Natalie's P.O.V

"I've sent him seven texts already, why isn't he picking up?" Panic consumes me as I pace up and down the room waiting for Percy to answer my texts.

"He might have fallen asleep or his phone died." Grayson sits on the bed watching me with every step I take.

"You're probably right."

"He came in here last night looking for you."

"Really?" I walk over to the bed.

"Well... he came in here last night. He saw you and asked if I was fine and then he left. That's all."

I walk out of the room, going in search of him through the hospital and find him fast asleep on a chair. I walk over to him, poking him until his eyes fly open.

"Good morning?" I grin.

"Morning?" He looks disorientated, his eyes red.

"I have a feeling you don't really like Grayson. Which isn't fair because you don't know him."

"Nat, I'm just trying to look out for you." He says as a yawn escapes him.

"I'm fine Percy."

"You're my best friend and I just want what's best for you."

He's frustrated. I can see it. His face is red and I can hear every single breathe he lets out

"Well Percy this isn't your life and I trust him so stop stressing so much."

I turn and walk away.

***

I can't believe he's acting like this. "I get it. He's just looking out for you." Grayson asks as we walk down the hall to finally leave.

I look at him in disbelief. "He's interfering out of fear." Grayson chuckles "Yeah okay."

I know what I'm talking about. He's just being more protective than usual, right? I mean I've known him long enough to be sure of this.

We reach the car and Percy is already waiting. "Hey,"

"Hey." He replies curtly

"Are you ready to go?" He doesn't reply. He just starts the car.

The car ride takes forever. The silence is killing me. I turn on the radio to drown out the awkward tension between everyone. I hummed along to the melody and before I know it I was singing along. Grayson was singing too, but it was almost whispered.

***

I watch as the coastline finally comes into view. Waves instantly crash against the sand. People are piled on the beach and kids are running around. As we turn the corner the view of the beach is still visible from the rearview mirror. A tall building fills the view of my side of the car and I instantly know it's our hotel. We enter the building and Grayson takes a seat on one of the sofas littering the lobby. "Are you going to be okay down here?" I question. He smiles at me "Yes, don't worry about me. I'll see you later." I return the smile and make my way over to Percy who is standing at the front desk.

Percy takes the key and turns walking into the elevator as I follow behind. The elevator dings open and we make our way to our room. As I enter I throw my bags onto the bed closest to the window and look out at the beach and spot Matthew and the rest playing volleyball.

"I'll see you around," Percy says and before I could reply he was out the door.

I put on my bikini and a dress going down to join the others.

"Hey Natalie, how's Grayson doing?"

"He's okay, just got a bruised wrist and had a minor concussion, but other than that he's fine."

I take a seat on the big towel they had and watch the ocean. A girl with raven black hair sits next to me. I've seen her around. She must be Matthew's girlfriend.

"Hey, I'm Winter. I don't think we've met before, but I'm one of Matthew's friends."

"Natalie, nice to meet you," I say with a smile. "Well actually nice to meet someone other than a hormonal boy," I tell her laughing.

"I know how you feel. It's like they're on edge these days." I nod at her reply.

"I just have to tell you, I've known Grayson a very long time and I've never seen him look at a girl the way he looks at you."

"Oh no, I honestly don't believe that. I'm just ... me." I say, shaking my head.

"Exactly."

I look at her confused. A laugh escaped my lips.

"Look I know you won't believe me, but he looks like he cares about you and that's saying a lot since you've only met each other a few days ago."

She is kind of right... We don't know each other well, but it was instant like I was just born for this moment in my life.

I give her a shy smile "Thanks."

She nods and stands up "Now come on let's go kick Matt's ass at volleyball."

I laugh, getting up and following her.

"Hey, Matt. Natalie and I against you and Logan."

We stand together on one side. "Alright if you can handle it," Matthew says, throwing the ball and bouncing it over to our side. Winter runs over hitting the ball making it touch the sand on their side.

We cheer, scoring the first point of the game.

The game goes on for another 40 minutes before we decide to stop. "5 to 3. Matthew, you have lost your game." Winter giggles. They start talking, leaving me to myself. I decide to take a seat on the towel again. The sun is setting and slowly falling into the ocean.

I wish I knew what to do about the whole Percy situation. I haven't seen him all day. Something hasn't been right since we left home.

***

I watch TV while sitting on my bed with a bag of sour gummy worms. I just took a shower and got into my pyjamas. Percy still hasn't come back and I was left alone. There's a knock at the door and I walk up to it, look through the peephole and see Winter on the other side. I open the door and her face falls as she looks me up and down.

"What are you wearing?" I look at her confused with a raised eyebrow. "Um... what do you mean?" I cross my arms waiting for a response. "We're all going dancing and here you are ready for bed."

"Wait what?" My eyes go wide.

She walks past me "Come on I'll help you find something."

I don't even try to argue, just follow her over to my bag. She opens it, throwing half of my stuff onto the ground. "Natalie, you have absolutely nothing."

