[Complicated] Bahama, Come On Pretty Mama

[Hillary Rachelle Jones]

Hillary ran her hand through her hair and puffed out her cheeks, awaiting the disaster that was about to happen as Anthony came to the table. She smiled at him,it wasn’t his fault. It wasn’t Claire’s either. They just needed to talk to each other, honestly, sans alcohol and alone. Caring about someone seriously drove you to do crazy things.Especially hurting them more than anyone else, and doing it intentionally. “Hey sweetie,” she said,smiling softly at him, even though it was clear that he’d had a few too many drinks.Hillary looked back at Stefan and smiled brightly, leaning into his side.” I don’t know.. I am thinking about the seafood pasta” she said, making a mental note to brush her teeth before nine o’clock. She kissed him and pulled gently against his bottom lip as she heard Claire getting up.

Hillary narrowed her eyebrow as she watched Claire walk away and towards the group of men. Apparently Ethan had noticed because he looked like he was about to toss the glass in front of him across the room. When Claire brought back one of the guys and sat in his lap, she looked instantly from her to Anthony. She bit the inside of her lip before she looked at Stefan. “ This is going to be some form of hurtful chicken” she said, knowing that each of them was pushing each other, trying to hurt the other. Hillary looked at her now empty tequila on the rocks and leaned into Stefan’s side. Picking up the piece of ice she traced it slowly across her lips, getting the last taste of alcohol as she watched over the group of people that were so important to Stefan.

[Ethan John Fox]

Ethan smiled as he watched Natalia talking, paying more attention to the way her lips moved than what she was actually saying. He couldn’t help but grin before he realized he should say something. He narrowed his eyebrow, she just said something about Claire. ‘ Yeah I told her that she should,too” he said, not really understanding he had just said that Claire should go on a diet.He leaned in close to her,smiling as he whispered to her. ” Hey do you think if I ordered dessert you would want to share it with me?” he questioned,scanning over her features and smiling at how her dress made her eyes pop. Plus her hair was down, always gorgeous.He loved talking to her like this, like they were in their own little world even though they were surrounded by all of their friends. He smiled as he kept his eyes on her until he noticed Anthony coming back to the table, grabbing himself crudely and sitting down at the table. This would go well. He watched Claire carefully,noticing she was getting up and looked over at Anthony.

“Dude, we talked about this” he said in a stern voice across the table as he looked over at Anthony,reminding him of the ‘she’s my sister, hurt her, I hurt you’conversation they had before.He watched as Claire brought another guy to the table, tugging him by his tie. “This is both your faults” he said shaking his head at Anthony and at Claire as well. He sat back in his chair and was slightly relaxed until Claire plopped herself into the lap of the stranger, crossing her legs around one another in his lap and draping her arm around him. The muscles of his jaw instantly clenched and his expression turn to one of stone as he looked at the guy. Yeah, if any of the guys were going to be hitting on the girls tonight at the bar, Ethan was definitely not in the mood for it.

[Natalia Anne Richmond]

Natalia laughed when Claire said her dress would be great to dance in, "Oh, I'm definitely not wearing this dress to the club. I don't want drunk, sweaty people all over it." she smiled. Natalia took another sip of her drink. She looked over at Ethan when he leaned in and then turned so she could hear his whisper. She brought her mouth closer to his ears so she could whisper back, "I would love to share dessert with you." she smiled as she sat right in her seat. Natalia laughed when Anthony told Stefan to suck it, that was so Anthony. "Thank you. You're looking pretty good yourself." she said, returning the compliment to Anthony.

She continued to look over her menu until she noticed Claire getting up. Natalia's eyes followed her every movement. She watched her finish Ethan's drink and then go talk to those guys that Anthony had just made friends with. Natalia dropped the menu on the table and crossed her arms, what the hell was she doing? Natalia knew she wanted to get at Anthony somehow, but this was low. She looked over at Anthony and he wasn't even paying attention, smart boy. Natalia's eyes found Claire again as she came back to the table and then plopped down on some guy's lap. Natalia stood up and grabbed Claire's hand. "Excuse us, will you?" she said as nicely as she could. She went to the bathroom, dragging Claire behind her. Once the were in the bathroom, Natalia glared at Claire. "What are you doing? You're acting like one of those sluts that you always bitch and complain about. This is so beneath you Claire. Why are you doing this? Do you think that this little stunt is going to make him jump on you? Because it won't. If anything, it'll make him stay away longer. He doesn't like you because you're a slut, he likes you for you. Because you're real all the time. You don't take his shit. That little stunt you just pulled made you look like a slut. You're allowing yourself to take on the image of those girls that you hate so much. Don't make things worse than they already are." She sighed and then looked at herself in the mirror. She looked back at Claire, "Just be you."


