Page 29 of The Other Side of Paradise (Story of Paradise #2)

Allison

I was not getting action tonight. Not when I was ostensibly going to go look with Stella right next to me, distracting me from literally anybody else.

But Stella was stubborn as hell, and so here I was, checking me into the sky lounge at the center down the street from the resort, technically a part of the resort but operated and run by different people.

We sometimes borrowed staff members back and forth, and I hoped to god none of my coworkers were going to see me here with Stella, or I’d never live it down.

I mean, I wasn’t complaining—the place was beautiful, a rooftop lounge area with a covered mezzanine level that had an attached restaurant and a roof with a bar, infinity pool, hot tub, and a big-ass speaker system with a DJ currently ramping up some kind of progressive house mix as the sun sank low over the views of the island around us.

The kind of place where, if I worked hard all my life and got lucky, I’d, uh, still never make it to.

Stella walked through it all like it was normal, and I felt the gap between us more than ever.

“If I sneak you a drink, do me a favor and don’t tell anybody,” she said, leaning close to me as she led me through the mezzanine, away from the crowds a little bit to a secluded spot behind a wooden lattice wall covered with thick-growing vines, a fire burning in a glass fireplace opposite the booth seating as the temperature came down with sunset.

A TV was turned on above the fireplace, playing something.

I could not have told you what was on it, not for a million dollars.

I didn’t know what possessed me to say, “You like a little trouble, huh?” but I regretted it instantly. Especially when she looked at me with that glint in her eyes. Apparently I liked a little trouble.

“I really do,” she said, and I got a jolt in my stomach when she put a hand on my lower back, ushering me on into the little room behind the lattice, sitting me next to the railing that looked out over the island and dropping down on my other side.

Closing me in. I wanted her to move even closer, close me in more, and at the same time I was two seconds away from jumping over the railing to escape.

She leaned in front of me to meet my gaze, smiling slyly. “Allison?”

I swear she’d been dropping my name like that constantly since the whole thing at the climbing gym and she had to know it was giving me goosebumps. “Yeah?”

“Tell me what you want.”

Heat blossomed in my chest. “Um—what?”

“To drink. Or a snack. Whatever. I’m gonna pop off to the bar.”

“Oh, shit, yeah, uh.” I flushed hotter. “God, I don’t know, just, like, a… a coke or something.”

“It’s all yours, Allison,” she said with a wink, and I needed her to stop saying that.

And to stop winking. And to stop doing both at once.

She stood up, and ostensibly, I stared at the TV while she was gone.

Practically, I still didn’t know what was playing.

Probably a sport. Maybe a nature documentary. I didn’t fucking know.

It only set in by the time Stella was back with two glasses that this didn’t make any sense, and I cleared my throat as I took the drink she handed me. “Thanks,” I said. “Um… why are we over here? You know, off in a corner where we can’t see anyone, if, you know…”

She raised her eyebrows, pausing midway through sitting down. “You don’t want to be all alone with me where no one can see?”

“Uh—” I put a hand over my face, looking away. Beautiful view over the railing. I assume it was beautiful. I wasn’t processing anything I was seeing. “Well, if you’re trying to keep me all to yourself, b-be my guest.” Shit, I stammered. So much for a smooth reply.

She laughed, sitting next to me. “We’re here to talk strategy before we move. Besides, it’s still quiet here. We need all the hot girls to show up still.”

“Psh. We’ve already got the hottest one around.”

She gave me a loaded smile, and my stomach dropped out. “So you think I’m the hottest girl around?”

“Uh.” I kicked myself to think dammit and put words together. “I mean, if you look in the mirror and don’t think so, I guess the glasses don’t work after all.” That was terrible. She seemed to like terrible pickup lines, though, because her eyes sparkled.

“That’s so smooth,” she said, settling back into the seat and taking a sip of her drink. “So, what kind of girls are you into? Because Ryan told me she was just messing with me and you’re not really into athletic girls.”

“Oh, god. Um. Yeah, I’m not.”

She elbowed me, laughing. “You didn’t want to say so earlier?”

