Thank you all for your reviews and alerts. I appreciate each and every one.
Thank you to GibbsFan as always fr letting me pick her brain.
Thank you also to Lynnp for reminding me of an important detail which I have kicked myself for for days for forgetting. I hope I've recovered it ok. lol.
I realise this is out of character and a bit of a stretch but it's just a bit of fun. I hope you all enjoy :)
Chapter 11
Mac lay in bed with her eyes open, unable to sleep. She found Harm's breathing from the other bed unnerving in a way she couldn't explain. Those feelings had been dealt with and discarded a while ago. She scoffed at herself and tried to move her mind on to something else.
Little things were coming to her bit by bit...the flowers and the dancing...were the girls pranking them or trying to set them up? Her instinct told her the latter. Sweet really. She was uncomfortable though, with both the worry of how they'd paid for the flowers and with their reasoning. They would have to deal with this...together. Why was she even letting her mind go there...to her and Harm being together and being a family.
JAGJAGJAGJAGJAG
"Nice gift shop downstairs." Chloe said with a grin the next morning while the girls lay in bed watching music videos. She herself had laid awake reliving the night before. She found that she was a little pissed with Mac. She was always on about doing the right thing...but she hadn't done the right thing had she? What she needed was a little retail therapy.
"No." Mattie said.
"A new bathing suit...a pair of flip flops..."
"Come on Chloe...are you crazy?"
"You are NO fun...you know that?" Chloe said as she pulled on a pair of jeans and a T shirt.
"I can be fun...I just have SOME of my self preservation left."
"Translation...you're scared.."
"I'm not doing it...using their money for them is one thing...using it for us would be stealing." Chloe rolled her eyes.
"As if they always do the right thing..." They were happy to drink wine right in front of us...she thought. If the adults can do what ever they want...
'What do ya mean?"
"Nothin." Chloe said. I'm going for a walk.
"Don't you think you should say something first..?"
"Nope...feel free to tattle..." Like I care, she thought.
"Chloe..." Mattie said with a frown. There was obviously something eating Chloe but she had no idea what. "I wouldn't do that. I just don't want you to get in trouble is all."
"Yeah well it's too late for that anyway as you keep pointing out."
"Chloe.." Chloe raised her middle finger in answer before slipping out the door with a smile.
Mattie lay there and flicked the channels before she finally gave up and threw some clothes on before heading downstairs. Unfortunately when she left the bedroom, Harm was sitting in the living room. She had a really bad feeling about all this.
JAGJAGJAGJAGJAG
Chloe thumped the elevator button and watched the doors close silently. She puffed out a breath. "Take a hold of yourself there Chloe." she said out loud to no one. She had wanted nothing but good to happen this weekend...but Mac had actually taken a drink. How could she take all that stuff she said seriously now?
She wandered into the store and looked through some of the pretty clothes. Trouble was, she didn't have the card...only the number. It was different giving a credit card number over the phone...Then she saw the answer right in front of her eyes. A girl about her age approached the counter with an armful of stuff. She dumped it all down with a smile. "Charge it to your room hon?" the woman behind the counter asked.
"Yes please." the girl said with a hundred watt smile that came with the kind of life that meant you could charge a whole heap of stuff without a second thought. Chloe wanted to feel that happy confidence...even if it was only once before she died...died a slow and painful death that would be the probable likelihood if she charged a whole heap of stuff without permission.
The decision was kind of taken out of her hands when she found herself standing at the counter with a new bathing suit, a pair of flip flops and new pair of sunglasses..
"Would you like to charge them hon? Would your Dad be ok with that?" See? Chloe thought...she offered...
"Um...yeah...thanks." she said. She looked at her watch. Hopefully she'd be able to get upstairs with the stuff without being seen. The funny thing was that it didn't feel anywhere near as great as she thought it was going to. She felt sick in the pit of her tummy...but she didn't take the stuff back. With a heavy heart she got into the elevator and slammed the stop button. She was gonna be in so much trouble...Best thing she could do now would be to cut the chances of her getting caught. She stuffed one flip flop into each pocket and shimmied into the bathing suit underneath her clothes. Her last thread of bravado reared it's ugly head and she popped the sunglasses onto her face before heading to the room. They were just too cool to hide.
JAGJAGJAGJAGJAG
"Chloe still asleep?" Harm asked. Mattie racked her brain for second before giving a noncommittal answer.
"Hold that thought." she said before dashing back into the bedroom she shared with Chloe. She quickly stuffed some pillows into the bed to look like a body coveed with bedding before stepping back into the living room. Harm thankfully had just assumed Chloe was asleep so didn't give it another thought.
"Harm?" Mac called from the bedroom. Harm got up and went to see what she wanted...just in time as Chloe appeared in the room from outside.
"Oh good your up." Harm said. "Heavy night?" he added nodding towards the over large sunglasses that swamped the teenager's face.
"Not as heavy as yours..." Chloe said with relief. Mattie's heart was pounding.
"What did Mac want?" she asked in an effort to throw Harm off the track.
"Just help with a zipper is all. What did you mean by that?" He asked Chloe.
"Your girlfriends an alcoholic...bit of an error in judgement getting her wasted." she said in a smart ass whisper.
"What are you talking about kid? The wine? It was non alcoholic!" Chloe's face went white. She never even thought of that...Mattie grabbed her arm and dragged her into the room.
"I need her help with something!" she called before slamming the door.
"What did you do?" she asked the younger girl in a hiss.
"It was hardly anything and I swear...the woman offered.I was mad...I thought Mac...well it wasn't my fault anyway..."
"What the hell are you talking about?"
"Oooooh watch that swearing...don't wanna get your mouth washed out..."
"What is wrong with you today?" Mattie asked.
"Nothin." Chloe said. "I made a mistake. I thought Mac drank."
"Why didn't you just ask her?"
"I was just looking and the woman asked me if I wanted to charge it to my room...honest..."
"I mean ask Mac about the drink?"
"I dunno."
"About the charging thing...You do realise...they're gonna put it on the final account." Mattie said. This was just getting worse and worse.
"Look...Harm will pay the bill...he's kind of old school right?" Chloe said...
"More old school than you realise."
"Well when he sees the charges...he'll just assume that Mac ordered herself a little somethin somethin and all will be sweet." Inside her head she was feeling nowhere near as sure of herself as the persona she was portraying but hell...it was all she had.
"Oh... he'll be giving you a little somethin somethin...you'll be lucky if Mac doesn't help him."
"You are SUCH a worry wart." It was done now...did Mattie really have to concentrate on all the egatives. "Nice touch with the bed...thanks. Could have done with a recording of someone snoring.."
"Girls!" Mac yelled. "We're going to get breakfast and then hang on the beach for a while."
"Great!" Chloe yelled. She pulled off her clothes to show off her new despite all the trouble probably coming her way she felt like all was right with her world again.
"Oh shit. I thought you were acting a bit crazy before but now I KNOW you have LOST YOUR MIND if you think they're gonna let you wear that without asking where you got it from."
"I'll just tell them my Grandma bought it.."
"Without her glasses on?" Mattie gasped."In the dark?"
"What's the matter with it?" Chloe asked.
"Well apart from the fact you practically stole it...it's almost not there!" Chloe rolled her eyes.
"I'll look the same as all the other girls on the beach. You just go and put on your neck to knees and they can focus on you."
"Chloe...I..."
"I'm not changing."
"Your funeral."
"Fine."
"Fine."
"Whatever!" Mattie said before donning her own suit and then popping shorts and a T shirt over the top. At least Chloe covered herself to go to breakfast Mattie thought. The fireworks weren't going to start until they hit the beach.
TBC