Soitera

23. Dirt Whole

I stand on the steps with Armen and my suitcase. This is so awkward.

Jessica comes out. "Do you have enough birth control for the extra week?"

My eyes shoot open, and I whisper, "Yes."

"Do you have anything if your period starts?"

I can't help but cry. Why is she saying this in front of him?

"It's alright. He'll figure it out if you need anything." She turns to Armen. "She's a young woman. She may not be 5 years old, but she's still a child. She has needs. Don't forget that." Then she hugs me. "You're ok. I'll be here for a couple more days, and I'm sure Cassie can help you with girl stuff. Just go have fun and relax. You'll be back to school before you know it."

Me, Everett, and Armen take a helicopter to his house. His house is a lot like the other island houses. He even has a few slides. I point them out to Everett as we land. The house is as big as Jacks. It's huge.

We walk up to the front door and a man comes out. He hands a clipboard to Armen. "Welcome home. Is this the child?"

"Yes. This is Aurora. She'll be staying for a week. Everett is her boyfriend. He'll be here for a few days. Then there's another one coming. Male. His name is Nyx. He hasn't come out as gay yet. Don't bring it up to him. Cassie will probably be here off and on throughout the week too."

"Fair enough. I'll sort them out." He hands me a piece of paper. "Make a list of anything you'll need for the week. I'll make sure you get it, Miss Aurora."

I remember making lists when I was little. My dad would get catalogs in the mail. Toys or clothes, catalogs for everything really. He wouldn't look at them. But I would go through every page. I would mark in the catalog or make lists of everything I would order if I could. Nothing ever came of the lists. But that kept me entertained for hours when I was younger.

Everett spins me and gives me a kiss. "Do you need anything, baby?"

"No. I have everything."

He nods and gives the paper back to the man. "She's good."

"Any dietary restrictions?"

Everett shrugs his shoulders. "No. But she likes peanut butter."

"I'll have to search for butter from peanuts. I don't..."

I shake my head. "No. I'll eat anything. I don't need peanut butter."

"Very well. Follow me, and I'll show you to your room."

Thankfully, we don't have to go very far. At Jack's house, it seemed like the trip took forever to get to my room. Here, we're on the first floor, barely down a hallway.

"This is nice." There's a big bed and sitting area. A little kitchen. The bathroom does not have a TV, but it's got a nice bath and separate shower. It's pretty much the same as Jacks but about half the size. It's still plenty though.

"I'll let Armen know you like it. If you need anything in a hurry, my office is beside the entry. If you're not in a hurry, you can hang the tag outside the door. The help will bring it to me."

"Thank you."

As soon as the door shuts, Everett lays down. "Come here, baby. How are you doing?"

I snuggle with him. "Everything happened so fast, and I still don't feel good."

"I know. I can tell by your eyes." He unties the back of my bikini top. "I'll get you a tee shirt. That'll be more comfortable. You can rest while I hang the clothes up."

Rest must be what I need because I wake up at 3 in the morning. Everett is sound asleep beside me. I expected that though, it's 3 in the f*****g morning. I take a quick shower and toss on a tee shirt and shorts. Then I leave the room. I don't want to wake him up.

I'm not sure what to do. Everything is dark and quiet. I sneak out the front door and get about halfway down the steps.

Armen comes out behind me in pajama pants. "You are a very early riser."

"I think I went to bed at 7 last night."

He nods. "I need to shut the alarm off. Stay out of the pools and ocean for now. It's too dark and nobody else is up."

"Ok. I didn't hear the alarm."

"It's silent. They call me and Dante."

His phone rings. "There's Dante now." He picks it up. "Go play. Stay away from water. And breakfast is at 8. Come inside then."

"Ok."

He turns around and goes back up the steps. "Yea, I'm shutting it off. She's awake. Went to bed too early. Everything is fine." The door shuts behind him.

The island breeze flows over me and I close my eyes. I can hear the water in the pools and the ocean waves. I can smell the salt in the air. The sand. The tropical flowers. I hear the breeze moving through the trees before it touches my skin. I open my eyes and even though it's dark, soft lighting is set up around the pools and sitting areas. It's beautiful here. It's beautiful at night. This is something special.

