Achieving Unbroken
Chapter Thirty Six

—

"She could set Brooklyn on fire,
(When you're misunderstood)
That red eye passion inside, but girl you look so good"
Brooklyn | Gatsby

—

Lilla
[Wednesday, July 28th, 2018]

"If Vince invited her, I'm gonna kill him. No hesitation. If she's there when we walk in, I'm taking him down. That's it. This could be the last day of this life."

"What?"

My eyes are trained on the car that is parked among a mess of other vehicles in Vince's house. It's Bianca's car, and last time I checked, Bianca wasn't invited. Bianca hasn't hung out with us in a long time. Bianca decided to make herself look like a dick.

So why would she be here?

Please, God, if you're out there; your girl could seriously use some help right about now.

"Bianca, the girl who blamed you for the fight. " I point out to Jason, finally relieving the heavily confused facial expression he was wearing.

"Oh."

"Yeah."

We stay quiet for a few seconds as Jason pulls in and puts the car in park. Trying to distract myself from whatever storm was in my future, I gaze out the window at the overcast sky, the tall trees that are stuck in a wind blown position. The clicking of a seatbelt makes me look back at Jason.

"Well," he starts, "if, by some crazy chance, she's here, then we will just avoid her. It's not like I'm really her biggest fan either, and I doubt that Piper will wanna be around her either." Looking him up and down, expressionless, I exhale sharply through my nose.

"You're right."

"Of course I am." Jason reaches over and unbuckles my seatbelt for me, quickly after jumping out of the car and going around to the trunk. I mimic him, but I pause for a moment; feeling the chill of the air brush over my face and run through my hair, the refreshing salty smell, the roar of the ocean so close. My mouth relaxes into a grin, and I open the back seat door and grab his little duffel bag.

"What're you doing?" Jason asks suspiciously when he sees me sling the luggage over my shoulder. I shrug.

"You're carrying my bags, I'm returning the favor."

Laughter bursts out of him, and he throws his head back, shaking it as he calms down.

"You are something else." Before I can let out another teasing remark, the door to the house opens and closes, getting our attention.

"Finally!" Piper yells from the porch. "The couple of the hour! We've been waiting for you!"

"We're fashionably late," I exclaim in response. As Jason and I approach the porch, our voices return to a normal volume.

"Where'd you learn that term, Phineas and Ferb?" She rolls her eyes, reopening the door to let us in.

"Yes," I snap back, because even though she was joking, I'm telling the truth. "Anyways, who all decided to—"

A familiar laugh makes me stop in my steps, and Jason matches me. We both send panicked looks at Piper.

"I tried texting you. The my cell provider doesn't cover out here. The messages wouldn't send, and by the time I got logged onto the WiFi, you guys were pulling up." And before we know it, multiple pairs of footsteps are coming towards us, about to enter the small hallway. Vince, Patrick and... Bianca.

"I heard y'all were waiting for us," I force out through a fake smile. Tempted to drag Vince by his hair to a room and ask him how she got here, I feel something holding me back; Jason's hand wrapping tightly around mine. The comforting gesture floods warmth through my body, catching me off guard. I take a few deep breaths, and bask in the slight satisfaction I get from the pure fear on Vince's face, preparing myself to speak. "So, what rooms are left, since more people showed up?"

"I'll show ya," Patrick pipes up, gesturing for us to follow him. We shove past Vince and Bianca and follow Patrick and Piper to the basement of the house that apparently has two bedrooms. As we trail behind them, I see Shayla in the kitchen, inhaling a bowl of grapes.

I really don't see how this could get any better.

The whole house is three floors and located on a hill, so there's a direct exit outside from the basement on the other side of the house. Which means, we can come and go as we please without having to risk close encounters.

"When Patrick and I saw that Shayla and Bianca came, we ran down here and put our claim on these rooms. Lil, you and I can share, and Jay, you can share with Patrick." With a last glance and genuine smile at Jason, I rest his bag down before I follow Piper into the room she got for us. It's one queen bed with a nightstand on either side, and a dresser with a small television on top of it. There is also a closet with two sliding doors off on the right wall.

