Dahlia's heart is still racing and she's still dizzy and shocked from what just happened. And to tell the truth, she doesn't even know why she's obeying her. Yeah, she's scary, but she also despises her and hates how she treats Jenna. But it isn't like she should have followed Jenna anyway-she specifically said not to-but she still feels wrong sitting here with her mom and not doing anything.
"Don't worry, Dahlia, this always happens," Aunt Camila assures her, sipping from the small straw in her fruity drink. "It's nothing to be worried about."
"I know, but Jen..." she gulps, sighing.
"Don't call her that," her mom tells her in annoyance, clenching her jaw. "That's a sad and messy excuse for a nickname, and I hate it."
Dahlia hesitates for a moment, still shocked she can even say the things that she does. But when she does come out of her initial shock, she laughs a little in bitterness, and says, "You know what? No.I actually respect her and respect her wishes, too. So I'm going to keep calling her whatever I want, and you'll just have to get used to it."
There's a momentary silence after that, both her mom and aunt shocked by her words.
"I knew I liked you for a reason!" Her aunt laughs, sighing contently as she leans back in her seat. Dahlia sighs in relief, but her mom still looks as pissed as ever.
"God, how did she manage to find one just like her," her mom mutters under her breath, rolling her eyes.
The waitress comes with the food then, and Dahlia thanks god for that. She's pretty sure this trip is going to give her a heart attack.
She eats fast-but not too fast-so she can go find Jenna and make sure she's okay. She knows she wanted to be alone, but she's been alone long enough by now to hopefully not be mad at her for coming to check on her.
So she finally finishes her food, excuses herself, and goes to find her. She leaves the same way she did, searching everywhere on the way. But there's no sign of her. So she finally gets back to their section of the island, and goes to their room. But she's not there either. She checks out on their porch, in the water behind their bungalow, out by the tennis courts and snack bar, but she till can't find her. Dahlia starts to get really worried now, so she gets her phone out to call her. She calls once, twice, three times, and even texts, but still no answer. She uses her flashlight to search down the beach, feeling frantic.
"I knew you'd come find me," Jenna laughs, and she turns to where the voice was coming from. She's on the edge of the water, her shoes off and her feet in the sand to let the water wash over them. And there's two empty glasses beside her.
"Jesus, Jenna, you freaking scared me," Dahlia pushes her hair back, sighing. "You could have answered your phone, you know that?"
"Chill out, I left it in our room," she sighs, patting the sand beside her for her to sit. She looks at her, then to the glasses laying on their sides next to her, their little colorful umbrellas now on the sand.
"Are you drunk?" Dahlia asks, scanning her face.
"Yeah," Jenna laughs, reaching her hands up as the water surges forward and slinks across her fingers, her palms. "Courtesy of the cute, paid-off-to-let-underage-kids-drink snack bar guy."
"I'm...sorry about what happened," Dahlia breathes out, not exactly sure how to approach it with her-someone who never talks about their feelings.
"I shouldn't have let her get to me," she laughs bitterly, tracing her long, slender fingers across the sand. "I've been trying for weeks before this trip to prepare myself-to...to imagine every awful thing she could say to me so I could get through the real thing. But she's so meanand awful, and I couldn't take it anymore, On day two."
"Nobody in their right mind could blame you for that," Dahlia sighs, looking ahead at the water. "You kept your cool for so long, Jenna, no one else I know could have gone that long without breaking down. Everything you did was completely justified-I probably would have said a lot worse. And I wanted to leave that freaking nightmare of a table, but she wouldn't let me. And then we sort of got into a fight, and-"
"Wait, you got into a fight? Over what?" Jenna turns to her, curious.
"I was worried about you, you know? So I was asking if you'd be okay, and I said your name-well, A nickname-in the sentence, and she looked at me like she was about to-kill me and said "don't call her that."" She tells her, still sort of confused about it. "And I told her that I respected your wish for me to call you that, so she would just have to get used to it."
"Jesus, Dahlia," she laughs, lightly punching her arm. "I'm surprised she didn't kill you right there."
