The Girl Who Never Smiles | ✔️

Chapter 25

"It hurts! I am never drinking again!" Zoe yells and vomits out the rest of the contents of her stomach.

"That's what all alcoholics and teenagers say" I quote Issac, but then a familiar emptiness enters me. Issac and I haven't really talked since the kiss. I guess it has just been a little....awkward? We were best friends and then we kissed. It makes things complicated. Where does that leave our friendship?

Today is the 3rd to last day we will be in Alaska. 

Zoe sits up from the toilet and leans her head against the wall.

"Where were you last night?" she asks and closes her eyes.

"With Issac" I answer.

Her eyes open and she looks at me. "With Issac or with Issac"

My eyebrows crease together in confusion, but when she wiggles her eyebrows, I realize what she meant. "Ewww. I was just with Issac not in that way."

"So....?"

"He took me to see the Northern Lights up at his grandmother's cottage. It was beautiful Zoe. It was almost like it wasn't real. I am still pinching myself about it. So...Issac and I may have...kissed."

"WHAT!" Zoe yells and sits up. She groans in pain and then rest back on the wall.  "You had your first kiss under the Northern Lights. Awwwwwwww"

I feel a blush creep up my face as I replay the events of yesterday night. I let my thumb brush against my bottom lip as I still feel the tingly sensation from my first kiss yesterday.

"Yeah, but then everything became awkward. It's not like we both didn't like it. Well at least I know I did. It was perfect Zoe. There were fireworks, butterfly fluttering, and everything. It was...perfect, but I didn't know what to say afterward. What do you say after you have your first kiss? 'Wow, that was fun.' or 'Thanks'. After that, we just stayed at his grandmother's cottage. He slept on the couch while I slept on the bed despite me telling him that he should take the bed. We then came home this morning. Probably 20 minutes before you started vomiting. I don't know what to do or say. He doesn't know that was my first kiss and I don't want him to know. A 17 year old who has never been kissed, pitiful I know."

"I think you should talk to him. What's the harm? I mean, yeah it's scary. I was too when I first kissed Asher-"

"You and Asher are not a very good example Zo"

"Right. When I had my first kiss, I was scared. How was I going to verbally respond you know? What if he regretted it?"

"Do you think Issac regretted it?" I ask and I feel an ache in my heart at the possibility that my first kiss was terrible for the other guy.

"Issac adores you Bay. The way he looks at you when you aren't looking is the way I want someone to look at me one day. It's understandable why Victoria is jealous. He looks at you like he... like he really likes you and I don't think he hated it. I think he was just nervous after kissing the girl he probably liked since day one. Just talk to him Bay."

"Yeah, you are probably right." I say and and play with the rip in my pants. When I got home, I took a shower and I had changed into a black cropped top and ripped jeans.

"Are you good?" 

"Uh kind of." she says and gets up and washes her mouth out with Listerine. "I am going to the front of the jet. I will continue my designs up there so I will walk with you." she says and grabs her sketchbook and art supply case next to her. I clean up the bathroom, so the vomit scent is gone and we walk out the bathroom. 

We walk down the hallway and nearly reach Issac's room when Victoria and Sienna step in front of us. 

"Hi Bay" Victoria says in a condescending tone and I already know this is not going to be good. 

"Hi Victoria " I say in an equally as condescending voice and the smirk on her face grows.

"So how was last night Bay?" Sienna says with an evil smirk on her face.

"Fine...?"

"That's not what I heard." Victoria says deliberately in a louder voice so others would hear. She  flips her blond locks behind her shoulder and holds her head high. Asher, Cartier, Armani, and Issac emerge from the main part of the jet and as much as I try to avoid Issac's intense stare, I can't and I briefly look at him, but then look back at Victoria.

"I heard" she says and shift her footing. "That someone's first kiss didn't work out." She pouts her lips and uses her finger to trace a rolling tear down her face.

How did she- 

Did Issac tell her?

"What are you talking about Victoria?" Zoe say in a bored tone. I am feeling quite anxious at the moment and I have a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach.

"You had your first kiss with Issac Evans, but it was also your first kiss in general, but it didn't work out didn't it? I feel so bad for you. You are probably the only person who could make kissing Issac Evans awkward. I mean he doesn't like you. See, he loved me. So, we never experienced that. You really thought you could top my relationship with him. Congratulations, you. played. yourself. How does it feel to know Issac may have not liked it? Huh?" she says and flashes me a full toothed smirk and bats her eyelashes.

I want to crawl in a hole and die. Literally.

I can feel everyone's stares on me and it feels like it's clawing at my skin trying to rip me of my skin and expose me, so they could see how I am feeling. How sad and angry I am. My eyes flicker to Issac's and he is looking at me wide eyed.

"Victoria...don't" Cartier says from behind Victoria and Sienna.

"The walls from the bathroom to my room is pretty thin but you on the other hand, is very dense." she says and laughs. 

"You're a joke" Sienna says and laughs. Victoria and Sienna then walk away and into their room. I can't move. I am frozen to my spot.  I feel so exposed that it has shaken me to my core. One of the most important moments in my life has been exposed by Victoria Hughes. I tuck a strand of my hair behind my ear. Zoe taps me and I look at her.

"Lets go back to the room" she says and holds my hand.

I look up at a certain someone and he is already walking over to me. I feel like I want to cry. I just want to break down and cry, but I won't. I have been strong for 7 years. I can do it now too. I turn around and walk back to the room and once Zoe and I are in the room, I close the door behind us and silence fills the room. I look around at the tiny bags of candy still in the room and the bouquet of peonies in the compartment above the bed. A tear rolls down my face and I quickly wipe it away and walk over to the bed where Zoe is sitting. She engulfs me in a tight hug and murmurs 'sorry' in my ear, but all I could think about is how exposed and stripped apart I felt.