% CHAPTER 43 %

I hold my head in my hands as I crawl out of bed. What happened last night? Why is my head pounding like this?

Someone in the bed beside me let's out a moan. "Oh my god, this is torture!" Her voice cracks at the end and she hacks out a few coughs, causing her to moan even more. "Ow, my head."

I look over to her. Whit is banging her head into her pillow like a maniac. "Too much alcohol..."

I begin to get alarmed. Alcohol?! Please tell me I didn't drink any of that stuff! How would that even happen?! The sane Taylor Bradwick wouldn't even participate in such an activity.

All of the thinking makes the abrasive pain worsen. How in the hell am I supposed to deal for the day?

"Water," Whit croaks. I try to reply but my vocal chords squeeze shut, leaving me with no voice.

I slowly make my way to the refrigerator, holding onto inanimate objects to keep my balance as I walk. The burst of cool air hits my face as I open the mini fridge. It feels so amazing. I close my eyes and just kneel there with my head in practically in the fridge.

"What the fuck are you doing?" Whit asks from behind me. When did she get there?

I grab onto a water bottle and open it before taking a nice long chug. The throbbing in my head lessens just a little bit and I sigh in content.

"Just getting some water." My voice sounds void of moisture, even though I just drank a buttload of water.

"Get me some too."

I reach in for a second bottle and hand it off to her before closing the door. Then I take continuous gulps of water, trying to ease my headache some more.

"Did I drink alcohol last night?" I ask rather stupidly. I already know the answer. I'm just hoping I'm wrong.

Whit rubs at her temples, a sign that she is irritated. "Nope this major headache that you're experiencing is not because you drank alcohol. It's because I hit you with a metal pipe last night and you passed out. Everyone thought you were dead. They almost buried you alive-"

"Okay okay I get it." I pinch the bridge of my nose. Whitney was never good at being sarcastic like that. She just kept rambling and always deferred from the point she was trying to make completely. "Let's go downstairs to get some breakfast."

Whit has already chugged down half the bottle before we make it down to the lobby. When we arrive, we immediately spot our group of friends.

"Look who finally decided to wake up!" Aaron says with a smile. His naturally loud voice makes my ear drums ring. I ignore the pain and smile back.

Whit's eyes open up a little wider, shocked by the sudden loud noise. Other than us, there are not too many people down here. The tv is on, which on any other day would be nice, but today I just want to punch in the screen to get it to shut up.

"I've got to pee guys. See you later," Whit says in a brief manner. She scurries away before anyone can react.

Everyone exchanges questionable glances. "She drank a lot of water," I croak. My voice is still not in the best of shape. On cue, I take another sip from my bottle and then hold it on my head, letting the cold numb my headache just a little.

"Of course, considering you guys were so drunk last night!" Connie says loudly. Her voice rings in my ear like irritating chimes. I pinch the bridge of my nose, trying to get the new pain in my forehead to go away.

"Shhhhhh," I reply slowly. "How did it even happen? All I remember is taking a little sip."

Victoria began staring accusingly at Jake. "Well Jake here, knew you two were a light weight, so he challenged you both to a few shots. That ended up being more than a few. By then you both were just completely wasted so you kept wanting more alcohol. Whit threw up once, and then you...revealed something to us. After that, everyone sorta dispersed and I had Jake carry you and Aaron carry Whit to the rooms."

"Well thank you for that Victoria." Truth be told, all my brain registered was like the first and last sentence. Also the part where Whit threw up. Or maybe I was hearing things. Who knows. Hangovers suck.

"Come on take a seat. Then we can get you something to eat. Bret will get your plate." I nod at Victoria and look over at my boyfriend. He strangely hasn't said a word or contributed to any conversation. He stands up and heads over to the buffet to get food.

Suddenly, it seems as everyone just got closer.

"Okay spill girl!"

"How did it happen?!"

"You were so drunk last night we couldn't even ask questions!"

"How did he ask you out?!"

"Did he get one one knee?!"

"Did you say yes?!"

"Of course she said yes Connie or else they wouldn't be dating!"

My eyes seem to jump out of my skull. I just got the "How did he ask you out part." A few seconds later, I gasp. Now the dating part has sunk in.

"How did you guys know all that?!"

"A drunk man's words are a sober man's thoughts Taylor. And Bret also confessed it was true after you just blabbered it out. So any way, how many weeks?" Connie asks.

"Months?"

"Years?!"

Gwen sits quietly in her chair, giving me an encouraging smile. Thank God she already knows. I would be having a heart attack if three girls were surrounding me.

"Weeks," I say. "Definitely not years. I've only known Bret for about seven months and for six of them, we hated each other's guts."

Whit comes back and suddenly the two girls parade around her. "Did you know Bret and Taylor are dating?!"

Whit chuckles. "Aw hells yeah. I was there when it happened!" She then dives into a whole story about Amanda and the little book her and Bret made for me. I smile at the reminder. I still have that book. It's on my dresser, so I can look at it every morning when I wake up.

The boys have just been sitting at another table having their own conversations, but when Bret gets back, we all start to come together as one group.

The headache is going down. I guess I didn't have too much to drink after all. The water and food is definitely helping. I feel more pumped up now. After we finish eating, we stay at the breakfast table for a while longer until the buffet closes.

"Come on guys! Let's go put on our swimming attire!" Aaron says it so proper it becomes funny. Wow, I'm a weird soul.

