"No. I'm pretty sure I slept the entire way here, putting all our lives at risk." She replied in an icy tone. Even though she was sarcastic, it seemed to make the situation even worse. I could see the anger, the disappointment, and something else. Was it jealousy?

"Oh, so yeah, um...about that..." I racked my brain to come up with an excuse. Thankfully, I was interrupted by Catherine again.

"Children we've arrived. Pick up after yourselves, and don't forget anything!" She called out from behind the door.

I looked at Erica. "Erica, look I—"

"Zoe and Mike are leaving. Hurry up or move out of my way." She interrupted. I sighed and climbed out of the helicopter. The tension I felt right now was unbearable. Even though we were walking into Orion's chateau a few feet apart, it felt like a few miles. Turns out, his chateau was just as nice as his mansion. What really mattered now was that I just wanted to forget all of this and sleep. Orion showed us to our guest bedrooms, mine being in between Zoe and Erica's. No one was in the mood to talk much. Mike and Zoe said goodnight to me, and Erica immediately shut herself in her room.

Mike pulled me aside just as I was about to head to my room. "Bro, what did you screw up this time? Erica looked like she wanted to kill you."

"Nothing." I lied. "She's just nauseous. That's all. And she looks that every day."

"Okay..." I'm not sure if Mike bought it. "Well, I'm heading to bed then, goodnight."

"Yeah, goodnight," I replied back.

I went to shower right away when I got into my room. Even the steaming hot shower didn't make me forget about Erica's face. I just couldn't stand it anymore. Not even bothering to dry my hair, I went to Erica's door that was before mine. I knocked gently. "Hey Erica, it's Ben." No answer. I knocked again harder. Silence. I stood there for a good five minutes wondering what to do next. Then, gave up and went to my room collapsing on the soft, comfy bed. After half an hour of restlessness and turning, I went out on the personal balcony connected to my room. There was a personal balcony connected to every guest room. It was a beautiful night with stars and a full moon.

Erica was out on her balcony too. She noticed me come out the second my toe touched the ground. She immediately started walking back to her room.

"Wait, Erica!" I called out. I hope I didn't sound desperate.

"What do you need Ben?" She asked clearly annoyed.

"I, um—" I started.

"Is there anything urgent? If not, I'm heading back to bed."

"Erica, can we talk?"

"What is there to talk about?"

"Did...did you hear me knocking at your door earlier?"

"I don't know what you're talking about."

I sighed. "Erica, can you please open your door so I can come over to apologize?"

"Ben, if this is what you want to talk about, I'm leaving. Goodnight."

I frowned. "I take that as you don't want to open the door then. That's fine." But I wasn't about to give up this fast. I had an idea. We were on the fifth floor. The distance between the two balconies was maybe 8 feet. And, I did what anyone would do—I jumped.