I wake up sweaty with the jeans I wore yesterday clinging onto me. My t-shirt smells like residual nacho cheese from soft pretzels and a hint of mint ice cream. Turning to look, almost hopeful, I search for Vincent on the bed. He's not there. Disappointment washes over me, but I quickly dismiss it. No one seems to be around. I fumble around the bed and find my phone had slipped from my pockets and was wrapped in the layers of blankets. 5:58 pm. Jeez, I overslept. Well, that's an understatement. I practically went into hibernation.
There's a white, styrofoam box on the kitchen table. I'm hesitant to eat it since I'm not sure if it's someone else's food. As I approach it, I realized there a note scribbled on it in sharpie.
Wendy
Guess it's for me. Inside is a massive breakfast burrito, my favorite breakfast item. My friends must've bought it for me since I slept all day. Only they would know I would prefer this over pancakes and waffles, and that I like broccoli and tortilla chips inside. A bit odd, I know. I'm surprised they even asked for the broccoli since they've witnessed me get dirty looks when I order it at diners.
By the time I finished my burrito, the others started to file into the room.
"Hey, you're finally awake!" Luke says.
"Yeah, you've been sleeping since 7 o'clock yesterday," Logan adds.
"You should see her at our sleepovers. I didn't think she would go to them and sleep for the whole time," Evelyn sighs.
"At least then we can draw on her face," Olivia giggles.
Vivian still doesn't acknowledge me or adds to the conversation. She slips upstairs and Evelyn and Olivia follow her in confusion. They've sensed something is wrong by now.
I try to not to make a big deal out of it and change the topic. "What did you guys do?" I pop the last piece of burrito into my mouth.
"We went to a scary movie and did some go-kart racing. Sorry we didn't wake you up,"Carson explains.
"It's fine. I would've preferred to stay here anyways than to be forced to watch crazy clowns and purposely crash cars," I smile to prove it.
"Well, we're about to go to the pool downstairs if you wanna join."
I see Vincent's head pop up, but he immediately looks back down when he sees me looking at him.
"Um, I forgot to bring a swim suit. I'll probably just lounge around."
"You can go buy one at the mall nearby."
"Eh, it's too much effort."
"Okay. Wait a bit for us to change."
"I'll probably have to change too. My clothes are gross and crusty."
The boys change in their bedroom, so I have the hallway bathroom to myself. I figured I might as well shower since I'm feeling so gross and change into a pair of shorts and a sleeveless, floral-print shirt.
By the time I get out, everyone is already downstairs leaving. On my way out, I swipe an opened bag of potato chips and a can of cola out of the kitchen.
Vivian's new, red swimsuit catches my eye and I approach her to compliment it.
"Vivian, your swimsuit looks-" She brushes past me and rushes to Vincent.
"Do you mind teaching me how to swim?" she asks, wrapping her hands around his arms. He twists out of it by turning around.
"Carson's a lot better at swimming than me. He's on the swim team. Right, Carson?"
Carson gets excited and jogs up towards Vivian and Vincent. "Yeah, I can teach you."
"I'm trying to learn basic swimming, not how to swim laps competitively!" Vivian giggles, lightly leaning against Vincent's shoulders.
I'm not sure if Vivian's ignoring me on purpose, or that she's too caught up with Vincent, but it stings, my eyes sting. My feet slow down, and I don't bother to try to talk to Vivian anymore.
Once we get to the pool, I find a fairly dry lounge chair and lay down on it. I'm munching on my chips when I suddenly choke. Vincent stands near another lounge chair, peeling off his shirt and tosses it onto the chair. His back muscles flex and the shards of fried potato poke at the back of my throat. I'm embarrassed for no reason, but I quickly gulp down cola to wash down the chips. However, I'm still flustered and my coughs causes me to choke even more on the cola.
Vincent turns around. I hope he didn't noticed that I looked at him. He starts to walk towards me, but Vivian catches him by the arms.
"Come on. You have to teach me how to swim."
Vincent looks back at me, his mouth opens slightly as if he wants to say something. Nothing comes out, and he hesitantly turns around.
Logan has Olivia sitting on his shoulders and Luke had Evelyn on his. Olivia and Evelyn push at each other, trying to make the other topple over. Carson joined Vincent and Vivian, trying to intervene every time Vincent teaches Vivian. My potato chips and cola are gone.
