Stay (A TBZJL Fanfic)

THIRTEEN

(A week later)

I avoided Tobi as much as possible after that. I couldn't bare to hear his stupid kind remarks about how he was sorry and how I didn't deserve it, because I did. Lord knows I did. Whenever he was in a room, I'd leave, even though I enjoyed my time with him. I just couldn't face my past, and I knew he'd ask about it.

That week, I went out with Cal a lot. He'd noticed my change in attitude just as much as the others, but he didn't mention it. It was who I was to be blunt and dark and mean, and Cal didn't seem to mind.

Which was exactly what I needed.

I guess you could say we were dating. He was nice, but not overly nice like Tobi. As far as boyfriends went, he wasn't bad.

We were at the airport to go to Ibiza for holiday when I caught Tobi and Ethan talking to each other. I tilted my head, but widened my eyes when I saw them switch plane tickets.

Which meant Tobi would be sitting next to me on the plane.

Freya came over to me and grinned. "I'm so excited! Don't you just love the outfits we got?"

I nodded. "Uh, yeah, I guess."

"You looked great, quit whining," She giggled. "Cal's going to love your swimsuit. Have you guys...done it yet?"

I widened my eyes and blushed. "Who asks that?"

"Friends do," She teased. "Josh and I did after the second date. You've been with Cal for a week."

I bit my lip and shook my head. I'd wanted to, purely because it'd been a while for me, but it was never a good circumstance for us. We were always interrupted before it could happen.

"Maybe you'll get lucky this week," She nudged me as Talia came over. I found out that she was Simon's girlfriend, and she was really fun. She was sort of like me, in that she was blunt, but she was also really nice.

"It's too late for this," Talia groaned. "I'm tired."

"We'll be at our hotel before you know it," Freya assured her. "I know some of the guys plan on going out tonight, but I say we all go to bed so we can have fun first thing tomorrow."

I nodded. I'd been planning on going to sleep on the plane, too, since I'd had trouble sleeping in recent nights.

We all boarded the plane and, as I predicted, Tobi slid into the seat next to me after putting his carry on in the overhead compartment.

He looked over at me, so I looked out the window and pretended not to notice him.

He sighed. "You don't have to answer me, but I'm sorry. I should've known not to ask that question."

I cringed when he said that. I was overreacting.

"I'm sorry. Let's just forget about this whole thing, yeah? Forget I told you anything."

"Done," He stated. "I won't bring it up."

"Okay," I looked over at him and attempted a smile. "Friends?"

"Always," He chuckled. "I'm surprised Ethan let me take his seat."

"Me too," I admitted. "But I guess it worked out, huh?"

"Yep."

*****

We got a good night's rest and were up bright and early the next morning. Well, us girls were. We all got changed into warm clothes and decided to go out to breakfast while the boys slept, and it was very warm outside. I wanted to explore every inch of the area, but we didn't have enough time for that.

We walked around a bit and talked about guy trouble, though I really didn't have much. Cal was alright...not perfect but not bad, either. I know, that comes off as snobbish, but I didn't know him well enough to say anything else. I mean, what if I didn't like the way he ate, or the way he was in bed?

"I love your outfit, by the way," Talia told me. I smiled sheepishly.

"Are you sure?" I looked down at what I was wearing; light-blue jean shorts and a flowy, red top with polka dots. I had on round sunglasses. "I don't normally show so much skin."

"Babe, you're fine," Freya smiled. "It's not even that much."

I nodded, finishing off my drink before reaching into my wallet. It was a miracle I had any money left, since I was fired from my job weeks prior. I paid for our drinks and we all stood, walking back to the hotel.

"Do we have any plans today?" I asked as we walked.

"The boys rented a boat," Talia said. "They'll probably get in some wakeboarding or something and we'll have lunch, then come back and party."

"Party?" I sighed. All I wanted was to go down to the beach and watch the sunset, alone. With the week we were there, I was sure I'd be able to eventually. "Sounds like fun."

Freya opened the door to hers and Josh's room and we followed her inside, only to find everyone else in there, too. They had been waiting for us to get back.

"Let's go, it's almost noon," Josh stood and slung an arm over Freya's shoulders. "What took you girls so long?"

"We were just having a late breakfast," I shrugged and looked down at my feet, letting Cal pull me to his side by wrapping an arm around my waist.

"You look great by the way," He looked down at me with a grin.

"Thanks," I smiled warmly at him. "Let's get going."

Ethan came over to us and put on his sunglasses. "Would you look at that, Ace, we're matching."

He wasn't wrong. He also had on a red shirt, but his swim trunks were a darker blue than my shorts. I pushed him lightly. "Great, now I have to change."

"No time," Freezy picked me up over his shoulders and started running, making me squeal as I tried to hold on for dear life. He was a lot like Ethan, which made it kind of weird that we were going out but I didn't mind.

The attention was all that mattered.