Clementine had become a wild child. Born in America but raised abroad, she now had little regard for the expectations of high society. But her reckless ways eventually catch up with her when she is kicked out of college in New York City and forced t...
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In the morning, when the beach started to fill up with the locals, everyone decided to take a morning dip. Partly to shake off the night, partly because they could.
Zico took off his shirt and gave it to Clementine, which allowed her to take off her dress, and keep her underwear and his shirt as swimming attire.
Imperfect, but functional.
Zico was in his boxers, and so were the rest of their friends.
In the water, they lay on their backs, letting the sun burn away the night.
"Did you have fun?" Zico asked her, both of them squinting at the sun.
"Yes," Clementine said, trying to map out an escape plan in her head. Making it out unseen was one thing, but coming home unseen would be harder.
"I must warn you," he began, "you're going to feel the come down. It might hit you hard, considering you haven't done this before."
"How do you know what I have and haven't done before?" Clementine asked him playfully, moving towards him, wrapping her legs around him.
"I can only guess," he said, catching on to her. "I was thinking, you should come over. For real this time. I think you should see how we live."
Clementine perked up, wondering how much he knew about her own situation, not knowing how to tell him she was 'grounded'.
"I would like that," she said, " but I don't know if it'll be easy. I don't have as much freedom as it may seem," Clementine said, staring out into the sea.
"You're here now, aren't you?" Zico looked at her.
"Yes, but...I guess I always find a way." Clementine looked past him to see the other part of her group, and she noticed the crazy hair girl somehow made it all the way out this far with them, and was staring at them.
"I know you do. Listen, we're going to be out of town for a week or so, but after."
"When?" Clementine brought back her attention to Zico. She didn't want to sound pushy, but she needed something solid to stand on.
"We're back on the 17th. I'll call you."
Clementine nodded and at that everyone got out of the water, and quickly changing back into her dress it was time for her to go back to her reality and step into the daylight.
It was a beautiful, sunny day, and if it wasn't for her sleepless night and intoxication, it would have been a beautiful day. But, she was already starting to feel the after effects.
She wished she could leave with Zico, go with him right away. She had a vision, as sick as it sounded, of coming down with him. They could keep each other company.
She was terrified that as this faded, he would somehow forget her.
But she knew she had to get home. In the taxi, she nearly, instinctively said her home address, but remembered that to keep up her front she had to be at Mina's because she was 'at a sleepover'.
It was exhausting, trying to remember all these lies. Didn't she make herself a promise, after New York, to stop lying.
But it seemed that in a matter of no time, she has manage to spin a web of lies so intricate that she was afraid she was going to get lost in it herself.