“I mean, it’s not like there’s no such thing as a hot athletic girl. To an extent. I wouldn’t want someone who looks like BB. Like, I would want some soft surfaces somewhere. ”

“Like in the form of huge fake tits.”

“Oh my god, again with that. I’m not looking for a girl with huge fake tits.”

She laughed. “So, the question? What kinds of girls do you like?”

“God, I don’t know. Um…” I busied myself looking at the screen, pretending to be interested. There was a click, and the screen turned off, and I looked over at where Stella held the remote, dangling it teasingly.

“Look at me when we’re having a conversation, Allison.”

Oh, shit, that was a turn-on. I laughed nervously. “Right. Sorry. Just, uh. Just, I don’t know. I don’t know.” I shrugged. I didn’t want to know how red I was. “I don’t think I really have a type. Just… someone who’s pretty.”

“Like Ariana Grande.”

“Um. Sure? Why her?”

She smiled wider. “I thought she was your celebrity crush?”

Oh, shit, she was. I was forgetting everything I’d ever said. I blushed furiously. “Oh, um, yeah. She is. I don’t think she’s here, though.”

She winked. “Even if she were, though, you wouldn’t take your eyes off me, I’m sure.”

“Uh.” I really wouldn’t. “I mean, obviously.”

She set the TV remote down on the table next to her, and she took a long sip of her drink before she turned back to me and said, “So, it’s about time you fessed up.”

“Fessed—” Oh, god. Did she know I was desperately pining for her? She was going to kill me. I was going to kill me. How would she not know? I wasn’t subtle. “Fessed up about what?” I said, all coming out more like one word.

“Who’d you make out with at the beach?”

Oh, Jesus. That was better. Also worse. I masturbated in the car thinking about you was a bad answer. “Nobody,” I said, after too long a pause, which she immediately called me out on, with,

“That was too long a pause.”

“I was—trying to remember what you meant.”

“Trying to remember?” She laughed. “What, did you make out with so many girls you can’t keep them straight?”

“I mean, I wouldn’t want to make out with a straight girl.” Shit, that wasn’t even true. She laughed, eyes sparkling brighter.

“Oh yeah? Never had a crush on a straight girl?”

“N-no.”

“You’re a liar.”

I wish I were a better one. I laughed nervously, scratching the back of my head, looking away. “Okay, maybe like, once.”

“Who?”

Fuck me, I shouldn’t have said anything. “What, like you’d know her?”

“I mean, maybe,” she laughed, and I felt my face prickle. “What was her name?”

“C… Cass… andra. Cassandra.”

“You just made that up.”

“It was a long time ago. So I forgot. It might have been Cassidy. Or Cas… pian.”

She smiled wider. “Caspian. That’s what we’re going with?”

“Apparently,” I said, voice strangled. “Probably not that one.”

She laughed again, and she said, “You know, I’m not going to be weird about it if you’re attracted to me.”

“Huh?” My voice came out strangled and tiny, turning back on her with my face molten hot. “You? Oh, you mean like…” I forced out a terrible fake laugh. “No, no. I mean, no. Not at all. I mean, you’re lovely, um… just… you know…”

She smiled wider, eyes gleaming. “Oh, yeah? Who is it, then?”

“Fuck.” I groaned, burying my face in my hands. “I am so sorry. I’m trying not to. I’m trying not to be weird.”

She laughed, relaxing back in the seat, kicking one leg up over the other. “Relax,” she said. “I just told you I’m not going to be weird about it. You’re allowed to crush on whoever you damn well like.”

I let out a heavy sigh, slumping back against the seat.

I was mortified beyond words, but at the same time, it felt like a huge weight taken off my chest, like I could breathe a little easier, not having to do the world’s worst job of lying anymore.

Just to sit in this awkward space instead.

I didn’t know what to do in this situation.

“How long did you, uh, know?” I mumbled.

“Ryan told me when she was going off about her hookup with Brooklyn that you had a crush on me.”

“That little—” I pressed my fingers into my temples. “I… can’t complain as much as I want to, I did the same thing with her and Brooklyn. Ugh.”