We all head up to the stairs and to our separate rooms. While putting on our bikinis, Gwen packs a few beach towels and gets the sun tan lotion. The weather is starting to become warmer. The girls all begin putting on each other's sunscreen. That's when I notice Whit is missing. I wave it off. She's probably still suffering from a Class A Hangover. She doesn't need a babysitter.

We walk out of the room with our beach bags in hand. A random guy walking down the hotel hallway drops his jaw to the floor when he sees us walk by. I swear I can see a dribble of drool. That's gross. He looks to be in his thirties. We're high schoolers. Perv. Why are all boys such perverts these days? Can't we go back to the ancient days? Actually scratch that. In the ancient days, men made sculptures of naked women. That takes the cake for "most perverted man ever."

Our flip flops make squeaky noises through the lobby. People turn to stare. I suddenly feel as if every move I make is significant. I'm being watched. That makes me feel as if I'm going to trip over my sandal. What is this madness? When we get to the car, we all stop.

"Who's car are we going to take?" Victoria asks as if we had an option. Truth is, we don't. We only brought three cars. We only have keys for one. "My car it is," she mumbles.

She hits a button and the trunk pops open with a beep. We set our bags inside before closing the trunk and getting in one by one. Just then, Victoria's phone rings.

"Hello?- Yeah, we're already heading there.- Okay see you then. Bye." She hangs up. "That was the boys. They're at the beach entrance already. It costs three dollars per person to get in. Everyone got their moolah?"

"We were supposed to bring money?" Connie asks, dumbfounded.

I chuckle. "I gotcha covered Connie. Don't worry about it."

"Okay. Anyone else not covered?" No ones speaks up. "Kay good."

She starts the engine and we speed away in her Subaru Forester. Way to go Subaru! I usually don't like Subarus, but this one is actually really nice. It's a smooth ride.

We arrive at the entrance gate in a matter of minutes. We hand off all of our dues and ride off into the beach. Victoria gets Gwen to call the boys and get them to navigate us to where they are. Once we find them, Victoria parks the car and Gwen hangs up. I notice that Isaac isn't along with the boys.

"Where's Isaac?" I ask.

Aaron scratches his head. "He had a last minute change of heart when he saw the Tale of Horror thing."

"What's that?" Vicki asks.

"It's this ghost mystery. They say the 12th floor of this hotel is haunted. Only there isn't a twelfth floor. There's only 10 floors," Jake pipes in.

Connie rolls her eyes. "So what, he's off to find the missing floor?"

Aaron chuckles. "Please. That guy isn't interested in that shit. He probably saw some hot chick or something."

My eyes narrow into slits. Disgusting. I can't believe I let him hug me, not knowing that he was actually feeling me up. I think back to when I found out Whitney was missing. Could they be...? I squeal in delight. Maybe there is hope for Isaac after all. No one can whip a boy into shape better than Whitney can. Well, now that I know that they're both together, it gives me a sense of assurance.

"Come on. Let's set up the tent so we can play in the water," I say.

There are surprisingly a lot of people for it being spring and all. I have to say the weather really isn't that bad. Definitely not as cold as last time. I breathe in the nice salty air. It seems to clear my airways and my head suddenly seems void of the nausea from before. It was good that Isaac suggested this. And now he's not even here. He better be treating my Whipped Cream right.

We girls set down the beach towels while the boys set up the tent. They also brought beach chairs. Thank god. I am literally in love with beach chairs. They are the coolest things.

I reapply sunscreen, just because I'm cool like that (I also burn so easily because of my Snow White skin). Then I begin to take my long awaited suntan, well at least until a hear the highest pitch of squeals I have ever heard in my life. I lift the shades from my eyes to see what's going on.

I don't get much time to process what I'm seeing, however because a pair of strong arms wraps around me and picks me up, carrying me to the icy waves. I shriek and try wiggling out of the person's grasp. They only laugh and hold on tighter. That's when I find out its a guy. It's Bret.

The water is underneath me now. The tips of my toes touch the surface and I squeal. The water is ice cold. How is Bret not freezing up?! I try to get out of his hold.

"Let me go Bret!" I say.

Not a good idea. He let's me go. The water comes to my ankles. Cold! I feel like my feet are going to fall off! That how cold the water is.

"You said to let go!"

Nearby, Vicki is fighting off her boyfriend. Connie would have been picked up by Isaac, who has suddenly appeared with Whitney, but her glares are the coldest and most menacing in the world.

I turn my attention back to Bret. I hold out my arms. "Carry me!" I wail. I'm shivering already.

Bret gives out a chuckle. He hoists me up bridal style and walks out of the water. How could he even stand the intense cold of that water?! He made it seem so easy!

Back in my chair, I overlook the ocean with Bret in the foreground. He looks so happy. I just hope we can last and look like that, not be stressed out by our relationship, especially with our job. Back when Jenna and Bret had to kiss I just wanted to rip my hair out. I don't want it to be like that every day.

I guess all I can do is take Whit's word for it and hope that Bret is the one for me.

****

unedited!

Hey peeps! 43rd chappie! and almost done!! Yayy hahaha then once it's entered into the Watty Awards, I'll begin editing on EVERYTHING, from beginning to end! Fun right?! NOT! But I do it for you guys lol.

Thank you all for supporting me!

LIZZIE