LIBBY
I met James in the lobby this morning before we walked to the dining hall together. We spotted Audrey and strode towards her table hand in hand.
"Yeah, and I was like, 'pink and blue only go together if it's candyfloss, go change' and the look on her face was priceless," Margo gushed, tears almost spilling down her cheeks as she slapped the table.
"I was six okay, shut up. You need to stop telling that story," Deanna -Margo's childhood friend- responded.
"Deanna, I didn't know you were on this trip," I grinned as I sat down, James pulling the chair out for me.
"Ugh, where can I get one? Gentlemen seem to be rare finds nowadays. Anyway, Margo offered me to come with her and when I found Audrey was going I just couldn't resist," she beamed, clasping her hands together.
Audrey rolled her eyes, a small smile on her face. "Yippy me."
"What kinda response is that? You find your older sisters best friend who thinks of you as a darling little sister is going on the same trip as you and all you have to say is 'yippy me', goodness I'm so underappreciated," Deanna moans, crossing her arms as she humphs.
"You know I...tolerate you." Audrey guessed, taking another bite of her toast.
"All is forgiven. Did you hear that guys, she tolerates me," Deanna cheered, proudly pointing to herself.
As we received our breakfast, conversations started up, mostly which were answered with our mouths full and Audrey grimacing in disgust.
"So what's the plan for today?" Margo asks, playing with her cereal.
"Same as every day on this trip, relax. Boring if you ask me," Audrey replies, taking a sip of her tea.
"What do you mean boring? You get to relax, ease off of the tension of university and work miss Audrey I-don't-know-what-a-holiday-is Parkinson," Margo teased.
"You really do need to take a break. Seriously, you have so much on your plate, both metaphorically and literally," Deanna agreed whilst stealing a piece of Audrey's toast, "how you've managed it so far will forever remain unsolved. You go girl!"
"Hey! Don't just go stealing somebody else's toast," Audrey protested.
"But you weren't eating it."
"My heart is now broken, and if you do it again, so will your nose," Audrey joked, pointing a perfectly manicured fingernail at Deanna who is currently cowering into her seat.
Soon after that incident we grabbed our things from our rooms and made our way out to the resort.
Wow, Mr Parkinson really spared no thought on this, well, his team didn't anyway. This place looks amazing. The resort had a dome-like ceiling made of glass, and there was a rainforest section which drank in the sunlight that streamed through it. In front of me was a giant water park, there were fun pools, racing pools, waterslides, the whole nine yards.
And this was only this one section alone.
"So, where do you wanna go first?" James craned his neck down at me.
"Waterslide! Always the waterslide." I grabbed his wrist and dragged him towards the waterslides that were just calling to me.
He chuckled and let me drag him along. "Of course, why'd I even ask. Hey, do you think they do milkshakes here?"
"Of course, this place was designed by Audrey's dad, there's no doubt that there's a professional chef on site. Oh, what about spaghetti? Do you think they have that?"
"Yeah, if they have milkshakes, they have spaghetti. Libby, I love you to pieces, but you can't live off of spaghetti. I don't care what you did when you were thirteen, canned spaghetti rings are not gourmet." He replied, leaning down and placing a small kiss on my knuckle.
"Whatever, race you down the multi-slide?" I ask, making a beeline for the multi-slide.
"Absolutely, it's on."
Almost a million slide races later, we were left with the question of what to do next. First world problems.
"Libby! James!" I turned around to see Margo sprinting towards us.
"Margo wait up!" I peeked behind her to see Deanna running and Audrey calmly walking towards us whilst sipping a lemon iced tea.
"They have a rainforest cafe. It's so beautiful!" Margo's eyes are lit up with excitement.
"Woah, really?" I'm pretty sure my expression matched Margo's.
I could hear James chuckling beside me. "You wanna go there?"
"Heck yeah!"
SEBASTIAN
I laughed as I slid down the massive spiral slide, picking up speed before shooting out into a pool filled with others. When I surfaced I was pulled back under again.
"Marcus! Dude, that was not cool." I growled when I resurfaced.
"Whatever, it was funny. You should have seen your face, you looked like a damsel in distress that's being held hostage by a dragon," he bent over laughing.
"That is oddly specific. I'm guessing they were playing Shrek on one of the channels?"
"Oh, you betcha. I couldn't give up the opportunity to watch a movie of my lord an saviour Shrek," he replied, putting his hands together and faking a prayer.
I slapped his hands down holding back a chuckle. "Marcus stop, you're so weird. Remind me why am I friends with you again?"
"Because you love me and you couldn't live without me," he sang, poking and prodding me.
"I find that very debatable right now," I counteracted, smiling mischievously.
He gasped and slapped my arm. "Uh, excuse me I will have you know that without me your life would be about as exciting as receiving the worst grades possible in an exam."
"How in any way is that exciting?" My brows drew together in confusion.
"That's exactly my point." He laughed and punched me in the shoulder.
