The Sturniolos' Assistant

Chapter 13: Saturday Nick's POV

It was a dream. It had to have been a dream. People don't jump off of buildings like that and live. If it was real, then these people are absolutely insane. Maybe the building wasn't as tall as I thought it was. Thank God Chris is safe by my side. I don't know how we got back to his room last night, but I'm relieved we did.

It's dark in the room and I'm not sure what time it is until Matt and Malia come in and open the curtains. The sunlight is too bright for my eyes, and it makes my head hurt. Malia puts some bagels on the table before going back to her room. Matt sits on the bed and waits for us to wake up. Surprisingly, I'm not even hungry. Or maybe I'm just not hungry for bagels.

"How was last night?" Matt asks. I turn my head on the pillow so I can avoid the light. My body feels weighed down and my mind is groggy, like how I'd feel if we only got four hours of sleep, but it's bright outside and Matt is already up so I'm guessing that it's noon.

"It was fine." Chris sits up and squints his eyes. If Chris isn't saying anything about the roof jumping, then I must've made it up in my head. I sit up too and decide to keep my mouth shut about whatever I thought I saw last night.

"How was your night?" I smirk at him. Malia seems to be doing better and I want to know if anything interesting happened between them. Matt starts to bite his nails but smiles, so I know it was something good.

"It was fine." He laughs.

"Uh-huh, sure," Chris and I say at the same time.

"No, for real. I took care of her and then ended up falling asleep in her room." Matt is looking at the floor and blushing, so I know he's not telling us something, but I won't press for more information. At least not right now.

We get ready to go to the golf course. I wear sunglasses the entire time we golf and that seems to help my head. We play and film content until it's almost time for dinner. Malia took off while we filmed, so we follow the direction she took and find her outside of a building with Jack. 

They're standing really close to each other, not in a way where I think they're gonna kiss, but in a way where it looks like she's being scolded for breaking a window. Jack just looks like the type of guy who's always mad so I don't know, he could be flirting with her. First James, now Jack? This girl is on fire. Matt better act fast before it's too late.

I can't hear what they're talking about, but their conversation is over by the time I pull up next to the other cart. She walks over to us with a dog following behind her. They both get in the cart, and we drive down the hill. I don't have the energy to question why Malia has Jack's dog. I want to get out of the sun and eat something. I'm finally starting to feel hungry.

As we're walking the rest of the way to our rooms, Malia asks, "Did you guys drink punch last night?"

"Yeah, it was so good," Chris answers.

"Me, too," I say.

"The kind Cassie made?" Chris asks.

"I don't know if she made it. Louis gave me the glass, but yeah it was good." It tasted sweet and it was sweet of Louis to bring me some. Malia looks at Matt.

"Ray gave me some right before I left, but I didn't try it," Matt says. "Why?"

"It's going to sound crazy, but Jack says not to drink the punch," Malia says quietly. Chris, Matt, and I laugh.

"Bro, what the fuck?" Chris laughs.

"Yeah, I don't know why I listened to him for so long. He called the guests on the island "vampires." Malia kind of laughs, too.

"Stay away from him. I can have Cassie make some punch for you tonight." Chris smiles and does a little dance. He's like a little kid when he's happy. Malia smiles but doesn't talk the rest of the way.

The itinerary said there would be a movie played on a big screen on the beach after dinner, which will be more casual than it was yesterday. I take a shower and change.

I pretty much chalked up the unnatural events of last night as some sort of bad dream and I'm excited to see Louis again. I haven't been able to text him so that adds to the excitement. I wonder what he's been up to all day.

I know it's almost time for dinner, but I'm starting to feel hangry. I rip off a piece of the everything bagel I took from Chris' room. As I'm about to pop it into my mouth, I get a sharp pain in my stomach. I bend over and hold the part that hurts. The pain lessens after a minute or two, but it's still there. It's probably just a stomach cramp, maybe Malia will have some medicine.

Our rooms are separated by a door. I knock, but she doesn't answer. Thankfully, it's not locked.

"Malia?" I call. I hear her in the shower. The pain in my body travels from my chest to my head. My heart is racing, and I stumble my way across the room to the bathroom. The pain turns to Adrenaline in my veins. I'm working through the rush of Adrenaline and there's nothing else on my mind except to get to Malia. 

I open the door and Sam starts barking at me. I try to move past him to get to Malia, but he jumps on me and knocks me out of the bathroom and onto the floor. The Adrenaline disappears and the pain is back, except this time it's limited to my hand.

Sam goes back into the bathroom and lays down. I hear the water turn off. Malia hurries out with a towel around her. Her eyes go wide when she sees me on the floor, grabbing my bloody hand.

"Oh my gosh! What happened?" she asks.

"Sam bit me!" I cry. She helps me off of the floor and examines my hand. She leads me to the bathroom and Sam starts barking again.

"Sam, go lay down," she says. Sam leaves and Malia wraps a towel around the bite. I wince. "Here, put pressure on it and hold it above your head."

I listen to her and can't help the tears falling from my eyes. She comes back with gauze and a bandage.

"Why did he bite you?" she asks.

"No fucking reason. I was just trying to get to you, and he started acting up." I'm pissed that this dog is even in our villas. Malia's too nice to say no to strangers. I want to scream at her to give Jack his fucking dog back but she's helping me, and I can tell she already feels bad. Malia washes the wound and puts the bandage over it. I swear she knows how to do everything. My stomach and head don't even hurt anymore. If that motherfucker doesn't have rabies, I think I'll live.

"You might need stitches." She looks at the blood coming through the bandage already. Fucking fantastic. I was having such a good day too. Ugh, I love dogs and Sam seems chill now, but what the fuck? It's like he thought I was this predator coming to attack Malia or some shit by the way he was protecting her.

"We can go to the lobby. I'm sure there's a medic there."

I wipe my eyes and leave the room so she can change. Once we're all ready, we catch a shuttle down to the lobby. I'm relieved to see someone else driving instead of Jack.

"Whoa, what happened to your hand?" Chris asks.

"Sam bit me," I say sourly.

"I'm sorry," Malia says. She's fidgeting with her hands in her lap.

"It's okay, it's not your fault." I move my thumb and my palm aches. I don't even want to go to dinner or see Louis anymore, but I'm pushing through and hoping this night turns around. We make it to the lobby and Malia takes me to Alfred.

"Hi, Alfred. Nick got bit by a dog. I think he might need stitches. Is there a medic here?" Malia asks. Alfred furrows his eyebrows. He looks half concerned about my injury and half disappointed, like he knows it was Jack's dog who bit me.

"I am," Alfred says. "Let me see." I hold my hand out to him. The bite pulses like a heartbeat as Alfred removes the bandage.

When the bandage and gauze are peeled back, I see my palm and the wound is gone. It's as if Sam never bit me at all.