OUTFIT: click.

[Stefan Michael Thomas]

Stefan laughed, "Maybe later." he winked, sarcastically of course. He and Anthony joked all the time, these people knew that. He looked at the three girls as Anthony complimented them, they did look beautiful. He turned his attention to Hillary when she said she was going to be getting the seafood pasta, "That sounds good." he said before returning the kiss. There she went with his lip again. He closed his eyes and then opened them again as he heard someone getting up. He looked over at Claire. Where was she going? Stefan looked at her, Anthony and then over to Ethan. Claire looked like she had no care in the world. Anthony wasn't paying attention. Ethan looked like he wanted to kill somebody, well not exactly. Stefan looked over at Natalia and he knew right away how she was feeling. He looked back up as Claire came back with a guy, a random guy....and then coughed when she sat on his lap.

Anthony still wasn't paying attention, he was so damn focused in the menu to even know there was a world outside of his head. Stefan looked to Hillary, "I know, I don't like it." Just then Natalia got up and excused both of them. Stefan nodded his head and watched them go to the bathroom. He drank the rest of his Jack and Coke and waved the waiter down, "Can I get another Jack and Coke please?" He looked over at the guy that Claire brought back, "Dude no disrespect or anything, but..." Stefan didn't have to go any farther. "No problem dude. I'll catch up with y'all later." he git up and headed back to the bar with his buddies. "Well then..." he said.


OUTFIT: click.

[Claire Jayne Madden]

Claire squealed slightly when Natalia grabbed her hand and jumped out of the guys lap as she followed Natalia into the bathroom. She leaned against the counter and listened to her talk and sighed. “ Yeah he didn’t make an effort when I was me, so I might as well see if anyone else will make an effort. Yeah, it’s low. But … I don’t know what I’m doing Natalia.I can’t just “be me”. He yells at me. And he treats me more like a nun or his sister. And he puts my feelings on the backburner. He said he knew how I felt. And he slept with other girls? Let’s just say I can understand the part that he’s a guy and wants sex. Fine, I get that. But he had to have known how I would feel about it. If he’s going to treat my feelings like shit,why cant I do the same thing? Why do I have to be the one that deals with his promiscuous lifestyle and never retaliates? Why can’t he feel what I felt for just a SECOND, when I put up with it for years?”.Claire frowned at Natalia, she was her best friend in the world. She was supposed to be the one that was the most understanding.

Claire shook her head, lowering her voice so she wasn’t raising her voice anymore. ” If Ethan knew how you felt, he would have a hard time keeping up his promiscuous lifestyle. He’d have you on the back of his mind. But you’re Natalia Richmond, guys would give up their left arm for you. I’m..Clarissa Fox. I have a fat girls name” she said before she sniffed a few times and wiped her eyes. She looked up, letting Natalia fix her makeup and hugged her best friend tightly. Walking back out to the table she saw that the guy had left. Good.Claire walked over to where Anthony sat, and stood behind him.She reached down and wrapped her arms around his neck in a hug, the same greeting she gave to him whenever he was sitting and she was able to tower over him. She rested her cheek against his shoulder as she kept her arms wrapped around him. After a moment she lifted her cheek and whispered into his ear. “I’m sorry .. that was dumb, and I know you probably don’t give a shit about it, but I’m still going to apologize. And I’m sorry about earlier today. The bottom line is that I wanted you, but for reasons on both ends, I couldn’t have you. That still makes me mad, and I react like an idiot. But.. I promise, you have your friend back” she said, hoping he would relax knowing she wouldn’t try to throw her feelings at him anymore. She moved her lips away from his ear and kissed his cheek before she stood up straight again and started to make her way to her chair, trying to get the bartenders attention for another drink.

[Anthony Marcus Owen]

Stefan's comment made Anthony chuckle a bit, that was expected. He smiled when Natalia returned the compliment, "You know, I try." He took a drink of his Ciroc and continued looking over the menu. "They're joining us at the club." he said with a smile to Claire and then his attention went back to the menu. He was really hungry but he had no idea what in the world he was going to order. All he could think about was how empty his stomach was and how badly he wanted to get food into it. He didn't even notice anyone talking to him or talking around him. The only thing he heard was the sound of his own stomach growling, saying "FEED ME!"