Off to the side to the pool, there are a couple of hot tubs. If I had known there were hot tubs, I probably would've gone through the trouble of buying a swim suit. It's too late now, so I might as well soak my feet. I leave my shoes at the chair and slowly walk towards the hot tubs, careful not to slip on any water. There's a switch on the edge of the tub. I press firmly against it and it clicked into place. The tub immediately starts to bubble. There's a dry spot on the edge, and so I sit on it and slip my feet into the sheets of water. The jets massage my aching soles, and my eyes flutter with sleepiness. I'm unable to fight it and I lean back. I feel the fall coming and flinched to try to sit back up, but I can't. I should've tried to do more curl-ups in gym. Twisting slightly around, I prepare to stop my fall with my hands. Instead of the cement, they hand on a toned stomach. I look up and its Vincent. Why is it always Vincent?
"I had a feeling you would fall asleep," he sighs, holding onto my shoulders and helping me back up.
"You act like I would sleep anywhere," I pout.
"You would."
He's right. I would. I prop myself up and kick the water slightly. Vincent sits down next to me and dips his feet into the hot tub as well. I look up at him in surprise.
"Don't you have to teach Vivian how to swim?"
"Carson has it covered."
I turn to see Vivian swimming away from Carson.
"See? I can swim now. You don't have to teach me anymore," Vivian pleads.
"We should still test your endurance," Carson insists.
"Olivia! Evelyn!" Vivian slides behind them in order to avoid Carson.
Carson seems kind and caring. Plus, he's visually attractive as well. Why does Vivian avoid him like he's some disease? Isn't that too much? Isn't that a bit too cruel? She knows he likes her, but she won't reject him. Isn't it better to reject him than keep allowing him to chase after her only to be constantly ignored?
"I feel bad for Carson," I murmur, the words slipping out of my mouth.
Vincent looks up at me in surprise and confusion.
"It's nothing..." I try to make him disregard my comment. Vincent seems to still be hung up on it, but reluctantly doesn't further question it.
"How was the breakfast burrito? I didn't actually think you'd eat the whole thing when I got it."
"Wait, you got it for me? How would you know I like broccoli and tortilla chips in my burritos?"
"I don't know. Maybe the fact that when we ate breakfast yesterday, you were the only one who didn't get pancakes. You asked about burritos, broccoli, and tortilla chips. It was a lucky guess."
"Anyways, thanks." I look back down at the water and kick around. I didn't even notice that the jets had stopped.
"You drool when you sleep," Vincent smirks.
"What?"
"Yesterday, you drooled on me when I carried you out of the haunted house."
I'm silent and I'm sure my face is beet red. "Sorry," I quietly muster.
"You also sleep talk. Like a lot. I didn't even realize you were asleep until you started saying some weird things."
"What did I say?"
"I'm not going to tell you. I'll blackmail you with it when I need to," he teases.
"Just tell me!"
"No thanks." Vincent gets up and starts walking away.
I quickly get out and follow him. He avoids be by wrapping around the deep end of the pool. I speed up, jogging close to the edge, but my foot, wet from the hot tub, skids into the water. My weight hits the water and a cramp grows through my right foot. Water infiltrates my nose. My hands instinctively goes to my foot and grasps onto it in an attempt to ease the pain.
A wave of water surges towards me and I hear a muted splash. Vincent dives down and grabs onto my waist. With his one arm, he swims up to the surface and towards the edge pf the pool. Once my head pokes out from under the surface, I cough up the water. My nose stings in the back and I can smell the pungent chlorine. I was to occupied with the water up my nose to realize how I was clinging onto Vincent. I have my arms wrapped tight around his neck and my cheek was pressed against his chest as I cough. My wet strands of hair clung to him. Vincent continues to hold me tightly, even though I was already above the water.
"Oh shit, Wendy! Are you alright?" Luke says as he starts swimming towards us. The others follow him except for Vivian and Carson, who stays by her side.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Just clumsy." I let go of Vincent, but he keeps his arms around around me. I starts to move away, but the pain pieces through the bottom of my foot, and I wince. Vincent pulls me closer towards him.
"What's wrong, Wendy?" Olivia asks, concerned.
"It's just a small foot cramp."
"Are you sure you didn't sprain your foot?"
"I'm fine. I'll just wait it out and it should be gone."
"Maybe you should go get it check out."
"It's not that serious."
Vincent sweeps me to the shallow end and hoists me up onto the pool's edge. I sit with my feet still dangling into the water. With a single push with his arms, Vincent lifts himself up as well.