I guess that explained the whole thing with her being extra touchy-feely and calling me Allison, Allison every five minutes since then, if she…

wait, no it didn’t. It didn’t explain anything about that.

Not unless she knew I had a crush and wanted to flirt with me knowing that.

Why on earth would she want to flirt with me knowing that?

I mean, there was an obvious explanation for that, it just didn’t make any damn sense.

Two plus two was equaling thirty-eight pi cubed, and I was hitting a wall.

“So how long was it, then?” she laughed. “If you had to ask how long ago I noticed.”

“Uh. Dunno. I mean, just hanging out more, talking more, I kinda started to feel like, well, you know, I guess…”

She smiled. I groaned, burying my face in my hands.

“Literally from the instant I first saw you. Okay, there. Can I just jump over the railing now?”

“No, you absolutely cannot,” she laughed. “Should I apologize for the flirting thing?”

“No—no. I mean, you thought it was something different from what it was. That’s on me.”

“How is it on you?”

“For—you know—feeling that way? About you?”

She laughed. “You’re allowed to have a crush, Allison.

” Oh, god, again with the name. And the way she looked at me.

That gleam in her eyes when she looked straight into mine, that slight smile dancing on her lips.

I was going to die. “So,” she said, smiling wider. “What did happen at the beach, anyway?”

Ugh—Jesus fucking Christ. I didn’t care if it was out there now, I was not admitting to taking a quick break to rub one out thinking about her.

I decided to go with the closest decent thing to the truth.

“I was going to die of embarrassment with you talking to me about my sexual preferences, and I needed to… you know, pull myself together before I faced Brooklyn.”

She laughed, relaxing back in her seat, picking up her drink. “Sorry,” she said, not sounding remotely sorry. “So, no interest in Jessica after all, then.”

I looked away, lips pursed. “Absolutely zero.”

“And it wasn’t just that you also needed to go run off and get work done?”

“Oh, that was, uh.” I scratched my head. “Ryan and BB? I’m pretty sure they left for a quickie.”

“Oh, shit.” She looked down at her drink, brow furrowed, and she broke out laughing.

“Oh, god, you’re right. That’s why Ryan looked so happy when she got back.

I was like, Jesus, don’t look so giddy about having had the chance to interrupt your beach trip for work.

Ugh, I’m jealous. I’d love to bail on the beach for quick car sex and then pick up right where I’d left off. ”

“Uh… uh-huh.” I guess that was what I’d done too. I looked out over the railing.

“So, should I be on the lookout for a girl who looks like me?”

“Um… isn’t that a little weird?” I said, my voice strangled. She laughed.

“This whole thing’s weird. I burned bridges with my family to hang out with my sister and her hookup who her ex tried to cheat with and her hookup’s friend. What’s a little more weirdness?”

“Okay, I mean, touché, but still…” I fidgeted with my drink, squeezing it between my hands, and finally, I sighed, hard, hanging my head.

“Stella, I’m gonna be honest with you, I don’t think I’m going to find a girl for a…

fling, or something like that. Not like this. I’m just gonna be thinking of you.”

“It’s worth a try, right?” She really didn’t sound at all bothered.

To say this was not how I expected things to go was an understatement.

My brain told me she’d hate me and my body fantasized that she’d experiment like BB had said, but no part of me had imagined she’d just go, oh, cool, okay, I’ll find you a girl who looks like me. Who did that?

“I mean. I guess?”

She laughed as the music picked up from the rooftop, and she stood up, turning to me with her eyes gleaming, nodding towards the roof. “I love this song,” she said. “Wanna go dance?”

“Dance,” I said flatly, like I’d never heard the word.

“Great way to find some cutie.”

“I think most people here are straight. Just statistically. It’s a little different than picking up a guy.”

“Worth a try. Even a straight girl would be lucky.” She winked, and I felt it like a brick to the head.

Would she? Would a straight girl be lucky? Because there was one straight girl I was… I was…

Jesus Christ. What in the absolute flying fuck was going on?

“Okay,” I said weakly. “Yeah. Sure. Worth a try. Let’s go dance.”