After Jason and I left CRUSH, we walked through the hallways in silence, then, to break the silence, Jason asked me:
"So how long are you staying here?"
"Two weeks. What about you?"
"Until college starts and then I'll come back here once its over."
"Why, what are you studying?"
"Hotel Management. You know, studying to take over my dad's empire."
"You mean your dad's the owner of all this?" I asked him surprised.
"One of the owners. Another one is Altamirano's dad."
"You mean...?"
"Cameron."
"Oh. But why do you hate each other so much? I mean, I know what you have to deal with but... why?"
"I don't know. We've hated each other since we were kids, and I basically hate how he thinks he can just own every young girl here that stays at the hotel with her family or friends. You know he does what he did to you like every night hoping for a girl to have sex with her?"
"He does?"
"Yeah. That's why I tried to help you get out of his grip, since I saw you definitely weren't interested."
"Definitely not. How can anyone like that?"
"What? Grinding or his way to pick up girls?"
"Both. I find that disgusting."
He chuckled. "You're not the only one."
"So, if you and Cameron are the same age, how old are you?"
"I'm eighteen."
"And you're heading to college when?"
"In the fall. But I don't really want to go to college. At least not to study for something that I'm not passionate about."
"And what are you passionate about?"
"I don't know yet. That's why I don't want to go to college just yet. I want to see the world and find out what I really want to do with my life." He said as we left the area where the club was and walked through one of the hotel's million pools.
"That seems like a really good plan."
"What about you?" He asked as he took a seat on a lounge chair.
"What do you mean?" I said as I took a seat on a chair beside the one Jason was sitting in.
"What do you wanna do with your life once you graduate?"
"I have no idea. I don't know what I want to study just yet."
"There's a million things out there that a person can be, but it's just so hard to pick one."
"That's true. So, you're actually living in The Bahamas?"
"Most of the time."
"That is so cool. So you have total access to the beach any time that you want?"
"Yeah. And I can go wherever I want whenever I want."
"You have the perfect life." I said as I leaned down on the lounge chair and looked at the stars.
"Not exactly. My life's not perfect, because I may have it all and yet I have nothing."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, I do have this awesome resort with my name, and can come and go to whatever part of the world I want when I want, but it's not what you have, it's who you have that matters. Because I may have it all, but I have no one to share it with."
"What about your friends?"
"What friends? The attention freaks who just want to hang out with me because I am the owner of this place, or all the girls who just want me because of how much money I have?"
"Are you saying you have no friends? What about siblings?"
"No friends. No siblings."
"Cousins?"
"My dad was an only child."
"What about your mom?"
"Only child."
"Jeez. Um, what about the workers here?"
"They are scared of me. They think I am some kind of spoiled brat who will call daddy and get them fired for spilling a drop of water on me. It's ridiculous."
"Well, have you showed them otherwise?"
"Yeah. I've tried to, but they are just scared of me."
"It's not you they're afraid of, it's the fact that your dad is their boss."
"I know. That's the part that bugs me, sometimes, I just wish my dad was a regular man and not one of the owners of Atlantis." he said. I looked at him and saw that he had laid down on his lounge chair and was looking up at the stars. I turned to look the same way. "What if my life was different? What if my dad wasn't who he was?"
"Believe me, it's better for him to stay that way. At least he pays attention to you."
"That's the thing, he never does. The only reason why now he does pay attention to me, is because in a few months I'll leave for college and he wants to be on my good side, so that I will agree on following his footsteps."
"Jason, trust me, it's better to have a dad not acknowledge you yet he is still there, than having no dad at all."
"Is that your case?"
"Yeah. And, believe me, it sucks." I admitted. He got up from his chair and went to sit in mine, then, I sat up and was facing him.
"Do you want to talk about it?" he asked me.
"If you want to listen."
"I'm here, aren't I?" He said, and he held my hand.
"Well, it all started when I was little. To me, my parents marriage was filled of love and happiness, and they one were. When they started dating back in their sophomore year in college, they were so in love it was incredible. After they finished college, they got married. Someone once told me that their wedding was like a fairytale and that you could seriously feel the love inside that church. Five years later, they had their first daughter, my older sister named Rebecca, or Becca. And the following year in December, they had me. My parents were the best, yet they worked really hard to keep our lives the best possible. Yet, it was hard. But they were so sweet and fun to be with. Four years later, was when the problems began. My mom was only two months pregnant when my dad began to get this weird mood of going around and cheating on her. He cheated on my mom with random-ass woman that he found anywhere. My mom never found out, up until when she was six months into the pregnancy. Then, my dad began to hit her and the constant stress my mom was living in almost made her lose my little brother. She had to spend the two remaining months of her pregnancy in a bed because if she would stand up she would've lost so much blood and she could have a misscarriage and... would've lost my little brother...and..." I tried to continue, but the tears were already blurring my vision. I tried to be strong, I promised myself I'd never cry because of this lowlife again. Yet, my heart was saying the opposite. Jason hugged me, and let me cry on his shoulder. Then, after a few minutes or so, he held me close to his heart, where it was beatng fast. With his right hand he was holding my arm to keep me closer to him, and with his left he was stroking my hair, and he had his chin over my head.