"I'll take Wendy back to the room. You guys should stay and hang out." He swoops down and hooks one arm behind my shoulders, and the other around the back of my knees. As Vincent lifts me up, I wrap around his neck in surprise, but quickly let go when Vivian's eyes meet mine. I push my hands against his chest instead.
"It's fine. it will go away in a second and I can walk myself up afterwards," I argue.
"See you guys upstairs later. Oh, and do em a favor and bring her shoes up with you guys," Vincent says to the other, ignoring my words. He carries me through the doors and back into the hotel.
"Let me down! Vivian is looking!" I say in a hushed and panicked tone.
"So what?"
"She likes you, idiot! She wouldn't like it if you're carrying me like-"
"I told you yesterday already that I told feel the same way." His voice is suddenly cold. I take it as a hint to stop pestering him about Vivian.
Once we get into the hotel room, Vincent helps me into a chair and goes to grab a towel. He leaves for a few minutes and returns with a small bag of ice. Kneeling down, Vincent applied the ice to the base of my foot.
"It's just a cramp."
"Well, you can never be too careful," Vincent replies, continuing to hold the ice against my foot. We sit in silence like this for a while. I wasn't sure how long since my mind blanked, and I lost track of time. By the time I started to become more aware, it was starting to get dark outside already.
"I should get changed," I suggest.
"I'll probably run to get some food. The others are going to be back soon." He starts to walk out the door when I grab onto his arm.
"You should probably get changed too..." Vincent's shorts are dripping wet, and he is still shirtless.
"Oh, right." He goes upstairs and come back down in a flash, in a basic white shirt and jeans. In a second, he's out the door.
I'm relieved that it was only a cramp in my foot and that I didn't accidentally sprain it. I get changed into some pajama pants and a sweater. Sitting in soaked clothes for a while made me feel chilly. While drying my hair and blowing the rest of the water out of my nose, I watched a random movie on the t.v. I was nearly finished with watching it when the others came into the hotel room.
"How's your foot, Wendy?" Evelyn asks, grabbing my leg to examine it.
"Luckily, it was only a cramp," I grin.
"Jeez, you klutz."
"Here are your shoes and Vincent's shirt." Olivia plops the shoes onto the floor and tosses Vincent's shirt onto the bed.
"Thanks." I spot Vivian and look at her, "And Vincent went to get some food."
Vivian expression sis tense towards me, and she avoid me by going upstairs once again. How did we turn out like this? I've never witnessed Vivian this mad at me. I feel discomfort and uneasiness stir inside of me. Will our friendship ever be the same again? Does that friendship even exist anymore? The thought provokes tears in my eyes, but I hold it back in front of everyone.
Thankfully, Vincent swings the door open and my mind is distracted from the troubling thoughts.
"I got burgers!" Vincent announces. He plops four large, greasy, paper bags onto the table.
"Cool, I'm going to get changed first." Logan says and rushed upstairs. Everyone does the same in a rush to eat.
Vincent reaches into the bag and hands me a burger wrapped in parchment and a box of fries. "You should eat first."
I would refuse, but Vincent takes a bite of his own burger. Might as well eat anyways since Vincent is eating. Once I take a bite of it, I'm totally absorbed and focused with my meal.
The others rush down and slowly burgers and fries are plucked off the table.
"What should we do now?" Luke asks as everyone finishes their food.
"How about we play truth or dare? Punishment is you have to chug beer." Carson suggests.
"Cool. I'm in," Logan agrees.
"We're not old enough to drink alcohol. Plus, we can't buy any," Olivia states. Gosh, she's naive. I'm pretty sure she isn't aware most high-schoolers have drunk before. I haven't, but I'm sure people aren't drinking apple juice boxes at these wild parties I hear about.
"I have a better punishment," Evelyn boasts. She grabs a cup and empties packets of mustard, ketchup, mayo, and pours some cola into it. In addition, she breaks up some chucks of burger patty, days old donuts, and crushed up chips and mixes it with a plastic spoon. It's a chunky and think mixture that's turned into an orange-brown. "You have to eat three spoons of this if you can't say a truth or do a dare."
"I'm definitely in now," Luke says, even more excited. "Logan hates mustard."
"I'm definitely not losing the game now," Logan says confidently.