I ended up caving into his contagious laughter before we were interrupted by one of the staff. "Excuse me, Mr Steinwell? You have someone waiting in the lobby for you."
I threw him a questioning look but he just shrugged and followed them. I turned to face the slide when a flash of wavy auburn hair caught my eye. There she was, following her friends whilst sipping a drink, as stoic as ever.
I quickly climbed out a best as I could, stumbling a little. I jogged over to her before she could disappear into the rainforest.
What if she ignores me? What if she shouts at me?
What if I shouldn't do this? What if I should?
And then I felt it, the feeling of having nothing left to lose.
"Audrey!" I called out to her. She flinched and froze in her tracks. "Audrey, I need to talk to you."
"Sebas-" Libby began but stopped as Audrey held a hand up.
"Go ahead, I'll meet you there." Her voice was firm and commanding.
They all nodded and continued on their way. We both watched their retreating forms before she faced me.
"Sebastian, how may I help you?" She asked formally.
"What? What do you mean?" I was dumbfounded, why was she acting like this?
"Is there something wrong? Was my work unsatisfactory? Do you have any queries?" She questioned, her voice remaining in the same formal tone.
"What? No. I wanted to ask why I returned to my apartment during half term to collect my books only to find a letter informing me the case had ended. Just how long did you plan to keep me in the dark for?"
Her face contorted into that of confusion. "I don't understand the problem. We told you in the beginning that you would reive updates and notifications regarding your case, we were simply notifying you of its closing, and as for the duration of time, we sent you the letter when the case had officially ended and it would be easier for you to enjoy half term and come back to it."
"You thought the sudden approach was the best one? I really expected it to go on longer."
Confusion was replaced by irritation as she raised her neatly trimmed eyebrows, "Why? I had finished my job, you knew that once Rachel and Oliver got together the case is over, finito. What did you want me to do Sebastian, the case is over, I shouldn't even be talking to you."
"I get that, the case is over. I know. But you didn't have to make it so sudden."
She shook her head in confusion and denial. "What did you expect, a goodbye bouquet of flowers, a last bidding basket of chocolates? The Cupid's Database is an organization, we do our jobs and that's it. I've done my job, I've notified you accordingly, what more do you want?"
"I wanted to see you! I was told the case ended in a letter. I tried to call you but the number had been disconnected. I searched for you everywhere but I couldn't find you, and I wasn't going to visit you after your lectures 'cause that's just too stalkery. I just wanted to see you one last time before I had to forget everything or before I had to stop talking to you completely." The desperation in my voice began to seep through the cracks.
"Why? The letter said everything I would've said, there wouldn't have been any point. It's not like you grew attached to me during that time and it's not like you consider me a friend. I am a cupid and you were my client, that is all. Yes, we had grown a little close but you have to remember I was doing my job." It was like a harsh slap to the face.
"If you were really doing your job, you would've seen that I had grown attached to you. That I had considered you my friend, that I wanted to continue to know you, to be friends with you even if the case ended. Are you just going to forget everything that happened? All those bonding moments like the beach, or the ball, or even the time I fell sick. What, you're just going to forget all of it?" I was breathless and panting for air as we stood in silence. She watched me with those calculating eyes, those same eyes she stared through me with the very first time we met.
"Sebastian, I have to," she whispered finally, breaking the silence.
"Why do you have to? Why do you need to forget, why can't we stay friends?"
"Because I just do. Okay? I just...I have to. I'm sorry. You're such an amazing guy and a really good friend but, I need to do this. Please stop asking. Please." She croaked, her voice breaking with raw emotion, something I wasn't used to seeing on Audrey.
Her eyes glistened with tears and she pressed her lips together. Her one free hand was balled up in a fist, her knuckles turning white. I could see her trembling. Her, what I see now, it struck something in my chest as it began to ache. I could feel my stomach turning into knots and I had to hold myself back from pulling her into a hug. I wanted nothing more than to hold her in my arms and comfort her.
"I have to go. I'm sorry Sebastian, I really am," I could see that she was, "maybe one day, you'll be able to forgive me. Maybe one day you'll understand why, if you even still care. But for now, I am so sorry. I wish you all the best Sebastian, I wish you all the happiness in the world. Goodbye Sebastian."
The shattered remains of my heart hammered against my chest. She's leaving, and I was watching her leave. The amount of self-control it took to hold myself back from following her ended up tiring me, it left me gasping for air as I rubbed my eyes that itched with tears.
I respected Audrey, in fact, I can probably say I put her on a pedestal, so I had to respect her wishes. No matter what, I promised myself that I wouldn't mess up the plan, for her, and I guess even now it still applies. So I let her go, watching her until I couldn't take it anymore and began my trek back.
I guess it's goodbye for now until we meet again. Until I figure out what's going on, what this is that I'm feeling.
I mumbled to myself, quoting the parting words on the letter we all received on our first day of Rowell Academy.
"May the target be ever in your favour."