(37): Damage Control

After a very delicious breakfast buffet from Daisy, we are all set for our adventure day at the resort. Everyone woke up well rested and chirpy.

Nick and Nathan started fighting over the last cheese-griller and we had to intervene. Daisy said it was always like that; they all took turns to fight over food. She smacked their heads and they stopped. She ended up giving the cheese griller to Kyle because he 'behaved'. He smiled like he had just won a car.

Funny.

"Don't mind Nathan if he's a bit antsy today" Kat says walking next to me "He wanted to have sex last night and I said no because what if we made a noise?"

I wrinkle my nose "I did not need to know that"

"I'm just warning" Kat laughs. "Did you and Kyle also have to hold back?"

"What are you talking about?" I murmur.

"Don't think we haven't noticed that you two like each other or something. I've been meaning to have this conversation with you"

"We don't" I deny meekly.

She gives me a skeptical look "Oh come on, Chels, I know you like the back of my hand"

"It's just a crush" I blurt under pressure.

"Aha! I knew it" She shouts victoriously causing the others to look at us.

"Knew what?" Nick enquires.

He is walking with Winnie. I feel bad that he's getting so close to her because I know that she doesn't like him. We're all walking up the slope because the first thing up is skiing. I'm not that excited but I put on a brave face for the others cause I don't want to spoil the fun.

Nathan and Kyle are walking in front of all us and having their own conversation.

"Uhm, that she was scared of skiing" Kat lies smoothly.

"Are you, Chels?" Winnie asks concerned.

I wave her off "Pshh, only a little. I'll be fine though. No worries"

"Promise?" She presses.

I nod with a small smile before she and Nick overtake us again because apparently we are walking too slow.

"Are you two cool now?" Kat asks curiously.

I nod happily "Yep. Cool as beans. We spoke yesterday. She apologized to Kyle and I"

I don't want to tell her about the Nick thing because I doubt she'll be able to not tell him.

"Oh yeah. So since when do you have a crush on the hottie?" She smirks "By the way, I totally saw this coming. We all did"

So I've heard.

I bite my lip thoughtfully "I was lying. It's not just a crush, I actually have feelings for him. And I don't know when it started, but it's been a while"

It feels so good telling her.

"Why didn't you tell me?" She frowns.

"I don't know. I thought you wouldn't be happy because of Noah or something. What if you ended up blaming me for his behavior?"

"Chels" She says softly "You know I would never do that. He's in charge of his own behavior. It has nothing to do with you and I would never think that"

"I know now" I mutter squeezing her hand.

She seems happy and smiles mischievously. Oh no "So have you two kissed?"

"No!" I screech flustered "Kat, I don't even know if the guy feels the same, okay?"

"He does, trust me" She says confidently.

I look at her skeptically "How would you know? You guys don't even speak"

"I don't need to speak to him" She drags rolling her eyes "I can see the way he speaks and looks at you. It's pretty obvious. Even Nick said"

"What does Nick know?" I deadpan.

"Nick has known him for more than nineteen years, unlike you" She bites "I'm pretty sure he knows his friend better than you do"

She has a point but I don't want to get too excited though.

"Jeez, fine" I mutter defensively.

"So, are you gonna tell him?" She asks hopefully as we reach the top.

We take a moment to catch our breaths.

"No! Kathrine." I screech.

She rolls her eyes "Boring"

"And you can't tell him either. You have to promise" I point a stern finger at her.

"Promise" She says.

"Took you guys long enough" Kyle shakes his head looking at us "You walk like grandmas"

He looks so cute with that beanie on his head.

"Shut it" Kat deadpans.

I look around and there's actually quite a lot of people here. I can't believe so many like skiing. It's horrible.

Nick announces that he's going to speak to the people so that we can go first. Perks of being the owners child's friends. Although I kind of feel bad because the other people were here before us.

Oh well.

The rest of us are just standing and waiting for him to come back as we speak about nothing in particular.

I look in front of me to see a curly haired girl and another one with black hair make their way to us. The first one taps Nathan on the shoulder and he turns around to look at her.

I can hear Kat breathing loudly next to me.

"Hey" She grins widely "Fancy seeing you here again. Remember me?"

Oh shit.

"Uh, Ruby?" He asks knowingly.

She grins "Yep. And you're Nathan. Can't forget you even if I wanted to. You did give me an unforgettable night"

Oh hell no.

"Ahem" Kathrine clears her throat agitated and her boyfriend turns to her "Who's she?"

It was only a matter of time till she'd lose it.

"I'm Ruby" The girl answers sweetly "This is my friend Gina. We just came to say hi to Nathan and Kyle. We hope we aren't disturbing"

Kyle is right next to me so I hear him whisper a "So that's what her name is"

Idiot.

