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29| Under the Sea (pt. 2)
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Toxic Paradise 30| Thanks for the Ride
I stood there awkwardly as Alec dressed himself, getting ready to leave the beach.I knew it wouldn't be long before he realized I literally have nothing but my suit to walk the long distance back to the car. It wouldn't have been a big deal if we were parked right off the beach, but we had to walk through the town too. Plus, yet again, I kind of looked like an idiot. He told me to hide my stuff, I didn't listen, and now I had to suffer the consequences. I was just nervous about how Alec would react to my stupidity.I was lost in my thoughts and didn't even notice Alec staring at me when he finally spoke. "Aren't you going to get dressed?""Um... so here's the thing about that," I started, "remember when you told me to hide my stuff in the rocks?"He sighed, probably knowing already where this was going. "Yeah. You forgot didn't you..."I nodded, giving him an innocent smile. "Correct you are Alec. So, since my stuff was stolen... I suppose I'm ready!"He sighed again, shaking his hea
Toxic Paradise 31| New Friends and Beers
The place he took me to was really quite cute. There were options to sit both inside and outside, but due to the rain, we had to sit inside. It wasn't an overly large place, but there also were not very many customers. Aside from the two of us, there were only two other occupied tables. The inside was dimly lit, and it looked more like a dive bar with cute beachy decorations and funny bar signs all over. We were seated across from each other in a corner booth, and were currently scanning the extensive menu.The air conditioner was blasting in here, and I was glad to have decided on the sweatshirt. I pulled it tighter around my body."Cold?" Alec asked.I nodded."Want to trade sides? You're sitting right under the air vent," he offered.I nodded again, "If you don't mind, that would be great."He stood up and I scurried passed him to sit on the other side of the booth. I could still feel the air conditioner, but it was a little better. "This is better, thank you," I said. It looked l
Toxic Paradise 32| Linner
Alec didn’t seem deterred as I continued to shove my face with pickles. “The other night in the hot tub, you said that people always leave. What did that mean?" Alec asked out of nowhere.I swallowed the pickle I was chewing before answering. "That's kind of a heavy topic for lunch.""Well," Alec said, looking at the time on his Apple Watch, "it's a late lunch; it's basically a dinner.""It's a linner," I said, chuckling at my own joke."A what?""A lunch and dinner mixed together- linner," I explained, surprised he didn't get it the first time.He smiled, "You're kind of a dork."I smirked, "So I've been told."Before he could press further, Scott arrived with the rest of our food and another round of beers, even though we hadn't finished our first ones. "Jeez, is Scott trying to get us drunk?" I chuckled."Probably. He usually does. Now, are you going to tell me what you meant?"I took another big drink of my beer before I began. "Well, long story short, I didn't really have a fat
Toxic Paradise 33| Witching Hour
“Ouch!" I complained dramatically as I dipped my foot into the hot tub. I pulled it back out immediately, repeating the process until the water was tolerable. "I swear this is even hotter than last time."Ryan just watched me in amusement. I never understood how people could just walk right into the tub without any adjustment stage. He and Alec both could, and I just didn't get it."Any day now, Jay," Ryan teased."I'll get there," I responded. "Speaking of days... how was yours? Everything okay with your job?"Ryan leaned his head back, closing his eyes before responding. "Yeah. There was just a glitch with some of the finances. It's all resolved now though."I lowered myself in so that I was now squatting on the seat with the water up to my bellybutton. "Well, that's good then. Does this mean you're off the hook for a while so that we can hang out?""I think so! Fingers crossed," Ryan said with a smile. "How was your day? I see you convinced Alec to take you out?"I smiled, finally
Toxic Paradise 34| Hammered
"Alec?" I asked, blow dryer in hand just incase it wasn't him.He jumped, turning to face me. "Jayna? What the hell!""Sorry, sorry... I didn't mean to scare you," I said, lowering my weapon. Now that I was standing in the bathroom with him, I noticed he had a slightly busted lip and a bruise on his cheek bone, like he had been punched in the face. I also noticed he had a cut on his hand that looked kind of deep. He was holding it to his chest and digging for something with his other hand."What the hell happened to you? Are you okay?!" I asked, placing the blow dryer on the counter top.He sighed, "None of your business." He finally stopped to look at me, pulling out the Neosporin. "Are you not wearing pants?"I could tell that he was drunk. One, because he was ever so slightly slurring his words, and he was usually so articulate. And two, I could smell it on him; he literally smelled like a distillery."Of course I'm wearing pants. I have shorts on under this; but don't change the
Toxic Paradise 35| Game On (pt. 1)
Waking up this morning, I felt strange. I kept replaying my interaction with Alec last night over and over in my head. I didn't think what I felt for him was one sided... but after what he said last night, I couldn't help but wonder if it was. Had I been the one to lean in? Was every spark, jealousy driven moment, and ounce of attraction just a figment of my imagination?Just as I felt my head was going to explode, my phone lit up with an incoming phone call from Maddie. I answered, holding my phone at the most unflattering angle I could capture as her face appeared on my screen."Morning, bitch!" She screeched.I groaned. "You are way to chipper for this early in the morning."She rolled her eyes. "It's 9:00— why are you even still in bed? Don't you and Ryan have some amazing adventure planned?"I laughed, "Not really; I think we may go to breakfast somewhere, but other than that we were just going to have a pool day. Apparently there's some huge beach party tonight that Ryan wants
Toxic Paradise 36| Game On (pt. 2)
Just then, Ryan entered the kitchen with a deck of cards and a huge grin on his face. "So, what do we think... King's Cup?""Sure; how 'bout that shot first?" I reminded him. I was gonna need it to get through a drinking game with these two."Oh yeah—one sec," Ryan said, placing the cards in front of me. I busied myself by shuffling the cards while Ryan retrieved the shot glasses, alcohol, and soda to chase with. Ryan and Alec didn't really need the soda; it was more for me.He poured them up and the 3 of us raised our shot glasses. "To one hell of a night!" Ryan cheered.I used the soda bottle to put some into my mouth first, then took my shot, and finally chased with more soda. Unfortunately, the soda was super fizzy, and some of it foamed from my mouth, dripping down my chin onto my bare thighs. At least it had missed my dress."You good, Jay?" Ryan asked, handing me a napkin which I gratefully took."Yeah," I responded. "I'm not great at shots."I heard Alec snickering beside me,
Toxic Paradise 37| Boys and Bonfires (pt. 1)
I didn't know what to say. I could feel Noah standing behind me as I stood face to face with Josh and Chris. Seeing Josh's face just reminded me of how crazy I was behaving when he left me sitting on the kitchen island my first week here."Hey Jay," Chris greeted with a smile, "Can we come in?"I shook my head slightly to snap out of it. "Yes, of course, sorry, come on in."I let the two of them walk passed Noah and I as we all made our way into the kitchen to join Ryan and Alec.I was still feeling nervous as I took my seat at the kitchen island, and Noah found a spot standing behind me. Alec and Ryan were both standing up now as well, and were on the other side of the island across from us.Before I could introduce Noah, Alec spoke up. "Oh hey, I know you," he said, looking in our direction."Yeah, I was your surf instructor. Hey man!" Noah greeted, friendly as ever."Not you," Alec responded, fixing his gaze on Josh who was standing beside Noah, "you.""Alec," I warned. If he says
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