“It took so much longer than I thought.” Holly said with an apologetic look as she came into my room that night. I was already dressed for bed- I was wearing a white t-shirt with a red Muppet on the front with lettering that read “bad hair day” and shorts that were black with white stars that matched the shirt. I also had on my favorite slippers, they were red plush sneakers which I found adorable.

“Don’t worry about it.” I mumbled. Holly had been out all day with Kale, which wasn’t really surprising, but I didn’t mind. I’d already made up my mind that I wasn’t going to tell her. Not yet. “Did you have fun?”

She grinned, her mood taking a one eighty from apologetic to totally in love and glowing. “I did, it was amazing! He took me to this really beautiful coral reef and we went snorkeling, it was really amazing.”

“Sounds like fun.” I told her with a small smile.

“Yeah, it was. Anyway, what was it that you wanted to talk to me about?” She asked, sitting beside me on the bed.

I shook my head. “Oh, nothing, it wasn’t really important.”

“I’m curious anyway.” Holly said with a curious grin. “Tell me.”

“I, uh, I just wanted to know if you wanted to go shopping tomorrow.” I lied quickly. I expected her not to believe it because as I’ve mentioned before- I’m a horrible liar- but she just frowned a little bit, but not a ‘I don’t believe you’ frown, it was just a disappointed frown.

“Well, I can’t tomorrow. Kale and I are going to the marina, but how about sometime next week? We’re gunna be here for three months, we have all the time in the world.”

I smiled at her, but I was sure that it didn’t reach my eyes- she used to know when things were off with me, but I guess now that we’re on vacation and she’s just so focused on having a good time, I’ll be put on the back burner. That makes sense, I mean, I want her to have a good time here. “Yeah, sure. We can talk about it later, I’m pretty tired now.”

“Okay.” Holly chirped. “I think I’m going to go force Jackson to make me some sugar bacon.” She told me, giving me a small hug goodbye before nearly skipping out of my room.

She’s having a great time here in Australia and that just makes my decision even more final- I won’t say anything to her about the thing with Jackson.

When she was completely out of my room I let out a long sigh, I wasn’t even tired anymore. I felt really bad about lying to Holly, I don’t think we’ve ever lied to each other, which is why I was so shocked that she couldn’t tell that I was lying just a few minutes ago. I’m sure I’d be able to tell if she was lying about something.

Deciding that I wanted to try to get rid of the guilt that was now kicking me in the gut, I stood up and went through the house to the side that spit me out at the pool. I laid down on my belly at the poolside so that I could put my arms in the water, but not my feet because I still had my slippers on.

The night sky was decorated artfully with bright stars that reflected in the cool pool water that had a stench of chlorine, but it felt good on my overly heated skin.

“Lonely?” An accented voice asked from behind me.

I looked over to see Damon walking over to me with a small smile on his lips. “Spying on me?” I teased.

He chuckled and sat down beside me, letting his legs float in the water. “Nah, I saw you from the beach.” He explained, nudging towards the area where you could see the ocean from the pool and vice versa. “What are you doing out here by yourself?”

I shrugged and continued running my fingers through the pool. “Just thinking.”

“About…?”

I shrugged again, it seemed to be a habit of mine. “Stuff.”

“I’m a good listener.” He insisted.

I let out a soft sigh. “I can’t tell you.” I muttered, even though I was kind of considering telling him about my problems. I mean, he just offered to listen, and I don’t think it’d be awkward since I don’t know him too well, but I do know him enough. Plus, him telling Holly about it is very, very unlikely unless he has a secret vendetta against me.

“Okay.” He chirped understandingly.

“Wait, what?” I asked, looking up at him with a confused frown.

“I said okay…” He trailed off. “I’m not a pushy person.”

“But you were supposed to push me.” I told him. “So that I can give in and tell you about my problems.”

“Okay then. Please tell me?” He asked as if he wasn’t sure what to say.

I rolled my eyes dramatically. “Well, if you must know, I’m in a predicament.”

He chuckled and playfully rolled his eyes back at me. “Yes, Libby. I must know, so please tell me what this predicament is because my life won’t go on if I don’t find out soon.”

