Chapter 73
Evie
“Alright, so it’s almost 5pm… If we were to leave now, we could get home before nine. Just saying.”
I’m pacing back and forth on the nightstand, deep in thought. “We should at least wait for Moira to come back, though,” I respond, “There won’t be enough room for her in Diego’s car with all the bags.”
“Okay, then, we’d get home by ten or eleven. Still not that bad."
“But we had such a rough night and you’re exhausted, Aiden. I don’t think that option’s safe. We were already planning to leave tomorrow, maybe we just go a few hours early, first thing in the morning. For tonight, if we don’t want to see her we can just, like… conveniently decide to have dinner up in the loft or something.”
I’m restless and jittery. I’m feeling so self conscious about the fact that we’re considering changing our vacation plans just because Camila’s said a few nasty things about me. Ugh, what a mess of a trip this is turning out to be.
“Well, you do have a point about driving safe,” Aiden sighs, pinching the bridge of his nose. He leans back on the bed’s headboard and runs a hand through his hair, pushing his bangs up on top of his head as he stares into space. “How about this… I was meaning to take my own nap now. I’ll try to get some shuteye. And then maybe we can make a decision about a late-night return later.”
I turn to face him, feeling honestly rather thankful about ending this conversation. “Alright, sounds good. Think you’ll actually be able to sleep?”
“I’m pretty beat, so I’ll at least try.” He kicks off his shoes and lays down onto the mattress, not even bothering to get under the covers. He turns his head to smile my way and asks, “You going to be okay over there?”
“Yeah, I’m good, I’ve got my phone. I’ll wake you up if I need you.” I give him a smile and try to lighten the mood by blowing him a kiss. “Sweet dreams, babe.”
He shifts his head onto the pillow with a heavy sigh. And then within a couple of minutes after his eyes close, I notice his breathing becomes slower and deeper as he drifts off to dreamland. Good. I’m sure the lack of sleep wasn’t helping with the stress levels. I’m glad he’s able to get some rest.
There’s just one issue. After about twenty minutes of distracting myself on my phone, I realize that I’m both thirsty and apparently out of water up here on my nightstand setup. I could honestly go for a snack too… I should have thought this through before he started his nap. I briefly wonder if the discomfort is enough for me to “need” Aiden, though. It doesn’t seem worth it.
But my stomach complains loudly, and I look over towards the ladder that leads to the floor. Come to think of it, I bet I could scavenge something up for myself… It doesn’t hurt to try, right? The house is empty, and we haven’t encountered a single bug inside the cabin for the entire stay. I’ll take a quick trip to the kitchen, and if I can’t reach anything then I’ll just come back and either wait it out or maybe consider waking my boyfriend.
It’s an easy journey to the floor, and it’s very quiet as I walk down the cavernous hallway. I can’t quite decide if it feels peaceful or eerie. But I reach the kitchen soon enough and look up and around me as I get a lay of the land. The pantry door is cracked open, and between some cargo-like containers on the ground and the snacks stored on the lowest shelf, I can already tell I’ll have no problem climbing up for something to eat.
Getting a drink might be a challenge, though. At first I consider the sink, but not only would it be impossible for me to get up there, I doubt I’d be able to turn on the faucet. And even then there’s no way I’d be able to reach the stream of water without getting trapped inside the sink itself. But I remember there’s another water dispenser, a smaller standalone one. It’s meant for bringing outdoors, but it’s currently stored on a low side table by the kitchen counter. There’s a handle on the spigot that I think I’d have a better chance of budging. Maybe I could loosen it just enough for some water to slowly drip out. But can I get up there?
I take a closer look at the duffel bag that’s right next to the side table - Star’s, I think. The thick fabric exterior is loose enough that I could probably find handholds to climb up on top of it… That’ll get me most of the way to my goal. There’s another ten feet or so on top of that, but what the heck. Maybe I’ll get a better idea when I’m up there.
I drag over some napkins from the pantry to put on the floor at the base of the bag - if I happen to slip and fall, I’d rather land on a padded surface than the tile. And then I begin my climb, using fabric folds and zipper pulls to hoist myself up. It’s pretty hard work, especially since I’m dehydrated, but there’s something kind of fun about this. I feel like a little explorer, an adventurer, setting out on my own.
