Don't Forget to Breathe

Peyton’s POV

“Well I don’t care if he’s the queen of England, a douchebag is a douchebag.”
I made sure to say it loud enough to be heard by his table.
A chuckle from one of his mates indicated that they had indeed heard my comment.
“perhaps,” Alex suddenly spoke up, “you shouldn’t act like such a bloody yank.”
Oh that’s it.
“I’m sorry, does my American-ness bother you? Why don’t you just mind your own business?” I harshly snapped at him.
He seemed to be almost entertained by that answer, stupid smirk and all.
“Peyton, just let it go…” Addy pleaded.
She was right, I really should, but something about this guy just got under my skin. I felt like his ego needed to be taken down a notch.
So I took it a step farther.
“You know I’m honestly surprised that your personality is actually worse than your acting. God knows I didn’t think that was even possible.”
That smirk dropped quickly from his face the second the words left my mouth. I knew I had gotten to him by insulting his career.
Before he had the opportunity to respond I pulled out some cash from my purse to cover the drinks and threw it on the table. I then stood up and proudly walked out with Addy not too far behind mouthing words of apology to him and his friends.

“What were you thinking?! He’s a famous actor, Peyton, you can’t just do that! There are, like, unspoken laws about this!”
I sighed and calmly responded.
“He was just so….I don’t know, annoying. I couldn’t help it.”
“His friends were really cute, too. Damn you, Peyton!” Addy groaned as she half-heartedly shook my shoulders.
I just rolled my eyes and continued to walk towards the beach. More than anything else at this moment I needed to just sit out and take in the scenery. Anything to get my mind of the rocky start of our tropical adventure. Luckily for me, my best friend didn’t object. Honestly, I think she was just chomping at the bit to get to all of the hot guys out there.
We searched the beach until we found a nice open area to sit down at, one with a clear view of the beautiful volcanic mountains in the distance. The water seemed to be particularly blue here, a breath-taking sight at first look.
I leaned completely back and let my long brown hair mix with the warm white sand. With the heat of the sun on my face and a soft breeze from the west I closed my eyes and enjoyed this moment. Each of my muscles began to melt into the soft ground and I could hear the echoing ocean sounds around me fall into a hypnotizing pattern with each crash of the waves on the shore.
Addy suddenly leaned up from her position as footsteps could be heard approaching our area. I didn’t bother to open my eyes as the person came up to us, but I could hear the conversation clearly.
“Would you ladies like to join us for a volleyball match?” A noticeably German male voice piped up.
My friend was all too quick to accept the offer.
“We would love to! Wouldn’t we, Peyton?”
I opened my eyes up to see her face desperately trying to get an acceptance out of me.
“Alright, lets show ‘em how it’s done, Addy.” I smiled and hopped up, following the lead of this random fellow.
Before long there were two teams set up, both of which were co-ed and included several people around our early-twenties age group. Overall it looked to be equally stacked teams, which was a plus.
Addy rolled up her dress, revealing cut-off shorts beneath her outfit, and tied it in a fashionable knot at the small of her back.
“Serve it up, Klaus!” she called to our new acquaintance, flashing him one of her signature smiles in the process.
The game was intensely competitive right off the bat. Each side dove, jumped, rolled, and ran their very hardest, which made it a tough game to play.
Eventually, though, the score was tied in the third round. Each side had won one game previously, so this would definitively decide the winner.
Klaus and his brother, Marko, set themselves up in the front while Addy and I prepared ourselves in the back row. Just four of us against four of them.
The opposing side tossed up the ball and served it over to us, more specifically to Addison. She bumped it up to Marko, who slyly nodded to me as he went to set it up.
Klaus quickly faked as though he was going to hit the ball, but I came up behind him, jumped and spiked it right into the opposing corner. The other team wasn’t able to retrieve it.
Game over.
We all proudly yelled out in excitement, hugging and high-fiveing one another, before sportingly shaking hands with all of the other players.
I noticed a minute later that my friend and Klaus were quietly whispering and giggling to one another, being not so subtle about their attraction. Addy took a second to look up and wink at me before engaging in conversation once more with her new found fling.
“They are very—how do you say—obvious?” I turned to an amused Marko, sitting with his feet buried in the sand.
I laughed. “Yes they are.”
“You both should come for drinks tonight, no? There is a place in the city we know. Best drinks in town.” He looked up at me with questioning eyes.
Before I could answer, Addy and Klaus walked up behind me and responded for me.
“We most certainly will!” She exclaimed.
I couldn’t say no to my excited friend. Besides, why the hell not??

