Stained Recovery

Confused || Chapter 25

"Okay, I've had it with you two. What the fuck's going on?" Courtney sat beside me after dinner as we decided to all hit the bar.

Dinner was actually delicious, but everyone was walking on eggshells and they can probably feel the tension between me and Cleo.

I sighed in relief when Cleo sat beside me, but she didn't utter a single word the whole dinner. I tried to initiate a conversation with her but she just gave me nods and shrugs. It was fucking frustrating.

Courtney was eyeing me all dinner, silently asking me with our jedi-shit conversation about what's happening. I gave her a half assed answer, saying that Cleo was probably stressed about work.

"Work my ass — she's on vacation. Leona specifically told Gilbert not to give any workload to their daughter for this week. Now tell me what's going on."

I know Courtney will push and push until she gets her answer, so I looked back to our friends. When I saw everyone was busy chatting and socializing with the other guests here, I pulled courtney to a secluded part of the bar.

"Um... we might've gotten into our first fight..." I whispered in shame.

I knew I was at fault. Cleo has been nothing but understanding the whole day. She even went out of her way to give me space too. I thought after she cooled down, she would come back to our room but I guess she had other ideas.

She came back to our room and packed her suitcase back, saying that she got another room for herself so I could have my own space.

When she shut the door, I sobbed like a fucking baby on the bed.

Courtney stayed quiet, letting me continue.

"Scooter called and asked me to keep things lowkey between Cleo and I. PR told him that I will be doing an interview once we get back home and address the whole thing... saying that we're old friends catching up." I tried to explain the situation better.

"Ari..." She trailed. She probably didn't know what to say.

"I know... it's so messed up. We talked earlier... she was very understanding and suggested that we can still take our dates and whatever in private... she said she doesn't care... I didn't have the heart to tell her. So I was in a bit of a mood... then I checked my bags, it seems that I forgot my pills back to Leona's home."

I was almost tearing up. I acted out on impulse earlier. The look on her face when I rejected her touch by the pool made me want to throw up. I hurt her... I saw it clear as the day.

"Okay... so... you said she understood right?" Courtney looked so confused.

My guilt was eating me up. I knew what I did wrong — I just didn't expect Cleo to react that way.

I averted my eyes from Courtney and played with the hem of my sundress.

"I — I kinda told her that she couldn't remove her shirt when we were by the pool." Blush crept on my cheeks. Jesus — this was like admitting that I can't keep my hands to myself when it comes to Cleo.

"Um, Ari — are you out of your mind?" Courtney chuckled at my pettiness.

"I know!" I groaned. "She just wanted to swim, then I went on bitch mode. God, Court — the look on her face when I deflected her touch. I swear it'll probably hunt me in my dreams. I hurt her."

"Then she probably realized that what I talked about with Scooter was something bigger than I let on. She looked so upset before she walked away from me." I added to explain to Courtney with tears threatening to fall from my eyes.