Slightly Less Badass

~Chapter Eight~

Two days pass and I get bored with ignoring Rina. I'm still very mad at her but I wish she would just apologize and get it over with so we could go back to talking. I'm not sure if I'm really ready to forgive her completely for accusing me of something so serious and offensive but right now I'm too bored to care if my forgiveness is sincere or not. But instead I was stuck talking to only Jacob and David. I didn't mind at first but after seventy two hours of talking to only them, I'm starting to get annoyed. During the day we go to the beach and just relax in the sand. Rina and Jay go with us but they sit about a foot or two away from Jacob and I. David sits between us as a sort of barrier. Then in the evenings we retreat to out rooms until dinner time. After eating Rina and Jay disappear upstairs again, leaving the three of us to watch tv. We seem to have the same conversations over and over again. This vacation started out great and then slowly went downhill. And it's not like I had my car with me so I couldn't just drive away from all of them and go somewhere by myself.

When we get to day five of our vacation, day three of ignoring each other, it occurs to me that I may just have to confront her instead of waiting around for her. I sit on my bed, battling with myself. I either had to man up or suffer. Several times I crawl out of my bed with the intent of of marching to her room but then as I reach my bedroom door I chicken out and run back to my bed.
"Oh god I'm like an obnoxious teenage girl waiting for a boy to tell her that he like-likes her," I groan and throw myself back onto my bed after I wimp out once again.
"You feel that way too?"
I sit back up and look over at who just entered my room. Rina shuffles into the room, closing the door behind her, then walks to the side of my bed. I can't decide if I want to smile or scowl at her.
"Can I help you?" I ask, trying to keep all emotion out of my voice. She hesitates before sitting on the edge of my bed. She opens her mouth, closes it, then opens it again. She repeats this action a few times before she actually says anything.
"I, uh, I only asked you that because, um well because... Don't get mad. I didn't mean anything by it. It's just that uh.."
She trails off, looking uncertainly at me. I get the sense of deja vu. I roll my eyes and mutter the same thing I did four night ago when she was stammering on my bed.
"Just spit it out already." When she doesn't say anything else, I continue talking, just to break the uncomfortable silence. "Also, 90% of the time when people say 'don't get mad' they're usually about to say something that's obnoxious. Just a random fact for you."
"Well Jay asked a few months ago if he thought there was something going on between you and Jacob. Of course I immediately said that he was being ridiculous. But that night was movie night and Jay left to go get us all some food. You snuggled up next to Jacob and kept talking and laughing with him until Jay got back. After that I just started to notice how close you two were. I voiced my concerns to Jay. I didn't know he was going to kick you out and be so cold to you, though. If I had, I wouldn't have said anything to him. Mira I'm really super duper really sorry."
She looked like she was about to cry. She looks rather pitiful. I'm not sure why she looked so upset, it should be me that's in tears. Instead I'm the complete opposite and am trying to stifle laughter.
"Rina."
"Yea? Oh you hate me don't you? I'm so sorry Mira," she wails and hides her face in her hands. I can't conceal it anymore, now I'm laughing.  She peaks at me through her fingers which only causes me to laugh more.
"You're pathetic, you know that," I tell her, still laughing slightly. She takes her hands away from her face and looks at me in concern. Then her expression turns to a look of horror.
"Oh no. You really are doing Jacob aren't you?" she asks, completely misunderstanding my laughter.
"Ew nasty. Why do people think that?" a muffled voice yells from the other side of the door.
"You can come in Jacob," I yell back with a roll of my eyes. He opens the door and walks in, his face very red. He hardly ever got embarrassed so this must means he wasn't wanting us to know he was there.
"Eavesdropper."
"Oh shut up," he replies. Rina is still wiping her tears away but when Jacob sits only a centimeter away from me she looks like she's about to start crying again. This might make me seem horrible, but I don't like dealing with crying people, even if it's my best friend. I'm just too awkward and always seem to make things worse. I nudge Jacob and gesture towards her. He glares and me but thankfully starts talking. He looks very uncomfortable as he tries to explain.
"Mira and I are just friends. That's all we'll ever be. Kissing her would be like kissing my brother, which is something I never, ever plan on doing. So stop accusing us of stuff. And please stop crying."
"Really?" she sniffles.
"Not that it's any of your business but yes, really."
"All you had to do was ask when you first had your suspicions, Rina. I would've been honest either way. Jacob and I's friendship is very similar to our friendship; were just really close," I say as gently as I can. Again I think of how ridiculous it was that I had to comfort her, it should be the other way around. I mean, I am the one whose friends thinks she's a slut.
"I'm sorry," she says in a quiet voice. "Forgive me"
"Oh my goodness. Y'all sound like some sappy tv show and I can't take it anymore," David suddenly bursts into the room and says.
"Is everyone just eavesdropping today?" I demand. Both boys look at each other, shrug, and nod their heads.
"That's it. Both of you get out."
They start to argue with me but all I have to do is glare at them and they instantly jump up and leave. I lock the door behind them. Grabbing Rina by the arm, I lead us into the bathroom so those idiots can't listen.
"I do forgive you. Not completely yet. But I will eventually. For now, though I think you should be my slave until I decide I've forgiven you," I say jokingly. It takes her a moment to register what I said. Her expression quickly turns from sadness to a smirk.
"Oh that's what you think, huh?"
"Ya it seems like fair punishment to me," I tell her with a shrug.
"Alright. I'll be your slave until Wednesday, which will be three days. Then that'll give us seven days to actually enjoy our vacation since we leave next Thursday morning. Deal?"
"Oh I was just joking ab-"
"No I'm gonna do it. I feel horrible. So, deal?"
"Um, well, I guess. But you're very strange, you know that?"
"Ya but so are you. So now that we're friends again I've got something great planned." Her voice drops to a whisper and she leans slightly closer to me. "David is always saying that he's jealous the four of us had a prank war as teenagers. He says that we always bring it up and he feels left out. So I was thinking-"
"No, please, no. Don't say it. The last war didn't go too well if you don't remember. We nearly weren't friends anymore. Plus I don't know if I can think of anymore good pranks," I groan. She continues like I hadn't spoken at all.
"That since we technically already started one with Jacob- when we drew on him and then he got us back by pouring flour on us- that we might as well include David in this war."
"Ugh I was hoping you wouldn't say that."
"Plus I overheard Jacob telling David that he was already planning on pranking us again so really it'll just be self defense. You might as well just be prepared."
"But we already did this. It seems redundant and pointlessly repetitive to do it again."
"Fine but don't be surprised if you wake up with your eyebrows missing or something."
"I hate you so much right now."
"Is this you saying yes?"
"I don't wanna but it seems I don't have much of a choice. If Jacob wants war, then he's gonna get a war."
"Find your face paint and water guns, Mira, cause we're going back to war."
"Yay."
"Say it with more enthusiasm," she scolds. She keeps glaring at me until finally I repeat it, this time just slightly louder. She seems satisfied and leaves the room. I know right then and there that I'm going to regret this.