Several minutes later I successfully make it to the summit. I wander around the top of the bag for a while, gazing out towards the rest of the kitchen, and then focusing up towards the ledge that’s still a decent distance above my head. I’m going to need some kind of tool if I want to get up on the table. I start to wonder what’s inside the bag that I’m standing on. Feeling a bit guilty about infringing on my friend’s privacy, I head over to one end of the main zipper so that I can pry it open, just a tad. I take a brief peek inside. Okay, good, no sex toys. Looks like some extra toiletries, maybe. Actually…
“Jackpot,” I whisper with a grin as I tug the zipper a little further. “Sorry, Star, I hope you don’t mind.”
I reach down past a rolled-up towel and grab hold of what looks like the top of a ladder rung. With considerable effort I pull, pull, pull… and manage to yank the wide-toothed comb out of the depths. I drag my makeshift ladder to one of the nearby table legs that the duffel bag is leaned up against, and then I push the comb up until it reaches the tabletop’s surface. I use a thread that had been fraying off one of the bag’s straps to tie the comb to the table leg, so that it’s nice and stable. A lot of effort to create a path, but now the climb becomes an absolute breeze.
I stick my arms up in the air once I’ve reached the top, feeling quite proud of myself. I’m starting to feel dizzy from the thirst, though. Almost there. The water dispenser is looming ahead of me, I just need to get up to the spigot. There are small paper cups nearby that I can drag over and climb on, shouldn’t be an issue–
I startle at an unexpected sound. A very distant boom. It takes me a second to piece it together… was that a car door closing? But the others were estimating they’d be gone for at least two hours, and it’s only been one. Are they back early?
The back entrance of the living room is within my sights. The door swings open and in strolls a single figure. Of course it’s Camila. I hear the other three discussing something outside briefly while the door’s open, but then it slams shut behind her as she walks inside… and heads straight towards the kitchen. Fuck me.
She’s on her phone, so she’s distracted, maybe I can just hold still and she’d pass me by. But because she’s texting, that means she’s looking down, and I guess she noticed me out of the corner of her eye. She stops in the middle of the room, a towering beauty with a stone-cold gaze. She stares at me blankly, and I stare back. God, I feel so stupid for having left the nightstand. I’m so tired of having to deal with this girl. And I’m insanely tense from the fact that everything’s out in the open now. I know exactly how she feels about me, and she knows that I know.
Camila lowers her phone and smirks as she finally says, “Uh oh. Someone better call pest control.”
Alright. You know what? That’s it.
My hands clench into fists as something snaps inside me. While I tend to react towards stressful situations with fear, I’m somehow beyond that at this point.
At this point I’m pissed.
“What is your problem?” I call out towards her. I take a few steps towards the edge of the table I’m on, glaring at the giantess. “I’ve only ever been nice to you. Why do you hate me so much?”
She crosses her arms and takes a couple of steps towards me. I’m not much higher than her knee level but she doesn’t crouch or anything, just looks down her nose at me with disdain.
“I guess I’m just tired of being the only one who has any sense around here,” she sneers. I refuse to take any steps back, holding my ground defiantly.
“You think I asked to be this way? Seriously, how do you think I feel, Camila?” She lets out a breath of mirthless laughter as she rolls her eyes, but I plow on. “Look, I know you’re hurting. I know you’ve had feelings for Aiden for a long time. I’m sorry. Rejection is hard. Especially since he’s with someone you see as below you. But that doesn’t give you the right to treat me like shit.”
She sets her jaw, glaring daggers down at me. “You’re a shackle to him. You know that?” she hisses, “Oh sure he might be all… weirdly… infatuated with his new little puppy right now. But he’s going to be miserable in the long run. And he’s probably too nice to break up with you, he’s just going to keep dating you out of pity. Don’t you see that? You’re not good for him.”
“Oh and you are?” I say incredulously. “I’ve never once seen you take an interest in what he likes or do anything nice for him.”
Camila looks like she wasn’t expecting that response and falls into silence, eyes glazing over. Still overcome with anger, I don’t relent.
“You have no idea what our relationship is like. Aiden’s an adult. It’s not up to you, or to me for that matter, to decide what’s best for him.”
I take another step forward, craning my neck to continue looking her in the eye.
“And he chose me. So back. Off.”
To my shock and indignation, Camila breaks into cruel laughter. “I can’t even take you seriously right now. So much talk for such a pathetic little–”
“Fuck you!”
