Ch. 21

Jack slept badly. The whole time he thought of Mia. What do you think the three women did to her? How is she now Will she feel so uncomfortable that she willingly want to leave again?

Then there is still, here and there, an hour that he spent in a restless sleep. Sometimes he held hands with Mia under the starry sky. Another time he was in a club with Summer and they were dancing. Somewhat surprising for him, because he has more of a buddy feeling for her, he dreams of Lola and a mountain that they climb together. Each time he is awake as a devilish laugh destroys the scene. Jack can well imagine who that was.

" Move your bottom, friend!", Finn is his alarm clock once more. "Got up already, you see?" He grumbles into his pillow. "Didn't even know that you could move with the speed of light!", Finn leaves the room, amused. He is so tired. He had just thought he had really fallen asleep. He curses and gets ready and takes the coffee from Finn. “What are you doing all the time over here? Shouldn't you live in the villa? ”“ Good morning. I liked to make the coffee. Thanks for asking. ", Jack glares at him over the rim of the cup. “It's good. You sleep like a rock and I wasn't in the mood for catfight, that's why I moved. Before that I wanted to talk to Sophia on the phone before she had to go to work. The women wake up with every beep. "

With that, Jack's idea of ​​asking what happened last night was done. That means he has to find out on his own. It'll be his pleasure ... not. Jack's expression grows gloomy. “Positive thinking, dude. Go over there and take them on! You're a tough man. ”, His friend makes fun of him. "Haha. Very funny. "" Just ... you ... are afraid ... of women ... delicious. ", Finn giggles like a little girl.

Without saying another word, he goes over and rings the doorbell. Emilia opens it for him. Of all four, Jack wanted the least to see her come to the door. "Come in. Summer is really excited and makes us all nervous. ", Confused he looks after the woman.

What? Yesterday she chased the others on Mia and today she giggles at Summer's nervousness? Uh ... okay. When he arrives in the kitchen, he breathes a sigh of relief when he sees Mia happily sitting next to Summer. Yesterday evening seems to have gone a lot better than he thought. His worries were completely in vain. His gaze falls on Lola. Her face follows Emilia. The eyes narrowed. So he's not the only one who thinks Emilia is a little bit off the wind.

" Good morning, ladies." At the sound of his voice, the conversations fall silent. "Hello, Jack!", It's really funny how they answer in unison every time. "Are you okay?" And there it is again. Emilia who sounds as innocent as a teenager before he drinks his first beer. Nobody responds to them. "Are you ready, Summer?", Today she wears shorts and a thin, almost transparent top. The dark blonde curls combed over the shoulder to one side. Very pretty. "Logical. Here we go!"

He almost feels guilty about leaving the two of them alone with the unsteady Emilia. "Have fun you two!" Mia calls after them.

#

Mia exhales. She didn't even know she stopped him until the door slammed shut. Yesterday's date had been a little too intense. I have no idea how to describe what happened there. It hit her hard that she could so easily forget the world around her, even the darned cameras. Also, they must have looked like a couple who couldn't keep their fingers close. Mia had never been someone to make public concessions, but ... yesterday she wanted everyone to know what was going on between them. Damn it, right now she feels like an embarrassing morning after. Only that they didn't sleep together. To distract herself from her thoughts, she looks over at Lola. This is already fixed on Emilia the whole time. Since Emilia dropped her first nice word, to be precise. "Hey, would you like to go swimming?", Her question was directed to Lola, but Emilia answers with a squeak. "Yes? Gladly, I need five minutes to change. ”, She chirps up the stairs every second step. "Yeah ...", since Emilia has now left, Mia now looks at her. "Something's wrong there.", Mia immediately knows what she means, but only shrugs her shoulders.