He probably slept with the other girl. I'm not surprised he didn't remember her name. He's stupid like that.

Also, I kind of can't stand the fact that I'm actually seeing a girl he's done something with after coming to terms with my feelings for him. I wish I could punch her face.

This is so unlike me.

It's also a harsh reminder that Kyle just sleeps with girls and doesn't do feelings. He probably doesn't like me. I feel my heart sink a little.

"You are" Kat harshly bites.

I squeeze her hand lightly so she can calm down. "Okay, Kat"

"Are we missing something here?" The other girl, Gina, asks confused.

"Yes" She snaps "You two are assaulting my boyfriend and friend. It would be nice if you left us alone"

Yeah, she's not going to calm down now.

The curly haired looks to Nathan "Are we assaulting y'all?"

Nathan looks around awkwardly.

"I think it's better if you guys just leave" Kyle answers when he sees that his friend isn't.

"Why? Do you have a girl too?" Gina bites.

She's the rude one.

"Listen, girl, he said you should leave so you should probably leave" I snap impatiently.

Kyle winks amused at me. He looks like he's proud of me. Swoon. Hell, I am too. I guess being friends with Kathrine helps one grow a backbone for once. Her energy is contagious like that. Plus I already don't like the girl because she got a piece of Kyle.

They both scoff before walking away.

"Nathan, I swear to God if I see another one of your girls I will fucking lose it" Kat screeches shooting daggers at him.

"Sorry" He replies exasperated.

"Sorry? Are you fucking kidding?" She snaps "You know damn well if this was the other way around, you wouldn't like it if I just gave you a stupid 'sorry' Nathan"

He would be going all Hulk on the guy.

He sighs loudly before walking to her and pulling her to the side so they can have their own privacy.

"Well then" Winnie breathes.

"Tell me about it" I murmur deciding to look away from the hot-headed couple.

"Nathan finally met his match" Kyle tseks amused.

"I can't believe you think this is funny"

Winnie nods agreeing with me "Seriously, Kyle. I don't think you'd be laughing if you were Nathan. Imagine your ex starts speaking about the unforgettable night she had with you in front of your girlfriend"

"That girl is not his ex" Kyle smart-mouths.

"So? He still did something with her. Something that he now does with girlfriend" I argue.

"Your player ways will catch up to you too, Kylie" Winnie informs.

"Whatever" He rolls his eyes.

Nick then comes back with a huge smile "Okay, we're up next after those people"

"Cool" Winnie grins excitedly.

Ew.

"Where are Nathan and Kat? They're aren't busy fucking are they?" Nick asks.

I snort "The very opposite"

He looks confused "What? Fighting?"

"Dude, remember those two freaky friends from last Christmas?" Kyle starts off.

Freaky?

Nick thinks for a second before grinning "Wait wait, uh, Ruby and Gina? Yeah, I remember them. Dude, those girls were crazy"

"Well Kat had a go at them when one mentioned what an unforgettable night she had with Nathan" Winnie finishes off.

Nick starts laughing "Oh shit!"

"It's not funny" I scowl unamused.

Him and Kyle think otherwise. I swear boys are so stupid. How is any of this funny?

The couple comes back a minute later with Kat looking calmer than she did when she left.

"Sorry you guys had to witness that" She apologizes sheepishly "But you should blame this idiot"

Nathan rolls his eyes when we look at him.

"We definitely do" Winnie agrees laughing.

"Okay, enough of the drama. Let's go" Nick announces excitedly and the others share his excitement. Except me.

Oh no.

****

"Who is that fucking guy? Winnie has been with him the whole fucking night!" Nick grits angrily through the loud music.

The skiing took so damn long. Well, only for me really, because the others were very much enjoying themselves. Anyways that's what we spent most of our day on. I'm pretty sure Nathan and Kyle went down that slope five hundred times.

Adrenaline junkies.

After, we shopped and looked around for a while, but the others refused for me to go to Candy World and so I was mad at them for some time. Anyways I got over it pretty soon, mostly because of Kyle. We got a polaroid and took so many pictures. We looked so cute and happy.

Again: I really love these people.

We ate at the restaurant which has the most delicious food, almost as delicious as Daisy's but I guess there's just a something about a home cooked meal. We went back to the cabin after forever and freshened up for tonight since we decided to check out the bar.

It's really nice and youthy in here. There are colorful lights and they play cool music that I can sing along to. We've all just been dancing around happily.

We did stop dancing now though and are just sitting at the booth that Nick booked for us and trying to calm him down. He's standing and losing his mind.

