You were born for leavin'

I half expected to be woken up in the middle of the night by him – whether it was to argue or make up, but I wasn’t. When I opened my eyes, I wasn’t even sure he had gotten into bed with me, but there he was – staring at me.

Instantly I felt annoyed all over again. Not just by Kylie, but I thought the whole “watching you while you sleep” thing is creepy, and it freaked me out a little whenever I had a boyfriend who did it. I didn’t look beautiful when I slept – I’ve seen pictures of me asleep, mouth hanging open, drool coming out. It wasn’t pretty. Why would you want to stare at that?

“What?” I snapped, unable to help myself.

“You’re still mad.” It wasn’t a question, but a statement.

“No, I’m not.” I said, sitting up and swinging my legs over the side of our bed.

“Now you’re mad and lying about it.”

I sighed. Loudly and dramatically. “I’m not mad Seth. That’s too strong of a word. I’m… Annoyed. Aggrivated. Those are better choices.”

“Same thing, isn’t it?” He asked.

“No. I don’t think so.” I said, shuffling to my suitcase and rifling through it to find something to wear.

He was quiet for a moment, but I heard him sit up, and I could feel his eyes staring at me.

“What?” I snapped again, without turning around.

“I didn’t say anything.”

“You’re looking at me.”

“Oh now I can’t even look at you?” Seth countered, the annoyance rising in his voice. “Isn’t that a little childish? Kinda like “Mom, he’s breathing on me!?”

I wanted to lash out at him. Now I was getting angry. Personally I thought it was a little childish and immature to let someone get their way just because you didn’t want to deal with the consequences. But I knew yelling at Seth was just going to make this whole thing get bigger, and really, I just wanted it to go away and enjoy the rest of my vacation here.

“Are we OK?” Seth asked, breaking the silence.

I turned slowly and went back to sit on the bed.

“We’re fine, Seth. It’s an argument. It happens even in the best of couples. In fact, I’m more suspicious of couples who never fight than the ones who fight all the time… I was angry last night. I felt like you… Picked Kylie over me.”

“How did I do that? I would have come and talked to you, but you were chatting it up with your new best friend Drew – who, may I add, is also your ex who I’ve had no complaints of hanging around.”

“First of all Seth, you’re coming across as really jealous, and I thought you told me you didn’t get jealous? That you trusted until you had a reason not too? I’ve never given you a reason not too, so you can back off that road any time now. Secondly, it’s different with Drew. Drew was my friend before he and I dated. And yes, we had a rough patch where we fought. But you’ll notice I wasn’t the one bringing him around then, your ex girlfriend was – who I’ve never protested being around either.”

I looked at Seth, expecting him to break in with a ‘but’ or some sort of excuse, but his mouth was closed and his eyes were looking out the window.

“I mean it’s not so much that she’s your ex, Seth. It’s that you don’t like her. And I guess I’m just confused as to why you would let someone you didn’t like hang around, especially when it made so many other people uncomfortable as well. I mean Chloe doesn’t like her, Christi isn’t a fan, and I wasn’t happy.”

“I just know Kylie. And I know kicking her out wouldn’t have been easy, and it would have turned into a scream match and everyone would have been even more uncomfortable.”

“I think you’re wrong.”

“You don’t even know her Ella, you don’t know how she is.”

“I’ve heard plenty of stories Seth, and I don’t doubt how she is, she sounds like a total bitch. I’m not saying she wouldn’t have freaked out, but personally I would have rather dealt with that and seen you stand up for not only yourself but everyone else around you. I would have loved to see you put her in her place. Because all she learned from last night is that she can still treat you however she wants and then throw out a fake ass apology and get taken back.” I was getting angry all over again.

“I didn’t take her back. Now you sound like the jealous one.”

“You know Seth, in a way I am jealous. She is gorgeous, and you obviously still care about her, if you’re still willing to let her walk on you like that. But on the other hand, if you left me for her? I wouldn’t care. It would be good luck to you bud. She may be prettier than me, but good looks only get you so far, and with her personality it’s not long before everyone sees how ugly she really is. I’m done talking about this, it’s not getting us anywhere and I’m wasting my breath.” I stood, gathering my clothes and heading for the bathroom to shower.

After a few minutes of standing under the hot water, I began to relax a little. It was over, right? I mean yes, Kylie had put a dent in my vacation, but she was gone now. If I let her get to me now… Well, that was my own fault. I had a hard time with forgiveness though, and a part of me still wanted me to be mad at Seth for letting it happen. I mean if I came out and acted like everything was OK, would he think that he was off the hook that easily? I mean he hadn’t even really apologized…

The whole shower I went back and forth, arguing with myself on whether I was making this a bigger deal than it needed to be, or if Seth needed to be ‘punished’. I eventually gave up when the water ran cold, and decided that it’s not like he made a habit of doing hurtful things, and I didn’t need the rest of this much needed vacation ruined.

My shower was long, but I still expected Seth to be waiting for me when I got out. He wasn’t. I was a little surprised, but shrugged it off. Maybe he had needed some space too, or maybe he decided to use one of the other showers in the house. I took some extra time, drying my hair and putting on some make up. Then I left my room and headed downstairs.

I met Christi on the stairs.

“You OK?” She asked, looking at me curiously.

“I’m fine. I was just a little aggravated last night.”

She nodded. “Yeah well…” She trailed off. “Did he talk to you?”

“Kind of. I mean, I don’t know if anything’s really resolved, but…” I shrugged. “It’s my vacation. I need it. I’m not going to let some skank ruin it for me.”

“Wow. You’re way better than I am… I actually think Drew and I are going to cut things short, rent a car and head back home.”

“Really?” I asked, surprised. I didn’t realize or really understand why Christi would be that upset to leave.

“Yeah, Chloe said she might come too… I dunno. If you want to leave, let me know. We’ll make room for you.”

“I think I’m fine. Thanks though.”

She again, looked me up and down curiously, and then shrugged and continued on upstairs.

I headed down the stairs and heard voices coming from the kitchen, so I headed in that direction. I stopped in my tracks as soon as I hit the door.

Kylie, bent over the table, wearing a shirt I recognized as Seth’s, and either really short shorts or nothing else. She was leaning across and talking to Seth. He didn’t notice me in the doorway at first, but when he did, his eyes got wide.

“Ella, I can…”

“We? Are not OK.” I said, turning on my heel and heading back upstairs.