“Okay, so there’s this girl. Her name is… Lilly. Lilly has a best friend named, um, Harley. Yeah, okay so Harley has a brother named… Jack. So Harley and Lilly have been best friends forever, since kindergarten, so Lilly has known Jack for just as long. Lilly looks at Jack like a brother. Well, she used to. She doesn’t know anymore. Anyway, this one night, everybody got really drunk, including Lilly and Jack, and it turns out, they got so drunk that they hooked up. And I don’t mean hook up as in make out, they had sex. And now Lilly isn’t telling Holl- uh, Harley because Lilly doesn’t want to ruin her vacation. But Lilly feels guilty about lying and she’s also confused, because she doesn’t see Jack as a brother anymore, and she doesn’t know how she feels.”

“And it’s just a coincidence that Lilly, Harley, and Jack sound almost like Libby, Holly, and Jackson, right?”

I nodded. “Yes, purely coincidental. Lilly lives in… um, Florida.”

“Okay, well if you want my opinion, I think that this Lilly girl shouldn’t keep a secret if it’s going to bother her. If Harley is really her best friend, she’ll understand.”

“Do you really think so?” I asked him, sitting up and shaking my arms dry.

He shrugged. “I dunno, I’m not a chick.” He said with a laugh.

“Okay then, well at least I told you. And you can’t tell anybody what I just said. Lilly cares about her privacy.” I told him.

“Won’t tell a soul.” Damon promised. “But the best friend’s brother thing, I mean, that does happen a lot.”

“And how would you know?” I asked with a small laugh.

“Both of my brothers have dated Taylor’s friends.”

“Oh and you’re just a golden boy or something?” I asked with raised eyebrows.

“No, but I happen to dislike most of her friends because they creep me out.” He explained.

“Well that’s reasonable then.” I chuckled.

“Yes, it is.” He told me. “Anyway, if this helps at all- most of the time when a person drinks, they do stupid stuff, but they don’t do anything that they don’t truly want to do. Your drunk self is like a completely honest, fearless you. So I think that if you hooked up with Jackson, it was because you truly wanted to, you just have so much muddled in your mind that you can’t see it clearly.”

“I-I didn’t hook up with Jackson.” I stuttered. “We’re talking about my friend, Lilly, remember?”

“Yeah, right.” Damon snorted.

I rolled my eyes at him. “Okay, fine. But you really think that I like him? I mean, that’s crazy talk.”

He shrugged. “I don’t know, I’m not a therapist and I haven’t known you long enough to know anything about your relationship. But that’s just my opinion. Maybe you don’t like him, you’re just attracted to him.”

“You’re not helping.” I mumbled.

“I’m not a girl.” He defended with a small laugh. “I’m doing the best I can.”

“You have a sister, don’t you have guy talks with her?” I asked with raised eyebrows.

“Oh no.” Damon snorted. “Taylor goes to either her female friends or Cole with that stuff. She’s closer to Cole than me.”

“Well that just sucks, now I have no idea what to do.” I huffed, slipping my slippers off and dipping my feet into the pool like Damon was right beside me.

“Do what you think is right.” He told me. “And if anything happens, Holly should understand and if she doesn’t, then you’ll work things out if you’re really best friends.”

“That was actually good advice.” I admitted with a small smile. “Thank you.”

“Hey, my middle name is Good Advice.” Damon gloated.

“Yeah, I’m sure.” I snorted. “Anyway, I should get inside, it’s getting late. It’s time to go wallow in my self pity.” I sighed, clambering out of the pool and carrying my slippers in my hands so that I didn’t get them wet- I didn’t want that to happen.

“Alright, nice slippers by the way.” He smirked, standing up as well.

I nodded. “Yes, thank you. I’ll see you later, Damon.”

“Yeah, goodnight.” He said with a small smile, wrapping me in his arms. “I’m here if you ever wanna talk again, by the way.”

