Double Dare II waterparks

041

"We bro—" Travis starts to announce, only to cut himself off.  "Where the hell did Awsten disappear to?"  "Airport.  He's getting a flight back to Houston as soon as possible," Grace answers simply, starting off into space.  "Wait, what?" Jawn doesn't hide the immediate confusion.  "He left?  Why would he do that?"  "Because he's a stubborn asshole," Grace mumbles, glaring at the wall.  "This is awkward," Jack mumbles, looking around.  "But I'm eating the extra food that was gonna be for the stubborn asshole!"  "Can we have a minute?" Otto requests with a frown.  This time, no one hesitates to escape the tense room.  "You don't curse," Otto points out once they're alone, "like, ever.  And I'm pretty sure the meanest thing you've ever called someone is a jerk and now you're calling your best friend an asshole?"  "He's not my best friend," Grace denies quietly, her mind flashing back to their parting words to each other.  "I never want to see him again."  ●☆●☆●☆●☆●  Geoff is confused and angry and extremely worried.  He arrives at the airport, wanting to yell at Awsten for not answering his damn phone.  What's the point of having it if he's going ignore every call he gets?  Geoff is left to wander around in search of Awsten and it takes him nearly an hour to find the blue-haired man.  "What the hell is going on?" Geoff doesn't bother saying hello as he takes the seat next to Awsten in the waiting area.  "I'm going home," Awsten answers with a shrug, "flight leaves in ten hours."  "So, you're just going to spend ten hours here waiting?  You gotta be fucking kidding me," Geoff's frustration with the situation grows.  "What happened with you and Grace at the hospital?"  "I told her we shouldn't see each other for a while.  We talked about it.  Talking turned into arguing after she asked how I could be jealous of her and Otto and I kinda lost my shit because how could I not be jealous.  But, after that, we both said some...regrettable things that I'm not gonna repeat because it was fucked and way out of hand and I took some low blows because I guess I can be a real dick sometimes.  Anyway, by the end of the whole thing, what was gonna be a few months or so apart turned into fuck you I never want to see you again," Awsten sums up the events, sounding too exhausted to really care about any of what happened.  "So, yeah, I'm gonna wait here for ten hours and obsess over this whole thing until I can get back to Houston and make sure there's nothing left in my life of her."  "You do realize that you two have pretty much all the same friends, right?  You can't push her out of your life that easy," Geoff tries to reason with him.  Geoff simply can't imagine a world in which Awsten and Grace aren't friends.  For as long as he's known both of them, they've been connected in ways he could never understand.  The pair has known each other for nearly their entire lives, that's not the kind of tie you can just severe this easily, with almost zero emotion apparent.  Grace was a mess when the group came back in but Otto had been comforting her, hugging her and telling her they'd figure everything out and that Awsten hadn't meant whatever it was that had been said, that it was all just in the moment and didn't mean a thing.  Awsten, on the other hand, is scarily well put together at the moment, showing no signs of remorse or grief at the loss of such a long-lasting friendship.  He just looks tired and empty but still well composed.  "You act like I don't know how to burn a bridge."  Out of the plane, into the ocean.  Out of the plane, into the ocean.  Out of the plane, into the ocean.  Oh, how he craves the ocean.