Chapter 4

                                    

                                          
I remained in my position in front of the fire with the ground spinning underneath me. Five empty glass bottles sat next to me. Shit. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. It only made me dizzier. The fire crackled loudly.
                          
“Shit,” I breathed to myself. Evidently, it was louder than I thought.
                          
“What’s the problem?” A low accent grumbled a few feet away from me. I almost forgot Harry was there. I looked up, trying to focus my eyes on his face. His features were a little blurry but, drunk as I was, the green of his eyes absorbed me.
                          
I couldn’t speak.
                          
I kept my eyes focused on his, my lips parted. I had planned on saying something but the words refused to come out. I muttered some awkward sounds. Harry just shook his head and handed me a bottle.
                          
“I-” I started.
                          
“It’s Jaegermeister. It’ll relax you.” He said. I didn’t protest, only put the ice cold glass to my lips and knocked it back. I winced, the thick liquor leaving a trail of fire down my esophagus.
                          
I shook my head and handed the bottle back to Harry. He laughed at my expense and stuck it into the sand next to him. He looked at me once more before placing a cigarette between his lips and lighting it.
                          
Don’t get me wrong, cigarettes were in the top-ten-things-that-completely-disgusted-me, but the white exhales had my eyes glued to the boy beside me. The way his thick, pouty lips formed around the base of the small cylinder was absolutely enticing  and I couldn’t find it in myself to peel my eyes away.
                          
What the hell was wrong with me? I’d blame it on being drunk.
                          
“What are you looking at?” Harry’s voice cleared the clouds in my head. My cheeks nearly lit on fire, quite the drastic change from the subtle pink caused by the heat of the alcohol pumping beneath my skin. Shit. He caught me staring.
                          
“Uh, nothing,” I stuttered. “I’m just trying to focus.”
                          
“What brought you here, anyway?” He asked before letting out a breath of white smoke. “I mean, I get why your friend came here,” he gestured his cigarette between two long fingers to the opposite side of the fire. Aaron was on top of Daisy doing God-knows-what. Somehow I missed that while I indulged more alcohol than I could handle.
                          
“Because I’m here with her. What brought you here?” I tried back.
                          
“I mean, it beats having to meet more people and pretending that I enjoy their presence.” He dug. I frowned slightly.
                          
“The ten minutes with me today was really torture, huh?” I asked sarcastically. He just took another puff of his cigarette. I reached for the bottle of Jaegermeister next to him but his free hand grabbed my wrist.
                          
“Aaron wouldn’t want you making a mess of his hook up cove, so lay off.” Harry scolded me, putting the cigarette between his lips again and inhaling the last bit of smoke before shoving it into the sand.
                          
“You were the one who told me it would help me loosen up. And I can handle myself, so relax.” I tried to reach for the bottle again, but his grip around my wrist only grew tighter.
                          
“I said lay off.” He demanded, releasing his grip. “Don’t you fucking listen?”
                          
“Watch how you speak to me, you’re not my father. In fact, I hardly even know you.” I stood my ground, folding my arms across my chest. What time was it? Couldn’t Daisy and I go find a new group of friends?
                          
Harry chuckled and spit some more venom my way, “Why did you come here, really? Don’t give me the shit that you’re with her. God knows a little goody two shoes like you wouldn’t want to sit around a fire in a damp cove getting drunk while her best friend hooks up with some sketchy guy.”
                          
“I’m trying to have fun on this trip, crucify me for it.” I moved my eyes to the fire that was beginning to die out.
                          
“Well if you don’t get that stick out of your ass, you’ll never be able to do it,” Harry spoke matter-of-factly. “Bitch.” I supposed he tried to mumble but I still heard him. I shut my eyes tight and clenched my jaw. The low flames of the fire were no longer burning away my feelings.
                          
I looked at the nearly-full bottle of alcohol only a few feet away from me then back at the slow crackling flames. Before Harry could stop me again, I fisted the glass bottle, standing up and dumping the contents over the wood that began to roar in orange heat.
                          
I tossed the empty bottle next to Harry, who began to speak, “What the fu-”
                          
“No more goody two shoes then, okay? Anything for you. Your opinion means so much to me. No really, thank you. I would’ve worried my whole life what some filthy scumbag like you thought about me. For real. Thank you.” I spoke sarcastically, turning and storming back over the sand dunes to get out of that cove as quickly as possible.
                          
Soon enough there were hurried footsteps behind me and Daisy’s voice calling my name. I ignored her, though, and kept walking. I didn’t have a definite destination, I just wanted to get out of there.
                          
Screw Harry. Who was he? No one. Why the hell did he make me feel this angry? He was nothing but a low-life.
                          
“God damn it, Reina, will you please stop running?” Daisy yelled through harsh breaths. “You’re drunk and so am I, we’re really in no condition to be running anywhere.”
                          
“I’m not going back there.” I said, turning around and facing my best friend hunched over, trying to catch her breath. “If you want to spend time with Aaron, I’m not going to stop you, but I’m not going back there. I’ll go back to the room and we can try this again tomorrow.”
                          
“Okay, we won’t go back.” Daisy surrendered without a fight. “What happened, Ray?”
                          
“I’m not going to let that piece of shit talk to me however he wants and call me names, are you kidding? I get it, Dais, this trip is to meet new people and make bad decisions but I refuse to hang around someone who has no respect for me.” I ranted.
                          
“Okay, Reina, it’s okay. I’m not upset. Like you said, this is just to meet new people and make bad decisions. Aaron will have a new girl and I’ll have a new boy in ten minutes.” Daisy offered me a smile before continuing. “It’s only ten o’clock. We’ll go freshen up in the room and find us some new boys. Deal?”
                          
“Deal,” I said with a nod. We made our way back to the room.