I walk around and smell the flowers. I let my toes drag in the pools. One of them is really warm. He must have it heated for some reason. He has an outside bar too. But this is more of a portable thing. It has a few bottles of alcohol and some water. I'm not doing the alcohol thing right now. I grab a water and continue on.

The sun is rising as I get to the beach. I can see better finally. I walk in the water and let the waves crash over my feet. It would be amazing to own one of these islands some day.

Then I see a garden. I can't see great. But I know what a garden looks like. I run into the middle of it. He has all kinds of stuff. I sit and eat a cucumber. I haven't done this in so long. I eat slowly and savor every bite.

Nyx joins me when I'm eating strawberries. "You missed the drama last night."

"What happened?"

"It was hilarious. Dante showed up here. I guess he was finalizing something with Armen or something. But Everett was pissed. He was yelling at him for being here. Told him he should have been gone already. Then he threw Dante out of Armen's house. Armen was laughing his ass off. He said he's going to keep Everett as his new doorbell."

"I guess that would be effective to keep people away."

"Only if it's Dante though. Let's get out of the dirt hole now." Nyx moves to the sidewalk.

"It's not a dirt whole."

"Whatever. It's time for breakfast anyway."

I grab another cucumber and follow him.

The man that always seems to be here, puts his eyebrows up at me in the dining room. "Would you like me to clean that?"

I guess I missed some dirt on my half-eaten cucumber. Dirt never bothered me. I wipe it off on my shirt. "It's fine."

I sit by Everett. His hair is wet and he smells good. "She found your garden, Armen."

"I see that. You need some eggs and toast to balance that out. Then you can all go do something."

I yawn and put my cucumber beside my plate.

By the time I'm done with breakfast, I'm falling asleep at the table. I am stuffed and tired. Nyx and Cassie are arguing about where to go shopping. Everett carries me to bed.

I wake up with his fingertips sliding down my back. "I didn't want to let you sleep too long, sweetheart."

"mmm" My body relaxes at his touch.

"Lunch is in an hour. I figured you would want some time to wake up."

"I think you want something else." I giggle. "I can tell by your touch."

He smiles and rubs my back. "I can hope for something else. But you don't need to sleep up all day and be up in the middle of the night again."

I roll over and guide him over me. "I hope for something else too."

He doesn't rush at all. He takes his time and I feel every inch of him. Over and over.

After lunch, Armen lets us take his helicopter to the carnival for a few hours. I have a lot of fun with that. It's a fun place. We get back and Cassie and Armen are sitting by the pool.

Cassie looks up from a laptop. "Oh, she's wired."

Armen nods. "How did it go?"

"Well." I run in front of them. I hold my hands up to show them. "There was this big round thing. It was a circle. It went really high in the air. It was huge. I got to ride it. I was in a box with windows all around it. I stopped all the way at the top. I could see could for so far. Then there were clowns and a fun house. The fun house had weird mirrors. I ate a weird thing on a stick. And I drank something green."

Cassie has an eyebrow up. "I'm guessing that it had a lot of caffeine and sugar in it."

"AND THEN..." I cut her off. "I threw darts at balloons. I didn't win anything but I tried."

Everett falls into the chair beside Cassie. "I need a minute."

"I can see that." Cassie smiles at him. "Do not give her caffeine anymore."

"Noted."

I spin in a circle. "Where is Nyx?"

Armen takes a deep breath. "That was a lot and very fast. Nyx is over at Franks. I'm sure he'll come back."

"Aww." I plop down on the ground and pout.

He nods. "You want to play on the slides? I'll turn them on. That'll give you something to do."

"YES. I NEED A SWIMSUIT." I run to my room and change as fast as I can. Then I run back.

I play on the slides until they tell me it's time to eat.

After I eat, I play on the slides some more. He doesn't have as many as Dante, but they're still fun. Then I sit down to take a two-second break and fall asleep in the chair.