He picked up his glass once more and looked around the table when Stefan said something. "Where'd they go?" he asked, nodding in the two empty chairs that had Natalia and Claire in them before. Did he miss something? He put his glass down along with the menu. He saw the girls coming out of the bathroom. He watched Natalia sit down and then watched as Claire walked over to him. She was apologizing, what happened? He did miss something. It was over now apparently and he wasn't going to ask. She also apologized for earlier. He smiled when she said he could have his friend back. "I'm sorry too. You didn't deserve that." He returned the kiss to her cheek and watched her walk over to her seat. "Do you guys know what you want to eat because I have no idea. All I know is that I'm hungry and my stomach is going to eat itself if I don't decide soon." he laughed.


OUTFIT: click.

[Ethan John Fox]

Ethan wiped his hands against the sides of his jeans as Natalia whispered into his ear. That girl… He smiled as he looked at her, turning in her seat. “ Come on not all peoples sweat is that bad. Or ruins peoples dresses’. He was appreciate as Natalia took Claire away and stared blankly at the guy in his sisters chair. He watched the exchange between him and Stefan and waved with a smile as he left. “ Come out tonight and I’ll break your neck.. alright bye bye now’.He shook his head and looked at Anthony. Reaching his long arm over he smacked Anthony upside the head as hard as he could. “ You dumbass. If he lays one hand on her at the club, I’m breaking his and yours off” he said, feeling no need to explain it. He looked back over to see where Natalie and Claire had gone and sighed, waiting for them to come back. He hated when Claire was upset, and he hated that Natalia was put in a position to try and ‘fix it’. Though it seemed like girls didn’t really see it that way, and just wanted to support their friends.

Ethan leaned his elbows forward on the table and looked at Stefan and Hillary. “ So when’s the honeymoon?” he said sarcastically. He grinned as he looked at the two of them. Honestly, he was thrilled that Stefan had found someone to make him this way because he hadn’t seen him this happy in a long time. He’d been pretty screwed over in relationships before and it was nice to see someone appreciate him for who he was; which was one hell of a guy. Ethan sat back and asked the waiter to come back in a few minutes, even though Anthony looked like he was about to eat the menu. He narrowed his eyebrows, watching the exchange between his sister and his friend. He could have just signed his soul away and he’d have no idea. However, after he kissed her cheek Claire had a look on her face of .. what, a mixture between pissed off and shock. Ethan tilted his head to her chair, indicating for her to sit down.

[Hillary Rachelle Jones]

Hillary looked at the guy that was sitting at the table and situated herself awkwardly in her chair. Creeper. She held up the menu to cover her face so he couldn’t get a good look at her. While she was hiding she saw the dessert menu. ‘Oooh they have tiramisu. Plus I get to work out later so I can splurge,” she said with a smile as she Hillary looked at the guy that was sitting at the table and situated herself awkwardly in her chair. Creeper. She held up the menu to cover her face so he couldn’t get a good look at her. While she was hiding she saw the dessert menu. ‘Oooh they have tiramisu. Plus I get to work out later so I can splurge,” she said with a smile as she lifted her foot out of her heel and tangled her lower legs around Stefan’s underneath the table.

Hillary smiled as Stefan basically dismissed the guy at the table and then laughed at Ethan and his “big brother tone”. She reached over and put her hand over Anthony’s. “Sometimes it’s best to have your head in the clouds,” she said with a smile. She knew what Claire was trying to do, and she knew that she’d be devastated, see it as different than it was, that Anthony didn’t care about her. But it was better for all parties involved that it worked out that way. Hillary moved her hand away from Anthony’s and sat back in her chair. She took a drink of her water before she lowered her hand back into Stefan’s lap and held it against the inside of his thigh, tracing small circles with her thumb as she narrowed her eyebrows, debating the pros and cons of each dessert. “ I don’t want food, just dessert” she said with a definitive nod as she looked up, keeping her thumb tracing his leg before she leaned over and kissed him. ” You can have some,” she said, smiling at the man that she was falling for at an alarmingly quick speed.

[Natalia Anne Richmond]

Natalia listened to her best friend. She was hurt. She was confused. She had no idea what she was doing. Natalia sighed, “He does care, he just doesn’t know how to show it. He’s a total idiot when it comes to feeling, he doesn’t know how to express them. I want you know I’m not sticking up for him….I don’t want you to do something you’re going to regret. I love you and I hate seeing you this way.” She tried not to laugh when Claire said she had a fat girls name. “You do not have a fat girls name. I love your name, it’s beautiful, just like you.” Natalia wiped the last few tears off of Claire’s face.

