On Purpose

~32~

Okay, I over exaggerated. The flight was pretty Well, if Kyle didn't send my fifteen billion pictures of the clouds from his side of the plane. I texted back with:

Dude, we're on the same plane, I can see what you see.

He texted back.

   I'm on the left side, so we aren't seeing the same thing.

  When we landed, Isabelle's sister, Brenda, was on the phone with her ex again.
    Kyle had gotten off of the plane last due to him being seated in the back.
    Isabelle's face lit up when she saw him.
    "Kyle?"
    "Hey, Bella." He winked.
    "I didn't see you in the plane."
    "I saw you, I didn't know you had a kid."
She blushed.
    "She's my niece."
He nods, then looks at me.
    "So, are ready?" Kyle says, rubbing his hands together.
"I still don't know why we flew." Isabelle says, ignoring him. "It's just a three hour drive—" "Are you trying to drive three hours?"
Her sister's voice made all three of us jump. She puts her phone in her purse and removes her hat.
She looks at Kyle with a sigh. "How many guys do you know?" She says to Isabelle.
"A few." She replied with a smirk.

][}{][

    When we got to our hotel room, Kyle screamed like a teenager who just got the newest iPhone.
    "This place is dope!" He says while placing his face near the window.  We had the view of the beach.
    "Can you help me out here?" I grunted while trying to haul both my and his bags into our room.
    "Oh, my bad." He walked over to me and took two bags while I grabbed the rest.
    Once the door was closed behind me, I fell back on the bed with a long sigh.
    "Come on or your girlfriend's sister will skin us alive." Kyle says before walking into the bathroom.
    "You go on without me." I say while looking at the ceiling. I closed my eyes and no later than two minutes, Kyle came out of the bathroom.
    "Don't take too long." He says, then there's a click of the door.
    Once he was gone, I open my eyes again and sit up. I don't know if I was up for going to the beach with them anymore. But I paid for my own ticket so I was going to make sure I enjoy myself. A long sigh escaped me just as I stood up to get ready.

   ][}{][

    "Mommy look at me, I'm a mermaid!" Macy said while lying near the waves.
    I scanned the beach, it was packed with people. Kids and babies, women and men.
    "I see you eyeing that woman in a bathing suit." Kyle says in my ear with a playful nudge to my arm.
    I look over at him to say something would get him to stop smiling and teasing me, but he was already walking away and near Isabelle. She was talking to some man. He seemed to find her amusing 'cause he laughed at everything she said.
    I watched as she nods when he talks and she plays with her hair. I laugh, only because it's odd for me to see her talking to a man like she's in a Disney movie.
    I shake my head and look at the waves. I hug my knees how I did when I was fourteen.
    "I don't know what she's told you, but I'm not a bitch. I just have to do what I have to do to make sure my family is safe."
    I turn my head towards the voice who spoke so hard to me.
    It was Brenda.
I tried to hold back the shock on my face.
    "I understand." I replied.
    "Do you really?" She said hardly again. Her red hat wasn't on this time, her hair was in a loose ponytail.
    "I do." I said, matching her tone. That seemed to relax her.
    "Isabelle and Macy are literally all I have left. I don't have a friend who stuffs his face with hot dogs." She motioned to Kyle who was sitting with Macy as they shared a hot dog. She nibbled while he looked like he could choke any second.
    "I only have Isabelle and Macy." She says, taking my attention away from my friend and the little girl who he grown a nice friendship with.
    "Isabelle has been through a lot. From our mom to finding out about her dad to getting her heart broken a billion times because she falls in love so easily."
    I held my breath and took in everything she just told me. Miss. Purpose falls in love easily. She said she doesn't know who her dad was, did she leave something out?
    I look at Brenda, she's looking ahead at the water then she looks over at me. Her dark eyes looks soft. Like she has to cry.
    "If you're just another fuck boy just trying to butter her up to get in her pants, you can buy yourself a ticket to hell."
    Her words would have made my heart jump with fear, but due to my understanding of her need to protect her family, I nod. "Isabelle came in my life when I didn't want her to." I look ahead at the water. "We joke around, we go out and enjoy each other's time. Yes, I thought maybe I was falling in love with her at one point. Maybe I still am, but one thing that I can't do is hurt her. Even if we were in a moment of weakness, I will never get in her pants and leave her, if I'm getting in her pants that's where I'll stay."
    I guess me saying that wasn't the right thing to say, because her head snapped to her right to glare at me.
    "Sorry." I mumbled.
    "I've met all of her boyfriend's, they all said the same thing you did."
    I don't say anything.
    "If you hurt my sister again, I will kill you."
    "Again?"
    "She told me about you leaving her at Taco Bell."
    I look down. I hate thinking about that incident let alone talk about it.
    "Sorry." I say again.
    "She seems to care for you, so I won't kill you on this trip."
    I start breathing normally.
    "Thank you." I said and we both look at each other at the same time.
    "He was hot, right, Dip-Noodle?" Isabelle said while sitting in between me and her sister. Cutting the hard tension between us.
    "Yeah." I said which made Brenda look at me with shock.
    "Oh, I have nothing to worry about; you're a faggot!" I couldn't control my laughter and Isabelle couldn't either. We laughed together before Isabelle spoke to her sister. "It's just our...thing. I ask him if a man is hot and as my best friend, he always agrees."
    Her sister rolls her eyes. "I'm going to the bathroom, what your niece." Brenda stands and walks away.
    Isabelle looks at me, then her eyes trail down.
    "I've never seen you shirtless." She said when her eyes met mine again.
    "I've never seen you in a bikini." I say, looking at the ocean water again.
    "I'm wearing a wrap!" She says, pointing to the pink word scarf around her waist.
    "Cool." I say, not looking at her.
    "What's wrong, Dip-Noodle? Did my sister scare you?"
    Before I could respond, her finger dug in my cheek again.
    "No." I said, swatting her hand away.
    "Who's that man you were talking to anyway?"
    "His name is Kim and he's a movie director, he wants me to audition for his new movie." She hugs her knees and doesn't take her eyes off of me.
    "Will you?" I asked.
    "No." She shakes her head. "I made Macy get rid of it."
    "Where."
    She points to the ocean and I snorted. "Wow."
    She looks at me and opened her mouth then closed it.
    "I guess I should tell you now...since we're on our trip and it's a beautiful day and all of that."
    I look at her with an eyebrow raised.
    "Oliver, I—"
    My phone rung and I smiled awkwardly at her.
    "Sorry." I said and quickly ignored the call.
    When my sight was in her again, I could tell she was shaking.
    "What is it?" I asked.
    "Oliver—" again, my phone interrupted. I groaned and noticed it was a text message this time. From my boss.
   

    Hate to do this while you're enjoying your week off, but I'm gonna have to let you go man. I'm sorry.

My eyes widened, my lungs felt like it they weren't getting oxygen. I didn't know if I should scream or chunk the shit out of my phone until it landed in the middle of the ocean.
     "What is it?" Isabelle asked.
    "I just got fired."