"You need to calm down, dude" Kyle says back to his agitated friend.

Winnie pretty much ditched us as soon as she saw that guy, Liam, and they've been together the whole night. Nick has not been enjoying himself at all. The rest of us keep trying to distract him from it but we're not doing a very good job clearly.

I mean, I wish Winnie could do her business far away from him, but I can't blame her because she's really in denial that Nick feels that way about her.

"What is she doing with him?" He shakes his head, running a rough hand through his curls.

"Nick, you have to ignore them" I whisper.

"How?" He demands loudly "She's literally grinding on the guy in front of my fucking face! Am I invisible?"

Oh lord.

"Dude, she doesn't know" Nathan excuses.

"Fuck that" He murmurs looking at them as he visibly swallows a lump.

Poor Nicky.

Winnie and the guy are dancing together, also probably flirting because she's been laughing the whole time. I sure hope they don't kiss in front of us or something.

I'm positive Nick will lose it.

The fact that he's drank a bit of alcohol doesn't help either. He's just on the edge. Trust me, unsober Nick is so very different to the sweet and annoying boy we're used to. I'd hate to be on his bad side when he's like this.

"Okay, what can we do to distract you?" Kat asks desperately; concerned.

"Tell her to stop fucking doing that"

"Other than that, man" Kyle scolds annoyed.

"Do you want alcohol? A girl? Weed?" Nathan tries, looking at his angry and emotional friend "Dude you can literally get anything you want. Your parents own this place"

"Why can't I get Winnie?" He whispers.

This is breaking my heart.

I know how much it sucks being one of those people who wear their heart on their sleeves. You just can't control your emotions.

I look to Kyle desperately and he points his head to the side signaling for me to follow him there.

"What do we do?" I utter.

"He's drunk and emotional. That's never a good combination. Let Nathan and I deal with him" He says to me.

I sigh "Okay"

"You and Kathrine just try to speak to Winona. You don't have to speak about Nicholas's breakdown but just get her away from that guy for a second" He informs and I nod.

We both walk back to the booth.

I call for a concerned Kathrine with my eyes and direct her to where Winnie is and she catches on and follows me there, leaving the guys alone.

"We should definitely go get Winnie, right?"

I nod "Yeah, but Kyle said not to mention anything about Nick. Just to get her away from the guy for a while"

She nods as we reach Winnie and Liam.

"Hey guys" She chirps happily.

Either she's really happy or she drank a little. I think it's both though.

"Hi" I wave tightly to both of them.

"This is Liam" She says pointing to him "Liam, these are my friends Chelsea and Kat"

He smiles widely "Hi ladies"

He has an accent; I think it's Australian or something. Guys with accents are weakness to girls. Nick is just not winning here.

"Can we steal our friend for a while?" Kat asks the guy with the still big smile. He's way too nice and warm. I don't trust him.

"Sure" He chirps "Just bring her back"

Winnie giggles happily and I have to hold back from rolling my eyes.

We offer the guy one last fake smile before taking Winnie with us to another unoccupied booth. We can also see our original booth from here meaning we can see the guys. Nathan and Kyle are speaking to a now much calmer looking Nick. He's even laughing.

Thank goodness.

"What's up?" She asks concerned.

"Nothing" I lie "We just wanted a bit of your purple magic. You've ditched us like the whole time"

She smiles sheepishly "Sorry, you guys"

"It's okay" Kat dismisses softly "So, tell us about Liam"

"He's here with the family so he said it was hard for him to be here tonight. Effort is sexy, right?" She grins "Anyways they're from Australia and just here on vacation"

Knew it.

"So there's like zilch chance of you guys continuing after we leave here?" I ask, trying not to sound too happy at the news.

"He's still a senior and said he's looking for colleges in the country so there might be" She informs.

Great.

Kat sighs loudly, not being able to hide her distaste.

"What?" Winnie frowns noticing "You guys don't like him?"

"It's not that" I reassure.

"We just thought this would be more of a family vacation" Kat says softly.

I know we're not being exactly good friend by putting one friend's feelings over another friend's, but it has to be done. Nick is just way too unhappy, I'm scared he'll break if it goes on. Winnie will have to understand.

She frowns again "Oh. I'm sorry. I also wasn't planning to meet a person here"

"It's fine" I reassure again lying. "I think the guys are just getting a bit overprotective with you"

It's half true.

"It's fine, I can guarantee Liam is a good guy. But I'll try to spend more time with you guys tonight" She offers meekly.

Kat nods "Okay"

"Wanna go to the guys?" I ask and she nods as we all stand up and maneuver our way back to our booth.

"We're back" Kat announces.

"So?" Nathan jokingly teases her and she hits his arm playfully.

