𝐜𝐫𝐮𝐢𝐬𝐞

𝟏𝟖

"I'm getting déjà vu," I said as I plopped down into one of the empty deck chairs.

"What do you mean?" Kyle asked me.

"We ask ourselves the same question a million times everyday on this ship: 'what do we do?' I guess I'm just bored of asking it," I said as I shrugged. Josie came over and sat on the end of the deck chair I was sitting on, handing me an earbud that was connected to her phone. I gratefully took it from her and stuck it into my ear, Ariana Grande playing.

"She has a point," Charlie said as he sat in his chair.

"Well there's only so many things we can do. We're all underage, at least in the way that matters, and we don't have any money," Josie pointed out.

"You know, I think there's one thing on this ship that we haven't done: actually gone swimming," Jayden suggested.

"I'm down," Josie said. Everyone else agreed as well.

"Let's all head back to our rooms and change then. Ellis is literally wearing bloody clothes," Ethan pointed out.

"Aw man, I really like this shirt," I said as I looked down and saw the droplets of blood staining the front of my shirt. Everyone else just laughed. "I'm serious," I mumbled.

We all stood up and started heading towards the doors leading back into the ship, looking around the hall for any security guards just to be safe. When we were sure the coast was clear, we all split up and started heading to our respective rooms, having already to decided to just meet at the pool deck.

Since Jayden and Ethan's room was in the same hallway and our room, Jayden, Ethan, Charlie, Kyle, Logan and I all walked together.

Ethan and Charlie were at the front of the group talking to each other, Kyle and Logan were both looking at their phones, and Jayden had come up beside me.

"Hey, Blondie," he said with a smirk while sliding his arm over my shoulders.

Butterflies.

"Hey, you," I replied with a small smile.

"How's your nose feeling?" He asked, a look of concern on his face.

"Better with the ice. How does the bruising look?" I asked as I removed the ice pack from my nose.

He winced slightly.

"That bad huh?" I sighed and looked down as I placed the ice pack back on my face.

"Blondie, you always look beautiful, it just looks like it hurts," he said sympathetically.

Thank god for this ice pack otherwise my face would be on fire.

"Well it hurts a little bit, mainly when I move it. So smiling hurts, and talking... and breathing honestly," I rambled, flustered.

And from the look on Jayden's face, he knew exactly why.

I turned my face away from him to save myself some embarrassment and stepped off the elevator we had gotten on at some point. I really need to learn to pay attention to my surroundings more.

As we turned the corner to start heading down the hallway where our rooms were, Jayden grabbed my wrist and tugged me back toward him with a smile. "I'm just joking, Blondie."

I faced him and gave him an eye roll. "Yeah, yeah."

He just laughed and threw his arm back over my shoulder.

"It's not funny," I grumbled, dragging my feet. "I'll see you in a little bit," I said while stopping at the door to our room.

"See ya, Blondie," Jayden smirked as he walked backward to his room.