6: Not A F*cking Chance

(Song: Hold Me Like A Grudge by Fall Out Boy)

Without being allowed to go to my room to change, I’m stuck in my dress. Lyra and Eden change into something more comfortable and I grow jealous. My tights start to itch, which slowly drives me crazy. Lyra drops onto her bed and starts flipping through channels, Eden digs through her luggage looking for something, I stumble around the room trying to peel off my dreaded tights.

“Much better,” I groan as I drop onto Lyra’s bed itch free.

Eden hops up, something clenched in her hand. I don’t catch what it is, but it becomes pretty obvious when she tosses it in the microwave and it starts popping. With no bowls, Eden separates it into those complimentary coffee cups that all hotel rooms have.

The night seems like the best one yet. Until it's interrupted.

Once again the sound of knuckles draws our attention. Someone’s at the patio door. Oh shit. There’s not an ounce of debate from Lyra as she jumps off the bed. When she fluffs her hair and straightens her nightshirt, I know who she thinks is at the door. I on the other hand pray it isn’t.

My prayers aren’t answered. I don’t need to see his face when I hear that cocky voice through the crack of the door. Of course one of the twins comes to ruin the night. Stryker…maybe. “Hey,” he says lamely. It all plays out in front of Eden and I. Lyra shyly replies ‘hey’ back. I catch the twin peek into the room. He waves at us before looking back at Lyra, “I wanted to see if you lovely ladies would be interested in joining us at the pool.”

“Not a fucking chance,” I grumble into the room.

I’m expecting Lyra to throw me a glare, but I wasn’t expecting twin bad boy to laugh at me. Does he find my dislike of him amusing?

Lyra tries to complete my statement, turning it into an approving sentence. “That we would miss it? Not a…fucking chance.”

Stryker says some sappy, “great,” before leaving.

And with his departure comes Lyra’s keen stare. She shrieks so loud that I’m sure they can hear her outside. Her pure joy however is not contagious. Lyra immediately goes to her suitcase and starts digging through it. In record time, she pulls out a swimsuit, a different one from before, and runs into the bathroom.

Eden meets my gaze, “you know she’s not going to let either of us get out of this. So try to have some fund. Remember. You promised.” She always has a way push my words back onto me. And with that confession, Eden goes to her luggage next, so that when Lyra leaves the bathroom, Eden is ready to occupy it.

After the switch, Lyra looks at me, expectant of cooperation, but I shrug my shoulders, “I don’t have my suit. I guess I have to go back to my room and get it.” I rise to my feet and grab my tights and purse in anticipation of my departure.

So close to the door, nearly able to touch the knob, Lyra steps in front of me. “No need. I have a suit for you to wear. And it will be perfect.” Her green eyes light up when she says the word ‘perfect’. It’s terrifying.

My heart stops from the drawn out minutes as I watch her retreat to her bag. When she finally has the said suit in hand, she whips around to face me with the swimsuit dangling from her fingers.

There are no words. Just feelings. So many awful feelings. “I’m not wearing that.” No way in hell. “There’s barely anything to it.” I don’t need her to hold it up, because I can already tell that there isn’t much fabric to it.

“Just enough to cover up what needs to be covered. Nox won’t be able to keep his eyes off you.”

So that’s what this is about? She’s playing matchmaker. “But I don’t want Nox’s eyes on me at all.” Bubbling up like vomit, I say the first that comes to my mind in effort of getting out of this. “Maybe Wes and I are back together.”

She nearly laughs in my face. “It sure sounded like he was pissed with you, so don’t lie to get out of this.” It was a lie I’m unable to back up. She would know if Wes and I were back together. “Now, I see the way Nox looks at you. I would love it for someone to look at me like that.”

“And how’s that? Like a snide, egotistical, chauvinistic asshole?” Does she not remember that is not my type? The look she’s referring to is probably given to multiple girls, just waiting for one of them to take the bait.

“Those are the best looks.” That’s a complete lie, but coming from her it’s the cold truth. “Take the suit,” she presses me.

A sigh heaves from my lungs, deflating my chest and my dignity with one single exhale. There’s no getting out of this and I’m forced to take the suit. The elastic straps snap from her fingers as I tug it from her grasp. This isn’t going to be good.

Impatiently, I wait outside the bathroom door for Eden. And once she comes out, eyes wide with shock at me waiting right outside the door, I slip into the bathroom without saying a word. The non-existent conversation that doesn’t seep through the door has my ears ringing.

It takes everything in me to put the swimsuit on and once it is on, I immediately regret it. Can this even be classified as a one piece? It’s really just a bikini with crisscrossing straps linking the top and bottom together.

When I take too long, Lyra shouts at the locked door, “let’s go.”

Searching the room, I wrap a towel around me and then throw on the robe before swinging the door open. “Let’s get this done with.”

Lyra stands in my way, “drop the robe.” I do. “Drop the towel,” she whines clearly unimpressed with my determination with not being seen in this thing. “Drop. The. Towel.”

Ugh. I let the towel slip away. They conceal their stares quite well, but I know not everyone will. Hiding behind Lyra and Eden, I let them lead the way. We circle the pool until we reach Silas and Stryker. The twins each sit on a lounger. One of them, I’m assuming Silas, has two girls joining him on the lounge chair, one girl to his right and the other sitting between his legs. Stryker remains alone. That’s a strategic move as he’s obviously trying to reel in Lyra and Lyra definitely gets reeled in.

“Ladies,” Silas chimes, “so glad you decided to join us.” As if he needs more girls surrounding him. He removes one of his arms that’s wrapped around the girl beside him, “sit, relax, have a drink.” I roll my eyes at his phony chivalry.

One of the girls sitting with Silas, in her best valley girl voice, looks directly at me, “I love your suit.”

I hold my tongue unsure of what to say. I can feel Lyra’s stare on me. Hear her demands in my head. “It’s actually Lyra’s suit. I’m borrowing it since someone didn’t let me go back to my room to get mine. Apparently, she thought I would ditch this fun little get together.”

Under her breath, Lyra mutters, “absolutely true.”

Silas is the one to break the awkward silence, “well, I’m glad for your cunning friends.” His eyes roam over my barely covered body. “And so is Nox. He’ll be down shortly.”

“And I care why?” This has Lyra once again scolding me for my rudeness, but Silas just laughs amused with my witty attitude. Even Stryker chuckles at my comment. What could possibly be so funny? Did Nox tell them about my slip up at the restaurant? Did he over exaggerate my assumed interest in him?

“No reason,” Silas teases. He’s proving to be just as annoying as Nox.

Dying to get away, but knowing that I can’t physically leave the pool area without Lyra hunting me down, I try to put as much distance between myself and the twins as possible. “I’m going to go sit in the hot tub, because it’s freezing out here.” And it’s away from them.

I can feel their eyes on me as I walk away. I’m more than thankful when the hot tub comes into view, empty. The best thing about this hotel is the pool, it’s massive and the hot tub is completely separate…well for the most part. I can’t see Lyra and Eden, but I can hear the ridiculous jokes Silas tells them that sends them into a laughing fit.

My retreat in the bubbling pool is slow as the water instantly scolds me. I’ll chose this torture than hanging out with the bad boys any day. Goosebumps break out across my skin from the mixture of hot and cold and I’m relieved when I can finally take a seat on the built-in benches. The water reaches my shoulders and when the jets are on it’s impossible to see my body, to see this gawd awful swimsuit.

The tension that coursed through my body diminishes. I’m so relaxed that I close my eyes and let the sounds of the night surround me. But my peace only lasts for so long as another body steps into the water.