“ Maybe the pill does that to her, heard somewhere that there are such cases. Or she is depressed and forgets her antidepressants here and there. “, The thought that Emilia might be sick and that in the end she cannot do anything about her behavior makes Mia a bit nervous. She continues to advise and likes to put everything on Emilia. No, she's not angry at all. Mia giggles. “Oh, she has a split personality. No, I have something better. She has a twin sister and they take turns. Nobody knows how the other behaves. “, Lola does not respond. "That's not it. There's really something wrong with her. ”Before she can go into the seriousness of the words, Emilia comes down again. "Do you already have your bikini underneath?" "Yes, I planned to swim a few laps when I got up." That is true. Nevertheless, with this step she wanted to avoid Emilia and not come closer. "I'll come too." Mia throws Lola a thankful look. It's scary to see a nice Emilia, that doesn't suit her at all.

The rest of the afternoon they swim or get a tan on a lounger. Most of them are silent. Lola is like a watchdog, totally trained on Emilia. She really wants to hook up with her and actually begins to talk about embarrassing moments from her life. When Mia doesn't come up with something similar, she becomes grumpy and lies down. A quarter of an hour and several lanes later, Lola whispers: "Come in for a minute."

Mia follows her and waits for an explanation. "I think I know why Emilia got such mood swings." True a week ago, she was angry and devilish without transforming into a little Minny Mouse. "And? What is it? ”, But Lola shakes her head. “First I want to be 100% sure. But we have to go to her room for that. ”, Mia looks outside. “She's sleeping, but we should still hurry, the cameras shouldn't follow us. Whatever you think, what we can find up there. ”They sneak up on tiptoe. "Which room is actually ...?" The question dies on her lips as she looks down the corridor, which she does not have to enter to get to her room. One door has a pink nameplate. "Really?"

Lola slowly opens the door. At first it looks like any other room. Furnished with a bed, bedside table, wardrobe and desk. This is one of the rooms that is only for one person. Mia and Sophia slept in one room until she had to leave the show.

There are clothes on the bed, the open suitcase on the floor and even a book on the bedside table. Then her gaze falls on the desk. "Oh my god!", What she discovered knocks her off her stool. "With the best will in the world, I didn't expect that.", Mia tears her eyes away and sees that Lola is not in the least surprised. “That was your guess, right? You guessed it. ”, She just can't believe it. She has seen strangers do it, but she has never known a person to do it. Now she understands when others say they didn't realize it. Mia didn't have it either.

" We should go back downstairs before they look for us."

#

Summer got Jack into the hype. He hadn't been on a single one in the past few years. Either he had to study for his studies, work on intermediate exams, or work on assignments in his law firm. All pro bono, of course. That's the job newbies get.

Like a child, he looked at everything carefully. Every booth absorbed. Who knows when he'll have time next time. "What do you want to drive first?", Jack waits for Summers answer. He doesn't care, the main thing is that he can visit three quarters of the rides. “Do we have to drive something now? I'm dying to go into the labyrinth made of glass panes. ”, She claps her hands excitedly. Of course, he cannot refuse her wish. "Here we go!"

Summer is really good at it and is waiting for him at the exit after a few minutes. Jack, however, is always sure that there are no glass walls in the direction he is going, but he is often disappointed. His companion tries to suppress her laugh at the beginning, but soon can no longer control herself.

One hand pressed on his stomach and bent over, Summer giggles uncontrollably. Amused, he continues looking for the way, this time with an outstretched hand. That works better. A quarter of an hour later, he too discovered the exit. “I've never seen anyone that took so long. You were too busy checking your hairstyle, weren't you? ”Summer grins. He's taken a closer look twice. “You can certainly do this by heart, that wasn't fair. Next I'll choose something. “, Jack turns around in a circle to have all the options in his head. "We're doing this now." He points with his finger at screaming people who are hurled in circles. Summer next to him turns a little green around the nose. “When it comes to things that turn, I'm out. I'd just throw up afterwards. ", Jack is just a little disappointed. Not everyone is an enthusiastic riding school rider. "Then we'll just take the ghost train."