"You don't have to continue if you don't want to." He murmured.
"No, I need to continue. I have to get this out of my heart, I have never spoken about this to anyone before." I said.
"Okay." He murmured once more.
"So, anyway, my mom had to spend the two remaining months of pregnancy in a bed, and after my little brother was born, she made the decision to divorce my dad. At the beginning it was fine, we still saw him and we still shared things, but after I turned fourteen, I never saw him again. I've never seen him since my cousin's birthday party. And I'm scared that if I see him, I'll breakdown or collapse or something. Do you know how hard it will be to face him after knowing the whole truth? That's why I told you that it's better to at least have a dad in your house rather than none. You need to be glad that you have a dad in your life, whether you share things with him or not." I told him, releasing from the embrace and looking at his eyes.
"Jason, you need to be glad that you have a dad, because most people don't. Be thankful for that, please... For me?" I didn't want to say it, but it just slipped out of my mouth. I didn't know why but, with Jason, I felt like I can tell him whatever I feel inside my heart and have real conversations, not just any conversation.
"For you, I will." he said looking into my eyes, and smiling a beautiful and breathtaking smile. "You know, you're not like the other girls. I feel like with you, I can be myself around you." He said.
"I feel the same way." I said. Then, I noticed a watch on his hand and noticed the time. It was almost two-thirty. We've been talking for almost two hours. "Shoot, Jason, I need you to take me to my suite please. If I don't get there now I'm sure my cousin will murder me."
"Okay, sure, I'll-uh take you now." He said getting up from the lounge chair. "Where is your suite?"
"At one of the Royal Towers."
"Okay, let's run." He said starting to run. I tried going at the same pace, but my stilettos weren't allowing me.
"Wait! Let me take off my shoes first." I said, and began taking off my shoes. Once they were off, I grabbed them and held them in my hand. "Okay, let's go." I said. Jason took my hand and then we ran towards the Royal Towers. Once we were there, we took the elevator and I pressed the button for floor thirty-five. Once inside, I started putting on my shoes, by leaning against the elevator's wall. I dusted off the dirt off my foot by rubbing it against my calf, and then put on each shoe. Once done, I dusted off the dirt off my legs, just in time for the elevator doors to open.
I started walking in my heels and, DAM! They hurt so much! I tried walking, but noticed that I was walking kind of weird. Jason noticed this, and asked me,
"Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine."
"Can you walk?"
"Jason, I'm fine. Really."
He shrugged it off and then we kept walking toward the end of the hallway. Suddenly, I was swept off my feet and was being carried. I hugged the person's neck so I don't fall.
"Jason wha-What are you doing?"
"I noticed you were walking funny and that you didn't want me to worry so I just decided to surprise you by carrying you to your room."
"How nice of you, but really I can walk by myself."
He raised an eyebrow as in saying, 'really?' and I rolled my eyes while smiling and then bit my lip while looking away.
"Your room's 359, right?"
"Yeah. You can set me down on my feet now." I said, just as the door opened. Then, Amelia and Danielle greeted us by the door.
"So, did you two have a good night?" Amelia teased.
"Wow, Natasha, you really work fast." Danielle joked.
"Oh you guys." I laughed. "Jason's just taking me to the room, nothing much."
"She said her feet hurt." He said.
"Ooh, I see..." Amelia said and winked at us.
"What? Noo!" I said, while noticing Amelia's teasing look.
Jason laughed at us, and took me to my bedroom. "This is your room, right?"
"Yeah. This is it." I said.
He set me down on the bed, and then looked at me in the eyes. "What are you doing tomorrow night?"
"Nothing yet, why?"
"I was thinking, maybe you'd like to see The Dig. What do you say?"
"Sure, I'd love to."
"Great, I'll pick you up here at six. Is that okay with you?"
"Yeah, that's perfect."
"Cool, It's a date." He said.
"Yeah. It's a date."
He started to walk into the door, but he rushed back inside and kissed my cheek and then left my room and the suite.
Oh. My. God. I seriously just wanted to squeal with excitement! He is just so nice and sweet, and really cute, but so nice and just...perfect! I think I like him. I really do think I like him.