"I sort of thought she might, but I was prepared to run if I had to," Dahlia laughs too, and she hums quietly under her breath.
"I'm so sorry, Jenna," Dahlia adds her quietly, pressing her hand to the sand. "I don't really know what to say, or what to do, but...I just want you to know that I'm here for you and everything."
"Lame," Jenna laughs, ruining one of the only conversations they've had this entire trip that wasn't based around them hating each other. "But I know, Dahli. Thanks. And thanks for sticking up for me and everything."
"You don't have to thank me for that," she answers, and she looks over at her. She scans her face then, before settling on her lips. Then the sides of her mouth quirk up into a smile.
"So how about that kiss, huh? God, I knew that would piss her off; to make it as hot and inappropriate as I could. I thought she might kill me." Jenna laughs, fumbling for her glass and then frowning when she realizes it's empty.
"Yeah, she was pissed," Dahlia laughs with her, thinking about the kiss herself now. "She hardly said a word during dinner."
"I hope the image is burned into her brain," Jenna laughs, leaning back to lay on the sand. "Two lowly College students in love, preparing to live a mediocre life just like the mediocre school they're going to."
"Are you going to be okay the rest of this trip?" Dahlia asks, concerned.
"I'll be fine," Jenna nods, the smile falling from her face. "But I think your job on this trip has shifted. Instead of trying to impress her and make her so glad 'Jenna finally got a Girlfriend', our job is now to disgust her. Not like it'll be hard, but still. It's on now."
"Are you sure that's the best idea?" Dahlia gulps, nervously sinking her fingers into the sand.
"I really don't give a fuck anymore," she laughs, reaches up slightly, then splashes her with water.
"God, you have to stop doing that," she laughs with her, then splashes her too.
"Let's go back-I'm getting tired," Jenna tells her when their laughter finally dies down a few minutes later.
"Good idea."
"Oh shit," Jenna stands up, pressing the back of her hand to her forehead. "Is everything spinning to you?"
"Come on," Dahlia sighs, grabbing both of her empty glasses in one hand and using her other arm to wrap tightly around her waist to hold her up.
"God, you're strong," Jenna laughs, her hand pressing against her arm that's around her. Then she turns to look at her, her face right in his, as she pokes her stomach and says, "All those workouts are finally paying off, Dahlia."
"What do you mean, "all those workouts"?" She laughs, furrowing her eyebrows as she looks between her and the sand, pulling her forward.
"You know, you're like strong and everything," Jenna laughs sleepily, as they finally make it to the dock. She prays her mom and aunt haven't made it back yet as they pass their bungalows. "Not like Strong Strong, but you know what I mean. All Muscle and everything."
"Yeah, you're definitely drunk," Dahlia shakes her head with a small laugh, finally opening the door to their bungalow. "Come on, let's get you to bed."
"Ah, bed," she walks in, and as soon as she closes the door, she's already face-planted against the bed, her arms spread across it.
"Jenna," she groans, going to get her back up. "You need to get changed and brush your teeth before you sleep. And drink a hell of a lot of water, too."
"God, I just want to sleep," she moans sadly, as she pulls her from the bed and all but drags her to the bathroom.
"Here," Dahlia tells her as she grabs her waist, lifts, and sets her down on the counter there. Then she grabs her toothbrush, puts toothpaste on it, wets it, then hands it to her. "You need to brush your teeth."
"God," she whines, taking it from her. She sticks it in her mouth, but halfway through she actually falls asleep, almost falling over in the process.
"Oh my God!" Dahlia grabs her before she can fall, snatching the toothbrush from her, and stepping forward until she's against the counter himself. "You're really going to make me brush your teeth for you?"
"Yeah, Dahlia, that was my evil plan all along," Jenna laughs, her eyes half-lidded in exhaustion.
"Just make this easy for me please, okay?" She stands in front of her, sighing as she cups the back of her head with one hand, and grips the toothbrush in the other. "You owe me one for this. Big time."
"Yeah? Well I think you just wanted to be between my legs," Jenna smirks at her, looking down. And yeah, they're close, and yeah, her legs are separated as they hang off the counter, and yeah, she's between them. But she hadn't even noticed until now.
