Lover Dearest [3]

16.) Venting

“It took so much longer than I thought.” Holly said with an apologetic look as she came into my room that night. I was already dressed for bed- I was wearing a white t-shirt with a red Muppet on the front with lettering that read “bad hair day” and shorts that were black with white stars that matched the shirt. I also had on my favorite slippers, they were red plush sneakers which I found adorable.

“Don’t worry about it.” I mumbled. Holly had been out all day with Kale, which wasn’t really surprising, but I didn’t mind. I’d already made up my mind that I wasn’t going to tell her. Not yet. “Did you have fun?”

She grinned, her mood taking a one eighty from apologetic to totally in love and glowing. “I did, it was amazing! He took me to this really beautiful coral reef and we went snorkeling, it was really amazing.”

“Sounds like fun.” I told her with a small smile.

“Yeah, it was. Anyway, what was it that you wanted to talk to me about?” She asked, sitting beside me on the bed.

I shook my head. “Oh, nothing, it wasn’t really important.”

“I’m curious anyway.” Holly said with a curious grin. “Tell me.”

“I, uh, I just wanted to know if you wanted to go shopping tomorrow.” I lied quickly. I expected her not to believe it because as I’ve mentioned before- I’m a horrible liar- but she just frowned a little bit, but not a ‘I don’t believe you’ frown, it was just a disappointed frown.

“Well, I can’t tomorrow. Kale and I are going to the marina, but how about sometime next week? We’re gunna be here for three months, we have all the time in the world.”

I smiled at her, but I was sure that it didn’t reach my eyes- she used to know when things were off with me, but I guess now that we’re on vacation and she’s just so focused on having a good time, I’ll be put on the back burner. That makes sense, I mean, I want her to have a good time here. “Yeah, sure. We can talk about it later, I’m pretty tired now.”

“Okay.” Holly chirped. “I think I’m going to go force Jackson to make me some sugar bacon.” She told me, giving me a small hug goodbye before nearly skipping out of my room.

She’s having a great time here in Australia and that just makes my decision even more final- I won’t say anything to her about the thing with Jackson.

When she was completely out of my room I let out a long sigh, I wasn’t even tired anymore. I felt really bad about lying to Holly, I don’t think we’ve ever lied to each other, which is why I was so shocked that she couldn’t tell that I was lying just a few minutes ago. I’m sure I’d be able to tell if she was lying about something.

Deciding that I wanted to try to get rid of the guilt that was now kicking me in the gut, I stood up and went through the house to the side that spit me out at the pool. I laid down on my belly at the poolside so that I could put my arms in the water, but not my feet because I still had my slippers on.

The night sky was decorated artfully with bright stars that reflected in the cool pool water that had a stench of chlorine, but it felt good on my overly heated skin.

“Lonely?” An accented voice asked from behind me.

I looked over to see Damon walking over to me with a small smile on his lips. “Spying on me?” I teased.

He chuckled and sat down beside me, letting his legs float in the water. “Nah, I saw you from the beach.” He explained, nudging towards the area where you could see the ocean from the pool and vice versa. “What are you doing out here by yourself?”