Waiting To Exhale

Thirty-two

After an extremely long and nearly unbearable drive, we finally make it to the lake house. The lake house is humongous, not at all what I was expecting. The place is two freakin' stories. Two! It's wooden with stone decor. A nice fireplace sits off to the side in front of the house. A couple of chairs are places around it. It even has a balcony. I've never seen a lake house like this. It's beautiful. I can't wait to see what the inside looks like.

I grab my bag and rush off to the house, snatching the keys out of Kenyan's hand. She laughs. I apologize for being rude. I'm just so excited. I can already tell this weekend is going to be fun. Just what I need.

The inside is nothing short of what I expected. Its truly beautiful in all its wooden glory. What kind of person owns a lake house this extravagant? Stupid rich people that's who. People that have so much money they but more than one house simply because they can. I wonder what it would have been like if I grew up with filthy rich parents and grandparents. I wouldn't have any care in the world other than the normal teenage stuff. I wonder if I would still be with Mason. The first time he saw me I was at work. I wouldn't even need to work if we had money. There's a great possibility I wouldn't have even ran into him.

No. This isn't about Mason. I came here to get away from and everything else. This is my escape plan and I'm not going to let Mason ruin this trip for me.

"The master room is off limits. My room is upstairs, the first door on the left. Other than that you guys can pick whichever room you like." Kenyan announce. I take my bag and rush upstairs. This place is amazing. I've never seen anything like it in person before. I pick the first open room. It's huge. I can't believe it's not the master bedroom. Now I really want to see what that's like. I unpack my things and settle in. This is going to be the best weekend ever.

"Olivia we're going to be in the Jacuzzi. Come find us when you're done up there!" I hear Frankie yell. I pull out my bikini. Jen pressured me into buying it. As strange as it may seem, this is my first swimsuit. Ever. It's a simple deep blue. It fits perfectly. My body actually looks nice in it. I just don't know what the girls would think of it.

I grab a towel and head downstairs. I find the girls relaxing and drinking red wine in fancy glasses. The make stupid cat calls when they see me arriving. I feel my cheeks heat up. "Sexy mama!" Frankie jokes. She's clearly already had too much to drink. Its already dark out. The patio is lit up beautifully. I'm just calling in love with this place.

"Kenyan this place is amazing," I confess. I step into the Jacuzzi, sighing when the water caress my body.

"It is." Jen agrees.

Jen pass me a glass of wine. I'm hesitant but I drank some anyway. I don't plan on getting drunk. I just want to relax for the weekend.

Before I know it the clock strikes twelve and I'm nowhere near ready to go to bed. Neither is anyone else. We got out the Jacuzzi a couple hours ago. Kenyan has us getting all dressed up to go to some party a friend she use to be cool with invited her to when they heard she was coming. She wont tell us anything but I'm sure it's a guy.

I picked out my outfit a couple minutes ago. Now I'm just staring at it. Its spread nearly over my bed. Parties just haven't ended well for me. The first time I went to a party I almost got taped. The second time I went to a party I did get raped. I'm not sure if I can go. I mean, I want to have fun and everything but I don't want to put myself in a position like that again. A party just doesn't feel like the best thing for me right now.

Knock! Knock! Knock!

"Come in!"

Jen opens up the door and glides over to my bed for the weekend in all her five inch glory. She looks like Some sort of royalty in her flowy dress and hair pulled up. She certainly has the gait of one. Jen plops down on the bed beside me. Wrapping an arm around my shoulder, "you know you don't have to go if you don't want to. I do realize you've been having a tough time. It must have been awful ending up in that hospital like that. You don't have to worry about those girls ever. Especially not here."

Okay so maybe I haven't been so honest lately. I told the girls I got jumped. I just don't know how to tell them what really happened. I didn't even want to tell Mason, not yet anyway. He pulled and pushed me until I couldnr take it anymore. I was cornered. With Jen and Kenyan and Frankie it's different. They're so naive I don't think they could ever believe something like that could happen. I was just lucky I knew people at both parties to come and save me. The girls aren't exactly reliable when it comes to stuff like that. They're going to be too busy shoving alcohol down their throats.

"I should just stay here."

"In this big house alone? I mean suit yourself. I'll tell them you felt sick or something," Jen says. She gives me a quick hug before getting up. I sit on the bed conteplating my next move. I stay and I'll be here all alone. That's not exactly the problem for me. I came here to escape. What better way to escape than a party? You know what...

"I'll go get dress. It won't even take me long." I've already had a few cups of wine. I don't think tequila can do more harm than good. Oh what am I thinking? Its tequila. I'm already a mess. I'll feel much better when I'm numb to the pain. This must be what Gabriel feels. Numb.