"So, where's 'Triple A'?" I flop down on the bed, grunting from the instant mental exhaustion that's hitting me. "It's like the whole Brady Bunch is back together. Why didn't she show up for the reunion?"

"Vince says that he invited them as a surprise for us because he wanted us all to make up. They said they wanted to apologize, and Allison rejected the offer, telling him that we wouldn't want them here."

"She's right," I point out.

"Yeah, she is. So, I texted her."

"You what?" I shriek, jumping into a sitting position on the bed, looking at her incredulously.

"I texted her. I said 'Vincent says you didn't follow the herd because you thought we wouldn't want you guys around. I'm surprised you actually stuck your ground. Bravo.'"

"And she said...?"

"She said 'I need to see you and Lilla when you guys come back. I'm so sorry. All I was hearing was rumors and bullshit, and it was my fault for believing it. If you guys would see me, I would really like to talk it out.'"

My instant reaction is to fling myself back onto the bed.

"I hate people," I groan, covering my face with my hands. "Why is she deciding that she wants our forgiveness? She made her choice in April. I never thought she would go back on it."

"I know, right?" Piper lays down next to me, folding her hand over her stomach. "What could she possibly have to say to us? All three of them treated us with such disrespect, you especially."

Her and I lay side by side on the bed for a few straining moments of silence. Jason and Patrick's muffled voices can be heard through the wall in front of us.

"Maybe... She feels guilty?" I offer, craning my head to face Piper. She does the same.

"You're saying what I think you're saying, aren't you?"

"We don't have to forgive her. But she might be able to offer her reasoning for the way she acted and how she saw the clear error in her ways," I explain, sitting back up. Piper, again, repeats the same motion, and stays facing me. The bed creaks under our movements.

"Just one lunch."

"One. What could be so bad about that?"

"We'll see."

Letting out a heavy sigh, I curl myself back onto the bed, making it whine. Pipe scoots herself back against the headboard, still sitting up, and takes a strand of my hair to start a little braid.

"You and me against the world, yeah?" My voice is half covered by the bedsheet, but she understands.

"Always," she replies without a second to think. I finally feel like I can breathe, knowing I have Piper, Jason, Patrick, and who knows; maybe even Allison in the future. All I have to do is let myself enjoy this trip, which I'm really glad I got invited to be on, Shayla and Bianca or not.

Loud growling startles both Piper and I and our heads snap up to the door just in time to see Patrick run into our small bedroom and leap onto the bed, even making me bounce a little. He aims well enough to not crush me, but land right next to me.

"Fuck, you idiot, you scared me!" Piper yells at him, taking her signature weapon of choice — a pillow — and hitting him directly in the face many times. Patrick doesn't care, though, he just laughs through it all. And honestly? I am too.

At this time, I look up to see Jason leaning against the door frame, an amused smile on his lips and eyes dancing with light. Our eyes lock, but the non-physical contact is broken when Patrick tries to sit next to Piper, requiring him to crawl over me, and causing him to almost knee me in the face. Once he is safely behind me, I sit up too, and pat the space next to us.

"C'mon, Jace," I encourage Jason. Within seconds, he is crawling onto the bed next to me, making us all break into grins. "There he is!" I joke around, elbowing him in the side. Wanting to maintain physical contact like we had in the car ride here, I let my hand settle on his knee.

I'm such a weirdo. Touching him feels nice, okay? Stop judging me.

"So," Piper breaks our joyful silence. "Now that we've got our little Basement Brigade down here, what do we want to do?"

"Um, I don't know about you guys," Patrick starts, "but I really didn't have a solid breakfast today."

The four of us share a mutual look.

"Kitchen, then beach?" I confirm. With assertive nods, the four of us twist to get ourselves off of the bed, and we march upstairs to the kitchen in search of food.

This is vacationing with your friends.