Sticking to the Plan

Chapter 11

Kaley's head ached from crying all night. Her eyes were swollen, her face was pale except for her raw nose and cheeks. She felt like hell and looked very much the same. She'd rarely remembered a time when she felt so poorly; she'd had hangovers less intense than this. But even with all of that, it was her heart that hurt the most. She fallen for him so quickly and so deeply that the sudden abruptness of events had shaken her soul.

She drug herself out of bed and to the shower, she hoped the scalding spray would ease the thudding at her temples and possibly wash the filth of her feelings away, even if it was just a temporary reprieve. The hot spray did little to make her feel better either.

She knew she would have to leave. She couldn't deal with the girls right now, though she longed to talk with Sarah. She knew Sarah would understand, after all Sarah had admitted she was starting to have feelings for Noah. Kaley would have to be patient, though. She needed to go home. She needed out of this mess, away from this giant macabre circumstance that this had ultimately become.

She tried to think of Bam in a positive light. She could for only a moment before the memory became dark, his happy face morphing into the one that looked down upon her with disdain the previous night. No matter how she tried to block the memory from surfacing, it still did. She worried that she'd never remember what made her fall for him in the first place. She worried every memory of his smile, his eyes, his curls blowing in the oceanic wind would now be clouded by the memory of his fuming temper and vengeance.

Wrapped in a towel, flopped on the bed. She had no clean clothes in this room. She feared her clothes might smell like his room, like him and she couldn't take that just yet. She picked up her phone from where it had rested idly the whole night. She couldn't remember the last time she'd turned her phone off, but without her charger she'd worried it would die in the night. As it booted up, it buzzed with dozens of missed messages and calls. She'd half expected that. Regardless of a rift between herself and her travelling companions, they would worry about her.

She was slightly surprised to see several missed messages from Bam as well as a couple of phone calls. She flipped past those. She flipped past Maggie and Mila and Heather's messages. Sarah had sent a few as well, her last claiming she was worried.

Kaley: I'm fine. I'm safe. I don't want anyone else to know where I am. Can you bring me my stuff?

Sarah: Thank god. We were about to call the cops. Of course I can. But you gotta tell me where u are.

Kaley paused. She trusted Sarah the most out of the group, but she felt a little worry that she could be conspiring, or that one of the other's had her phone. Deciding it wasn't the end of the world and she would very much appreciate the clean clothes, she gave in.

Kaley: Room 2. It's down that side hall, off by itself. Don't tell anyone, pls.

Sarah's answer was a thumbs up emoji that was very typical for her, which made Kaley relax a little. Using the peephole built into the door, she could see Sarah was alone. Cracking the door, she let her in.

"So...I have questions...." Sarah looked around the dark little room and then to Kaley, "Good lord...what happened to you?" Sarah had seen Kaley only once in this state; after a particularly harsh breakup, Kaley had holed herself up for a week. But Sarah didn't remember her looking anywhere near as wrecked as she was.

Kaley took the clothes that Sarah had brought, nodding, but not really answering her question before she went to the bathroom to change. She wasn't sure she really wanted to talk about what had happened. She knew that Sarah would think she was crazy for falling so quickly for someone. She knew it was out of character for herself.