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Fire

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Chapter 24: Fire (Aaron's POV)

I changed in the room since I had already brushed my teeth and the bathroom was now occupied by Vanessa. I lay down on the bed, grabbing the hem of my shirt to take it off but stopping when I remembered I'd be sharing the room and bed with Vanessa. Normally, I don't sleep in a t-shirt. "Damn it," I sighed, draping one arm over my eyes, resting the other on my stomach. I heard the bathroom door open and then close.

"Can I turn off the lights?"

"Huh?" I pulled my arm down, looking over at.

She ran a hand through her hair, scanning the room, one hand on the light switch. "Can I turn off the lights? Turn on the lamp, would you?"

"Yeah." I turned the lamp on before she flicked off the lights and went to her side of the bed, sitting with her back to me and grabbing her phone.

She stood up a minute later with her thumb hovering over the 'call' button. "I'm going on the patio, I have to call my mom."

"It's nine o'clock here, that means it's about two in the morning in Florida. Are you sure that's a good idea?"

"My mom doesn't usually sleep until three or four. She's kind of an insomniac, at least that's what we think. I thought I'll talk outside if you're sleeping already."

"No, it's fine. You can talk to her here."

"Hmm. So you can eavesdrop?" She lifted a brow.

"I'm not really in the mood to translate Spanish to French, then English."

"To French?"

I nodded. "It's easier in my head since I learned French before Spanish."

She sat on her side of the bed, crossing her legs. "Fine. I'll talk here then."

I nodded again.

She put the phone to her ear and waited for a few moments, fiddling with the hem of her shirt as I glanced at her hair then her clothes. Her hair was kept down and free, flowing down her back. She had on an old white t-shirt with Hello Kitty on it and was wearing matching pink pajama shorts on the bottom with Hello Kitty's face over the shorts. She uncrossed her legs, straightening them out in front of her, keeping on top of the covers rather than under them.

My eyes trailed down and over her legs. I took in a breath, noticing the little beauty mark on the side of her left thigh, the little scar right on top of her knee, another beauty mark on the side of her calf, another scar on her shin.

I looked all the way down to her painted sparkly blue toes and then looked back up at her face as she laughed, "Hey, Mom." She waited for a reply and then said, "No. Estoy en Maui. Sí, Hawaii, mamá..." No. I'm in Maui. Yes, Hawaii.

I know I said I wouldn't translate, but it's hard not to.

She faced me, pausing and then looking away from me again. "FaceTime? No, mi amiga está durmiendo." FaceTime? No, my friend is sleeping.

At least she's not making me her boyfriend in front of her mom this time.

"Compartimos habitación." We're sharing a room.

"¿Su nombre?" Her name?

She looked at me again. "Um, realmente..." Actually...

Yeah, actually what? Actually, it's not my friend, it's my boyfriend. The same one from college, Aaron. Is that what she'll say?

"No puedo, FaceTime, por favor. Mom—" She sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. I can't FaceTime, please.

"Just FaceTime her," I mumbled.

"Okay! Okay! I'll FaceTime you. Dad no está durmiendo, huh?" Isn't Dad sleeping, huh?

"Okay." She hung up and then turned to me. "I should not be Face Timing her, she figures everything out the minute she sees my face."

"So, what are you going to do? Make me your fake boyfriend in front of your mom one more time, what does it matter?"

She shot me a glare and then called her mom again, holding her phone up.

I watched her in amusement and then rolled over, my back facing her. I chuckled softly to myself and then turned my lamp off, closing my eyes.

"¿Qué amiga?" her mother asked immediately. What friend? "¿Una niña?" A girl?

"Shh! Mi amiga está durmiendo, mamá. Te llamaré mañana temprano," Vanessa answered. She proceeded to talk a bit and then say 'I love you' and 'goodnight' and then hung up, saying she'd call her earlier tomorrow. She put her phone aside with a sigh and then the covers shifted and rustled before she lay down. "Are you sleeping?" she asked, nudging my shoulder.

I turned back to her. "Yes."

She rolled her eyes. "Give up one pillow. They removed our divider when they cleaned the room."

I sighed in annoyance and handed over one pillow. "Night."

"Night," she replied, turning her lamp off.

»»————　➴　————««

"Vanessa, are you done?" I knocked on the bathroom door again. "They said an hour, it's been an hour and a half." I rolled my eyes.

"They would have called if they were waiting!" she called out.

When we left the restaurant after having lunch with the others, they said we'd leave in about an hour, that we just had to go to the front desk, ask for the cars rented out in our name, and then we could head out. We're meant to get there on our own. Davidson told me last night that he hired a separate car just for Vanessa and me, of course, he did. He said it would help convince people that Vanessa and I wanted to spend time together.

But obviously, that means they're not waiting for us.

"They already left, Vanessa. We're going there on our own."

The door swung open and she took a step back, startled to see me so close. I blinked, looking at her from head to toe. Her hair was down, cascading down her back in loose waves. She had on a matching warm, orange set of a halter top and a matching skirt that stopped at her ankles, the skirt fitted nicely around her hips but flowed the rest of the way down. "Sorry. Let's go. Actually, wait. Sandals."

"Sandals?"

She brought a pair of white sandals that looked like flip-flops but were squared off at the end. She grabbed a bag that she had brought with her and prepared earlier. It was a white bag, hand-knitted.

"Who made that?" I asked, pointing at it.

"My mom," she mumbled, grabbing her phone. "Did you take the keys?"

I nodded.

"Okay, let's go."

Finally.

We headed downstairs together where we got the keys from the desk and then walked out.

"Wow," she mumbled as we reached the car. "Davidson went all out, huh?" she asked.

I mumbled in agreement, staring at the car. It was a black convertible Cadillac. The sunroof was down too and it looked like a fun ride. "Let's go." We both climbed in and I quickly started driving, following directions.

"Do you really have to wear black all the time?" she asked, looking at me.

I glanced down at my black flowy button-up. It was thin and fitted pretty loosely. "I'm wearing white pants," I replied. "And I don't wear black all the time."

She sighed and stared out the window. "Do you think we'll be able to catch up to the others?"

I glanced in the rearview mirror and answered, "Yeah, considering Jade, Thomas, Julian, and Daisy are behind us."

She turned in her seat to look out and then chuckled. "Oh, by the way, I packed everything we could need, so you're welcome."

"And what could we need?" I looked at the bag as she dug into it.

"Sunblock, water bottles, gum, towels, and uh..." She took out two pairs of sunglasses. "Sunglasses. Here."

"Where did you get these?" I asked, not taking my hands off the wheel.

She put hers on first. They were ovals and the black lenses had a white frame to them while the ones she brought for me were plain black Ray-Bans. "I bought them, the gift shop at the hotel has them."

"When?"

"When I went to the bathroom during lunch. Here."

"I'm driving."

She huffed, leaning over and putting them on for me. "You can take your hands off the wheel for two seconds, you're a good driver." She put her own on after that and reached into the bag again, taking out a big clip for her and pulling it back in a bun. "When we get there, you should put sunblock on. You look like you could burn."

"Still. Melanoma exists. Skin cancer exists."

"Jesus Christ, Vanessa," I muttered.

"Is the plan for today just to drive a bit on the highway and then head to the waterfalls?"

"And then go to the Black Sand Beach for a fire, yes."

"Oh right, the fire. How far are the waterfalls from the highway?"

"About half an hour. There's an exit on the highway, there should be a sign."

We arrived at the entry point to the all-around highway and I slowed down the drive, gazing around as I drove. Vanessa took loads of pictures and I mean loads. Dozens. Of the sky, of the ocean to our left, of the plants, and the mountain on our right.

Then she said, "Look here."

"No," I replied, keeping my eyes on the road.

She huffed, "I'll still take a picture and send it to you. You should have some good pictures of yourself. I feel like you don't take any yourselves, do you?"

"No."

"That's what I thought. Look here."

"No."

"You're wearing sunglasses anyway."

I huffed and rolled my eyes, turning to her.

She leaned over, pushing the sunglasses up to my head.

"Vanessa—"

"I'm not even going to bother asking you to smile."

I squinted under the sun, glancing at the road and then back at her.

She chuckled and snapped the picture, looking at it on her phone for a minute before pulling my sunglasses back down as I focused on the road again. "You look so dumb," she laughed, "I'm keeping this forever."

"Just delete it," I huffed.

"No way. Aaron Sinclair looks a lot of things but he never looks dumb. He did in this picture, there's no way I'm deleting it," she replied, still looking at it. "You look kind of cute, actually. Like you used to back in college."

I stared at her, forgetting about the road for a moment. It was an empty highway right now anyway. I looked away when my phone dinged in the cupholder.

"I sent it to you. But I'm still keeping it. This photo is mine now," she snickered.

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Chapter 24

Her outfit omg I want that set so bad someone tell me where I can buy it PLEASE

next chapter: picture