We arrived at a nice little French bar on the other side of the island at almost 8 o’ clock in the evening. It had a really cute set-up, in my opinion, dressed down on the inside, but classy and stylish on the inside.
There were a fair amount of people, but not too many to make it uncomfortably crowded.
Addy waved at the boys in a nearby booth and clasped my hand as she lead us over to them.
“Well, hello there.” She said flirtatiously to Klaus, sliding herself right in next to him.
“Guess I’m sitting here then.” I joked, taking the space beside Marko. He laughed and scooted over a bit more to give me some room.
“What would you gorgeous ladies like to drink?” Klaus inquired.
“Anything with Vodka!” Addy immediately answered.
“A daiquiri for me” I requested, still giggling at my crazy friend.
He nodded and got up from the table, making his way towards the neon lit bar in the back of the room.
A familiar song began to play on the speakers overhead, one of the more common club songs back home.
“Oh my God, Peyton! We are dancing. Now.” Addy suddenly grabbed my wrist and pulled me out of the booth, taking me straight to the filled dance floor.
As we began jumping up and down and shaking our hips to the beat of the song, I could see out of the corner of my eye someone on the outskirts watching us. My friend didn’t seem to notice this, as she gave me a confused look when I stopped dancing to look around.
It was then that I saw him, donning an amused look on his face while he stared directly at us dancing. He was wearing a different outfit than before, this time dark wash jeans and a well-fitting white t-shirt.
Upon getting my attention, Alex motioned for me with his finger. When does that ever work on a girl? At least, it never has on me. I gave him a disgusted look and found my way off the dance floor and back to the booth where Klaus had retrieved our drinks.
I didn’t bother to look back to see his reaction, but I’m positive he got the message loud and clear.
“Peyton!” Addy exclaimed when she finally got to the booth, “What was that about?”
“Alex is here.” I went to point over to the bar area, but he was no longer there. Perhaps I had offended him enough to make him leave the bar altogether? The thought made me chuckle a bit.
I shook my head and began to sip at my drink while the others quickly downed theirs. I had no intention of spending any more of my night focus on someone who was clearly looking to pawn off his unhappiness on me.

I had absolutely no idea how long we had been there. All I knew was that I was three daiquiris and two shots of tequila in and we were not looking too sober.
“You-you know who you look like, Mario?” Addy sloppily asked Marco.
He just chuckled and said that he didn’t.
“You look juuuuuuust like Peyton’s ex!” She answered.
The table went awkwardly quietly, minus the sound of Addy’s shrill laughter.
She abruptly stopped laughing and looked at me.
“I don’t feel so good…”
I took this as my cue to escort her to the bathroom.
We stumbled a bit as we made a beeline of sorts to the women’s restroom, knocking into a few people and tables as my friend failed to stay upright.
“Wait outside!” She commanded, slamming the door of the single restroom closed behind her.
I found an open space on the wall to lean on for stability. The alcohol made the room tilt at an angle, which made it hard to stand in one place without assistance.
Sober up, Peyton…
“Yet another thing Americans can’t do right.”
A familiar voice rang in my ear right beside me.
I turned to see Alex’s face. His very…..handsome face. Why was I so rude to him again?
“Why are you so…mean?” I furrowed my eyebrows together as I struggled to find the correct adjective.
“Do you really think my acting is horrible?” He asked, ignoring my question altogether.
I took a second to respond, mainly because a massive headache was beginning to form.
“No…..I think you’re good—really good! And cute…Especially that.” I nodded decidedly.
He laughed and put on the same smirk from dinner earlier. It was strangely a nice look on him. I can only imagine the number of girls he could get into bed on that look alone…..wait, what?
“I knew it.” Alex smugly stated.
At this point, Addy opened up the door of the bathroom, dabbing at the area around her mouth with a paper towel. She laid her forehead on my shoulder as she mumbled something about wanting to go back to the hotel. I more than agreed, wanting to get away from this awkward conversation with Alex.
“We, um, have to go.” I diverted my eyes from his and placed my arm in a strategic position to stabilize my friend.
He seemed to open his mouth to say something, but just shook his head and walked back to his friends at a table not too far away.

I waved to Marco and Klaus as we stumbled out of the taxi. It was hard enough trying to balance myself, but nearly impossible with the weight of Addy practically on top of me.
“Do you need any help?” Klaus offered.
I shook my head, not quite comfortable with the idea of them knowing which hotel room we were in.
He nodded and shut the door behind us.
“Peytooooon….I’m so tired….” She complained once the taxi had driven off.
“I know, I know. Almost there.” I assured her.
We made it into the hotel room after much work, practically falling into the bed as we entered the bedroom.
I didn’t have the energy to even take off my shoes before blacking out altogether.