Either Summer wants to cling to him all the time and makes a scared lady because of it, or she is really easy to throw off the mark. Actually, he can only imagine the latter and thinks it's almost cute again. In the end, she even pressed her face into his chest. “Hey, you can come back up. We're finished. ”, Carefully, as if she doesn't quite trust him, she sits up. "I hate that I can be scared everywhere and again and again." He helps her out of the car and with a smile he watches the twelve-year-olds run off the track laughing. “That doesn't matter. Some people just have a more delicate disposition. "

They eat currywurst and drink Fanta, no more alcohol on dates, and talk about their lives. How they imagine the future, what they would do differently if they had the power to do so, or what they most dearly wish for. Exchange stories from their childhood. Funny anecdotes from the life of a five year old. They laugh a lot and their food sometimes gets cold. But that doesn't bother them. It's getting dark and the lights are going on everywhere. They ride together on a children's carousel. The children are confused and the parents just shake their heads. Jack laughs the whole time and is happy that the evening is still going so well. The next thing you decide to do is to go upstairs in one of these wagons and then splash into the water. I have no idea what that is called. Even though it is getting dark, it is still really warm and nobody worries about freezing.

This time the cameras stay down. They drove in front of them on the ghost train to film them. After a short wait, it's your turn. "It's good that you sit in front of me, I don't get so wet.", She thinks.

They are slowly pulled up. Turn and Jack looks the way down. Steeper than it looked from below. Suddenly they are 'pushed' down. "AH!", Summer yells and clings to his shirt. Just before they get down, he crouches and the water lands on his back and Summer's upper body. He can hardly keep himself from laughing. "Jack!", Ohoh, she probably finds that less funny. When they get out he looks at them and realizes the full extent. Summer's top is speckled, it's not that wild, but her hair looks like it has just come out of the shower. "Like a doused poodle!", He really tries not to laugh, but only manages it half-heartedly. "Stop laughing. I look like ... a poodle. All the make-up must have run down my face. ”That doesn't sound good at all. “Your make-up is where it should be and half the people here are wet from the ride. Nobody pays attention to that. Don't look so angry. I just couldn't resist. ", He silently begs Summer, please don't make a scene about these drops of water. His prayers were answered. "Only if I can choose something next."

Summer doesn't just pick this time, but for the whole evening. After a ´ mishap´ with the water the mood is a bit depressed. They don't really get into conversation anymore. It all looks fake, not real. Jack sighs inwardly and all because she got wet. In all honesty, he was really looking forward to the day because he gets along so well with Summer and they are actually on the same wavelength.

The date dribbled away until Summer yawns around 8 p.m. and he asks her, the gentleman, if she should go home.

#

All day long Mia can't think of anything other than what they found in Emilia's room. In a quiet whisper, they agreed to talk to Jack about it tomorrow. Just so he knows. Emilia was still happy and a bit withdrawn. She and Lola had a picnic, went for walks, played tictactoe and hangman together and talked about their lives. Some things came to light that neither of them thought possible. They like the same color (yellow) and adore the same bands (Linkin Park / Sunrise Avenue). They were both loners at school, but they still live happier here and now than many others who don't know their friends by their first names.

It is evening and they have decided - Just Dance! - to play on the Wii. With the controllers in hand, they swing their hands and laugh like crazy when they see Jack and Summer come into the living room and their mouth and eyes tear apart.

Finn is waiting for him in his own four walls. "And? How did it go? ”“ Not as good as I thought. We were on the hunt. It's OK if she laughs at me, the other way around I'm the bad man. Admittedly I let them run into the open knife on purpose. ”, Jack tells his friend what happened. "Brilliant! Just stupid that she couldn't laugh about it. It's not your fault. ”“ Change of subject. What was going on here? “, Finn looks at him over the kitchen counter. "No idea. I used up the day here. You know, chatted with Sophia and all that. ”“ I'm really glad you found her. ”Jack beams at Finn.

" Let's hope you can find yours here too."