The Ex & The Why

one.

ELISA LIKED CHALLENGES.

       That was part of the reason she took all AP classes back in high school and even took up running (of course this was before she realized that all things exercise was brought to Earth by the devil himself).

       It was also why she had agreed to this whole mess in the first place - six weeks of water sailing, spa treatment, fancy buffets every night, and a flat screen TV with instant Netflix. Of course, none of those things make the whole ordeal a mess. No, that would be Mason, her ex-boyfriend

       See, the resort wasn't just a resort. It was a young adult couples resort, recommended to Elisa and Mason from their school counselor. Not only would she be forced to see him on a daily basis for couple's therapy, but she would have to share one of the cabins with him. Admittedly, she wouldn't have to share a room or, heaven forbid, a bed with him, but it was all the same. She would have to see him every morning, every night, and with the reputation he has she would probably have to hear him, too.

       She was perfectly happy throwing her sour raspberry slushy in his face during school's lunch once she found out he had slept with someone else (A drunken mistake, he had called it. A drunken mistake, her ass.), turning on her heel like the drama queen she so obviously is, and stomping out of the cafeteria and his life for good - aside from first and third period, but she can't really help that.

       Okay, so maybe it did hurt a little (Exaggeration of the year - it hurt a lot), but she wasn't going to cry over it. And she sure as hell wasn't going to sob her way through tubs of ice cream (it was pizza, and she wouldn't exactly call the whale-like sounds coming out of her mouth sobs).

       So she did what any sensible teenager in her right mind (which for the record, she wasn't) would do when her counselor called her up in the middle of summer with a proposal. She agreed.

        Yet, as she sat on one of the many tables surrounding a tiki bar with her straw hat covering her face and her boyfriend (ex-boyfriend) bounded off the last bus of the night before it pulled away, she couldn't exactly recall why. 

       "What are you doing?"

       Elisa jumped, her eyes flitting to the green-eyed boy plopping down across from her and then back to Mason who had just retrieved his luggage from one of the workers. Good, she thought, breathing out in relief. He didn't see me.

       "You look a little pale," the boy said thoughtfully, pursing his lips. "You need some sun. Pronto."

     Elisa turned her attention back to the intruder who was sweeping his eyes across her. Instinctively, she swiped her right hand over her arm as if somehow that would keep the boy from scrutinizing her naturally white skin.

      "I burn easily," she said in way of explanation. "So, I tend to stay indoors."

     "Obviously," the boy rolled his eyes, and then thrust his hand towards her. "I'm Luke, and you are?"

     "Elisa," Elisa said.

     "My step-sister's name is Elisa," he muttered dryly, but then he immediately brightened. "But don't worry; you are so much prettier than her. What are you staring at?"

     Luke twisted in his seat to try and get a glimpse in the direction Elisa was glaring. Mason was leaning against the bus now, grinning as he talked to the pretty Hispanic girl standing in front of him.

     "Is that your boyfriend?" He asked, but didn't wait for an answer. "Because, he's totally hitting on Mariana and that girl will snap up your man as quick as you can say STD."