Pam and I spend all next day together, talking non-stop and exploring the whole Holiday Park. It's the best day, the weather cleared up and I took some cool shots of the puddles left behind along the trails, floating some wild flowers on top.
We eat a picnic in the afternoon on a flat rock ridge surrounded by ferns, overlooking the pool and waterfall where majority of the holidaymakers swim and hang out all day.
"I'll visit often, otherwise I'm going to miss our chats like this," Pam tells me, rather melancholy as she hugs her knees to her chest while overlooking the river, "I didn't tell you... so don't get mad, but I'm going back home early tonight, there is a family emergency... and before you freak out that I didn't tell you sooner, I have a surprise for you," Pam reaches into her back pocket swiftly, before I can speak, and she pulls out two friendship bracelets she made for us, "You know my aunt is kind of witchy – well this weave will give you protection from ghosts. Maybe it'll stop your nightmares too," Pam hands me the purple one, and she keeps the pink one for her.
I'm speechless as I take it, feeling the love from her in the meaning behind the bracelet and keeping it until our last moments for a long while.
"Oh, and," Pam reaches back into her pocket and pulls out one more thing. She hands me a letter but doesn't say anything about it, "Open it when I'm gone," Pam smiles and I hold back happy-sad tears.
I nod, I put on the purple bracelet and I give her a big hug, "I'm going to miss you like crazy, how am I going to survive in this small country town? I doubt I'll meet anyone like you."
"Pretty sure you already found a new friend," Pam smirks, "Who likes to spank you."
"I regret saying that last night without thinking," I blush deeply.
"And you liked it," Pam makes fun of me, mimicking me, widening her eyes and rubbing her hands together, sounding slightly hysterical like I did last night, "You freak."
"Argh," I groan and put my hands on my face as I lie back in the afternoon sun, "Stop. The cringe."
Pam goes quiet as her chuckle dies off.
Damn it, it hits heavy that these are our last moments together for a long time... damn.
"Alix," Pam whispers.
I open my eyes and I see her staring at someone by the pool below us.
I immediately sit up and follow her gaze.
My eyes nearly pop out of my head.
As the families gradually leave due to the hour, a whole squad of female athletes in bikinis and designer swimwear are heading toward the pool, linking arms.
There's like... nine of them.
They're not alone.
"Your boss is jacked, oh my gosh," Pam murmurs, blushing herself.
Fontaine is leading the pack, half naked himself – in swimming gear, he is ready to join them for a swim. I look anywhere but at his ripped body – which was a little too delicious to be safe to acknowledge beyond a glance. My brain might short circuit.
I immediately scoot back along the picnic blanket to hide under a fern leaf, as I spy down at the new activity.
"What the hell is he doing?" I whisper, feeling myself pale with confusion, jealousy and maybe just a tiny bit of rage. He was an asshole last night, and even though his punishment was perfect poison to my brain to keep reflecting on, he also shouldn't have me feeling this possessive, but here I am, feeling exactly that.
We both watch as the girls recline by the water or jump in with Claudius and splash around with him for a bit, play fighting for a brief moment.
Pam starts googling, no, not with her eyes – on her phone.
The detective in her is always on point.
"He is a major sponsor of the Clue Gymnastics Female Elites... some of them have been in the Olympics and everything, I don't think he is a coach, just a sponsor," Pam explains.
"So he pays for pussy a lot, doesn't he," I hiss very quietly.
"Oh, come on, he's just... investing," Pam tries to palm it off as nothing. She puts down her phone as she noticies me hiding under the fern, "What are you doing? Don't hide. Be a boss bitch and go down there and say hi boss, what's up? I dare you."
"Why would I do that – I don't even know –"
"Pussy –"
"Pam, I don't even... like... n-no," I stutter.
"Chicken as fuck, pussy, bitch," Pam grins the pinker I get. I'm not blushing, I am manning up. I slowly sit up, clenching my fists, "Ooo, she's gonna do it, she's gonna do it!"
"You bet I am, you think a bunch of hoes are gonna scare me off from saying what's up?" I fire back, "Pssh, you have to be kidding me," I stand up and I smooth out my oversized white shirt, and mini short shorts that had a couple of holes along the trim, but it's not like anyone cared on a holiday – you wore what was comfortable, right?