As soon as I shout, she lunges. I tense up at the sight of her suddenly bending down, maintaining a half-amused smile on her face as her head swoops in like a fighter jet, coming so close that I catch the scent of florals from her perfume. She purses her lips and I’m abruptly knocked backward by an intense gust of air. I collapse onto my back, hitting the table hard and wincing at the impact, before quickly propping myself up on my arms as I look up at her in sudden terror.
Camila slowly rises back up, looking perfectly smug. “Didn’t even need to lift a finger,” she hums, and she thunders away from me, continuing through the room to turn a corner and head up the stairs.
I’m shaking with panic. Breathless from the yelling I was doing, and from the mind-numbing fear that grips me now. For a moment there I thought she was going to actually hurt me. I’m reminded of a time from many years ago, from something Brock did once, when I was trying to stand up to him and he suddenly got in my face before he grabbed me by the hair and ripped me to the floor.
I hear the sound of the door opening again and I jump violently, whimpering uncontrollably. But it’s just Moira. She comes in through that same back door, and she has a frown on her face as she hurries into the kitchen, her eyes aimed towards the staircase. She probably would have walked right by if she didn’t purposefully take a quick glance around the room. She notices me and rushes over, taking in my crumpled state with sudden distress.
“Evie? What are you… I thought I heard… Oh my god, did Camila just…?”
I’m still not quite in control of myself. Camila crossed a line just now, I know that. But I feel trapped. I don’t want more fights, I don’t want more attention on this. I’m just too scared. I shouldn’t have antagonized her like that, what was I thinking? Besides, it was my own stupid fault for wandering around the house on my own, I’m sure Aiden would have wished that I had just woken him up instead. I don’t want to upset him, nor anyone else. I just want to get through to the end of the trip, and then maybe I can put all of this behind me. For a moment I fall back into my old habits. I plaster a smile on my face.
“I’m fine,” I say shakily, trying to reassure my worried friend. “She didn’t touch me.”
Moira frowns, confused and unconvinced. She doesn’t insist quite yet, first offering me a finger to help me back to my feet. I take it gratefully as I try to think of what to say. Fuck, what am I doing, I think, Stop it, don’t start again with the lying…
“We, uh… We had an argument,” I finally admit with tense anxiety. “It got a little ugly…”
And I finally push myself to tell her… most of the truth, at least. I detail what happened between Camila and Aiden last night, what happened with the three of us by the pond, what happened here in the kitchen… and I just leave out the part where she blew on me to knock me down.
“I am so done with her,” Moira growls with frustration once I’m finished. “For someone who’s apparently so interested in learning about other cultures, she sure lacks in empathy. I don’t care if she thinks you stole her love interest. How can anyone be mean to you?”
I blink up at her, a little taken aback. “I, um… Thanks, Moira.”
I hear distant laughter from the remaining Ignacio couple, causing me to startle but with less panic now that my friend is here with me.
“Did everything go alright?” I ask, remembering the fact that they should be in the middle of visiting waterfalls. “Why are you guys back so early?”
“Diego’s car battery was having issues halfway through. Thankfully there was someone there who kindly helped him jump the car, but we decided to head straight back. That’s what they’re working on right now, trying to figure out what’s wrong with it.”
Yikes. Here’s hoping it’s fixed before we have to leave tomorrow. Damn, this trip is cursed.
Moira hesitantly adds, “So, Evie… Even before you said anything just now, Star and I were texting in the car. We’ll keep Camila entertained, alright? I’ll be honest, she’s made some passive aggressive comments about you, she and Diego have gotten into a couple of spats about it. But she still seems fine with us overall. We won’t let her get near you.”
I fidget restlessly and lower my gaze. “Thanks. You shouldn’t have to do that. But… Aiden and I will probably just stay up in the loft for the evening, away from everyone. I’m so sorry, Mo. I hate all this drama, and I hate for any of you guys to get sucked up in it.”
She smiles sympathetically. “Listen. Just for the record, we’re all trying to keep the peace and not openly show preferences or whatever since we’re all stuck in one house together. But know that all of us are on your side.”
I take a deep breath. I’m glad I just confided in her, it feels so much better to have Moira be there for me. Gosh, I almost feel bad for Camila. Even her own family is in my corner.
Moira is looking at the water dispenser now, then she glances down at the comb that’s on top of the duffel bag.
“Can I get you some water?” she offers.
I sigh and lower my head. “Yes please.”