Know You Again

(5)

Chapter 5:

     At the sight of the ugly bruise by her nose where a certain young man elbowed her, Mindy's lips set into an upset frown. At least it didn't hurt anymore unless she prodded it or wrinkle her nose. She gingerly touched the discolored skin, jumping at the sharp pain her fingers produced.

"Just put more concealer on it," A voice piped up behind her. "No one will notice it, especially since it's dark out."

"I don't feel like going," Mindy grumbles, green eyes trained on Chloe who just finised painting her toenails a midnight blue color. She watched her friend's lips press into a grim, disapproving line. "What was the point of coming here anyways if you're not going to party?"

"In case you haven't noticed, but we're at a beach. There are a lot of things that I could do—and did do—other than get drunk."

Chloe raised her hands up in exasperation, groaning in annoyance. "Mindy, could you, like for once, please shut the hell up. Just for one fucking time."

Mindy huffed, narrowing her eyes in disbelief. She has had it with the attitude!
What the hell crawled up in your ass and died? Why are you such a mega bitch?"

Before Chloe could say anything back, Hadley grabbed her arm. Mindy grabbed her purse and slammed the door behind her.

"Let go of me!" Chloe snarled and turned to Hadley. She jabbed a manicured finger to her chest. "Stay the fuck away from me."

"If you're pissed at me, fine, but don't lash it out on Mindy. She knows nothing."

"There's nothing to know!" Chloe cried out and shoved past Hadley. "Nothing happened."

"I thought it meant something, you know."

Hadley had put up with Chloe's recent reckless behaviour. The partying, the alcohol, and even sleeping around. Hadley understood that Chloe had a hard time accepting what happened to them, but this was too much. Was everything just a sham from the beginning? Was Chloe seeing it as a simple experiment between two curious girls? And now she's embarrassed of her? Of what they did?

Chloe found herself unable to speak. She couldn't even look at Hadley, who had tears starting to build up in her eyes. It was so unlike Hadley to show weakness that it made Chloe's words die in her throat. Chloe could've easily stopped everything that was going on by telling her that it did not mean anything at all.

But she couldn't find it in herself to say it, and instead Chloe chose to run from Hadley, leaving her in the room all alone with the silence ringing in her ears.

Sebastian and the guys were walking to the girls' hotel room when suddenly Mindy barrelled towards them as she rounded the corner. Her green eyes flared instantly but died down when she recognized her friends she has run into. She looked pissed as hell.

"Woah," Sebastian said. "What happened?"

"Stupid fight with stupid Chloe," Mindy grumbled. "You think I can finish getting ready in your room?"

Sebastian glanced at the other guys and said he was going to accompany Mindy back to his and Alfie's room. The rest of the guys kept on walking to check out what happened in the girls' room when a few seconds later Chloe was dashing past them and running out through the emergency exit.

"Drama," Pete grumbled. "Should we go after her?"

Alfie shook his head. "I'll go get Sebastian, why don't you guys go ahead and check out Hadley." The four guys left weren't close with Chloe so they knew that Sebastian would be the best person to talk to the upset girl.