Fish Out Of Water

White Houses

The next few days were filled with the sounds of the ocean and calmness and light. I spent time thinking about painting, and wondering if they had left anything for me to do with it. I walked down to the beach to find something and froze when I saw what was going on. Blake had swung his hand out to punch Penn, for whatever reason I had no idea, and I ran down to push him off. 

"Get out of here!" Penn shouted, ducking another punch and kneeing Blake in the gut. 

"Idiots," I said, pulling Penn away. "What happened?" I asked, and Penn just shook his head, but Blake began talking. 

"He said Claire-" he began, but Penn walked me away. 

"What did you say?" I asked, but Penn shook his head. 

"Nothing, he's an ass," Penn said, giving me a small smile. 

Too bad I didn't believe him. 

I heard the faint sounds of screaming that night, coming from Claire's cabin, so I snuck out to investigate. I pressed my ear against the door, and I heard Claire and Blake shouting. 

"I was drunk!" Claire was screaming, and I heard the smashing of glass, and shuddered. 

"Well fuck you, too, bitch!" Blake was saying. 

"A relationship is in order after sex-"

"No, it is not!" Blake shouted. "You can't control me. You are just another one of the many girls I will-" 

"Shut up!" Claire screamed, and I heard the thumping of a suitcase as she twisted it off the shelf in their cabin. "If and when I come back to this place in the island," she said, in a low, scary tone, "don't look at me, don't even think of me, don't touch me," she warned. 

"Won't be too hard," Blake said, and I wanted to punch him in the face. I heard Claire trying to choke back a sob, and my stomach twisted uncomfortably. I wanted to go in, but wasn't sure if I should. 

Too late, Claire was already ramming open the door, her shirt half on, hair a mess but vibrant as ever, and I caught her arm as she went out, grabbing her in a hug. 

"You're worth more," I told her, but I'm not too sure, because I was half asleep and she was drunk and I can't swear to it even to this day. She nodded and ran off as fast as she could, leaving the rest of us to pick up the pieces. 

I was already fragile, and not sure what I would do without Claire to help. 

That was self- centered, though, and tonight was about helping Claire, even though I felt like I was about to break without her. I closed the door on Blake, who had already crashed, and made a mental (sleepy) note not to tell Claire how fast he calmed down. Then I crawled back to my cabin and tried not to let how screwed up my life was affect me until I was in the cabin, camera- free, sleeping next to Mav. 

I curled up next to him, making (another) mental note to just push the beds together, as I was going to fall apart without the guy, and he shivered awake. 

"Wa' happen?" he said, wrapping an arm around me. 

"My life's no good," I told him. 

"Naw, you're good, you're perfecto," he said deliriously, as that was not what I meant, but I still felt a little ray of sunshine in me at those words. 

Then I fell asleep. 

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When I woke up, I heard Penn and Jas wondering loudly where Claire was. I groaned, turning around and burying my head into the pillow nearest Mav and smacking him awake.