She turns back to me "Give me 5 minutes. I'll be right back." And runs out.

I take my seat back on the bed and watch the TV again. It wasn't long till there was a knock at the door again. I open it and she walks in with a bunch of clothes and a few pairs of shoes.

"Okay so put these on with these shoes and then I'll fix your hair and get some makeup on you."

I take the clothes she shoved in my hands "What's wrong with my hair?" She looks at me with a bored expression and starts laughing. "Just get dressed already."

I look at myself in the mirror and I'm stunned at my appearance. The black dress reaches the middle of my thigh and the knee-high black boots make my skin look tanned. My hair is straightened and she gave me a silver smokey eye.

"Wow, you look amazing. Now we are ready to go." She says.

***

We reach the club. It's dark with neon lights flashing outside. I start to panic as Winter drags me behind her because I know we won't get in but as soon as we hit the front of the line we go in.

The room vibrates with the music, lights flashing in every direction. I spot Grayson standing at one of the tables and walk over.

"Hey, stranger." I smile and he lifts his head from his phone, a smile growing on his face. "Hey, where have you been today?"

"I was at the beach with Winter and everyone." He nods. "Do you want a drink?"

"Sure, anything."

He walks away leaving me at the table. The music is already affecting me. My hips sway to the rhythm. I feel a light bump against my arm and turn around to take the glass from Grayson.

I take a sip and the liquid burns my throat as it goes down. A cough escapes me. "What is that?"

"Cherry vodka, why?"

I ignore it. Just keep drinking. It felt addictive. "No, it's nothing."

"Hey, do you maybe want to dance?" I ask him. "Sure." He replies.

I put my half-empty cup on the table and walk over to the lit-up dance floor. The moment we get there he instantly moves to the rhythm, I start moving my body to the music and feel the alcohol take hold of my system.

It wasn't long after till the dancefloor was crowded. The music became slow and he grabbed my hand in one hand and the other was on my waist and we swayed to the slow song. It might have been the most electric thing I have ever experienced.

I lift my head to see his eyes already on mine. His face feels close, I can feel his alcohol breath fanning my face. "I need a drink." I half scream over the loud music.

I walk back to our table and chug back the rest of my drink. I take a seat on a chair and take out my phone. I sent Percy a text hoping he would finally talk to me again and put my phone back into my purse.

I look around the room, but my vision is blurring, I feel sick and like everything is going in slow motion. My whole body feels like it's going numb. I stand up with all the strength I have left and try to find Grayson. I call his name and even call out Winter's. His face is blurry in front of mine.

"Grayson I... I don't feel okay." My legs give in and I fall into him. He grabs me before I fall to the floor. I feel tears stream down my face. "I want Percy."

Grayson picks me up and that's the last thing I hear before it all goes black.

It's weird. I'm hearing everyone, but I can barely get a word out to talk. My body is just too tired, I can't even open my eyes.

"Where the hell is he!" I hear Grayson yell. "Natalie I'm going to put you into bed and Mathew is going to go find Percy, okay." I hear him let out a groan as he puts me down.

He must have found my room card in my purse. He put me into bed and threw the covers over me.

I hear footsteps approaching and then I hear him. "What the hell happened to her?" Footsteps come closer and I hear Grayson "I don't know she was fine when I left her."

"Left her! That was your first mistake, never leave her side." Percy shouts

"Oh, that's rich coming from you. You left her for 4 hours with a bunch of strangers in the woods." Grayson retaliates. Percy stays silent for a while.

"Don't start that shit with me. You should have looked out for her because if she's not worth having every second of your time. You shouldn't be with her at all."

There's silence and I feel tears stream down my cheek. "Please just stop," I mumble but I don't think they even heard me.

"I'm sorry." Grayson apologised.

"You shouldn't be saying that to me. You should be saying that to her."

After that, I hear the door close and I'm left wondering if it will all be okay.

***

I wake up and it's still dark, my stomach is turning and I make it in a split second to the bathroom, turning on the light and falling in front of the toilet to empty the contents of my stomach. My head is still dizzy and I don't remember much. I feel so stupid. My body is shivering from the cold.

I dress into my pyjamas to climb back into bed. I walk past Percy's bed nearly walking into it.

"Nat are you okay?" His voice made me jump. "I don't know... I'm sorry Percy."

I take a seat on my bed facing him. "I didn't mean for that to happen." My voice cracked and I knew he heard it.

"Hey don't be sorry it's not your fault." He sits next to me. "Come on, lay down."

I climb into my bed and he follows. I turn towards him. He throws his arm around me and kisses me on the forehead. "I'm sorry I wasn't there for you." I lift my arm and throw it over him grabbing anything to just feel closer and before I knew it, he was asleep.

"I wish you could just tell me what's going on," I whisper to him, knowing I'll be greeted by silence. All I want is for us to go back to normal.