Intoxicated

Chapter 11

*SIMONE'S POV*

As my eyes took in the mass of moving students and adults carrying assorted breakfast foods, my heart seized in my chest. I wasn't used to being alone, I always had Kenz or Dill attached to my hip so that large crowds seemed a lot less...large. But as I stood with an everything bagel and an apple on my tiny plate my social anxiety began to kick in. I didn't have Kenzie's charisma, and I didn't have Dylan's easy going attitude to just walk up to a random table and sit there. I mean the majority of the kids on the trip were friends with me, but they were already huddled into groups, whispering and pointing at maps as they tried not to knock over their drinks. Breathe Mo, just breathe. I willed my lungs to intake air as my feet lazily carried me to the corner of the breakfast area right beside the fireplace, and I sat down, alone, at a table of four.

If I wasn't still pissed at Dylan I would have begged him to meet me down here, but I couldn't let my grudge go. But seriously, who the hell acts like that? He hasn't shown himself to be knight in shining armor material, at least to me, so it made no sense for him to all of a sudden try to protect me. And beyond that, I didn't need any fucking protecting, I could handle myself, I always have. Once I had made it to my room last night, I had gone through the night backwards and forwards, trying to figure out what his motivation for being an absolute idiot was, and I had come up irritatingly empty. I angrily ripped off a piece of my bagel, imagining it was Dill's head. Then seeing as it helped to relieve some of my anger, I tore off another piece and continued to rip it, hoping Dylan would feel every tear.

"Um...Simone?" I vaguely heard the voice call my name but I couldn't snap myself out of my mutilation of the poor everything bagel. My gaze narrowed only to focus on the little seasonings chipping off and making a mess on the table as I went on to separate Dylan for the fourth time.

There was movement to my right, and then a heavy body was falling into the seat beside me. The person paused for a few seconds, waiting to see if I would acknowledge their presence, and when my eyes didn't flick towards them, they must have gotten the hint that I wasn't going to.

The next thing I knew, tanned hands were holding my own, stopping me from killing bagel Dylan yet another time. "Simone." His voice was a command, and my head slowly turned to the right to be met with dove gray eyes that I hadn't noticed before.

"What?" My stomach did summersaults as I realized how warm his hands were and how they were big enough so that one of his covered nearly both of mine.

"What are you doing?" Tony had a hint of a smile on his face and I averted my eyes to the mangled remains of the bagel with salt and pepper guts dotting the table. I looked back at him and with an embarrassed laugh released my hold on the bread and moved my hands out from under his, allowing them to lie limply in my lap. "Just...ya know, eating breakfast?" I let out another nervous laugh and brushed my hands together, allowing the crumbs on my hands to fall on the floor. Lord, this poor kid probably thinks I'm freakin psycho after seeing me cry on a beach and the next day strangle an innocent carbohydrate.

He laughed in that same easy way I had heard last night. "Well that for sure is the strangest way to eat breakfast that I have ever seen." Looking back at his face I saw there was nothing but joking there and I let go of a deep breath.

"Yeah, it's a new trend, you should try it sometime." We both chuckled a little and I pulled my legs up so that I could sit crisscross on the wooden chair. "Oh and Tony? I just wanted to thank you again for last night...honestly I would probably still be on that beach sobbing like a mess if it wasn't for you." I internally cringed at how I had ended my night and tried not to shudder at the thought of him seeing me as a blubbering mess.

Thank God I went the extra mile to look good today.

He just smiled again and leaned back in his chair with his hands clasped behind his blonde head, allowing me to see just how freaking buff his arms were. "Really don't mention it. So what are your plans for the day?" He peeked over at me and I tried to make it look as if I wasn't totally gawking at how in shape he was.