"I'm sorry. I really am."
Marcus was not one to apologize, so I wasn't sure how genuine this was.
"No, Marcus. You're not. You do this all the time," I crossed my arms.
"Really, Aylin. I am. I wasn't thinking. I should never have made out with that girl."
I frowned at the boy in front of me. He stared at me with a worried expression.
"How many more are there?"
He looked at me as if I was speaking another language.
"Girls, Marcus? How many times, while we were talking, did you make out with other girls?"
"Just her, I swear," I didn't know if I believed him.
I looked at him for a few seconds before deciding I was done with this conversation. I turned around and began walking away.
"Aylin? Aylin, please!" he followed behind me.
God, it was so embarrassing to be arguing with him in the middle of the hallway.
I turned toward him and he stopped in his tracks. He ran his hand through his hair.
"I think we should go back to how it was," I said, attempting to end both the argument and any relationship we had.
"What? No. No way, Aylin. We can work through this like we always do."
"That's the thing, Marcus. We don't work through things. Haven't you noticed that every time we're near each other, we argue? That's what we always do," I began to raise my voice.
"Lin, please, tell me what's wrong. I'll fix it, I swear," he frowned, just now feeling sadness.
"Really?" I asked him. He nodded in response.
"You're a liar. You lie at every chance you get. You're a piece of shit."
"A liar?" he looked hurt by my words, but they had to be said.
"That's all you are, Marcus. A liar."
"Me? A liar? Have you met yourself, Lin?
This time, I was taken aback. How was I a liar?
"I have never lied to you, Marcus," I said sternly, knowing that statement to be true.
"No, you're the worst kind of liar. You lie to yourself."
"I lie to myself? What is wrong with you? Fuck you, Marcus."
With that, I made my way to my room. From this point on, I would not let him get to me anymore. He would have no power over me.
I opened my room door before walking in. Fortunately, Sadie hadn't gotten home yet. I grabbed my pajamas from my bag and took a shower. I got ready for bed before packing my bags, getting ready to finally leave tomorrow.
I threw myself on my bed before laying there, going over the argument in my head, thinking of better things I could have said. I let my thoughts fade away and I eventually fell asleep.
Even though I was successfully able to fall asleep, I kept waking up only to think about my conversation with Marcus. Did I really lie to myself? No.
Right?
"Morning, Sunshine. Happy last day of vacation!" Sadie exclaimed as she jumped on top of me.
I hadn't really been aware of how long I was awake when I was supposed to be asleep. She kind of surprised me.
"Hi," I smiled as she rolled off of me.
The sun from the window shone through the light curtains.
"Are you good? You look like crap."
I sat up, deciding to get ready. After all, I was going home.
"Marcus and I just got into it last night. Nothing new." I had grabbed my bag and pulled my hairbrush out, too tired to shower before brushing my hair.
"Back to square one, huh?"
"When are we not there?" I chuckled.
I could tell Sadie didn't like it when Marcus and I argued, but I had to tell her. She always knew how to fix things. Her advice always saved the day. Usually, it was a combination of her and Monroe's advice, but today her's will do.
"I think you should stop talking to him," she said hesitantly.
I looked at her, though I knew exactly why she said it and maybe she was right. We argued all the time and it made no sense for us to be near each other.
I nodded in response, acknowledging her suggestion. I hadn't decided whether or not it was a good one. I supposed she understood, as she walked to the restroom.
I hurriedly finished getting ready, excited to finally go home. I had never thought I would actually be glad to be leaving a vacation, but with the events of the past few weeks, here I was.
When I was ready for the day, I checked my phone. I had a few texts, none that really mattered, though. I opened Instagram to see nothing interesting. I scrolled through my feed and eventually found myself liking a recent photo that Press had posted. His profile picture had a green circle, so I clicked it. A video of a few of his friends played behind some text.
Party tomorrow night! Slide up for the address. BYOW, free entrance.
I instantly slid up, "where at?" and exited the app.
I tossed my phone in front of me. Maybe Sadie was right. Maybe Marcus and I weren't good for each other.
"Ready for breakfast? We should be getting back in a little while. They said sometime early," Sadie asked as she walked out of the restroom.
I nodded and stood up. I picked up my phone and put it in my back pocket. Sadie smiled and held her arm out.
Sometimes, we link arms. I guess it was our way of comforting each other, since we didn't really hug each other all that often. I accepted and we linked our arms together.
We left the room and walked to the cafeteria. We didn't speak to each other on the way there. Our silence was comforting.
We had reached the cafeteria, where we filled our plates with the last meal we would eat here. Once they were full, we sat at an empty table and waited for Margarine to join us. It only took her a few minutes to fill her plate and sit in front of us.
"How's it going," she said as she picked up her juice.
"There's this party tomorrow. Press is throwing it if you guys want to go," I ignored her question.
They both agreed and I pulled my phone from my back pocket. Press still hadn't responded, so I wasn't completely sure where it was.
Our conversation throughout breakfast remained short, so not much happened. Just as we threw our trash in their respective bins, an announcement aired throughout the entire ship.
"We will be arriving at our loading dock in approximately ten minutes. If everyone would kindly grab their things and head toward the main exit, it would be greatly appreciated. Our staff thanks you for your kindness and respectfulness and we hope to see you again soon. Have a great day!"
With that, everyone stood up and made their way to their rooms. It was almost as if they had announced there would be prizes in each room.
When we had gotten back to our room, no prize in sight, we packed all of the small things we had left out before making our way to the exit. As we got there, we could see people waiting at the dock, probably everyone's rides home.
I smiled as I looked through the small crowd, seeing my parents and brother. Devin held onto Oliver's leash as he sat beside him. I guess his training was working.
Within a few minutes, we were permitted to leave as the staff waved us off, probably thankful that this was all over.
I ran to my parents and hugged them both at the same time.
"How was it?" my mom asked with a chuckle.
"Boring," I laughed back.
Devin offered me a high five, which I gladly accepted. I knelt down to pet Oliver, who was not necessarily excited to see me.
Sadie and her parents joined our small group. My parents thank hers as I put my bags in the trunk of our car. When they were done conversing, we made our way to our car and we were off.
As my parents drove with the radio on 3, I opened my phone. This time, I had an important notification.
My place.
Press had sent me the address to his party. I smiled as I exited the app.
I had a party to go to and I was sure that would take my mind off of things with Marcus.