Natalia took her eyeliner and mascara out of her clutch and fixed Claire's make up. She replaced the eyeliner and mascara and took out her lip gloss. She carefully put some on her best friend's lips and then closed her clutch. She wrapped her arms around Claire and hugged her tightly. Natalia fixed up her own make up before she left the bathroom. She walked over to the table and took her seat once again. She watched the exchange between Claire and Anthony and smiled when they both kissed each other on the cheek. Natalia laughed when Anthony said his stomach was going to eat itself. "I have no idea what I want. I'm thinking maybe a nice t-bone." she smiled and looked at the menu again.


OUTFIT: click.

[Claire Jayne Madden]

Claire sat down in her chair still trying to understand what had happened. She looked over atNatalia, whispering behind the menu. ” Seriously? He didn’t even notice? He smiles at a girl and I want to shove my heel in her throat, that guy could have spread me out on the table and Anthony would just ask the waiter for ‘the pork platter’ and move his water glass out of our way” she said with a confused expression across her face. She sighed, knowing this had proven her point. She was absolutely in Anthony’s ‘friend zone’. Fine, whatever. He could have her as a friend. Hell, he was having everyone else anyways. She felt herself hiccup and sighed. ”Damnit. I hate the hiccups” she said out of annoyance, even though it was her own fault. She picked up the water that Ethan had given her earlier and took a few big gulps, trying to stop them. Claire left her heels on the floor as she pretzeled her legs up into her chair, trying to be careful to not have a Paris or Britney moment with her dress.

Claire rested her head against Nataia’s shoulder and sighed, doing her best to not occupy her mind instead of focusing on Anthony.Maybe he had the right idea. She wiggled her lips as Natalia said she was going to have a t-bone. Claire smiled as she tried to mentally calculate how she was going to steal some of it from her friend but then she looked at Ethan who looked like he was biting down on his lip so hard it was about to start bleeding. She rolled her eyes, understanding what was on his mind. She did her best to imitate him and speak in a voice resemblant of his, “ Oh baby I’ll give you a nice juicy e-bone” she said with a shake of her head. “ You pig” she said as she looked at Natalia’s Shirley temple. She was drinking so much alcohol that it was just making her thirsty. There was no room in her stomach for food, she just wanted liquids.

[Stefan Michael Thomas]

Stefan laughed when Ethan slapped Anthony, he deserved it. "Dude, you can be so damn dense sometimes, you know that?" he laughed again. Stefan smiled when he felt Hillary's leg on his. The waiter brought his drink over and Stefan took a big sip. "Oh damn that's good." he said as he took another sip and then put the cup back down on the table. He looked over at Ethan and laughed, "Dude, not for a long time. Gotta have the wedding first." he smiled and then took Hillary's hand back in his. They had to be dating before the wedding though. Stefan leaned over and kissed Hillary.

Stefan felt Hillary's hand on his thigh with her thumb doing circles. He took a breath in and let it out. He had to keep cool. Just then Claire made a terrible, but funny, joke. He laughed along with Anthony and Natalia. He looked back over at Hillary when she said that he could have some dessert. "I'd love some." he smiled and kissed her again. He placed his hand on her thigh and slowly started rubbing her leg, he was going to play. He smiled at her and then looked at Anthony, "I'm thinking I'm gonna have some lobster. I haven't had a good lobster in awhile."


OUTFIT: click.

[Anthony Marcus Owen]

Anthony looked over at Ethan and laughed after he slapped him, "Dude, he won't. I'll make sure of that. " he was going to make sure that no creeps got to any of the girls. He looked over at Stefan, "Yeah I know I can be, but I learn from the best." he said, calling Stefan dense as well. He drank the rest of his Ciroc and called ordered a Mountain Dew when the waiter brought Stefan's drink back. He laughed when Claire made a joke about Ethan. "You know, I was thinking about getting a t-bone, but definitely not now. I don't wanna think about..." he paused and shuddered. He wasn't even going to finish that statement.

"You know, lobster sounds really nice. I think I want a full rack of ribs. They look delicious." He got his Mountain Dew from the waiter and drank most of it. He ordered another one. He was going to need it. "What about you Claire, what do you want to eat?" she didn't look like she was OK and he wanted to bring her into the conversation with the rest of them. He looked over at Stefan and Hillary and just sighed. Those two needed to do it already. All their pent up frustration was definitely coming though in little spurts right now. He shook his head and then looked back in the menu.


OUTFIT: click.

[Hillary Rachelle Jones]

Hillary smiled as she watched the interaction between the three guys. Guys behaved so much differently than girls did, but it seemed like they understood each other just as well as the best of girl friends would understand one another. But they shouldn’t be too hard on Anthony, it was hard to admit how you felt sometimes. Unless you fell for someone like Stefan, then it was just easy to admit it because of how damn amazing he was. She looked between Ethan and Stefan as they joked about a honeymoon and wedding. She smiled as she watched Stefan joking back about it, he wasn’t scared off. She leaned over quickly and kissed him eagerly, happy that it was a little bit more of a glimpse into how he felt about her. She laughed as Claire made a joke, trying to imitate Ethan and looked over to see him fumbling with his drink and napkin, obviously flustered by being called out.

