annoy me. I understand that he likes to keep his private life private. I do too, but this is just unnecessary, isn't it? Or has Aya just gotten into my head? Agh. I don't know what I'm feeling.

Maybe he doesn't want to be in a relationship with me. My stomach falls at the thought.

"Oh, cool. What are we having for dinner?" Arin falls back onto a bunk bed.

I muster a smile and cock my head at Ashton, "Ashton. You can tell him about it. Because I just came in here to tell you all about it, right?"

Ashton's face falls slightly. He studies me as I roll my eyes. "Hope I was informative," I mumble before making my way out of their room and towards my room.

"Clem! Did you change your mind and decide to join us in a nice nap?" Aya grins.

I sigh and shake my head, "No. Just forgot my sunscreen."

"I call dibs on the bottom bunk, dude," Ashu says. Aya frowns. "My ass. I get bottom bunk! Kate already called dibs on one of them. Maybe she can go sleep with Dustin instead," she mumbles.

I cock my eyebrow at her, "Are you jealous?"

"No!"

Ashu snorts, "Then why are you so bitter?"

"Because he's supposed to like ME!" Aya snaps, "Kate can suck my ass. Fucking bitch."

I roll my eyes and laugh at her, "Stop being stupid. You're the one who ended your thing, remember?"

She frowns, "I DON'T CARE!"

Ashu laughs her ass off. "All right. I'm off to the beach," I tell them.

"Don't blame us when you have dark circles under your eyes," Ashu warns me. "I don't think she gets those. She's white," Aya adds.

I roll my eyes, "I'm right here."

Aya sighs, "And I'm going to be over there. On the bed. Wake me up when it's time to eat."