We sit in a circle, and I'm sitting between Logan and Olivia. Beside Olivia is Evelyn, then Carson, Vivian, Vincent, and Luke. We placed an empty glass bottle that Carson went and bought before gulping the whole thing empty. We take turns spinning the bottle, and whoever the bottle landed on, we would make a truth or dare for that person.
First to go is Carson. He spins and it lands on on Logan.
"Truth or dare?"
"Dare," Logan boldly decides.
"I dare you to lick Luke's armpits."
"What?"
"You have to do it!"
"No! I'd rather eat the mustard."
"Hey, my armpits aren't that nasty," Luke protests. He lifts his arms and takes a whiff, before scrunching his nose. It throws all of us into a laughter.
Logan picks up the cup and quickly spoons three scoops of the mix into his mouth and swallows it without chewing.
"Not bad," Logan chuckles.
"Gross," Evelyn groans. "My turn." The bottle lands on me. "Ooh, Wendy. Truth or dare?"
"Truth." I'm such a wimp.
"Aw, you're no fun," Evelyn whines. She thinks for a moment sine we've played this game numerous times during sleepovers. I always pick truth, so my friend ran out of scandalous questions to ask me. "Did you ever pee your pants in public?"
"In second grade. The fire alarm went off while I was trying to hold it." Everyone bursts into laughter and I hide my face behind my knees.
"It's my turn now!" Olivia spins the bottle and it lands on Carson.
"Truth or dare?"
"Dare."
"I dare you to call room service and ask for butt rash cream."
"What?"
"You have to it!" Logan coerces as payback for Carson's armpit licking dare.
"Fine," he groans. We listen on speaker as Carson calls room service. The phone picks up and a woman answers.
"Room service. How can I help you?"
"Excuse me, but do you guys happen to... have...um... some.. rash cream?"
"Butt rash cream!" Olivia forcefully whispers.
"For-for-for butt rashes..."
There's a moment of silence. "I'm sorry, we don't. However, there is a pharmacy nearby. Would you like me to give you the address or directions?"
"Actually, never mind. Thanks." Carson quickly ends the car.
"That wasn't as funny as I thought," Luke complains.
"Yeah, Olivia. You have to be ruthless!" Evelyn says.
"I thought it was embarrassing," Olivia pouts.
"Okay, it's your turn, Wendy," Carson says, trying to change the topic.
I spin the bottle and it lands on Vincent. I look up and Vivian's looking at em with pleading eyes. She hasn't acknowledged me in days This is my chance to make it up to her for whatever I did to piss her off. I know what she's hoping I'll say.
"Truth or dare?"
"Dare."
"I dare you... to kiss Vivian..." Everyone's quiet. I scan Carson and he looks distraught. I'm sorry, Carson.
Vincent picks up the glass and chugs the entire concoction without a thought. Everyone is in shock, especially Vivian.
"Hey, you only have to eat three spoons!" Evelyn yells as her one-of-a-kind creation disappears into Vincent's mouth.
"Gross." Luke sticks his tongue out.
Vivian is hurt. I messed up. I shouldn't have done it. Why did I think this was going to help Vivian. I didn't think Vincent would be so unwilling to kiss Vivian. Who would be that unwilling? She hates me now, I know it. I ruined everything.
After Vincent finished, he looks irritated. "I'm going to take a shower. you guys keep playing." Vincent gets up and vanishes upstairs.
Vivian gets up as well and goes after Vincent. I feel sick. The burger and fries aren't sitting well.
"I'm going to take a walk outside."
I scurry out of the room and I take the stairs instead of the elevator. We're on the top floor, but I don't care. I run and run until my right foot starts to hurt again. Tired, I flop onto the stairs and lean against the stairwells. Streaks of salt flow down my cheeks and onto my lips. I bury my eyes onto my knees and fold my arms around my face to cover them.
Vivian hates me. I'm no longer her friend. I'm a traitor. I broke girl code. I got too close to the guy she likes. Vincent hates me. I forced him to like Vivian. I made him uncomfortable. I put him in an awkward position with Vivian. If I hadn't intervened, they would probably be dating by now. I should've never gotten involved. Being his tutor was a bad idea from the start. It's what started this. I hate truth or dare.
*****
Heyyyyy :) I feel like I'm getting slower at updating. I tried to avoid watching Asian dramas to prevent any distractions from school and from writing, but I recently started to watch a Chinese one I've been trying hard to avoid. Does anyone else love Asian dramas and t.v. shows? Message me your favorites and recommend me some to watch. As always, thanks for reading!