Thank you for your reviews, favorites, and follows. They mean so much to me!

Before you read this chapter though, I need you all to please promise me you will not come at me with pitchforks once you read this chapter. Seriously. Promise me!

Disclaimer: I don't own anything at all associated with The Originals. I just like to play around with the characters at times. I only own the plot... mostly.

Chapter 15 - Confusion in Paradise

The next morning, Hayley and Elijah were up bright and early to get some gym time in. After a few hours, they returned to the room to change and figure out what the rest of their day would consist of.

Arriving back at the room, Hayley made a beeline to the bathroom. She was all sweaty and feeling blah, nothing a nice and warm shower couldn't fix. It wasn't until after she got out of the shower that she realized she had forgotten her clothes.

Hayley gave it some thought before deciding that she would go for it. Making sure her towel was wrapped tight around her, Hayley made her way into the room with Elijah. She walked over to the drawer where her clothes were. Bending over, it was only seconds later that Elijah cleared his throat. She looked up at him, raising an eyebrow.

"Um, Hayley... your towel is uh... it's..." Elijah trailed off, pointing at her.

Hayley stood up straight and turned to look around, turning in a circle. In the process, the towel dropped just as she made a 180 turn and was facing Elijah.

H stands up straight and turns to look around, turning in a circle, and in the process drops the whole towel as she's Elijah's eyes widened, but Hayley made no move to cover herself up. She put her hands on her hips and stood there proudly in front of him in all her naked glory.

"You might as well get a good look at me because it appears that the universe is desperately trying to tell us both something."

Elijah cleared his throat as he gave her a quick once over before he stood up. He moved towards her. She could feel her heart begin to race as he stepped closer and closer to her. But then she frowned. Her excitement was quickly gone when Elijah bent down and picked up the towel, wrapping it around her tightly once he was up straight.

Hayley opened her mouth to say something as she grabbed hold of the towel, but no words came out. Elijah silently walked by her to go take his own shower.

The sound of the door closing behind her brought her out of her stupor.

"What the hell just happened here?" Hayley asked out loud.

Immediately after hearing the shower turn on, Hayley made a beeline to the drawers. She had never gotten dressed as quickly as she managed to in that moment. Once dressed she grabbed her key card and rushed out of the room. Her feet had a mind of their own as they rushed her straight to where she wanted to go.

Hayley turned and frantically knocked on the door in front of her. The door opened moments later to reveal Freya standing there.

"Is everything okay?" Freya asked, worry evident on her face.

"I need to talk to Keelin please," Hayley said, tapping her foot frantically. "Alone."

"You can talk in front of me," Freya said, looking from her to Keelin and back to her.

Hayley raised an eyebrow, "About me, your bother and sex?"

Freya's eyes widened and she backed away from the door. "Ohm okay. Yeah, um... never mind," she said, backing into the bathroom. "I am just going to shower. I will leave you two to it."

"We will probably go upstairs to eat breakfast and talk," Keelin said, walking up beside her.

Freya nodded her head. "Okay. We can hang out later at the pool then."

"Sounds good," Keelin replied, placing a sweet kiss on Freya's lips before Freya closed the bathroom door. "Alright, you ready to go?"

"Definitely, I really need your opinion on what just happened between me and Elijah."

"You have me very curious."

"Just you wait."

~AllAtSea~

Keelin's jaw dropped as she processed what Hayley just told her. "He really just walked by you and went to the bathroom."

Hayley nodded her head. "Yeah. Yep. That's exactly what he did. Without a single word," she said, stabbing at her food with her fork. Yeah. "I honestly thought he was attracted to me, too. But as soon as I more or less put myself out there for him practically on a platter, he's all like nope."

Keelin shook her head. "I... um... wow," she said too speechless to manage to say anything else.

Hayley looked up at her, straight in her eyes. "Is there something wrong with me that I am not aware of or something?"

"Of course not! You are fucking drop dead gorgeous and amazing, Hales."

"Not to him apparently."

"I'm sure there was a reason why he reacted that way."