"Just be quiet and open your mouth," she groans, already tired of this.
"Ooh, dirty," she bites her lip, laughing, and she just shakes her head. "Okay, okay, I'm opening."
"Finally," Dahlia laughs, reaching up and brushing her teeth. She finally gets done, rinsing off her toothbrush, before holding her hair back so she can spit the toothpaste out into the sink. "Okay, makeup's next. Is there, like, makeup remover wipes in here somewhere?" She asks, searching around the counter. And then she finally finds a pack under the sink, saying, "Aha!"
"God, just let me sleep, Dahlia," she whines, swaying back and forth sleepily.
"Can't. I've read that leaving makeup on overnight is bad for your skin," she tells her, reaching up and wiping it from her eyes, her skin.
"Why are you taking it off? Aren't I so much more beautiful this way?" jenna laughs as she mocks her mom, but she can hear the pain behind it and it makes her cringe.
"You're always beautiful, Jenna," Dahlia shakes her head, continuing to wipe the towelette across her forehead, then cheek. "Your mom just...I don't know what's up with her, but she's wrong. About all of it."
"Aww, you think I'm beautiful?" she smiles, tilting her head as she swipes it across her lips. They look at each other for a moment, in each other's eyes, before she clears her throat and proceeds.
"You know I do," Dahlia laughs awkwardly, shrugging. "It's...it's whatever. And I'm done now, so I'm going to grab you some pajamas and let you piss all of that alcohol out before you come to bed."
"So much work," Jenna whines, as she picks her up and sets her back down on her feet.
"Stay right there. And stay awake," she laughs, rushing to the room, grabbing her some pajamas and socks, and then coming back. She's leaning against the wall, yawning, on the verge of sleep again.
"Here. Just...don't hurt yourself, okay? I'll be right outside the door if you need me," she tells her, handing over her clothes, before walking out. She taps her foot anxiously while she waits, hearing her knock into a few things several times, then the toilet flushes, and then she fumbles for the door knob.
"You okay?" Dahlia laughs a little, searching her to make sure.
"Barely," Jenna moans, and she helps her over to her side of the bed, and pulls the blanket up and over her.
"Here, drink some of this," she holds her head up with one hand, and the water bottle in the other as she drinks from it. "Okay, that should be good."
"Finally," Jenna sighs, falling into the pillow and instantly shutting her eyes.
Dahlia laughs and goes to the other side of the bed, grabbing some shorts and a t-shirt and bringing it to the bathroom. She changes into shorts, brushes her teeth, and then uses the bathroom before tip-toeing back to bed. She sits down on it, pulling her shirt off again, leaving her in her bra as she rubs more of the aftersun lotion over her reddened skin. It seems better than earlier, but she knows this helps a lot, so she considers this the best option.
"You can leave your shirt off tonight," Jenna whispers, her eyes barely open as she looks at her. Dahlia jumps a little, sure she was asleep by now, as she turns to look at her. She's smiling a little, watching her. "I know I gave you a hard time last night about it, but that shirts gonna hurt the hell out of your burnt skin if you sleep on it. So I guess it's okay for tonight."
"Thanks for your permission," Dahlia laughs, throwing the shirt to her suitcase, and then getting up to shut the light off. She flips it off, yawning as she falls into bed, pulling the blanket to her waist. "Night."
"Goodnight, Dahlia," Jenna hums, her eyes flickering closed peacefully.
Her hot skin feels cool and relieved against these sheets, and she sighs in complete contentedness being here right now. She hears Jenna shift, getting a little bit closer, before her hand finds her. Her fingers slip around her wrist easily, just keeping them there, only wanting a small amount of contact.
Dahlia opens her eyes, seeing if hers are open too to search for her reaction, but they're not. She just lays there, letting out a small breath, her hand loosely clasping her wrist.
From most people's perspective this is something simple, something small, but it isn't to her. It's rare for her to let someone in this way and see her vulnerable, hurt, and needing someone there-even if it's just a comforting touch while she sleeps. Drunk or not, she knows this is big, and she doesn't have to use words to express that.