I borrow a hair tie off Pam and roughly tie my hair up, then before she can tell me to fix it – since she looks worried by my attempt, I skip down the makeshift stairs to the pool area next to our ridge.
My heart is racing as I prove Pam I'm not some little bitch.
I grin up at her as I jump down the last steps. My bare foot hits slick mud, and immediately my ankle twists to the left. I slip toward the puddle and almost fall into it directly, but I somehow save myself from making contact with the ground at the last nanosecond and I spring back up after my palms slammed into the dirt.
I turn around to Pam with a very sore ankle, but my clothes are not dirty. She has her hand over her mouth, trying not to laugh, while I give her two thumbs up, then I turn around and trudge my way toward Claudius Fontaine and his gymnastics club.
As I get closer, I hadn't been looking for him too much, rather I look intently at my toes as I try to ignore the pain in my ankle.
Say, hi.
How easy is that?
I finally reach the edge of the pool and his general location.
When I get the courage to look for him, three girls sit off to Fontaine's right on a natural rock bench in the clear pool, another six on the other side – and one casually sitting on his lap, crossing her legs, she's petite enough in stature to somehow fit so elegantly on him like that. It annoys me how perfect she looks just sitting on my boss.
The women all turn to look at me, and all immediately look completely non-threatened after they see my appearance.
As they stare, the power of their combined looks, somehow loosens my hair dramatically and the hair tie slips out and bounces into the water.
I ignore it, and fluff out my brown hair, all floofed up from the humidity. I hope it looks natural.
Fontaine finally notices that I'm present and he looks slightly surprised when he sees me standing right behind him, looking down at him.
"Hey, boss, what's up?" I ask.
"Hi," Fontaine answers with one word, looks me over – like top to bottom, then looks back to the water, ignoring me.
"Are you going to pick that up? Or are you going to litter?" a blonde off to the left, asks me this quite seriously, "You just dropped your hair tie into the water, an aquatic animal could choke and die."
"Of course I was going to get it," I instantly reply, "I didn't mean to drop it... um... excuse me," I take a step down carefully onto the rock bench where I find a gap between the women, then I jump into the water, looking for the hair tie.
I can't see it anywhere. I lost it.
But I'm determined to find it.
I spin around a few times, looking, but the intense silence from all their stares is making this weird sensation crawl up my spine and I can't help looking up and staring back at all of them. I feel like I need to report to them on my progress.
The nine females are waiting for me to find it so they can resume chatting without me nearby.
Fontaine is saying nothing to help me.
I glance at him briefly but the handsome bastard seems completely disinterested.
"I found it," I lie, telling them as I dive down under the water.
I feel with my hands, hoping I can find something.
I'm not a strong swimmer, so I end up floating to the top embarrassingly quick.
"Oh well... I guess I lost it," I make the excuse, looking around, I realise none of them are looking at me anymore, except the girl sitting on Fontaine's lap.
"I found it," she says, friendly enough.
I watch as she elegantly stands up off his lap, eyes zoned down to the target – she dives like a mermaid, torpedoing to the bottom, no where near me, ten feet to my right, she comes back up with the hair tie on the tip of her finger as she smiles and wades toward me with it.
Before I can grab it, she turns and tosses it onto the rocks, "There you go, sweety," she says condescendingly without looking at me, as she walks back to Fontaine and instead of sitting on his lap, she sits at his side and leans on him casually.
I look at Fontaine now, since he is finally acknowledging me with his eyeballs. Great. Thanks for the help, boss. Maybe he just enjoyed making me sweat?
"Um," I try to think of something to say about work. I can't think of anything. The whole group lets me boil and get cooked in the continuing silence as I wade to the edge, limping a little as I jump out, trying to be gentle with my tender ankle.
I prepare to walk off but I feel an ice cold hand grab my ankle suddenly.
"Hey, Alix," Fontaine calls out, his tone low and scolding. I turn around to see his hand swiftly leave my twisted ankle – where the heated pain, suddenly disappears – or heals, or something? "Everyone can see your tits through that shirt, the rules for this area are swimwear only – so you might want to put on something more appropriate or you might get kicked out. It's just a warning at this stage. Try using your brain, alright?" he adds that last part in unnecessarily, meany!