Hayley shrugged her shoulders and sighed. " Maybe. But I have no idea what that reason would be."

"Well, has he ever said anything to you before during that time that you almost had sex?" Keelin asked, taking a bite of her food.

Hayley shook her head. "I don't think so. Not that I can recall," she responded, trying to rack her brain for any memory of what was said that night. "That night he just stopped us from going to far and said that it was not the right time."

Keelin furrowed her brows. "So he never once said anything at all about why he wouldn't have sex with you that night?"

Hayley thought harder back an earlier time with him. He had to have said something in the past to help explain why he acted how he did earlier.

"Umm... well, I do remember that he did say the first time I tried to seduce him that he doesn't have sex with anyone he does not care about..." Hayley paused as she processed what she just said.

"There you go then."

"We almost had sex not even a few days later though."

"But he stopped you two?"

Hayley frowned. "That is exactly why all of this is so damn confusing." She sighed, slapping her hand against her face. "I thought he did care about me."

Keelin immediately corrected herself. "Of course he does. That's not what I was trying to imply."

"What were you trying to imply?"

"That he does care for you. As a friend... Maybe he just isn't there physically with you yet..."

Hayley laughed. "Oh, well that... I can definitely assure you that he is."

"How can you assure that?"

With a grin, Hayley responded, "When he walked around me to get to the bathroom, I purposely stuck my butt out a little bit, and I felt something that was not just something in his pocket." Hayley bit her lower lip. "Especially considering the fact he was wearing a pair of sweatpants with no pockets."

Keelin smirked. "Oh, yeah. That definitely assures me of that."

"Told you."

"Just give it some time, talk to him about it if you're really curious," Keelin offered. "I'm sure everything will work out for the best when it comes down to it."

"I honestly hope so."

~AllAtSea~

Once Keelin left to go meet up with Freya, Hayley finished up her breakfast before deciding to go back to her room and change into her bathing suit. She hadn't swam much since she'd been on the cruise and she really wanted to. Maybe she'd be able to talk Elijah into going to the pool with her.

Taking the last sip of her drink, Hayley stood up and turned to walk out of the little restaurant. She ran straight into someone. Hayley looked up to apologize, but when she saw who it was the words died on her tongue.

"I have nothing to say to you," she hissed, pushing past him to leave.

He grabbed her arm and spun her around.

On instinct, Hayley flattened her palm and swung. Her palm stung as it made contact. But honestly the sting was worth it.

"Don't touch me!" she exclaimed, clenching her teeth. "You've done enough, Jackson."

"You ruined things between me and Genevieve."

Hayley guffawed. The nerve of this man. "It's my fault? For fucking real?"

"She said that once we're on dry land we are through." Jackson frowned. "And yes, it is your fault. Telling her I sent that message."

"Because you did! And it serves you right that Genevieve is leaving your disgusting ass," Hayley hissed, raising her hand to slap him again. "And my fault? You are seriously fucking serious? You honestly are disgusting."

Before Hayley could even blink, Jackson's lips were on hers. Hayley was frozen in shock at first but came to her senses. The second the shock wore off, Hayley reached up to put her hands on his chest and pushed as hard as she could.

"What the fuck?!" Hayley hissed wiping off her lips with the back of her hand.

Jackson just stood there with a smirk on his face. He looked behind her and his smirk grew.

Hayley turned around and her eyes immediately widened when she saw Elijah standing there.

"Not again," she said quietly. "Elijah!" she exclaimed, taking a step forward.

Elijah looked from her to Jackson and then back to her before shaking his head and walking away.

"Elijah, please! Wait!"

He kept walking not even acknowledging if he heard or not.

Hayley spun around and pushed Jackson as hard as she possibly could. He stumbled back, having not expected her to react that way.

"You fucking asshole!"

"I'm pushing you off the ship later!" she hissed, slapping him hard enough to leave a red hand print on his cheek. "You ruined your relationship! Grow up and start taking responsibility for your own actions."

With that, she turned and sprinted off in the direction that Elijah had gone.