Alaska || Auston Matthews

fifteen

ALASKA

Getting ready for dinner was actually not that stressful. For once, we have plenty of time (3 hours to be exact) to shower and change. It is truly a miracle. For the first time since we got here, I feel truly relaxed and ready to embrace the idea of having fun. I don't know why it's so hard to let loose, especially when I'm in a new city with my two best friends. I suspect it has something to do with me trying to hold myself together in order to impress Auston.

For some unknown reason, I feel the need to constantly filter my feelings and actions in order to be more appealing to Auston, a guy I've talked to a few times but can't seem to get out of my head. However, I now realize that I shouldn't be walking on eggshells this whole vacation just to help a guy like me. "Don't change for other people." People say it all the time, and it's fucking annoying to hear, but I'm realizing there's some truth behind it. 

So from this point on, this vacation is for me to enjoy myself in whatever way I deem fit. Right now, I deem girls time essential to my happiness, therefore it commences in 3, 2, 1...

"Alaska! I'm getting in the shower now!" Carly yells from her room. I spring up from my bed and bolt out the door.

"No, I am!" I yell back, racing towards the second bathroom. Carly screams when she sees me burst into the bathroom before her. Even though I'm already in the room, I turn on the shower and hop in, letting the warm water wet my hair and bathing suit.

Carly stops in front of the tub with piercing eyes. She groans and crosses her arms over her chest in annoyance.

"Are you kidding me? I called showering first," she complains as I shoot her a proud smile. I'm impressed I got here this fast, or else our current roles would be reversed.

"You just weren't quick enough, sorry," I say, shrugging my shoulders, "Isn't Steph done in the other bathroom?"

"No, she just got in," Carly sighs at my unhelpful suggestion. I stand there, still grinning triumphantly as Carly breaks out into a smile of her own before stomping out of the room. She leaves the door wide open, knowing it pisses me off, but I try to ignore it.

I close the shower curtain and begin running my fingers through the knots in my hair as the water starts to fill the tub. I'm about to peel off my swimsuit and begin to properly shower when the curtain is yanked open, revealing a grinning Carly. She was still in her swimsuit, but her hair is now in a bun and her arms now contained various foods and drinks. I quirk a brow, clearly confused by her plan. 

"Move over!" she says, setting the cartons of food and bottles on the small table beside the tub. I continue to look at her with a confused expression, but she is not messing around.

"Did I stutter?" she asks me with an insane amount of her usual sass. I shake my head and shuffle to one side of the tub. Carly smiles and hops in the tub, sitting down in the water. I follow her actions, sitting down on the opposite end of the tub. 

She grabs a plate of chocolate covered strawberries and a bottle of what looks to be champagne. A grin creeps onto my face as I watch her wash a bite of strawberry down with a swig from the big glass bottle.

"What are you looking at? It's bathtime, my friend! Grab a plate and a bottle," she says as if it was the most obvious and normal thing in the world. I'm about to rattle off to her how inefficient this 'bathtime' is, but I remember my goal of letting loose and having fun. So, I instead, grab the bubble bath and pour a good amount of the silky substance into the water before picking up a couple donut holes. Where did this food even come from?

I start taking measly bites of donut, stealing the champagne from Carly every so often. It's only after we've blown through the strawberries and donuts that we grab two pints of gelato and begin conversing.