Winnie is looking at nothing but Nicholas. It's pretty hard to hide the fact that he's all flustered up, I mean his hair is a freaking mess because he kept picking at it. His shirt is also half unbuttoned because he said he was getting hot. Probably with all the anger. And you can just tell something is wrong. His eyes aren't shinning like they always do.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Winnie asks concerned.

"Don't speak to me" He bites, much to our horror, and Winnie's face is covered with hurt, confusion and also shock.

I thought they calmed him down!

"What?" She whispers hurt, voice breaking.

"Nick" I utter warningly for him not to go on.

This is seriously not the time or time.

"No. Speak!" Winnie demands angrily after composing herself from the hurt "Let him speak. I can see he has something to say"

Oh no.

Angry Winnie and angry Nick are definitely not what we need right now.

"Okay, you two are not doing this" Kyle intervenes impatiently.

Nick gets up abruptly "I'm leaving"

I grab him quickly by the arm before he can do that "Nicholas. Are you serious?"

"Yes. I need to sleep, okay?" He snaps.

"Is someone going to tell me why the fuck he's so angry?" Winnie screams "I literally just got here and he looks like he wants to murder me"

"I'm leaving" He says again, shaking my hand off him before he really walks away.

Oh jeez.

"Well, this is just great" Nathan mutters looking around helplessly.

"Yep" Kat sighs.

Winnie groans loudly "I'm also leaving"

"What? Where are you going?" Kyle demands unhappily.

"My best friend is mad at me and I have no idea what I did" She starts to cry causing us to all frown "I think I just want to sleep"

"Winnie" I coo hugging her.

"We'll walk you back, okay" Kat offers.

"Okay" Winnie whispers moving away from

me and wiping away her tears.

Gosh. This day is just too long.

We all get out of the clustered bar and make a move to get back to the cabinet. Winnie and Nathan somehow end up being many feet in front of us.

"Has that ever happened before?" Kat asks Kyle "They both looked pretty shaken up"

"Nope. Winona didn't date much in high school because most of the guys were shit scared of Nicholas and I and knew that we were all close so he never really had to deal with it. I think she only started dating after we left so he didn't get to see it for himself" Kyle explains.

"And now in college?" I ask.

"She has only dated Delilah. I don't think Nicholas was really threatened, because she is a girl after all but he didn't like it much"

Right, it's only her first semester. I always forget that. I always assume she's in third like the rest of the guys.

"Jeez. Must've been harsh" I murmur.

"And before you guys, she was the only girl so we wouldn't invite her with when we went out or anything. Bottom line is: Nicholas has never gotten to see her with any guy. He's only ever heard rumors and that alone made him lose his shit"

"Damn" Kat breathes.

"Poor Nicky" I murmur.

A few minutes later, we reach the cabinet to find Nathan and Winnie sitting on the couch and watching some TV.

"Better?" I ask her concerned joining them.

She nods "Is it okay if I sleep with you tonight? I don't think Nick wants to see my face yet"

"Off course" I smile assuringly.

"Thanks" She murmurs absentmindedly.

"Okay, well, I'm tired as hell. I think we've all had a very long drama-filled day" Kat jokes lightly, yawning like there's no tomorrow.

Nathan gets up "I like where this is going"

"Night, lovebirds" I roll my eyes amused at them as they also wish us a good night before walking upstairs.

"I think I'm also gonna go sleep now" I announce "Winnie? Wanna come?"

"I'll be there in a few. I think I just need some time to think" She smiles tightly.

"Okay" I murmur before looking at Kyle who's too busy focused on whatever is playing on the screen "Chambers? Are you tired yet?"

He shrugs "Sure"

"Night, you guys" Winnie bids.

"Night" I murmur following Kyle up the stairs quietly "What a long day"

He hums standing outside my room with me, just against the door "Tell me about it. You and I are the only normal human beings in this house who didn't create any drama"

"Right?" I laugh amused.

It's kind of true. I hope it remains like this.

He just smiles at me "Okay, good night Chelsea-Anne"

"Night" I smile back, a hand on the knob.

He doesn't move for a minute, we just share a longing look like we always do. His grey eyes piercing into my blue ones deeply that it feels

like he's looking into my soul. He clears his throat before looking away from me and just shaking his head with a tiny smile that I may have missed if I didn't see his cute dimple.

"Dream about me"

He says this before closing his door. How'd he even get there so fast? I guess I was too distracted and dazed to notice him even move.

Yep, he's got that strong a hold on me.

At times like these... I can't help but think that maybe he may just feel the same. Or at least hope really hard that he does.

I definitely do want to dream about him.

***

Dum! Dum! Dum!

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