I immediately cross my arms over my chest, hiding my tits, "I had no idea. Sorry."
"This is a family area, how could you have no idea?" one of the girls murmurs but I have no clue which one, as she said it so quietly.
I try something more bold.
"Boss, it's same time, right?" I ask, lying. My lie has his full attention, as Fontaine looks back at me with judgemental eyes – as if to say, don't try it. I try it, "For our date tonight? 8pm?"
"Tonight he's going to our event," the one on his lap speaks up, now looking back at me over her shoulder, glaring, "Why would you be coming?"
"She's a photographer, Jade," Fonatine explains, and sighs, hard – as if he is truly frustrated with me. He doesn't even answer me.
I turn to walk off, feeling weirdly betrayed and very awkward at the same time.
Three steps back toward Pam, I hear Fontaine call out.
"7pm, be at mine – Cabin 72 – near the front of the park. Don't be late again, Alix."
I look back and nod at him, and his blue eyes seem slightly devilish, as he leans back and his girl for the day, leans back with him.
It's very hard to tell if they're dating or just weirdly close friends.
I can't help screwing up my face for a moment.
I turn around, and I can hear Jade murmuring to Fontaine.
"Are you really dating someone?"
"Work date," Fontaine fires back, "I told you... I'll be a single man forever."
"Thank god," Jade whispers and I feel my insides twist with jealousy.
I practically sprint back to Pam, who is lying flat on her back, staring up at the sky.
"I can't," Pam whispers as I kneel down next to her, "I can't live anymore. That was so embarrassing and awesome."
"I'm aware I looked like a total fucking idiot," I hiss.
"No, honestly, they all did," Pam sits up now, grinning, and speaking quietly, "You were very brave doing that, and none of them knew what to say."
I roll my eyes.
She's just trying to make me feel better.
"I have a date again, tonight," I tell her, raising a brow.
"He asked you out again?" Pam asks, suitably impressed.
"...well... no, I kind of forced his hand," I purse my lips.
"Oh," Pam purses her lips too.
"Stop mimicking me," I try not to laugh, "Let's head back."
"God, you'll need all the help you can get," Pam says as we pack up our shit, "I'll pray for you."
"Thanks, I might need it – I have this weird desire to annoy him," I tell her, "Like it's uncontrollable."
"Sounds like a crush," Pam guesses.
"Stop making sense," I beg her, "It's not a crush. It's nothing. I'm just a brat."
"You want his attention," Pam guesses again, "His negative spanky spanky attention," she whispers that in my ear and before I can argue, she smacks my butt and runs off into a different trail back to the cabins, before I can spank her back.
She goes off cackling, while I have one last chance to look down at the pool and Claudius with his whole hoe squad.
Two are swimming to the waterfall, seven remain seated and Claudius Fontaine has curiously exited the pool, picking up something that fell when he told me my tits were showing through.
What is that? Oh. My purple friendship bracelet.
He looks for me at that moment, and I wave back as he holds my property up.
While I'm smiling and waving my goodbye for later, Fontaine watches me without expression, although his eyes do narrow a bit, I guess. He pockets my bracelet for later.
He looks rather annoyed.
Well, I guess he wasn't looking forward to tonight.
Ha.
Too bad – because I certainly was!
I'm giddy as hell. I can't wait.
I practically skip back to our cabin, thinking about how I got my way.
However, when I check my phone after my shower, I see a missed text from Fontaine ten minutes ago.
Alexandra,
Regarding the 7pm " date ". There's one condition for this to go ahead. You'll be mine all night. To refuse, don't attend.
Yours faithfully,
Fontaine
So formal. Faithfully – huh? Strange word for a single man to use. I keep re-reading the letter – I mean text. Ooo. Hoo... hoooOo. Fancy, fancy. Claudius' old fashioned, traditional use of words in a text message is turning me on. I'm wet. Like what –
If a text is having this effect... how am I going to attend this date without melting into a puddle all the while he woos me like a war general from the 17th century?
My response takes a while, but I think of something which he does not respond to, but I hope will be answered in person as that is when it will mean something the most.
I have one condition too, Fontaine; help me remember, if you can.