“Thank you.” I sighed before pulling away and turning around to go inside. When I got to the door, I spun around to see where Damon was, and he was already at the beach, headed for his house, but I waved one last goodbye anyway, knowing that he couldn’t see it. It’s sad when I can tell a guy who’s practically a stranger things that I can’t even tell my best friend. I mean, what has this world come to?

Once I got inside, I made my way into the kitchen and grabbed a banana from the fancy bowl of fruit on the counter and when I turned around to go back upstairs, there was a figure in the doorway.

I almost screamed, but when I recognized the figure as Jackson, I stopped myself, but I did have to clutch my heart in my chest with the hand holding my slippers. “Damn it, Jackson, you scared me.” I hissed.

He moved forward and flipped on the lights in the kitchen so that I could clearly see his faint smirk. “I didn’t mean to.”

“Well you can’t just sneak up on people when it’s pitch black and late at night, okay? I’ve watched my fair share of horror movies.” I told him, putting the banana on the counter beside me so that I could put my slippers back on my feet since they were now dry and I didn’t feel like carrying the slippers anymore.

“You scare too easily.” He told me matter-of-factly, stepping closer to me so that we were standing in front of each other. “Anyway, I need to talk to you.”

“And you couldn’t have waited until morning like a normal human being?” I asked with raised eyebrows. “I mean, it’s like midnight for crying out loud.”

“Midnight isn’t that late, Lib.” Jackson mumbled with an amused smile.

“It is in my world.” I huffed. “But since you just have to talk to me now, what’s up?”

“I saw you out there talking to Damon,” He started.

“You were watching me?” I croaked with raised eyebrows. “Jeesh, when did you get so creepy?”

He rolled his eyes at me. “I wasn’t watching you, and I’m not creepy. I can see the pool from my room and I was just looking out my window, you just happen to be there.” He defended.

“Okay, so what’s it to you that I was talking to Damon?” I asked him, crossing my arms over my chest.

“Nothing, I just want to know if you told him anything.” He said slowly.

I nodded. “Yes, I did.” I admitted. “He won’t tell anybody, though, I told him he had to keep his mouth shut.”

“And you trust him?” He didn’t make it sound accusatory, he was just asking, so I didn’t get offended by the question.

“Yes.” I scoffed. Okay, maybe a little offended.

“Okay, just asking.” He defended. “What about Holly?”

I shook my head and looked down at the counter. “No. I don’t want to ruin her vacation.”

“You think it’d ruin her vacation?” Jackson asked with raised eyebrows.

I shrugged. “I don’t know what to think, but I’m going to go with yes, it might. Have you, uh, told anyone?” I asked timidly.

He nodded. “Ryder, that’s it.”

“Not Tommy?” I asked.

He shook his head. “I’m sure he’ll figure it out, but Tommy and then Andy, and then everyone.” He explained.

I nodded awkwardly. “Right.”

“So we’re going with the whole ‘didn’t happen’ thing, I assume.”

I nodded again. “I think that would be best.”

“Okay.” Was all he said. “Goodnight.”

“That’s it?” I asked.

Jackson chuckled. “Yeah, I just needed to know what’s going on in that pretty head of yours. And I can’t figure things out without being blunt because you’re so… adorably clueless.” He explained.

I cocked my head to the side in confusion. “What?”

He let out a soft laugh and shook his head before stepping forward and kissing my forehead softly. “Nothing, Libby, goodnight.”

“G-goodnight.” I muttered, watching him walk away and down the hall out of the kitchen. My fingers fled up to the point of contact that his lips had on my forehead and cursed myself for feeling those demonic butterflies in my stomach.

When did my life get so complicated?

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Hi! Okay, so there's going to be four categories to this wedding contest: Bridesmaids dress, Andy's wedding dress, the wedding cake, and a reception area (where they eat and dance). There will be winner in all four and I will announce them when that chapter is published. I'll take submissions for another two weeks, so if you want to turn something in, it needs to be in by May 1st. I specially need bridesmaid dresses and reception ideas!

On another note, if you haven't heard, Ocala is now published both as a printed book and as an ebook and it's being processed to be put in the iBookstore and the Nook store. Thank you so much and if you want the link, it's on my profile! (: