18

Breakfast was awkward to say the least.

Gordon's blonde little friend introduced herself to us all.

Her name was Tara and she thought that our little adventure was cool.

I thought she was lame, but I only told that to Casey by whispering it into his ear.

He snorted and tried to hide his laughter by burying his face in my shoulder.

I giggled, covering my mouth with my hand, ignoring my friends stares.

They were all, obviously, confused as to what was going on.

As we left IHop, it was decided that Tara and Casey would join us on today's adventure.

"So, where to now?"

This question was asked by Shane as he played with the car keys.

And to give him some credit, it was actually a very good question.

We all turned to look at Tara and Casey, the only people who knew their way around the current city we were in.

Tara smiled and said: "Have you ever been to the boardwalk before?"

She had a faint trace of a European accent and for some reason, it annoyed me to no end.

I glared at her while the others quickly replied, telling her that they never had.

I wanted to say I had.

I wanted to say that it sucked.

That Tara's ideas sucked.

But I didn't, instead I smiled and nodded when Rose asked me if I wanted to go.

We all piled into the minivan, limbs getting tangled and bodies getting pressed against each other.

"Shane! Get your you know what away from my face!"

We all laughed as Rose and Shane tried to untangle themselves from each other, but ended up failing.

Rose fell backwards out of the car and landed on the cement hard and Shane's face hit the back of a seat hard.

Finally, we all got into the car with some semblance of order.

Tara sat in the driver's seat since she knew where the boardwalk was and Gordon sat up front with her for obvious reasons.

Rose and Shane staked claim of the second row of seats.

I didn't know what they were doing and I didn't want to know, frankly.

Casey and I inhabited the last row.

My head was still throbbing so Casey sat near the window and I spread out, laying across the rest of the seats with my head in his lap.

He ran his fingers through my hair, which actually felt good.

When we were about halfway there, he said: "You look tired."

"It might have something to do with the fact I drank my problems away last night."
He chuckled and kissed my forehead, causing a blush to spread across my face.

Rose's head popped up above mine, causing me to squeal.

She smiled and said: "Hey, Ana, may I ask if you and Casey are a thing?"

Before I could answer her, Casey did.

"No we are not. But we kissed for a good reason."

Rose's eyebrows shot up.
"To get a reaction out of Gordon?"

I quickly shook my head and replied: "No. Why would you think that?"

Shane's head popped up next to Rose's and he said: "Because we saw you look over at him before you kissed Casey again."

I scowled and mentally swore them out for being so observant.

I shrugged and sighed.

Rose's look softened and she reached over, tucking hair behind my ear.

I leaned into her familiar touch, my eyes fluttering shut.

"It's okay to have feelings for him, An. But he likes Tara right now and you can't beat yourself up for that. And you also can't beat him up for it either. It's not right."

I didn't say anything, knowing that she was right.

I didn't want her to be right, but I knew she was.

After that, Rose and Shane left me alone, knowing that I would need a minute.

Casey frowned and returned to stroking my hair.

"You okay?"

"Mhmm."

"You sure?"

"Yep."

Our conversation dropped off and silence ensued, which was fine by me.

When we arrived at the boardwalk, everyone popped out of the car (it's name was now Annie, thanks to Rose getting bored during the car ride), wearing huge smiles.

I was the odd one out.

A frown had taken over my face and had no plans on going away for quite some time.

No one besides Casey seemed to notice, but it didn't really matter.

We made a plan to split up and meet back at the car by three so we could get back in time to get ready for the concert that night.

I wandered away from everyone quickly, deciding to visit the very end of the boardwalk.

There were lots of fishers and kids with ice cream cones by the end, but they didn't bother me.

I sat at the edge, letting my legs dangle down as I looked down at the water.

It was probably freezing, I thought.

I bit my lip, my skin beginning to itch as the sudden need to dive into the water took me over.

I was dying for something to wake me up.

Maybe the shock of the cold water would do.

I got to my feet and clumsily stripped away my shirt and jeans, leaving me in my bra and underwear.

I carefully stood on the rail and put my arms out like a person walking on a tight line.

People began to scream as I began to laugh.

Someone shouted for me to stop but I shook my head then took the jump.

The wind caused my hair to whip into my face and get into my mouth, but I didn't care.

I couldn't stop laughing and I felt so free and happy that it was ridiculous.

I dove through the waves and into the cold water.

Tingles and pins and needles spread through my body.

Only for a few moments did I feel the pain and then I was numb.

I swam to the surface and poked my head out of the water.

I looked up and saw that everyone was looking down at me, many still shouting and the rest just gawking.

You're so stupid, I swear.

I laughed at Kylie and swam to the ladder, climbing up it.

I was greeted with a warm towel the moment my feet hit the warm wood.

The woman who handed me the towel, said: "That was a stupid, risky stunt you pulled. You could've killed yourself."

I shrugged, still wearing that self satisfied, smug smile.

I pushed past the woman and grabbed my clothes then walked away from the crowd of people that was gradually returning to their previous activities.

I didn't put my clothes back on at first, rather walking around with the towel wrapped around me tightly.

I was shivering as I wandered around the boardwalk, just taking things in and killing time until three.

When Rose saw me as I walked up to Annie, fully clothed but my hair still sopping wet, she hit me.

Then she pulled me into a tight hug.

I hugged her back, burying my face into her shoulder.

"I heard what you did. We all did. Word kept spreading across the dock and I knew there was only one girl with hair as black as night that would jump off a boardwalk. Are you okay?"

I nodded and pulled away.

"I'm fine, Ro. No damage done."

She frowned and said: "Maybe not physically..."

I tensed up at her words some.

We didn't talk about the incident anymore after that and the car ride was mostly quiet.

We went directly back to the motel where Rose and Shane joined me in my room as I got ready for the concert.

"Gordon doesn't know about the boardwalk incident."

I looked at Shane, who was laying on my bed and had announced been the one I told to keep my incident a secret.

"Good..."

Rose forced me to look at her again, attempting to fix my makeup as she said: "Not good. He has the right to know. He is still your best friend, Ana."

I rolled my eyes.

"That's debatable."

It was Rose's turn to roll her eyes as she smudged eyeshadow underneath my eye.

"Don't be dim, Ana. He still cares about you a lot."

"He cares about the blonde bimbo even more."

"Ana!"

Shane cracked up from behind me, causing me to grin.

Rose gave both of us scolding looks.

"Stop it, you two. Shane, go to your room and get ready while Ana and I finish up, okay?"

Shae grumbled but did as told, leaving us alone.

I sat on the bed while Rose changed into black shorts and a simple white tank top with SHUT UP written on it.

She looked over at me and smiled softly.

When I didn't smile back, she frowned and sat next to me, slipping her hand into mine.

"It's going to be okay, Ana. Okay?"
I nodded slowly, not believing her.

She sighed: "Hey, sweetie, let's just go out and have a fun time tonight."

I nodded again and stood up with her, leaving the motel room behind.

Little did I know as I left that room that when I returned, things would be very different for me.