Hillary smiled as he said that he would have some of her dessert and looked at the menu, trying to pick out the one that would be the biggest for them to share. She held her breath as Stefan placed his hand on her leg and smiled as she looked back over at Stefan. It felt sort of exciting to know that they were pushing the boundaries with their friends around, like they were a part of something devious and everyone else was oblivious to it. When the waiter stopped by she smiled, ordering the chocolate meltdown which sounded like some sort of chocolate cake, with molten chocolate on the inside of it and then slices of strawberry decorating the plate. When everyone else was ordering she leaned over to Stefan, much like Ethan and Natalia were whispering to each other so it wasn’t suspicious.Instead of whispering anything to him she kissed the soft patch of skin behind his ear and grazed her teeth in a nibble against the edge of his ear. “ Three and a half hours” she said, smiling as she kissed beneath his jaw, keeping her hang against his thigh.

[Ethan John Fox]

Ethan felt better knowing that he wasn’t the only guy that wanted to keep creepers away from the girls at the bar. They were all too nice to notice when a guy was creeping right away and would open too many doors to a dangerous situation. Especially with the way they were all dressed. When Claire mimicked him and made a joke about what he had been trying not to say he tried to seem pre-occupied,, as though he hadn’t heard it. Picking up his water he took a few drinks and when the waiter came back around he ordered for Claire again before ordering his own meal, the ribs and a baked potato, and about as much beer as the waiter could bring back to pass down the table. He looked back at Anthony and rolled his eyes jokingly. “ You would love my steak, I watched Brokeback with you more than once” he said jokingly before he relaxed in his seat.

Ethan watched Anthony before he followed his eyeline and looked at Hillary and Stefan. Ah, young love. He smiled before he looked back over at Natalia and waited for everyone else to order. Atleast Anthony was trying to make conversation with Claire, even if he was too dense to understand why exactly she was so annoyed. “ I ordered her the chicken” he said before he realized that he probably cut off Claire from talking to Anthony, which had been his intention.Ethan scrunched his nose before he looked at Anthony, mouthing ‘Sorry man’ before he draped his arm lazily behind Natalia’s chair, playing it off as though he was just trying to get comfortable.

[Claire Jayne Madden]

Claire shook her head after she said her joke; it was a well known fact that she was the worst at making jokes in the group, but evidently she had gotten her point across. She smiled slowly, glad to see that Stefan and Natalia weren’t holding any ill will towards her. This vacation was something she really needed to spend time with Natalia. She hadn’t said anything but she was nervous about starting her senior year. Natalia was only going to get a busier and busier schedule,and then Claire would be starting college.. Time was going by so fast and she wasn’t sure where they would all be in a year. She hoped that they would still be a close knit group of friends but there was no telling with how all of their schedules were changing. She did her best to watch Anthony, catching a glimpse of him whenever he was busy looking at something else.

Claire looked up at Anthony as he questioned her, but suddenly realized that while everyone had ordered, the waiter was gone and she hadn’t ordered anything. She frowned but then looked up, hearing Ethan explain that he had ordered chicken for her. Instead of answering, since Ethan had for her, she offered a small shrug of her shoulder with a tilt of her head to show Anthony what she was having. “ I’m on a diet.Getting rid of all of the junk in my life” she said, placing her elbow against the table and her chin in her palm. “Except alcohol. Which is making me really super happy lately, it’s really not good” she said,, as though it was dawning on her how much she had been drinking lately. She frowned, that was something she would need to keep in check. After the vacation was over. Or maybe after she got over Anthony… Claire frowned as she listened to what everyone was eating. Ribs. Potatoes. Chocolate desserts. Lobsters.Steaks.Seriously? She hated her chicken and broccoli and she hadn’t even seen it yet. She had a feeling if Anthony knew she was eating that way for him he would probably laugh at her and tell her she was fine, but that didn’t matter. She sat quietly as everyone else around he had conversations, just sort of observing all of it. Hillary had come into Stefans life pretty recently, and Ethan and Natalia were starting into a new part of their friendship. She and Anthony had known each other the longest out of the opposite-sexed friends with interests in each other, and they were the furthest behind. She bit the inside of her cheek as she laid back in her chair and played with the ends of her hair. Dinner would go by quickly, they’d all be dancing in no time and maybe that would lift her spirits.